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It was, in the words of U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, the “tipping point” in the Syria conflict: a savage massacre of over 90 people, predominantly women and children, for which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed by virtually the entirety of the Western media. Within days of the first reports of the Houla massacre, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, and several other Western countries announced that they were expelling Syria’s ambassadors in protest.

But according to a new report in Germany’s leading daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which have been largely supportive of Assad. For its account of the massacre, the report cites opponents of Assad, who, however, declined to have their names appear in print out of fear of reprisals from armed opposition groups.

According to the article’s sources, the massacre occurred after rebel forces attacked three army-controlled roadblocks outside of Houla. The roadblocks had been set up to protect nearby Alawi majority villages from attacks by Sunni militias. The rebel attacks provoked a call for reinforcements by the besieged army units. Syrian army and rebel forces are reported to have engaged in battle for some 90 minutes, during which time “dozens of soldiers and rebels” were killed.

“According to eyewitness accounts,” the FAZ report continues,

the massacre occurred during this time. Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla’s population are Sunnis. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet.

The FAZ report echoes eyewitness accounts collected from refugees from the Houla region by members of the Monastery of St. James in Qara, Syria. According to monastery sources cited by the Dutch Middle East expert Martin Janssen, armed rebels murdered “entire Alawi families” in the village of Taldo in the Houla region.

Already at the beginning of April, Mother Agnès-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James Monastery warned of rebel atrocities’ being repackaged in both Arab and Western media accounts as regime atrocities. She cited the case of a massacre in the Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs. According to an account published in French on the monastery’s website, rebels gathered Christian and Alawi hostages in a building in Khalidiya and blew up the building with dynamite. They then attributed the crime to the regular Syrian army. “Even though this act has been attributed to regular army forces . . . , the evidence and testimony are irrefutable: It was an operation undertaken by armed groups affiliated with the opposition,” Mother Agnès-Mariam wrote.

By John Rosenthal

9 June 2012

@ National Review Online

John Rosenthal writes on European politics and transatlantic security issues. You can follow his work at www.trans-int.com or on Facebook.

Gaza City: “I can never forget his image with blood all over his little body and both his legs badly injured,” Umm Mamoun Hassouna told The Electronic Intifada as she sat at a relative’s house in Gaza City. “I am a preacher [for women] at a local mosque and used to preach against harming innocent Israeli children, women or the elderly, and even cutting down a tree,” she said.

“After I have seen my son killed by an Israeli warplane in front of my eyes, I wonder what my only son did against Israel [for them to] kill him,” Umm Mamoun added.

Thirteen-year-old Mamoun Zuhdi al-Dam was killed on Wednesday, 20 June, during an Israeli attack on Gaza amid exchange of fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance factions that left eight Palestinians dead.

At approximately 3pm, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at members of a Palestinian family who were having a picnic behind the campus of the University College of Applied Sciences in the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa. As a result, Mamoun al-Dam was killed.

His blind father, Muhammad Zuhdi al-Dam, 67, was wounded by shrapnel to the head and the neck. Three other children who were in a nearby field were also wounded, according to theweekly report from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

He made tea for his parents

“One month ago, I inherited a small piece of land — about 220 square meters — from my family, and we were all so happy to own that land as my husband is an elderly retired man,” Umm Mamoun said. “Since we inherited that land, Mamoun used to go to it often to enjoy some time outdoors.”

On the day he was killed, his mother said, Mamoun went to the piece of land in the Zaytoun neighborhood, just near the Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque, at about 9am. “I received a phone call from him later on to inform me that the situation was tense and that Israeli warplanes were buzzing overhead,” she said. “His father and I were scared for him and we went to join him.”

Mamoun, his mother said, used to read the Quran, and he led noon prayers that day on the family’s plot of land. The boy also prepared some tea for his parents, and then laid down to listen to news on his mobile phone.

“As he was listening to the newscast that moment, he told us that an Israeli warplane had fired a missile somewhere else,” she added.

Killed as he played football

“Then, Mamoun went to play with a football just close to us on the same land,” his mother recalled, surrounded by mourners. “Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion and pillars of smoke covered the place. I heard Mamoun screaming and saw him stained with blood, and his legs were badly injured. By then my relatives, who are our neighbors, came over to help us as his father was slightly injured too.”

“Mamoun was everything for me — a son, a brother, a sister and everything in my life,” his grief-stricken mother said, “I am the second wife of his father, and God had given me Mamoun to fill in my life.”

In tears, Umm Mamoun spoke of how her son would tell her, “I love you so much, mom. You are my dearest, I love you, I love you.”

“He used to fill my moments with joy”

Muhammad, Mamoun’s father and a retired trader, sat at a condolence ceremony in the Asqoula neighborhood of Gaza City, with his left hand bandaged due to his injuries from the same missile strike that killed his son.

As relatives and friends came to offer condolences, al-Dam lamented, “I do not know what to say, except may God take revenge on those who killed my son Mamoun.”

Al-Dam explained that his son used to look after him due to his lack of sight. “Mamoun, may he rest in peace, used to be very reliable, though he was only a child. He used to take me to the mosque for prayer, he used to bring whatever I need from nearby grocery stores, he used to fill my moments with joy.”

No resistance, no shooting

Al-Dam told The Electronic Intifada that the moment his son Mamoun was hit by the Israeli missile, there was no sign of Palestinian shooting or rocket fire in the area.

“The area where our new piece of land is located is far away from the Israeli border line and it is populated as well,” he said.

Mamoun’s maternal aunts on his mother’s side, Umm Mahmoud and Umm Ahmad Hassouna, recalled how cheerful, humorous and polite Mamoun was.

“One day I was very sad and visited my sister Umm Mamoun to feel better. Mamoun came over to me and said, aunty, I will tell you 15 jokes so that you will smile,” Umm Ahmad said as a little smile broke the grief on her face.

Mamoun’s niece, seven-year-old Abeer Zuhdi al-Dam, wanted to share her feelings too.

“We used to play together often. Sometimes he used to show me some pictures on his own computer, and we used to play many games including hide and seek. We hate Israel for killing him, we hate Israel for killing him,” she said.

“Like my son”

Mamoun’s elder brother, Zuhdi al-Dam, 42, received condolences alongside his father. “This is something that our faith obliges us to tolerate and take for granted, but the question is, why does Israel target such little children? Why?” Zuhdi al-Dam said. “Mamoun was like my son as the age difference between us is thirty years.”

“Why do those alleged world leaders assemble at the so-called United Nations Security Council? Rather, it is the No-Security Council,” Mamoun’s father remarked.

“When an Israeli is hurt, those alleged leaders rush to condemn or call for action, while our own children are being killed and no one even moves.”

By Rami Almeghari

24 June, 2012
The Electronic Intifada

Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.

Outside London’s five-star Dorchester Hotel sits a Bugatti Veyron. These 253 mph supercars are rare enough at the best of times, but this one is unique: known as L’Or Blanc, or White Gold, its exterior is inlaid with porcelain, giving it the appearance of a highly polished humbug.

In terms of conspicuous consumption that takes some beating — £1.6 million for a car that is as delicate as a tea-set.

But for the Saudi owner who has had it flown over to London for the duration of his visit, that is what life is all about. Like the first swallows of summer, the arrival of the world’s rarest supercars in the capital heralds the start of another, lesser known, season — the Ramadan Rush.

This year the weeks leading up to the Muslim month of fasting, which begins on July 20, have seen millionaires and billionaires flock to London from across the Middle East.

They come to escape the oppressive heat back home, to relax, to party and, above all, to show off their wealth.

For upmarket shops, restaurants, nightclubs and hotels, it is bonanza time. Forget the summer sales, these visitors want the best and are prepared to pay for it.

And so it is that Bond Street jewellers, West End designer outlets, casinos such as Les Ambassedeurs, restaurants such as Le Caprice, and hotels such as The Sheraton Park Tower have been instructing their (Arabic-speaking) staff to roll out the red carpet.

The figures speak for themselves: some five-star hotels are reporting 80 per cent Middle Eastern occupancy.

As for the stores, the average British shopper will spend £120 during a trip to the West End and an American £550. Compare that with the average Saudi spend of £1,900. What’s more, in the month before Ramadan, the amount spent by Middle Eastern visitors will be double that in other months.

Of course, it is not the first time the high-rollers have abandoned the fierce heat of a Middle Eastern summer for London. But this year the numbers are well up on before.

Saudi visitors are up 22 per cent year-on-year, while visitors from the UAE have risen to almost 120,000 — up nearly ten per cent.

With the burka banned in France, many who traditionally holidayed in Paris can do so no more. Furthermore, the shockwaves from the Arab Spring have encouraged many of the ruling elites to look beyond their own shores for a potential long-term safe haven.

As a result, while house prices in other parts of Britain stagnate in the recession, Middle Eastern buyers have piled in to London properties, particularly those worth upwards of £5million, driving prices up.

‘The Ramadan Rush is a total phenomenon,’ says Jace Tyrrell of the New West End Company, the management company for retailers in Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street.

‘It is worth millions to us — last year there was about £120 million spent in the pre-Ramadan rush by Middle Eastern visitors, but it grows every single year. We expect it to be up ten per cent this year.’

In central London the signs of this flood of Arab money, and of businesses’ efforts to catch it, are everywhere to see.

‘This stunning international fashion label is looking for an experienced Arabic-speaking sales advisor to join their upmarket concession within Harrods,’ reads one vacancy advert.

‘Arabic-speaking, experienced, talented makeup artists and skincare specialists needed for exciting positions in West End premier department store,’ reads another, one of dozens posted online. And it’s not just the staff who are hand-picked.

The visitors from the Middle East are not interested in buying run-of-the-mill designer goods and have no interest in discounted items. Consider the fact that the value of a single Saudi shopping transaction in London averages out at £600.

As a result the traditional summer sales in many upmarket London stores were brought forward to May and have ended early. They have now been replaced with tailored and often specially designed collections that will chime with the tastes of their incoming customers.

‘They absolutely don’t want summer sales bargains, they want new season stock,’ explains a Selfridge’s spokesperson. ‘They’re very keen on fine jewellery and shoes, and on recognised brands like Chanel. They’re very savvy shoppers and they want the latest, most fashionable, limited-edition products.’

One example of targeting by the brands is to be found in the use of Oud, a distinctive fragrance, in scents and beauty products.

‘Oud is a particularly popular scent for Middle Eastern shoppers, so a limited edition of, say, an Oud-scented fragrance, whether it’s by Armani, Jo Malone or Tom Ford, is very popular,’ says the spokesperson.

Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest draws for the visitors is Harrods. Indeed, so popular is the department store with Middle Eastern travellers that the Ramadan Rush has also been nicknamed the Harrods Hajj — a light-hearted reference to the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

Again, limited-edition items are popular: Louis Vuitton handbags; diamond jewellery; watches from Cartier; leather goods; silk scarves, and perfumes from Hermès.

Many of the purchases will be paid for in cash. Atif Nawaz works a stone’s throw from Harrods, at the Knightsbridge Foreign Currency Exchange.

He says it is not uncommon for Middle Eastern families to exchange £3,000 a day during a three-day shopping trip.

‘The family will go to Harrods or Harvey Nichols, spend the money they have and then send their chauffeur back to me the next day to exchange more money,’ said Mr Nawaz.

‘It is spare change for these people. But even though they are rich, they always haggle. They’ll spend thousands in the casino or at Harrods but come back and argue about the exchange rate.’

It’s not just shops that benefit from this deluge of dollars and dirhams, the currency of the UAE.

Companies providing chauffeurs, private chefs and close-protection bodyguards are all reporting a surge in business, as are concierge companies who cater for the rich and famous.

One such outfit, Quintessentially, is currently looking after a Saudi woman who is visiting London. She has requested that every week she is here she be hand-delivered a new handbag. So far she has had ones by Celine and Isabel Marant.

For another client they arranged for a guitar signed by Damien Hirst to be delivered to a member’s son because he loved the artist’s exhibition at the Tate so much. The cost? £10,000.

Quintessentially also laid on a very special tour of London for a group of male clients from the Middle East. The brief was that it was to involve cars and that money was to be no object. And so they arranged for a fleet of ten deluxe supercars to pick them up from their Mayfair apartment.

They included a Bugatti Veyron, a Ferrari Enzo, a Lamborghini Gallardo and an Aston Martin DB9.

The men then drove around the capital, stopping at ten of London’s most iconic locations and swapping cars at each. The drivers were equipped with wireless headsets through which a live commentary was given by a historian following in a car of his own. Better than an open-top bus tour.

Karen Jones, editor of Citywealth, a publication aimed at ‘individuals of ultra-high net worth’ (the sort of people with £100 million-plus to invest), says that for her clients London is all about having a good time before returning home to observe Ramadan.

‘Arabs love London because of the shopping and the fun,’ she says. ‘They don’t come to do business, they come and use London as a playground as we would Cannes or Monaco.’ One of her clients from Saudi Arabia told her that during a month in London he would expect to spend £100,000.

His daytimes will be spent shopping at Hermès and dining at Scott’s, La Petite Maison, Le Caprice and Nobu, and in the evenings he will frequent the capital’s casinos.

‘He told me that one of his Saudi friends bought a £9 million flat opposite Harrods and then spent £1 million furnishing it,’ said Ms Jones. ‘The trouble was that he couldn’t get any staff to work in it or anyone to come and make him a cup of coffee, so he ended up going to stay in a hotel. He tried bringing maids to London but the minute they get here they disappear.’ Presumably into the black market.

Even the weather isn’t off-putting. Ms Jones says: ‘They don’t get rain in places like Saudi, so running for a taxi in a shower is seen as a fun and exciting thing to do.’

Of course, the real high-flyers would not be seen dead in a taxi.
Instead they have their cars freighted over to London, generally by aeroplane, so that they can use them during their stay.

Take a trip around central London at the moment and supercars with Arabic-script plates can be seen — and heard — touring the streets.

Their drivers want to be noticed, and where better to be seen than outside Harrods? So it was that in the space of ten minutes on Wednesday afternoon I spotted a Saudi-registered Ferrari 438 worth £170,000 performing three laps of Harrods, its driver revving the engine each time he passed the famous green doors. He was followed shortly afterwards by a Dubai-registered, £270,000 Lamborghini SV.

Given the wealth of the owners, it is perhaps unsurprising that little notice is paid to the British rules of the road. Each summer Westminster Council is left with tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of unpaid fines as these visitors abandon their cars on yellow lines.

A list of last year’s most prolific offenders included the Arab owner of a £300,000 Rolls Royce who owed £2,000 for 18 tickets, and a Dubai-registered, £200,000 Lamborghini Murcielago which had racked up 24.

Meanwhile, the owner of a Bugatti Veyron L’Edition Centenaire — registration 444 — failed to pay £120 after he parked on a yellow line outside Selfridges (despite having managed to find £1.2 million to buy the car).

A mile or two from Harrods, legally parked on the forecourt of the Sheraton Park Hotel are two Maybachs with foreign plates and a Qatar-registered McLaren MP4.

‘The MP4 is worth about £200,000,’ one hotel worker explained. ‘It’s been brought in on a private jet and then driven straight off the plane to here. The amount of money these people can spend is ferocious.

‘We had one chap here, the son of a Saudi prince, and he and his brother each had a Bugatti Veyron, which they had had shipped over while they stayed here. He told me he had just bought a fully crewed yacht and anchored it in Monaco. The thing cost him about £30 million and he had never even seen it.’

Back at The Dorchester in Mayfair, the Veyron L’Or Blanc is attracting a crowd, even with its high-powered engine switched off.

The onlookers are discussing its vital statistics — kiln-fired porcelain inlay, eight-litre engine and acceleration of zero to 60mph in a touch over two-and-a-half seconds. As for fuel economy? That’s seven miles per gallon in town. With petrol prices what they are, that’s enough to send a shudder through the wallet of even a very well-off Briton.

But for the car’s owner, an unknown Saudi said to be in his 30s, the cost of a tank of petrol wouldn’t even count as small change.

By Tom Rawstorne

29 June 2012

@ www.dailymail.co.uk

Fasting is a universal custom and is advocated by all religions of the world, with more restrictions in some than in others. The “Siy?m” should not be interpreted as “fasting” lest it may be misunderstood as mere starvation or as an act of self-denial and asceticism, and therefore, a renunciation of the world. For the purpose of this article, let us call it the “Islamic Fast”.

Readers are kindly requested to refer to Q. 2:183-185, where the main fruit of fasting is to achieve Taqw? that essentially means self-restraint.

“O ye faithful! fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may guard against evil”. This is also translated by some as “…you may learn self-restraint”, or “…you may develop Taqw?? (God-consciousness)” (Q.2:183).

Thus, the Islamic fast is for those Muslims, who are preparing to become Mu?min?n (true and firm believers in faith). Faith carries much more weight than belief or doctrine. In this verse, Allah gives an open invitation to us as: “Oh ye faithful!” Although multiple benefits accrue, Muslims in general fast because it is Allah’s command and not merely for the physical benefits.

Fasting is the most rigorous of all spiritual disciplines imposed on every adult Muslim man and woman. Fasting frees oneself from egoism, replacing it with an indescribable peace within, which makes the person accept differences in humans. The aim of this spiritual exercise is to enable man to achieve proximity to Allah and obtain His pleasure.

In Islam, fasting is obligatory in the lunar month of Ramad??n, a lunar month of 29 or 30 days. During this period there is complete abstinence from food, drink, smoke, marital relationship, and any evil thought, word or deed. The advantage of the lunar month, compared to solar, is that fasting takes place by cyclic rotation under different climatic conditions, during the life span of the individual while residing in the same geographical location.

Fasting gives us an opportunity to fine tune the body, to develop qualities of endurance, and to control anger, sensual desires and a malicious tongue. The fasting person should avoid such actions as might arouse passion in him as well as in others, such as casting lustful eyes at a woman. He should also abstain from thinking carnal thoughts and fantasizing pleasures incompatible with the spiritual regimen.

It is a well-known fact that beasts can be brought under control by keeping them occasionally hungry and then feeding them at planned intervals. Similarly, man can tame the animal within himself and become its master by fasting for one whole month. One of the objectives is to bring unruly passions under control. The man who can rule his desires and makes them work as he likes, has attained true moral excellence.

Allah puts our faith to a severe test for one month, with strict non-indulgence in physical gratifications, during long hours of a day. If we emerge triumphant in this test, more strength develops in us to refrain from other sins. Our brain then also responds by sending recurrent and frequent signals to us to protect ourselves by rejecting evil immediately. In fact, this exercise trains us to receive warning signals at all times, whether Ramad??n or not, so that we should not see evil, hear evil, utter evil or act evil. Besides abstention from food and drink, the fasting of the pious man is to curb unchaste desires, to fast from looking at the provocative, from hearing the mischievous, and from uttering the obscene. A fasting man is also required to avoid slander and from thinking about inflicting injury to others. He should never find himself in a situation which may expose whatever animal qualities in whatever form he possesses.

The effect of fasting on the human personality is dominant and decisive. It enables man to subdue the strongest worldly urges raging within him and brings a harmonious equilibrium between the temporal (the body) and the spiritual (the soul), both coming together for peaceful co-existence.

Fasting is an institution for the improvement of the moral and spiritual character of man. The purpose of the fast is to help develop self-restraint, self-purification, God-consciousness, compassion, spirit of caring and sharing, and the love of Allah and humanity. The objective of fasting is to develop our personality to a high standard of God-consciousness and maintain that standard throughout life, so that on the Day of Judgment before God, we would already be well-off to a good start, to begin our life in Hereafter.

However, for some Muslims, Ramad??n is a burst of Islamic activity in a year-long ocean of un-Islamic behavior. As soon as the fasting program is over, some Muslims throw to the wind whatever good and hard-earned qualities they might have gained as a result of that exercise, and sooner or later return to their vicious habits and practices of their pre-Ramad??n days, be they of thoughts, words or deeds. We ought to remind ourselves that we must not allow the weeds in our garden to stifle the flowers and the fruits. Islam is neither a Sunday religion nor a Ramad??n only religion. Ramad??n is not meant to be a 30-day fast ending on ‘Id with a feast to beat all feasts. Some of the greatest achievements in Islam were made during Ramad??n, e.g. the Battle of Badr. If the newly converted Muslims had gorged themselves after Ift??r parties at nights and had slept in the day, they could not have become victorious at the Battle of Badr, and we, even now, might still have been pagans.

From a moral point of view, during fasting, one becomes more sympathetic and tolerant towards those in needy circumstances. It brings about a better realization of human understanding. In this world of today, with a population explosion, where two-thirds of the world goes to sleep on an empty stomach, the quicker this realization takes place, the sooner the problems would be appreciated and solved. It is only during such time as Ramad??n that one can reflect and make an inventory of the importance of the basic moral values affecting oneself and the community.

We should remember that Allah says that fasting has been prescribed for you. It is a divine prescription from Allah Who is the Greatest Physician. It is different from a medical doctor’s prescription and hence this prescription should be duly respected and carried out in full. It is also a pre-scription i.e. it was also prescribed for religious communities before the advent of Islam. If a person fasts for temporal motives only e.g. slimming according to a doctor’s prescription, he will be far from performing his religious duty or achieving nearness to Allah or obtaining His pleasure. In order to subjugate the body with the sole purpose of developing will power and a dominant personality, it is essential to bring certain forces within the body under control and thus develop will power. Besides hunger, thirst and carnal desires, we must gain full control of the tongue, mind and the rest of the body. Hence, Muslims call Ramad??n a blessed month of compassion and mercy, a month of self-purification and re-dedication, a month of commiseration with the poor and the hungry, who are in the majority among mankind. It is a unique month of self-analysis, of taking stock of one’s moral and spiritual assets and liabilities and of examining critically one’s spiritual portrait.

Why is it that we fast in the daytime and not, for our own convenience, at nights? This is because the human personality only develops when a person is exposed to maximum social conditions. Hence, Islam puts great stress on family and community life. Islam does not advocate running away from society or becoming a monk or leaving the family to retire in a desert, with all the solitude and the solitary confinement. Personality only develops during encounters with others in a society or community. To alienate from society is not Da’wah (invitation to Islam). Religion does not become perfect without the world. We must work for the community and also with the community for the common welfare and the good of the Ummah. Islam regards the interest of the society above the interest of the individual. Service to Allah is rendered through a clean life in the turmoil of this world in the multitudes of society.

Perhaps it would be interesting to consider why fasting was not made compulsory every single day of one’s life. Allah gives us a month of compulsory fast and then gives us eleven lunar months to asses the result of this month-long effort. This 11-month grace period is the reason as to why we should not fast every single day of our lives. If we had done so, we would have remained under continuous compulsory restrictions of the Islamic fast throughout the year, and without the complete and unrestricted freedom to do as we like. Our will power would not have been given a chance to develop a strong personality. Personality grows much more when we are free to do any wrong we would like, but choose not to do it under unrestricted conditions, such as during the eleven months following the Ramad??n fast. Both during Ramad??n and after, Allah gives us the opportunity to examine our spiritual profile and see where the defect lies. Has some jealousy, hatred, malice, miserliness, tendency to give short measure, cheating and intrigue and unforgiving thoughts and actions been removed in our acquired attributes?

Fasting is an institution by which an individual and by extension a community, may benefit physically and morally. The Islamic fast strengthens the disposition of the individual to obedience of laws and respect for social order. Islam lays stress on submission to Allah and consequently, lays stress on submission to just authority, beginning with example in the home.

What are the three components of personality that we put to the acid test in the month-long exercise of fasting? They are (a) our physical cravings, (b) sensory desires, and (c) material longings. If we are successful in overcoming these, we shall pass the first part of our examination, emerging a far better Muslim within ourselves, fully laden with Taqw? (God-consciousness). We see a much better individual unfolding itself from within us, a person that was lying dormant for long. Now the same person in the month of Ramad??n, has become the captain, the master of the control room of the self, controlling and at times eliminating certain types of worldly desires. It is easy now for such a person to be “on guard” and reject evil temptations as fast as they come, even challenging and encountering more temptations without any fear of giving in to them.

The purpose of the Islamic Fast is to obey Allah’s Command with a view to becoming His vicegerent (Khal?fah). It trains all those who volunteer for service to Allah before allowing them to take on the job of His vicegerency and establish Allah’s rule on Earth.

There is no guarantee that the fasting person has definitely acquired the laudable achievement of Taqw? or God-consciousness. Some of us, who fast, often wait anxiously for Ramad??n to end so that we could resume our nefarious activities. Sometimes, during the fasting month Satan becomes more active than usual. Allah may use such situations to test a fasting person’s Taqw? if and when he makes his evil passion his god.

The English translation of Q.2:183 is usually expressed as “…you may develop taqw?”. Note the word “may”. There is no guaranty that a fasting person would definitely develop God-consciousness and piety or enough will power that he could guard against evil. In fact, the fasting person cannot develop Taqw? if he continues to backbite, slander, tell lies, harm others, deceive people and show malice, anger and hatred towards fellow beings. It is easy for any belittler, slanderer, tyrant or businessman who gives short measure or a miser who does not disburse Zak?t money, to starve himself during Ramadan days. But, how can such a person develop God-consciousness and divine qualities? Such a person, besides committing sins of commission and omission, may simply be wasting his time by fasting. Shall we spend a month every year, in which we starve and become thirsty, fast and eat, while our condition does not change – our rich remain rich and our poor remain as poor? Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) had warned that poverty may lead to unbelief. This is why a person who steals food while facing starvation is not to be punished according to the Shariah.

@ Imam Reza Network

Afrocentricity International condemns the destruction of historic monuments in the ancient city of Timbuktu and calls for an immediate response by the African Union to the Ansar Dine criminals who have chosen to bring their destruction to the heart of West African culture. Led by Ag Ghaly, a Tuareg nomad who converted to the Pakistani style Islam, Ansar Dine is allied to MUJUAO of Algeria and Boko Haram of Nigeria. Since it is not clear if the African Union has either the will power or the military capability to respond to the assault against one of the most sacred of African cities then we call upon the nations of Africa, acting in their capacity as regional powers, to arrest this destruction. However, we demand in the name of African people the immediate response of the African Union to this crisis!

Afrocentricity International does not believe it is the responsibility of NATO, the European Union, or the United States AFRICOM to save Africa.

Africa must save itself!

If Africa cannot save itself and will not save itself, then it cannot be saved. The rampant campaign against the monuments in the north represents another strand of death to African culture. Over the past millennium we have lost the indigenous treasures of some of the world’s greatest civilizations to the outrages of foreign religionists. They have even fought among themselves for the honor or dishonor of claiming to be better than the others who support these foreign invasions of Africa’s culture. In their attacks and assaults they have smashed everything of value, all treasures from the past, manuscripts, sculptures, evidences of ancient African art and culture, and stamped their feet on our ancestors’ graves. These are not men with a divine mission; they are pure and simple criminals whose ambition is to rule and they will use any ruse to destroy monuments and manuscripts that were created by Africans out of our own tradition. The people of Mali Africanized many of the symbols that came with invaders; they did not accept the idea that Africa was devoid of culture prior to the coming of the Arabs and whites.

Afrocentricity International looks at this situation as we have looked at other instances of this destruction to our culture. It is a political and mental war, carried on for ages against the best that is Africa, and in Mali we are seeing the latest, but not the last, attempt to ruin Africa.  As in Sudan, now in Mali, the attackers and the attacked are both Muslims. But in Mali we know that the ancient graves of the 333 saints include many African philosophers and thinkers who made the civilizations of Mali and Songhay the rivals to the world’s greatest cultures. But what do these Ansar Dine criminals do? They destroy the monuments of the greatest ancestors of African people and claim they are doing it in the name of Allah. But Allah has given them no such command; they must be condemned, captured, and brought to justice for their crimes against humanity.

The attackers who have sacked the mausoleums of Timbuktu allied themselves to the Tuareg MNLA, a group fighting to have the government recognize legitimate grievances of the northerners. Soon after the Taureg rebels seceded the northern part of Mali from the rest of the country in March 2012, the little known Ansar Dine group supposedly with support from Al Qaeda in Libya drove the secular MNLA out of Timbuktu and Gao and took over as the absolute rulers of the north. They have taken rights away from women, killed people they claim were violating the Koran, and imposed Sharia law. These Neanderthalian activities have plunged Mali deeper into the closet of ignorance than almost any other nation in Africa. Afrocentricity International blames Malian leadership for the crisis because that leadership did not practice equality, justice, and respect toward its own people and opened the door for this throwback gang of terrorists who have now laid hold to the land of Sunni Ali Ber.

Once again the crisis in Mali has proved what Afrocentricity International has always claimed that when you accept the religion and ideology of foreigners, you will end up fighting against your own interests. Indeed, the rumble in the ancient cities of Northern Mali, Timbuktu, Jenne, and Gao, is nothing more than a down payment on the problems that Africa will face in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger, Chad, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. Indeed, we have already seen this problem in Nigeria and Ivory Coast. It is yet to be resolved and will not be resolved until Africans, any Africans, some Africans, have the courage to speak up in the interest of Africa and not in the interest of Europe or the Arabs. The dilemma is real; the task is our responsibility. Afrocentricity International supports any effort to bring the crisis in Mali to an end, but we insist that the criminals who destroyed the precious historical monuments must be brought to justice. Unity is our aim; victory is our destiny!

Dr. Ama Mazama, Per-aat International

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, International Organizer

www.Afrocentricityinternational.org

July 4, 2012

There is a moment, just before a pendulum changes direction, when it is perfectly still. It is precisely that moment that marks the end of the old way and the beginning of the new. That is what happened for divestment last week in Pittsburgh.

At the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PC[USA]), the US Campaign and member groups Jewish Voice for Peace, the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, and the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice rallied to support the Israel Palestine Mission Network, also a member group, in its efforts to pass a resolution to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett Packard to protest the companies’ profiting from the Israeli occupation. The effort also included a proposal to boycott settlement products Ahava Beauty Products and Hadiklaim Israel Date Growers.

Click here to read the full account on what happened and what it means.

The roller coaster week began with an historic victory in the Middle East and Peacemaking Issues Committee considering both divestment and boycott. The committee voted overwhelmingly — by a more than 3:1 margin — to recommend both measures to the GA.

The decision followed a series of moving testimonies [click for example] from Palestinians (including Palestinian Presbyterians), other Presbyterians, Jews, and others, followed by many hours of heartfelt discussion about what it meant to stand with the oppressed, to withstand bullying, and to vote according to one’s conscience rather than what others might think.

On boycott, the committee decided that boycotting only Ahava and Hadiklaim wasn’t enough. Theyamended the overture to include boycott of “all Israeli products coming from the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” and calling on “all nations to prohibit the import of products made by enterprises in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.” The overture passed in plenary by 71%.

This is a major victory. The GA has also called for the suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel. These are the “B” and the “S” in BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions).

The boycott victory was bittersweet. I was among hundreds on the plenary floor who let out a collective gasp when a vote to substitute divestment with investment won 333 to 331. Divestment was ruled out by just one vote (a tie would have gone to considering the divestment option). One woman announced that she had accidentally voted against divestment, but by then it was too late.

Click here to read the full account on what happened in Pittsburgh.

The commissioners casting the crucial vote were split. For years, support for divestment had represented a small, albeit important, minority of the church. That day, discussion on divestment reached the end of the pendulum swing: 50/50. There’s only one way it can — and will — go now forward, towards divestment and justice.

While the commissioners were split, the majority of advisory delegates — who advise the commissioners but don’t have an official vote — voted against substituting divestment with investment. Crucially, they included the Young Adult Advisory Delegates, representing the future of the church. In addition, virtually all staff and leadership within the church have come out in support for divestment.

It can be said that the commissioners were split but the Church representation overall is for divestment.

Throughout the deliberations, it was crystal clear that the discourse has shifted. Nearly unanimous condemnation of the occupation and widespread opposition to U.S. institutional support for it has entered the highest levels of mainstream institutions. Nobody tried to defend the occupation, but only debated what should be done about it.

Ultimately the Church faced the crucial decision of whether it should listen to the voices of the oppressed (calling for divestment), or decide for themselves what is best for Palestinians (i.e. investment)? Palestinian civil society, including Christians of all denominations, is asking for divestment. In the words of Palestinian businessman Sam Bahour,

“we Palestinians don’t want a more beautiful prison to live in. We want the prison walls to come down, and that won’t happen unless pressure is placed on Israel to end the occupation.” [Click to read in full.]

The PC(USA) vote, like the United Methodist vote two months ago, garnered the attention of world, including U.S. mainstream media, showing that the BDS movement can no longer be ignored. In light of this and the recent stream of victories for divestment by major U.S. institutions, and the extraordinary success of BDS worldwide, it is clear that those defending Israel’s actions are fighting a losing battle. The pendulum is beginning to reverse and will continue to gather momentum as it swings towards justice.

The US Campaign will be there every step of the way, pushing that pendulum to keep swinging in the right direction.

By Anna Baltzer

13 July, 2012

Countercurrents.org

Anna Baltzer is national organizer for US campaign to end the Israeli occupation

Please take these actions:

1. Read the full account of what happened in Pittsburgh.

2. Watch a video from Palestinian Christians to the PC(USA) commissioners.

3. Read a global BDS wrap-up of the last two years!

4. Register for the National Organizers Conference!

It was a scene that riveted the world for weeks: The ailing Yasser Arafat, first besieged by Israeli tanks in his Ramallah compound, then shuttled to Paris, where he spent his final days undergoing a barrage of medical tests in a French military hospital.

Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.

A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.

More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.

“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute.

The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah. If tests show that Arafat’s bones contain high levels of polonium, it would be more conclusive proof that he was poisoned, doctors say.

“I know the Palestinian Authority has been trying to discover what Yasser died from,” Suha Arafat said in an interview. “And now we are helping them. We have very substantial, very important results.”

Unsupported polonium

The institute studied Arafat’s personal effects, which his widow provided to Al Jazeera, the first time they had been examined by a laboratory. Doctors did not find any traces of common heavy metals or conventional poisons, so they turned their attention to more obscure elements, including polonium.

It is a highly radioactive element used, among other things, to power spacecraft. Marie Curie discovered it in 1898, and her daughter Irene was among the first people it killed: She died of leukemia several years after an accidental polonium exposure in her laboratory.

At least two people connected with Israel’s nuclear program also reportedly died after exposure to the element, according to the limited literature on the subject.

But polonium’s most famous victim was Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy-turned-dissident who died in London in 2006 after a lingering illness. A British inquiry found that he was poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea at a sushi restaurant.

There is little scientific consensus about the symptoms of polonium poisoning, mostly because there are so few recorded cases. Litvinenko suffered severe diarrhea, weight loss, and vomiting, all of which were symptoms Arafat exhibited in the days and weeks after he initially fell ill.

Animal studies have found similar symptoms, which lingered for weeks – depending on the dosage – until the subject died. “The primary radiation target… is the gastrointestinal tract,” said an American study conducted in 1991, “activating the ‘vomiting centre’ in the brainstem.”

Scientists in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat’s belongings – in some cases, they were ten times higher than those on control subjects, random samples which were tested for comparison.

The lab’s results were reported in millibecquerels (mBq), a scientific unit used to measure radioactivity.

Polonium is present in the atmosphere, but the natural levels that accumulate on surfaces barely register, and the element disappears quickly. Polonium-210, the isotope found on Arafat’s belongings, has a half-life of 138 days, meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months. “Even in case of a poisoning similar to the Litvinenko case, only traces of the order of a few [millibecquerels] were expected to be found in [the] year 2012,” the institute noted in its report to Al Jazeera.

But Arafat’s personal effects, particularly those with bodily fluids on them, registered much higher levels of the element. His toothbrushes had polonium levels of 54mBq; the urine stain on his underwear, 180mBq. (Another man’s pair of underwear, used as a control, measured just 6.7mBq.)

Further tests, conducted over a three-month period from March until June, concluded that most of that polonium – between 60 and 80 per cent, depending on the sample – was “unsupported,” meaning that it did not come from natural sources.

‘It was a crime’

Doctors in Lausanne, and elsewhere, also ruled out a range of other possible causes for Arafat’s death, based on his original medical file, which Ms. Arafat also provided to Al Jazeera. Their examination ruled out many of the other causes of death that have been rumored over the last eight years.

“There was not liver cirrhosis, apparently no traces of cancer, no leukemia,” said Dr. Patrice Mangin, the head of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Lausanne University. “Concerning HIV, AIDS – there was no sign, and the symptomology was not suggesting these things.”

Dr. Tawfik Shaaban, a Tunisian specialist in HIV and one of the doctors who examined Arafat in his Ramallah compound, confirmed that there were no signs of the disease.

Their conclusions, of course, were based on documentation rather than firsthand examination. Doctors in Lausanne had hoped to study the blood and urine samples taken from Arafat while he was at Percy Military Hospital in France. But when she requested access, the hospital told his widow that those samples had been destroyed.

“I was not satisfied with that answer,” Ms. Arafat said. “Usually a very important person, like Yasser, they would keep traces – maybe they don’t want to be involved in it?”

Several of the doctors who treated Arafat said that they were not allowed to discuss his case – even with Ms. Arafat’s permission – because it was considered a “military secret.” And most of his onetime doctors in Cairo and Tunis refused requests for interviews as well.

With those avenues of inquiry closed, Arafat’s body itself would be the last remaining source of conclusive evidence. Exhuming it would require approval from the Palestinian Authority; shipping bone samples outside of the West Bank would require permission from the Israeli government.

Whatever the outcome, Ms. Arafat said she hopes further tests would “remove a lot of doubt” about her husband’s still-mysterious death.

“We got into this very, very painful conclusion, but at least this removes this great burden on me, on my chest,” she said. “At least I’ve done something to explain to the Palestinian people, to the Arab and Muslim generation all over the world, that it was not a natural death, it was a crime.”

A conclusive finding that Arafat was poisoned with polonium would not, of course, explain who killed him. It is a difficult element to produce, though – it requires a nuclear reactor – and the signature of the polonium in Arafat’s bones could provide some insight about its origin.

About the institute

The study of Arafat’s medical file and belongings was carried out at the University Hospital Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The university’s Centre of Legal Medicine is considered one of the best forensic pathology labs in the world.

It has studied evidence for the United Nations in East Timor and the International Criminal Court in the former Yugoslavia, and it investigated the death of Princess Diana, among other well-known personalities.

By Al Jazeera

4 July, 2012

@ Al Jazeera

US President Barack Obama has signed a secretive order authorizing US financial and military support for Syrian rebel forces, effectively taking sides in what many observers say has become a full blown civil war between the opposition forces such as the Free Syria Army and the ruling government of President Bassar al-Assad and its military.

According to Reuters, Obama’s order — known as an “intelligence finding” — was “approved earlier this year” and gives the CIA and other US agencies broad permissions to provide tactical support and funnel equipment to these opposition forces. The full extent of clandestine support that US agencies might be providing remains unclear.

Though the order stops short of authorizing the arming of rebels directly, it was noted that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey — all US allies in the region and beneficiaries of large US arms deals — are coordinating closely with US operatives and the Syrian opposition forces.

The news will not be received well by those calling for a diplomatic solution in Syria or those who caution against further US military intervention in the region.

“Syria’s war is erupting in a region still seething in the aftermath of the U.S. war in Iraq and the sectarian legacies it left behind,” says Phyllis Bennis, a director at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. “The fighting is also now taking on an increasingly sectarian form – and the danger is rising of Syria becoming the center of an expanded regional war pitting Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar against Shi’a-dominated governments in Iran and Iraq.”

US government officials also confirmed to CNN the signing of the order, but it remains unclear exactly when it was signed. The authority granted offers financial assistance, tactical advisers, and non-lethal military equipment such as satellites radios and other communication equipment.

One government source acknowledged to Reuters “that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.”

Also on Wednesday, in signs of the overt support the US government is offering the Syrian rebels, the Treasury Department confirmed it has granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, a Washington-based representative of the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the group’s behalf. That authorization was first reported last week by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website.

In addition, the US State Department has set aside $25 million for non-military assistance and $64 million for humanitarian aid, including contributions to the World Food Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies.

Reuters concludes their reporting by saying that although US and allied government experts argue that the Syrian rebels have been “making some progress against Assad’s forces lately, most believe the conflict is nowhere near resolution, and could go on for years.”

Bennis, meanwhile, argues that only through diplomacy can this war be ended. “Accountability for war crimes, whether in national or international jurisdictions, is crucial – but stopping the current escalation of war must come first,” she said.

By Common Dreams

02 August, 2012

@ CommonDreams .org

Obama authorizes secret support for Syrian rebels

Wed, Aug 1 2012 – Reuters

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said.

So, did the White House leak this patriotically, or did a whistleblower who thought we should know what crimes our dollars and names are involved in leak it treasonously? It matters, because we have to know whether to cheer or prosecute, don’t we?

Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence “finding,” broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad’s armed opponents – a shift that intensified following last month’s failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.

The development of something done secretly earlier this year or the leaking of it? If the latter, then apparently this is one of the GOOD leaks we are supposed to cheer for. Why is it that Republicans always lie and threaten and bribe to get UN (and Congressional) support, while Democrats simply act in violation of the UN (and Congress) as they see fit, and we think of this as higher standards? Of course, Reagan had to be secretive about Nicaragua, but Obama’s above that. He acts, calls it secretive, then announces it as a fait accompli.

The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.

But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad’s opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.

The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.

Ssshhh! Don’t tell anybody!

Here are the details:

‘NERVE CENTER’

A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad’s opponents.

This “nerve center” is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.

Turkey’s moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad’s departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.

European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad’s departure.

Well that’s a relief. At least they’re killing for democracy and freedom! And there’s virtually no chance of involving Iran or Israel or Russia or the United States in a major conflict.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.

NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.

On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had “not obtained any such weapons at all.” U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.

Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.

Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad’s opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have to approve a supplement, known as a “memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.

Because we have checks and balances, proper controls, the rule of law, and . . . Wait a minute. What if six months from now we’re told that he did approve a memorandum of notification and we weren’t notified?

Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.

Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it.

OVERT SUPPORT

Separately from the president’s secret order, the Obama administration has stated publicly that it is providing some backing for Assad’s opponents.

Oh, well that’s a relief. It does sound more important and unquestionable when announced as secretive though, doesn’t it?

The State Department said on Wednesday the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for “non-lethal” assistance to the Syrian opposition. A U.S. official said that was mostly for communications equipment, including encrypted radios.

The State Department also says the United States has set aside $64 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, including contributions to the World Food Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies.

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group’s behalf. The authorization was first reported on Friday by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website.

Well, this is all OK. It’s not as if giving money to people fighting a war and desiring weapons could help them get weapons.

Last year, when rebels began organizing themselves to challenge the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Obama also signed an initial “finding” broadly authorizing secret U.S. backing for them. But the president moved cautiously in authorizing specific measures to support them.

Well, I for one am glad he was cautious. Considering how many were killed and are still being killed in the disaster known as Libya, just imagine if our leader had not been so cautious!

Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad’s opponents.

Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups.

Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad’s opponents.

U.S. and European officials say that, so far, intelligence agencies do not believe the militants’ role in the anti-Assad opposition is dominant.

Actually, they don’t even hold a 49% stake, so this is not an al Qaeda operation at all!

While U.S. and allied government experts believe that the Syrian rebels have been making some progress against Assad’s forces lately, most believe the conflict is nowhere near resolution, and could go on for years.

Not a problem. We’re patient. Carry on. No hurry! How’s Afghanistan going?

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Warren Strobel and Peter Cooney)

By David Swanson

01 August, 2012

@ Warisacrime.org

David Swanson’s books include ” War Is A Lie .” He blogs at http://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works for the online activist organization http://rootsaction.org . He hosts Talk Nation Radio . Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook .

“As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan.” Former Nato Commander General Wesley Clark

“Let me say to the soldiers and officials still supporting the Syrian regime — the Syrian people will remember the choices you make in the coming days….” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Friends of Syria conference in Paris’ July 7, 2012

( Russian warships enter the Med, bound for Syria – timesofmalta.com, July 24, 2012)

While confrontation between Russia and the West was, until recently, confined to the polite ambit of international diplomacy, within the confines of the UN Nations Security Council, an uncertain and perilous situation is now unfolding in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Allied forces including intelligence operatives and special forces have reinforced their presence on the ground in Syria following the UN stalemate. Meanwhile, coinciding with the UN Security Council deadlock, Moscow has dispatched to the Mediterranean a flotilla of ten Russian warships and escort vessels led by the Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine destroyer. Russia’s flotilla is currently stationed off the Southern Syrian coastline.

Back in August of last year, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin warned that “NATO is planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad with a long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran,…” In relation to the current naval deployment, Russia’s navy chief, Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, confirmed, however, that while the [Russian] flotilla was carrying marines, the warships would “not be engaged in Syria Tasks”. “The ships will perform “planned military manoeuvres”, said the [Russian Defense] ministry”

The US-NATO alliance has retorted to Russia’s naval initiative, with a much larger naval deployment, a formidable Western armada, consisting of British, French and American warships, slated to be deployed later this Summer in the Eastern Mediterranean, leading to a potential “Cold War style confrontation” between Russian and Western naval forces.

Meanwhile, US-NATO military planners have announced that various “military options” and “intervention scenarios” are being contemplated in the wake of the Russian-Chinese veto in the UN Security Council.

The planned naval deployment is coordinated with allied ground operations in support of the US-NATO sponsored “Free Syrian Army”(FSA). In this regard, US-NATO has speeded up the recruitment of foreign fighters trained in Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

France and Britain will be participating later this Summer in war games codenamed Exercise Cougar 12 [2012]. The games will be conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a Franco-British “Response Force Task Group” involving Britain’s HMS Bulwark and France’s Charles De Gaulle carrier battle group. The focus of these naval exercises will be on amphibious operations involving the (planned simulated) landing ashore of troops on “enemy territory”.

Smokescreen: The Proposed Evacuation of Western Nationals “Using a Humanitarian Naval Fleet of WMDs”

Barely mentioned by the mainstream media, the warships involved in the Cougar 12 naval exercise will also participate in the planned evacuation of “British nationals from the Middle East, should the ongoing conflict in Syria further spill across borders into neighboring Lebanon and Jordan.”:

The British would likely send the HMS Illustrious, a helicopter carrier, along with the HMS Bulwark, an amphibious ship, as well as an advanced destroyer to provide defenses for the task force. On board will be several hundred Royal Marine commandos, as well as a complement of AH-64 attack helicopters (the same ones used in Libya last year). A fleet of French ships, including the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, carrying a complement of Rafale fighter aircraft, are expected to join them.

Those forces are expected stay offshore and could escort specially chartered civilian ships meant to pick up foreign nationals fleeing Syria and surrounding countries. (ibtimes.com, 24 July 2012).

Sources in the British Ministry of Defense, while confirming the Royal Navy’s “humanitarian mandate” in the planned evacuation program, have categorically denied “any intention of a combat role for British forces [against Syria]”.

The evacuation plan using the most advanced military hardware including the HMS Bulwark, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier is an obvious smokescreen. The not so hidden agenda is military threat and intimidation directed against a sovereign nation located in the historical cradle of civilization in Mespotamia:

“The Charles De Gaulle alone is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with an entire squadron of jets more advanced than anything the Syrians have — is sparking speculation that those forces could become involved in a NATO operation against Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad…

The HMS Illustrious, which is currently sitting on the Thames in central London, will likely only be sent to the region after the end of the Olympics.” (Ibid)

This impressive deployment of Franco-British naval power could also include the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier, which is to be sent back to the Middle East:

[On July 16, 2912], the Pentagon also confirmed that it would be redeploying the USS John C. Stennis, a nuclear-powered supercarrier capable of carrying 90 aircraft, to the Middle East… The Stennis would be arriving in the region with an advanced missile-launching cruiser, …. The carrier USS Eisenhower is already expected to be in the Middle East by that time (two carriers currently in the region are to be relieved and sent back to the U.S.).

Amid unpredictable situations in both Syria and Iran, that would have left U.S. forces stretched and overly burdened if a firm military response were needed in either circumstance. (Ibid, emphasis added)

The USS Stennis strike group is to be sent back to the Middle East “by an unspecified date in the late summer” to be deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility:

“The Defense Department said that the early deployment had come from a request made by Marine Corps General James N. Mattis, the commander for Central Command (the U.S. military authority area that covers the Middle East), partly out of concern that there would be a short period where only one carrier would be located in the region.” ((Strike group headed to Central Command early – Stripes Central – Stripes, July 16, 2012)

Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, “asked to move up the strike group’s deployment based on “a range of factors,” and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved it”… (Ibid)

A Pentagon spokesman stated that the deployment shift of the USS Stennis strike group pertained to “a wide range of U.S. security interests in the region”. “We’re always mindful of the challenges posed by Iran. Let me be very clear: This is not a decision that is based solely on the challenges posed by Iran, … ” This is not about any one particular country or one particular threat.” intimating that Syria was also part of planned deployment. (Ibid, emphasis added)

“Intervention Scenarios”

This massive deployment of naval power is an act of coercion with a view to terrorizing the Syrian people. The threat of military intervention purports to destabilize Syria as a nation state as well as confront and weaken Russia’s role in brokering the Syrian crisis.

The UN diplomatic game is at an impasse. The UN Security Council is defunct. The transition is towards Twenty-first Century “Warship Diplomacy”.

While an all out allied military operation directed against Syria is not “officially” contemplated, military planners are currently involved in preparing various “intervention scenarios”:

‘Western political leaders may have no appetite for deeper intervention. But as history has shown, we do not always choose which wars to fight – sometimes wars choose us. ‘Military planners have a responsibility to prepare for intervention options in Syria for their political masters in case this conflict

chooses them. ‘Preparation will be proceeding today in several Western capitals and on the ground in Syria and in Turkey. ‘Up to the point of Assad’s collapse, we are most likely to see a continuation or intensification of the under-the-radar options of financial support, arming and advising the rebels, clandestine operations and perhaps cyber warfare from the West. ‘After any collapse, however, the military options will be seen in a different light.’ (Daily Mail, July 24, 2012, emphasis added)

Concluding Remarks

The World is at a dangerous crossroads.

The shape of this planned naval deployment in the Eastern Mediterranean with US-NATO warships contiguous to those of Russia is unprecedented in recent history.

History tells us that wars are often triggered unexpectedly as a result of “political mistakes” and human error. The latter are all the more likely within the realm of a divisive and corrupt political system in the US and Western Europe.

US-NATO military planning is overseen by a centralised military hierarchy. Command and Control operations are in theory “coordinated” but in practice they are often marked by human error. Intelligence operatives often function independently and outside the realm of political accountability.

Military planners are acutely aware of the dangers of escalation. Syria has significant air defense capabilities as well as ground forces. Syria has been building up its air defense system with the delivery of Russian Pantsir S1 air-defense missiles.

Any form of US-NATO direct military intervention against Syria would destabilize the entire region, potentially leading to escalation over a vast geographical area, extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with Tajikistan and China.

Military planning involves intricate scenarios and war games by both sides including military options pertaining to advanced weapons systems. A Third World War scenario has been contemplated by US-NATO-Israeli military planners since early 2000.

Escalation is an integral part of the military agenda. War preparations to attack Syria and Iran have been in “an advanced state of readiness” for several years.

We are dealing with complex political and strategic decision-making involving the interplay of powerful economic interest groups, the actions of covert intelligence operatives.

The role of war propaganda is paramount not only in moulding public opinion into accepting a war agenda, but also in establishing a consensus within the upper echelons of the decision-making process. A selective form of war propaganda intended for “Top Officials” (TOPOFF) in government agencies, intelligence, the Military, law enforcement, etc. is intended to create an unbending consensus in favor of War and the Police State.

For the war project to go ahead, it is essential that both politicians and military planners are rightfully committed to leading the war “in the name of justice and democracy”. For this to occur, they must firmly believe in their own propaganda, namely that war is “an instrument of peace and democracy”.

They have no concern for the devastating impacts of advanced weapons systems, routinely categorized as “collateral damage”, let alone the meaning and significance of pre-emptive warfare, using nuclear weapons.

Wars are invariably decided upon by civilian leaders and interest groups rather than by the military. War serves dominant economic interests which operate from behind the scenes, behind closed doors in corporate boardrooms, in the Washington think tanks, etc.

Realities are turned upside down. War is peace. The Lie becomes the Truth.

War propaganda, namely media lies, constitutes the most powerful instrument of warfare.

Without media disinformation, the US-NATO led war agenda would collapse like a deck of cards. The legitimacy of the war criminals in high office would be broken.

It is therefore essential to disarm not only the mainstream media but also a segment of the self proclaimed “progressive” alternative media, which has provided legitimacy to NATO’s “Responsibility to protect” (R2P) mandate, largely with a view to dismantling the antiwar movement.

The road to Tehran goes through Damascus. A US-NATO sponsored war on Iran would involve, as a first step, the destabilization of Syria as a nation state. Military planning pertaining to Syria is an integral part of the war on Iran agenda.

A war on Syria could evolve towards a US-NATO military campaign directed against Iran, in which Turkey and Israel would be directly involved.

It is crucial to spread the word and break the channels of media disinformation.

A critical and unbiased understanding of what is happening in Syria is of crucial importance in reversing the tide of military escalation towards a broader regional war.

Our objective is ultimately to dismantle the US-NATO-Israeli military arsenal and restore World Peace.

It is essential that people in the UK, France and the US prevent “the late Summer” naval WMD deployment to the Eastern Mediterraean from occurring.

It is essential that people in the UK, France and the US prevent “the late Summer” naval WMD deployment to the Eastern Mediterraean from occurring.

The British Ministry of Defense has announced that several British warships are required “to ensure the security” of the Olympic Games. HMS Bulwark is stationed in Weymouth Bay for the duration of the games. HMS Illustrious is “currently sitting on the Thames in central London”. The deployment of British

warships including HMS Bulwark and HMS Illustrious to the Middle East is envisaged “after” the Olympic Games.

By Michel Chossudovsky

02 August, 2012

@ Globalresearch.ca

Michel Chossudovsky is professor of economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa. Chossudovsky has been a visiting professor internationally, and has been an advisor to governments of developing countries. In 1999, Chossudovsky joined the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research as an adviser. Chossudovsky is a signatory of the Kuala Lumpur declaration to criminalize war. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005) and Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011). He is the President and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Editor of GlobalResearch.ca

Email: crgeditor@yahoo.com