Archives: Articles

By William Blum

13 October, 2012

@ Killinghope.org

“Nuclear, ecological, chemical, economic — our arsenal of Death by Stupidity is impressive for a species as smart as Homo sapiens”

The hurricanes, the typhoons, the heat waves … the droughts, the heavy rains, the floods … ever more powerful, ever new records being set. Something must be done of course. Except if you don’t believe at all that it’s man-made. But if there’s even a small chance that the greenhouse effect is driving the changes, is it not plain that, at a minimum, we have to err on the side of caution? There’s too much at stake. Like civilization as we know it. Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere must be greatly curtailed.

The three greatest problems facing the beleaguered, fragile inhabitants of this lonely planet are climate change, economic crisis, and the violence of war. It is my sad duty to report that the United States of America is the main culprit in each case. Is that not remarkable?

Why does Barack Obama not pursue the battle against climate change with the same intensity he pursues war? Why does he not seek to punish the American bankers and stockbrokers responsible for the financial calamity as much as he seeks to punish Julian Assange and Bradley Manning?

In both cases he’s putting the interests of the corporate world before anything else. No amount of fines or penalties will induce corporate leaders to modify their behavior. Only spending some hard time in a prison cellblock might cause the growth in them of their missing part, the part that’s shaped like a social conscience.

Only prosecuting George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and their partners in bombing and torture will discourage future American war lovers from following in their bloody footsteps.

The recent election result can only embolden Obama. He likely took it as an affirmation of his policies, although only 29.3% of those eligible to vote actually voted for him. And an unknown, but certainly significant, number of those who did so held their nose while voting for the supposed lesser of two evils. Hardly indicative of impassioned support for his policies.

Last week the United Nations Climate Summit was held in Doha, Qatar. The comments which came from many of the activists (as opposed to various government officials) were doomsdayish … “Time is running out … time has already run out … the climate has already changed … Hurricane Sandy, rising sea levels, the worst is yet to come.” The Kyoto protocol is still the only international treaty stipulating cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a touchstone for many environmentalists. But the United States has never ratified it. At the previous conferences in Copenhagen and Durban, the US blocked important global action and failed to honor vital pledges.

At the Doha conference the US was acutely criticized for failing to take the lead on planet protection, especially in light of its standing as the largest historic contributor to the current levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. (“The most obdurate bully in the room”, declared the Indian environmentalist, Sunita Narain. 2)

What motivates the American representatives, now as before, as ever, is concern about corporate profits. Cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions can hurt the bottom line. A suitable epitaph for the earth’s tombstone. Shamus Cooke, writing on ZSpace, sums it up well: “Thus, if renewable energy is not as profitable as oil — and it isn’t — then the majority of capitalist investing will continue to go towards destroying the planet. It really is that simple. Even the best-intentioned capitalists do not throw their money away on non-growth investments.”

A brief history of Superpowers

From the Congress of Vienna of 1815 to the Congress of Berlin in 1878 to the “Allies” invasion of Russia in 1918 to the formation of what became the European Union in the 1950s, the great powers of Europe and the world have gotten together in grand meeting halls and on the field of battle to set the ground rules for imperialist exploitation of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia, to Christianize and ‘civilize’, to remake the maps, and to suppress revolutions and other threats to great-power hegemony. They have been deadly serious. In 1918, for example, some 13 nations, including France, Great Britain, Rumania, Italy, Serbia, Greece, Japan, and the United States, combined in a military invasion of Russia to “strangle at its birth” the nascent Bolshevik state, as Winston Churchill so charmingly put it.

And following World War 2, without any concern about who had fought and died to win that war, the Western powers, sans the Soviet Union, moved to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO, along with the European Union, then joined the United States in carrying out the Cold War and preventing the Communists and their allies from coming to power legally through elections in France and Italy. That partnership continued after the formal end of the Cold War. The United States, the European Union, and NATO are each superpowers, with extensive military, as well as foreign policy integration — almost all EU members are also members of NATO; almost all NATO members in Europe are in the EU; almost all NATO members have had a military contingent serving under NATO and/or the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and elsewhere.

Together, this Holy Triumvirate has torn apart Yugoslavia, invaded and devastated Afghanistan and Iraq, crippled Iran, Cuba and others with sanctions, overthrown the Libyan government, and are on the verge now of the same in Syria. Much of what the Triumvirate has told the world to justify this wanton havoc has concerned Islamic terrorism, but it should be noted that prior to the interventions in Iraq, Libya and Syria all three countries were secular and modern. Will the people of those sad lands ever see that life again?

In suppressing the left in France and Italy, and later in destabilizing the governments of Libya and Syria, the Holy Triumvirate has closely aligned itself with terrorists and terrorist methods to a remarkable extent. 3 In Syria alone, it would be difficult to name any Middle East terrorist group associated with al Qaeda — employing their standard car bombings and suicide bombers — that is not taking part in the war against President Assad with the support of the Triumvirate. Is there anything — legally or morally — the Triumvirate regards as outside its purview? Any place not within its geographical mandate? Britain and France have now joined Turkey and Arabian Peninsula states in recognizing a newly formed opposition bloc as the sole representative of the Syrian people. “From the point of view of international law, this is absolutely unacceptable,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev declared. “A desire to change the political regime of another state by recognizing a political force as the sole carrier of sovereignty seems to me to be not completely civilised.” France was the first Western state to recognize the newly-formed Syrian National Coalition and was swiftly joined by Britain, Italy and the European Union. 4 The neck irons tighten.

The European Union in recent years has been facing a financial crisis, where its overriding concern has been to save the banks, not its citizens, inspiring calls from the citizenry of some member states to leave the Union. I think the dissolution of the European Union would benefit world peace by depriving the US/NATO mob of a guaranteed partner in crime by returning to the Union’s members their individual discretion in foreign policy.

And then we can turn to getting rid of NATO, an organization that not only has a questionable raison d’être in the present, but never had any good reason-to-be in the past other than serving as Washington’s hit man. 5

The United Nations vote on the Cuba embargo — 21 years in a row

For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling Cuba an “international pariah”. We don’t hear that any more. Perhaps one reason is the annual vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the resolution which reads: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. This is how the vote has gone (not including abstentions):

Each fall the UN vote is a welcome reminder that the world has not completely lost its senses and that the American empire does not completely control the opinion of other governments.

How it began: On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, wrote in an internal memorandum: “The majority of Cubans support Castro … The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. … every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba.” Mallory proposed “a line of action which … makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” 6 Later that year, the Eisenhower administration instituted the suffocating embargo against its eternally-declared enemy.

Placing American presidents in their proper context

“Once upon a time there was a radical president who tried to remake American society through government action. In his first term he created a vast network of federal grants to state and local governments for social programs that cost billions. He set up an imposing agency to regulate air and water emissions, and another to regulate workers’ health and safety. Had Congress not stood in his way he would have gone much further. He tried to establish a guaranteed minimum income for all working families and, to top it off, proposed a national health plan that would have provided government insurance for low-income families, required employers to cover all their workers and set standards for private insurance. Thankfully for the country, his second term was cut short and his collectivist dreams were never realize.

His name was Richard Nixon.” 7

Films on US foreign policy

The Power Principle is a series of three films by Scott Noble. Part one, “Empire”, is the only one I’ve seen completely so far and I can say that it’s great stuff. The three parts, with their times, are:

Part 1: Empire (1h 35m)

Part 2: Propaganda (1h 38m)

Part 3: Apocalypse (1h 10m)

Featured in the films are Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Stockwell, Christopher Simpson, Ralph McGehee, Philip Agee, Nafeez Ahmed, John Perkins, James Petras, John Stauber, Russ Baker, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Nancy Snow, William I. Robinson, Morris Berman, Peter Phillips, Michael Albert, and others of the usual suspects.

To comment about these films or others by Scott Noble, write to him at dmacab9@hotmail.com

Much more publicized is the new film and book by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Entitled The Untold History of the United States, it is a 10-part series appearing on Showtime. Only Stone’s name could get this dark side of US history and foreign policy on mainstream television. It will be interesting to observe what the mass media has to say about this challenge to some of America’s most cherished beliefs about itself.

Notes

1. Jeanette Winterson, The New York Times, September 17, 2009 ↩

2. Democracy Now!, December 7, 2012 ↩

3. For France and Italy, see Operation Gladio Wikipedia; and Daniele Ganser, Operation Gladio: NATO’s Top Secret Stay-Behind Armies and Terrorism in Western Europe (2005) ↩

4. Agence France Presse, November 26, 2012↩

5. For the best coverage of the NATO monolith, sign up with StopNATO. To get on the mailing list write to Rick Rozoff at r_rozoff@yahoo.com. To see back issues at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato ↩

6. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, Volume VI, Cuba (1991), p.885 ↩

7. From the review of the book: I am the change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism by Charles Kesler. Review by Mark Lilla, The New York Times Book Review, September 30, 2012, p.1 ↩

William Blum is the author of:

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2

Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower

West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir

Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org

Email: bblum6 [at] aol.com

By David Swanson

12 October, 2012

@ Warisacrime.org

Yes, indeed, it is a little-acknowledged feat of miraculous life-saving power that Europe has not gone to war with itself — other than that whole Yugoslavia thing — since World War II.  It’s as clear a demonstration as anything that people can choose to stop fighting.  It’s a testament to the pre-war peace efforts that criminalized war , the post-war prosecutions of the brand new crime of making war, the reconstruction of the Marshall Plan, and … and something else a little less noble, and much less Nobel-worthy.

Alfred Nobel’s will, written in 1895, left funding for a prize to be awarded to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Fredrik Heffermehl has been leading a valuable effort to compel the Nobel committee to abide by the will . Now they’ve outdone themselves in their movement in the other direction.

Europe is not a person.  It has not during the past year — which is the requirement — or even during the past several decades done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations.  Ask Libya.  Ask Syria.  Check with Afghanistan.  See what Iraq thinks.  Far from doing the best work to abolish or reduce standing armies, Europe has joined with the United States in developing an armed global force aggressively imposing its will on the world.

There were good nominees and potential nominees available, even great ones .

Now the Nobelites have almost guaranteed themselves a second-ever pro-war peace-prize acceptance speech.  If you don’t recall who gave the first one, I’ll tell you after the U.S. election when you might be better able to hear me.

What a disgrace that the Nobel peace prize needs alternative awards that don’t go to warmongers.  What a further shame that even those don’t always go to people who measure up to Nobel’s will.

Was Nobel asking so much really when he asked that a prize go to whoever did the best work toward abolishing war?

The West is so in love with itself that many will imagine this award a success.  Surely Europe not going to war with itself is more important that Europe going to war with the rest of the world!  Imagine how many white people might have died if Europe had kept its warmaking to itself.  By directing the threat of war outward and engaging in humanitarian wars and philanthropic wars, Europe has taken us beyond naive war abolition and into an era of powerful possibilities. Oh, and some dark people died.  But we’re looking at the Big Picture.

Does this not frighten anyone?

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

By Anshul Kumar Pandey

12 October, 2012

@Countercurrents.org

The attack on Malala Yousufzai shows the cowardice of the self appointed guardians of Islam and the power of the pen in an increasingly connected world

On Tuesday, the 9th of October, as Malala Yousufzai sat in her school bus in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area of Pakistan, chatting with her friends and looking forward to returning her home, she had no idea that soon she would be lying in a hospital bed battling for her life. The Taliban, which have been vociferously opposed to the education of girls in the Islamic Republic, soon stopped her bus, identified her and shot her in the head. What was the need to identify her? It so happened that it was Malala who had been at the forefront of the campaign opposing the Taliban diktat of prohibiting girls from attending schools. In a country whose politicians and media think twice before writing or speaking anything against the Taliban, Malala Yousufzai, at the tender age of 11, had made her views crystal clear by writing an online diary for the BBC’s Urdu Service, describing the horrors of living under the Taliban. This had made her the principal eyesore for the Taliban.

Many people wonder and applaud the courage of young Malala on taking on the Taliban by their horns. It would not be an exaggeration to say that some of this courage is ingrained in the very existence of everyone living under the diktats of religious fascists, the core difference being the urge to action, a complete refusal to kow tow to the nonsensical and completely misogynist orders of power weilders and an unflinching commitment to fight against the greatest of the odds. It is no wonder then, that Malala owes her name to Malala Maiwand, a Pashtun poet and a national folk hero in Afghanistan, who rallied the Pashtun army against the British troops in 1880 in the Battle of Maiwand. Times were bleak then, times are bleaker now.

The question that is swirling in the minds of every Pakistani, nay, every person who loves free speech, equality in education and a right to normal childhood is what will it take to stop these spate of shootings, blasts and suicide bombings that have wrecked normal livelihood in Pakistan? Clearly, the strategy of appeasing the Taliban by bowing down to their every ridiculous order, bending over backwards to fulfill their every demand and maintaining a silence closely resembling stupidity and utter cowardice, hasn’t worked at all. It has only made the mad men to sling their Kalashnikovs or AK-47s with more vigor and has given them the authority, an authority gained by fear and terror, to point their guns in any direction and shoot.

Malala is no idealogue. Neither is she a demagogue capable of pulling crowds numbering in thousands. She is just an ordinary schoolgirl who has dared to scribble question marks on the sheets of the history of a nation which are soaked with blood. It did not take her a reserve of herculean strength to oppose the Taliban. It just took her a simple pen, or a keyboard, to start writing how she felt, what she saw, what she believed in. It was the strength of her belief, the strength of her courage, the strength of her resistance, that shook the high pedestals that the Taliban occupied. For if there is any sworn enemy to the crushing wheels of tyranny, it is the spanner of inquisitiveness.

In pointing fingers to the religious dictatorship of Taleban and the utter mayhem that has engulfed her once beautiful valley, Malala put all the apologists of such events to shame. Even as she lies in her hospital bed battling the now familiar forces of death, the entire world celebrates her courage, her determination and her sheer will to wage a battle. Her name means the one who is grief stricken, and yet, it is the people world over who are grief stricken at this assassination attempt.

It was with acute aptness that the New York Times interpreted this attack:

Malala was advocating the ideology of love. She was a young ambassador of peace. By attacking her, the Taliban attempted to warn all the youngsters not to follow her ideology. But after the attack, Malala’s followers have multiplied across the country. She has won. (1)

In Malala’s victory, lies the self inflicted disgraceful humiliation of the Taliban.

Notes:

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/opinion/malala-has-won.html?_r=0

Anshul Kumar Pandey is the Editor at Large of Youth Ki Awaaz: Mouthpiece for the Youth. He can be contacted at anhulkumarpandey [at] gmail [dot] com.

By Dr. Thorsten Pattberg

12 October, 2012

Few people realize that the Bible discourages people from studying foreign languages. The story of the tower of Babel informs us that there is one humanity (God’s one), only that “our languages are confused”. From a European historical perspective, that has always meant that, say, any German philosopher could know exactly what the Chinese people were thinking, only that he couldn’t understand them. So instead of learning the foreign language, he demanded a translation.

Coincidentally, or maybe not quite so, History with a capital ‘H’ followed the Bible. At the time of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, when German scholars still spoke Latin, the German logician Christian Wolff got his hands on a Latin translation of the Confucian Classics. His reaction, I think, is as funny as it is disturbing: He reads Kongzi in Latin and says something like “Great, that looks very familiar, I have the feeling that I totally understand this Confucius!”.

Wolff was so overjoyous with his new mental powers, that he went on to lecture about the Chinese as if he was the king of China. It’s brilliant; if it wasn’t so comical. Among his unforgettable findings were ‘The Motives of the Chinese’, or ‘The Final Purpose of the Chinese’, and so on.

And, of course, when somebody occasionally asked master Wolff why he didn’t visit China, the greatest sinologist of all time played out his greatest intellectual triumph. He replied that “the wisdom of the Chinese was generally not so highly valued that it was necessary to travel there for its sake”.

It’s thus pretty much established, I think, that History stopped with this Wolff, or at least got too tired and too cynical. He sufficiently demonstrated that just about any European could become a ‘China expert’ without knowing a single Chinese terminology.

Since this was true for just about any foreign language; so now we know why the German philosopher Immanuel Kant could reasonably announce the ‘End of All Things’, and Georg Hegel could proclaim the ‘End of History’. Both learned men knew very well that they hadn’t mastered any non-European language in their life-time; and they simply assumed that History was a bit like that too.

This attitude in the Western hemisphere has never changed, with the effect that we live in a crazy world today. Most Europeans believe that the Chinese “speak their languages”, only that they “talk” in Chinese. Take the case of ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’. You may have considered this, but those are European words and do not exist in China at all. Imagine China would return a favor and demand from Europe more wenming and tian ren he yi.

The European attitude is reflected in its translations. Most Westerners simply translate every Chinese key concept into convenient biblical or philosophical terminology. As a result, the Western image of China is literal Chinese-free.

Translation, of course, is an old human habit. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question it. It was our habit to slay our opponents in battle, but we don’t do that any more (except in Afghanistan and Iraq). Why do we still destroy foreign key vocabulary? Well, we first do so, I think, for sociological reasons. If Germany censors all important foreign terminologies, the German public is lead to think it alone knows everything there is to be known in the world, and – metaphorically speaking – behaves like it. That’s why Germany has produced so many “world historians” and “philosophers” like Georg Hegel, Max Weber or Karl Marx.

Academics call it deutungshoheit – meaning having the sovereignty over the definition of thought.

It might sound very depressing, but truth must be told: the West knows little about China, and Cultural China has never become a truly global > phenomenon. Not a single one percent of the educated European citizenry, in my estimation, knows what ruxue is, or a junzi or shengren. And those are some of the most important Chinese concepts there ever were.

Some commentators have argued with me that we need a ‘Global language’, and today’s English is the best candidate. To this I reply, are you crazy, that’s exactly what the Germans once did; now it’s the Anglo-Saxons who close their ‘History’ book and say “we already know you”. No, the true ‘Global language’ would be radically different from today’s English, it would need to adopt the originality and the tens of thousands of words provided by humankind’s other language traditions on top of it.

Every language learner has this from time to time: a subconscious certainty that something is lost in translation, every time, without exception.

Maybe there is a hidden flaw in the story of the tower of Babel. What if our languages are not confused at all, but any single group of human beings were just never enough in numbers to explore all the world’s possibilities? What if the Chinese had invented things – and named them daxue, datong, wenming, tian ren he yi and so on – that no American has ever thought of this way, just as it always has been – I think we agree on this- the other way round.

It is often said that language is the key to understanding China’s culture and tradition.

The question is, which one should it be.

Dr. Thorsten Pattberg is a German scholar at The Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. Versions of this article have been published by Shanghai Daily and Asia Times in October 2012.

Foreign and Expatriates Ministry: The Syrian Civilian Aircraft Forced to Land in Ankara Airport Carry No Weapons Onboard

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_Foreign and Expatriates Ministry stressed that “In relation to the Turkish authorities which forced a Syrian civilian plane to land in Ankara Airport and searched it before allowing it to take off, there were no prohibited goods onboard.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry said that the Syrian plane took off from Moscow Airport yesterday at 14:26 pm with a number of Syrian and Russian passengers onboard. After entering the Turkish air space, and at 17:20 pm, the Turkish authorities addressed the pilot to modify the GPS data and gave him illogical GPS that is different from the pre-set flight course. Then, suddenly and without warning, the pilot noticed that Turkish warplanes accompanied him and forced him to land in Ankara Airport. After landing, nobody approached the plane till two hours later.

Passengers were asked to go to the waiting hall after which the Turkish security authorities subjected the plane to search and assaulted the plane crew, not to mention locking the contents of the plane for long hours, in addition to having reservations on some contents for inspection. The Syrian plane arrived in Damascus Airport today at dawn.

It is a must here to clarify the fact that the plane contents were already listed on the bill of lading and the payload, the ministry said, adding that the plane was carrying no weapons or prohibited goods in accordance with the unblemished international reputation of the Syrian Arab Airlines.

The ministry added that the Syrian government calls upon the Turkish authorities to return the rest of the plane’s contents intact.

The ministry said there might be articles in the international laws and agreements that allow a state to search planes passing through its airspace, but the problem is the Turkish government’s flagrant violation of these laws and agreements through forcing the plane to land despite the fact that the pilot did not refuse to modify the flight course which exposed the safety of the plane and the passengers to threats because of the sudden appearance of the Turkish warplanes without warning, not to mention the inhuman locking the civilian passengers for many hours and assaulting the crew.

The ministry considered the hostile Turkish behavior an additional evidence on the aggressive policy adopted by Erdogan’s government taking into account the training, harboring and facilitating infiltration through its borders and bombing the Syrian territories.

The Ministry concluded that despite the condemned hostile behavior of the Turkish government, this will not affect our commitment to the friendship relations between the Syrian and Turkish peoples which are greater and much more important than any government.

Foreign and Expatriates Ministry: Media Reports on the Syrian Air Force Intercepting a Turkish Commercial Plane Baseless

The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said that some media reports claiming that the Syrian air force intercepted on Thursday a Turkish commercial plane that took off from Beirut and crossed the Syrian airspace are completely baseless.

The ministry said in a statement that the Syrian authorities did not intercept any Turkish civilian or commercial plane.

Syrian Passenger Plane, Forced to Land by Turkish Authorities in Ankara Airport, Arrives in Damascus

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The Syrian Airbus 320 passenger plane coming from Moscow, which was forced by the Turkish authorities to land in Ankara Airport on Wednesday, arrived in Damascus at 05:10 am Thursday dawn.

Director of the Syrian Arab Airlines, Ghaida Abdullatif, stressed in a statement to SANA that the Turkish authorities assaulted the crew before allowing the plane to take off from Ankara Airport because the crew members refused to sign a document saying that the plane made an emergency landing.

“Turkish F-16 warplanes forced the Syrian plane to land to be searched, doing so in violation of the international procedures in terms of not formerly notifying neither its pilot nor the Turkish civil airline, which almost caused an air accident due to warplanes coming close at an uncalculated distance,” said Abdullatif.

She stressed that the Syrian plane was not carrying any illegal materials and that the cargo was in compliance with the international laws and systems having a legal bill of landing.

Abdullatif assured that all the passengers are in a good health condition, however suffering a very bad psychological state.

The Director of the Syrian Arab Airlines considered what happened as “an inhumane act” that indicates a flaw in dealing with the rules and laws stated in the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

“Added to that,” Abdullatif said, “the long hours during which the passengers were locked without being provided any services or even informed of what was going on, which left them in a state of panic and a very bad psychological condition.”

She noted that the Syrian Arab Airlines will file a protest to the International Union of Aviation and the Arab Aviation Union as well as all the international and humanitarian organizations against the inhumane treatment the plane’s crew and passengers were subjected to.

She called for separating the political side from the civil aviation in all countries of the world as the civil aviation is a way of communication among peoples.

Russia Asks Turkey for Explanation

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its concern over the risks which the passengers of the Syrian plane, including 17 Russians, were subjected to being locked for 8 hours on board.

A statement by the Ministry on Thursday stressed that the Turkish side did not inform the Russian Embassy in Ankara of the presence of Russian citizens on board the plane, adding that “we only knew about that through electronic media.”

The statement said Russian consulate staff and a doctor were denied permission to see the Russian passengers without giving explanations despite the Russian Embassy’s asking for permission from the Turkish authorities.

“This came in violation of the bilateral consular agreements,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement, stressing that the Russian passengers were not allowed over 8 hours to come down to the Airport building and were not provided any food, as they were only given permission to go down to the Airport land for a short while.

The statement stressed that the Russian side insists on getting an explanation of such acts by the Turkish authorities towards the Russian citizens and on taking measures that prevent the repetition of such incidents in the future.

A source at the Ministry also said the Russian Embassy in Ankara immediately called the Turkish Foreign Ministry and asked for an explanation about what the Syrian plane was subjected to in the course of its flight from Moscow to Damascus, calling upon the Turkish authorities to assume their responsibilities for the safety of the Russian passengers who were on board.

In the same context, a high-ranking source at a Russian weapons export institution dismissed the existence of any type of weapons or military technology devices and systems on board the Syrian plane.

The source highlighted that “Russia has not halted its cooperation in the field of military technologies with Syria and will provide Syria with any type of military technologies in case of need according to the rules followed and not secretly, particularly via a passenger plane.”

Diplomatic Source in Moscow: Russia’s Ambassador in Ankara Visited Turkish Foreign Ministry Concerning the Syrian Civilian Aircraft Incident

A diplomatic source in Moscow announced on Thursday that the Russian ambassador in Ankara visited the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

The source indicated that the visit was related to the incident of forcing the Syrian civilian aircraft to land in Ankara airport, which in fact was on a regular flight from Moscow to Damascus with 17 Russian passengers on board, among them 7 children.

The Russian authorities expressed concern over the incident, considering that it threatened its nationals and was a violation of international conventions in treating civilian passengers.

There have been no further information on the visit of the Russian ambassador.

Foreign and Expatriates Ministry stressed in a statement earlier in the day that the Syrian civilian aircraft was carrying no weapons or prohibited goods, considering the hostile Turkish behavior an additional evidence on the aggressive policy adopted by Erdogan’s government, taking into account the training, harboring and facilitating infiltration through its borders and bombing the Syrian territories.

Information Ministry: Syrian Plane  Carried no Ammunitions or Military Equipment

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Information Ministry on Thursday stressed that the Syrian plane which was forced by the Turkish warplanes to land in Ankara did not carry any ammunitions or military equipment.

In a statement, the Ministry said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement in which he claimed that the Syrian plane carried ammunition and an ‘illegal’ cargo lack credibility, adding that he should show the equipment and ammunition to prove what he said before his people.

Earlier, the Expatriates and Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Syrian civil plane did not carry any sort of weapons or government goods. the plane contents were already listed on the bill of lading and the payload. the plane was carrying no weapons or prohibited goods in accordance with the unblemished international reputation of the Syrian Arab Airlines.

The Ministry added that Erdogan’s statements uncover the fact of the Turkish authorities’ involvement in the piracy on the plane which was flying from Moscow to Damascus.

Foreign Ministry: Statements of Erdogan and Davutoglu on Syrian plane that it was carrying ammunitions or “illegal cargo” are untrue

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- Foreign and Expatriates Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi underlined that the statements of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Ahemt Davutoglu claiming that the Syrian plane, forced to land in Ankara by Turkish warplanes, was carrying ammunitions of “illegal cargo” are categorically untrue.

In a statement on Thursday, Makdisi added that those statements uncover the fact of the Turkish authorities’ involvement in the piracy on the plane which was flying from Moscow to Damascus.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry stressed in a previous statement that what has been reported by some media about the Syrian air force intercepting a Turkish plane which took off from Beirut and entered the Syrian airspace were untrue and baseless.

Terrorists Killed, DShK-equipped Cars Destroyed, Weapons Seized in Several Provinces

Oct 11, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA)- A unit of the Armed Forces on Thursday carried out qualitative operations against terrorists in Qadi Askar roundabout and the areas around the Eye Hospital and the slaughterhouse in Aleppo city.

The operations resulted in destroying a mortar, 6 DShK-equipped cars, weapons and ammunition warehouse and a stolen ambulance loaded with weapons and ammunition.

The army members also killed 3 RPG shooters and a large number of Terrorists.

The Army units in Aleppo carried qualitative operations that destroyed the gatherings of terrorists to the north of Kfar Aleppo station, two DSHK-equipped cars, killing a number of terrorists, among them Fayssal al-Zubaidi of Qatari nationality, Abdullah al-Rathiyan, Known as Abu Bilal of Saudi Arabia nationality, Moa’ab Sarmani, Hassan Mire’e al-tona and Hassan Mohammad Al-Shabib.

The Army also targeted another den for terrorists at al-Tawama village in al-Atareb in Aleppo, destroying two cars loaded with ammunitions and three DSHK-equipped cars, killing a big number of the terrorist.

An Armed Forces unit attacked a headquarters for terrorists in al-Atareb town in Aleppo countryside and destroyed two DShK-equipped vehicles and a motorcycle transferring terrorists.

In the city of Aleppo, the Armed Forces carried out qualitative operations which resulted in destroying a weapon cache and two DShK-equipped vehicles in Qadi Askar area.

The operations also led to killing a large number of terrorists in al-Tananir Square, Bustan al-Qaser, al-Kallaseh, Souq al-Hal, Souq al-Fustuq, and Antakia Gate areas.

The Armed Forces destroyed three DShK-equipped vehicles and eliminated a number of terrorists in qualitative operations in Mafraq al-Zaroura, Prophet Youssef Mosque and Mafraq al-Sarwat in Khan al-Asal area in Aleppo.

In Aleppo countryside, terrorist Basem Shaaban, a leader of an armed terrorist group, was killed and terrorist Majed Jouma al-Khaled, another leader of an armed terrorist group, was wounded during clashes between the two groups that resulted in killing nine terrorists and wounding 15 others, in addition to destroying severn motorcycles and two cars used by terrorists in Kafar Halab town.

Terrorist Group Assassinates Citizen Diab Mohammad Kheir al-Mashi in Aleppo Countryside

An armed terrorist group assassinated on Thursday the citizen Diab al-Mashi in the house of his father, the member of the People’s Assembly Mohammad Kheir al-Mashi in al-Mashi village in Manbej in Aleppo countryside.

SANA reporter in Aleppo said that 50 terrorists stormed on Thursday al-Mashi’s house and shot him dead.

12 Explosive Devices Dismantled, 9 Mortar Rounds Found in Damascus Countryside

Units of the armed forces dismantled 12 explosive devices, each of which weighed 12 kg, planted by terrorists on the agricultural routes in Zbdeen farms in Damascus Countryside.

A unit of the armed forces found 9 mortar rounds in a farm on the outskirts of al-Mlieha town in the eastern Ghotta in Damascus Countryside.

In the same context, an army unit eliminated an armed terrorist group that was attacking citizens in the town.

Meanwhile, the armed forces released citizen Ahmad al-Hafian from al-Mleiha town who has been kidnapped by an armed terrorist group a week ago.

Armed Forces Clash with Terrorists in Homs

A unit of the Armed Forces clashed with an armed terrorist group which attacked the citizens and the law-enforcement forces in al-Za’afaraneh and Deirfoul towns in al-Rastan countryside in Homs.

The clash resulted in the killing and wounding of the members of the armed group.

The armed forces killed a number of terrorists who were cutting off roads in Talbeiseh town in Homs.

Terrorist Abdel-Rahman Jamal Sweis was identified among the dead.

Rifles and Bombs Seized in Lattakia

Authorities seized a number of rifles, bombs and amounts of C4 material in an apartment in Ali Jammal Street in Lattakia city which the terrorists were using in manufacturing explosive devices.

A source in the province told SANA reporter that the seized materials included a number of machineguns, grenades and 8 kg of C4 explosives which the terrorists were using in making explosive devices.

8 Civilians Martyred, 8 Others Injured in Terrorist Attack against Bus after Crossing Borders from Lebanon

An armed terrorist group Wednesday night attacked a bus carrying Syrian workers coming from Lebanon a few minutes after entering al-Arida border crossing to the Syrian territories.

The attack resulted in killing 8 civilians and injuring 8 others who were taken to al-Basel Hospital in Tartous.

Director of al-Basel Hospital, Yasin Ibrahim said that 8 bodies arrived to the hospital and were put into the refrigerator, adding that they were not identified.

He said that the injuries varied between fractions, shotgun wounds in the chest and limbs and they were treated.

One of the injured, Mohammad Mousa al-Alo told SANA reporter that “at 2:00 am, two cars blocked the way of their bus after entering al-Arida border crossing and took us to a farm. The terrorists handcuffed us, blindfolded us, beat and cursed us for not supporting what they called the rebels of Aleppo.”

In turn, the injured Mohammad Hassan al-Ahmad from Efreen city in Aleppo said that the terrorist group assaulted them and took their personal documents before taking them back to the bus and opening fire on them.

Armed Group Burglarizes Truck Loaded with Bread in Idleb Countryside

An armed terrorist group burglarized a truck loaded with bread on Salqeen-Harem road in the countryside of Idleb.

A source in the province told SANA reporter that an armed terrorist group blocked the truck’s way to Harem city and forced the driver to head to unknown place with the aim of putting pressure on the inhabitants of the city to engage into the terrorist operation carried out by the gunmen in the region.

The source added that the terrorists are preventing the delivery of food materials, particularly bread, to citizens in several areas.

Armed Terrorist Group Kills Citizen Abdel-Mona’em Mousa al-Abboud in Daraa

An armed terrorist group stormed the house of Abdel-Mona’em Mousa al-Abboud, brother of the Syrian People’s Assembly Meember Khaled al-Abboud and shot him dead.

A source in the province told SANA reporter that 7 terrorists raided al-Abboud’s house and opened fire on him and that he was admitted to Daraa National Hospital but he died of wounds.

In Daraa countryside, the Armed Forces clashed with an armed terrorist group in Kafar Shams village and seized the terrorists’ weapons.

An official source in the province told SANA reporter that the seized weapons included a number of machineguns, RPG launchers, PKC machineguns and ammunition magazines.

The source added that the clashes resulted in killing a number of terrorists.

Terrorist Used to Issue Fatwas on Killing and Committing Terrorism agianst Citizens in Raqqa Killed

The armed forces killed terrorist, nicknamed Abu Qutada, who issued fatwas on killing and committing terrorist acts against citizens in Tal Abiad in the countryside of Raqqa.

Premier al-Halqi: National Economy Good… Engineers are Government’s Partners in Development Process

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Prime Minister Dr. Wael al-Halqi stressed that the national economy is good and the government’s strategic storage secures self-sufficiency of food materials, strategic goods and oil derivatives.

Meeting Chairman of the Engineers’ Syndicate, Walid Ghazal, and members of the Syndicate’s office, Premier al-Halqi hailed the engineers’ efforts in supporting the comprehensive development process, expressing the government’s readiness to provide necessary support to meet their needs.

Al-Halqi reiterated confidence in the close end of the current crisis and Syria’s battle against terrorism, armed terrorist groups and those who support them thanks to the unity of its people and the sacrifices of the armed forces.

He said that the government is working hard to provide the Syrian people’s basic needs, in parallel with is efforts in the foreign political field and the axis of national reconciliation.

For their part, the engineers stressed that they will make use of all the capabilities available in the interest of Syria’s security and stability and to support the development process, expressing readiness to cooperate with local authorities to carry out real estate development projects on the basis of joint responsibility, not material benefits.

The meeting focused on the role of engineers as partners with the government in the process of construction and development side by side with other national powers and civil components to overcome the current situation through dialogue, political solution, national reconciliation and rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s affairs.

Discussions also dealt with the situation of engineers, the need for providing job opportunities for them, in addition to tackling some administrative problems faced by the engineers.

140 Citizens from Aleppo Released after Turning Themselves In

Oct 11, 2012

ALEPPO, (SANA) – 104 citizens from Aleppo who got involved in recent events but did not commit murder were released on Thursday after turning themselves in and handing over their weapons to the authorities.

Ministry of Justice said in a statement on Thursday that the persons were released after pledging not to take up arms again nor commit any act that might harm Syria’s security and stability.

Earlier in the day, 36 persons who got involved in recent events but did not commit murder in Aleppo were released.

People’s Assembly Condemns Continuous Israeli Violations against Islamic and Christian Sanctities in Occupied Jerusalem

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Syrian People’s Assembly strongly condemned the escalating Israeli transgressions against the Islamic and Christian sanctities in the occupied Palestine, the last of which when a number of Zionist settlers , protected by the occupation forces, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque square and attacked the worshippers and prevented them from performing Friday prayers, not to mention desecrating Christian sanctities in the occupied Jerusalem with racial writings.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the People’s Assembly said that the continuous Israeli violations against the Islamic and Christian sanctities cannot be separated from the campaigns targeting Islamic and religious symbols, particularly those which offended the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in some western countries, adding that the sides behind these violations and assaults have one goal.

The statement added that the silence of Arab governments that claim to defend Muslims over the escalating and organized terrorism practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against Islamic and Christian sanctities in the occupied Jerusalem is a shame.

The People’s Assembly considered these countries’ failure in shouldering their responsibility in putting an end to these violations make them partners in the crime as they encourage the Israeli occupation to persist in its violations and step up their juadization policies to change the historic and cultural aspects of Jerusalem and obliterate the Arab and Islamic identity of the city.

The statement called upon the Arab and Islamic peoples and their parliaments to take serious measures to pressure their governments to stop the Zionist practices and prevent the Israeli occupation from implementing its scheme in juadizing Jerusalem and changing its demography through destroying Palestinian neighborhoods, forcing Palestinians to leave the city and juadizing the Islamic and Christian sanctities to eliminate the Palestinian existence.

It also called upon the international community and the international organizations and bodies to shoulder their responsibility in ending the repeated and serious violations of the international laws and conventions , to protect the humanitarian and cultural heritage of Jerusalem and to make the occupation government understand that it will not escape punishment for its crimes.

The People’s Assembly urged Arab, Islamic and international media institutions to expose the Israeli occupation’s crimes and racial policies against Muslims and Christians and its attempts to change the historic aspects of Jerusalem.

The statement called upon Palestinians to overcome their disputes and unite their ranks to face the Israeli occupation.

Philippines Expresses Readiness to Join Efforts for Solving Crisis in Syria

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Interior Minister General Mohammad al-Shaar on Thursday stressed the ministry’s readiness to provide all facilitations to the Philippine nationals in Syria.

During a meeting with Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister, Rafael Seguis, al-Shaar stressed that the situation of Philippine baby sitters will be settled, particularly those in Aleppo city.

The talks dealt with current situation in Syria and the aggression against other countries in the region and the world.

Minister al-Shaar pointed out to the terrorist onslaught against Syria launched by countries which support terrorism and provide the armed terrorist groups with money and arms.

He added that the whole world now recognizes that some countries are sending terrorist takfiri fighters of Arab and foreign nationalities to commit terrorist acts against the Syrians and the state institutions.

Al-Shaar said that Syria is pursuing the vanquished terrorist to prevent them from committing more sabotage acts and protect the citizens from their aggression.

The minister stressed that Syria is serious in its efforts to reach political dialogue and it supports any initiative which rejects foreign intervention in the Syrian internal affairs.

In turn, the Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister stressed his country’s support to the Syrian government in the face of the current crisis, adding that the Philippines abstained from voting in favor of the Saudi draft resolution submitted at the UN General Assembly which allows foreign intervention in Syria’s affairs.

Seguis said that the Philippines is convinced that Syria is facing a ferocious instigative media campaign, reiterating his country’s readiness to provide help to Syria that might contribute to getting out of the crisis.

He added that his country insists on keeping its embassy in Syria open.

Nasrallah Calls for Political Solution in Syria Through National Dialogue

Oct 11, 2012

BEIRUT, (SANA) – Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, stressed on Thursday that his party’s stance on the ongoing events in Syria is clear, and it has not been changed in spite of all pressure.

In a speech broadcast on al-Manar satellite channel, Nasrallah said that he is still calling for a political solution through national dialogue and ending bloodshed in Syria, pointing out that the situation in Syria is dangerous on Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan and the whole region.

He added that Syria does not need Hezbollah or any other side to fight beside it, pointing out that his party has not taken such a decision yet.

Al-Maliki Urges Peaceful Solution to Syria Crisis

Oct 11, 2012

PRAGUE, (SANA)_Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, reiterated that the sole solution to the crisis in Syria is the peaceful solution and non-interference in its internal affairs, and that all parties come to the negotiating table to reach a solution that serves the interests of the Syrian people, regardless of their political affiliations.

In a press conference on Thursday following his talks with his Czech counterpart Petr Nečas in Prague, al-Maliki called upon all countries who are sending weapons to Syria and interfering in the Syrian internal affairs to act positively and help find a solution.

Al-Maliki denied that Iraq allows transporting weapons to Syria through its territories, describing the information in this regard a ”baseless propaganda.”

Al-Maliki said Iraq does not believe in the use of force and weapons as a means for solving the crisis in Syria, pointing out that stability in the region will not prevail by using force.

He stressed that Iraq is playing a positive role and its policy is clear in this regard, which rejects the flow of weapons to Syria.

He warned that the weapons sent to Syria are used against the Syrian people.

Al-Maliki discussed with his Czech counterpart bilateral relations and means of developing them in all fields, including the possibility of purchasing Czech L-159 aircrafts.

Shipment of Russian Aid to Be Distributed in Hasaka

Oct 11, 2012

HASAKA, (SANA) – A shipment of the Russian aid arrived in Hasaka province to be distributed to the families who fled their houses due to the armed terrorist groups’ crimes and took refuge in the province.

Hasaka Governor, Khdr al-Hussein, told SANA reporter that the aid indicates to the deep cooperation and friendship relations between the Syrian and Russian people, adding that the aid will be distributed in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in the province.

Al-Hussein hailed the support of Russia and other friendly countries to Syria’s legitimate right to defend its territorial unity and their standing by the Syrian people to face the unjust economic sanctions imposed by some Arab and western countries.

According to SARC head in the province, Abdel-Wahab al-Issa, the SARC will distribute the aid to the families in the makeshift centers taking into account the number of members in each family.

A number of Russian aircrafts loaded with food and medical supplies arrived in Damascus International Airport in the past few weeks.

Directorate of Antiquities and Museums: Goals of the ISESCO Emergency Meeting for Protecting Cultural Heritage were Politicized

Oct 11, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_Directorate of Antiquities and Museums said that the goals of the emergency meeting organized by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Cairo for studying the methods of protecting the cultural heritage in Aleppo city were politicized, as the participants made political statements that reflected the stances of their countries on Syria’s battle with terrorism.

The Directorate said in a statement issued on Thursday that ”ISESCO should have stuck to its declared goals stated in its founding charter through coordinating its efforts with the bodies concerned in Syria to protect and save the Syrian cultural heritage as to ensure effectiveness of its work and closely inspect the damage caused to the Syrian cultural heritage in Syria, especially in Aleppo.

”About 18 months on the outset of the sorrowful events in Syria, ISESCO did not bother about asking for any information or technical scientific reports on the scope of damage caused to the Syrian cultural heritage, which proves that it is not interested in the matter as scores of messages came from US and European organizations, bodies and archeologists expressing readiness to put their expertise at the disposal of Syria for alleviating the impact of damage that hit the Syrian heritage,” the statement added.

The statement said that ISESCO has not taken any necessary measures to stop the movement of cross-border trafficking gangs and to confiscate the stolen ancient pieces that were smuggled from Syria after illegal excavations that some immoral persons conducted, taking advantage of the current situation, in stark contrast to Syria’s efforts to protect the Iraqi cultural heritage during the US war on Iraq through curbing the activities of illegal smugglers then and returning thousands of ancient pieces that were stolen from Iraqi museums.

The statement added that contrary to reports on news agencies and websites, Syria has not taken part and was not represented by any of its specialists in this field in the emergency meeting, pledging to spare no efforts in coordination with all the personalities and bodies who care for the Syrian heritage, regardless of their intellectual or political orientations.

The statement indicated that the Directorate has taken all necessary precautionary measures since the onset of the crisis to protect the ancient pieces in museums which has considerably saved them from harm.

The Directorate expressed appreciation for the fruitful cooperation with the UNESCO for organizing a training course in Damascus for training national cadres on the means of protecting cultural heritage in times of danger, hailing the efforts of the Syrian citizens who exerted utmost efforts to defend the cultural heritage.

Czech Young Communists Union: Syria Foiled US Scheme in the Region

Oct 11, 2012

PRAGUE, (SANA)- The Union of the Young Communists of Czechoslovakia stressed that Syria has achieved lots of successes as it foiled the US scheme which aims at undermining its progressive government and substituting it with another regime loyal to the US before the American Presidential elections.

The Union added in a comment posted on its website on Thursday, that the Syrian leadership hindered the US project in the region, therefore the US President Barak Obama is unable to show any positive outcomes in the foreign policy field in his election campaign.

The Union slammed the Turkish government saboteur role in the crisis in Syria through training and financing the armed terrorist groups and sending them to Syria, describing the latest Turkish moves against Syria as “provocative”.

It considered the Turkish Parliament’s decision to send military forces outside Turkey as a flagrant violation of the UN charter, particularly the principle of non-interference in the countries’ internal affairs and non-use of military force.

The Czechoslovakia Union hailed the high fighting capability of the Syrian Arab Army, asserting that the NATO and the Turkish government seek to weaken this Army through dragging it to fight on several fronts as it is confronting the terrorists inside Syria, while at the same time there are those who want to drag it to a war with the NATO.

The Union called on Russia and China to put an end to the Turkish government’s excessiveness against Syria through threatening punitive measures against it.

By Countercurrents.org

12 October, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Shell, one of the oil giants, has been sued by Nigerian fishermen and farmers. It’s a historic move by ordinary citizens against polluters.

Reuters reported [1]:

Four Nigerian villagers took Royal Dutch Shell to court on October 11, 2012 in a landmark pollution case that campaigners said could open the door to more compensation claims against international companies.

The fishermen and farmers, together with the Friends of the Earth campaign group, accuse the oil major of polluting land and waterways around their homes in the Niger Delta region of Africa’s top energy producer.

Shell has denied responsibility, saying the leaks were caused by sabotage.

The villagers launched their claim in a civil court in The Hague, where Shell has its joint global headquarters.

It was the first time a Dutch-registered company had been sued in a Dutch court for offences allegedly carried out by a foreign subsidiary.

Friends of the Earth said the claim, if successful, could open up a new way for plaintiffs to take on multinationals – by suing their parent companies in their home countries.

The villagers, who appeared in court, want unspecified damages saying Shell and other corporations were responsible for pollution from three oil spills between 2004 and 2007.

“My community is a ghost land as a result of the devastation. We had good vegetation. Today people have respiratory problems and are getting sick,” said one of the plaintiffs Eric Dooh, from the Goi community, which lives between two pipelines.

“Shell is aware of the whole devastation. I want them to pay compensation, to clean up the pollution so we can grow our crops and fish again,” the 44-year-old told Reuters before the hearing.

Shell says the pollution was caused by thieves breaking into pipelines to steal the oil, and believes it has played its part in cleaning it up.

“The matter has been resolved as far as we are concerned and we do not properly understand why Friends of the Earth has submitted the case,” Allard Castelein, Shell’s vice president for environment, told Reuters before the hearing.

The biggest pollution problem in the Niger Delta was caused by thieves who steal oil from Shell’s installations, he said. Around 150,000 barrels of oil are stolen every day in the Delta. That is worth about $6 billion a year.

Friends of the Earth said other companies could face similar claims in European Union cities if it won the case.

“It opens up a range of possibilities for people from poor countries to use the legal system to seek compensation from companies,” said Geert Ritsema, international affairs coordinator at the environmental group during a break in the proceedings.

The Nigerians’ lawyer Channa Samkalden told the court Shell had failed to maintain pipelines, clean up leaks and prevent pollution.

“It was insufficient maintenance, not sabotage, that was responsible for the leaks … Shell did not operate as a conscientious oil company,” she said.

With around 31 million inhabitants, the Niger Delta is one of the world’s most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems. It is an important source of food for the poor, rural population.

Last year, the United Nations said in a report the government and multinational oil companies, particularly Shell, were responsible for 50 years of oil pollution that had devastated the Ogoniland region, part of the Niger Delta.

The government and oil firms have pledged to clean up the region and other parts of the Delta, but residents say they have seen little action.

Shell Petroleum Development Co (SPDC) is the largest oil and gas company in Nigeria, with production capacity of more than 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

It operates a joint venture in which state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp has a majority share. Total SA subsidiary Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. also has a stake.

An AFP report [2] said:

Nigerian farmers took their battle to make Shell clean up oil damage that destroyed their land to a Dutch court in a case that could set a precedent for global environmental responsibility.

The civil suit could open the door for hundreds of similar cases.

“Shell knew for a long time that the pipeline was damaged but didn’t do anything: they could have stopped the leaks,” lawyer Channa Samkalden told the court, accusing Shell of having “violated its legal obligations”.

The case, the first time that a Dutch company is being sued in the Netherlands for alleged damage in another country, relates to oil pollution from 2005 and was initially filed in 2008.

The farmers want Royal Dutch Shell to clean up the mess, repair and maintain defective pipelines to prevent further damage and pay out compensation.

In a landmark ruling, the Dutch judiciary in 2009 declared itself competent to try the case despite protests from Shell that its Nigerian subsidiary was solely legally responsible for any damage.

“I’m here because of the oil leakage that happened in my community in the Shell facilities and destroyed my 47 fish ponds”,” Friday Alfred Akpan, from the village of Ikot Ada Udo, told AFP before heading into court.

“The destruction of the fish ponds caused serious damage to me in person and my family because I make use of that fish to take care of myself and my children.”

Oil pollution has ravaged swathes of the Niger Delta in the world’s eighth largest oil producer, which exports more than two million barrels a day.

Shell is the biggest producer in the west African country, where it has been drilling for over 50 years.

“We believe that the claims are unsubstantiated,” Allard Castelein, Shell’s Vice President Environment, told AFP at the court.

Environmental groups accuse Shell of double standards and treating spills in Nigeria differently from pollution in Europe or North America.

But Castelein fended off the accusations, saying: “We do have the same standards in Europe and Nigeria.”

Shell’s lawyer Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk said: “Friends of the Earth believe that this trial will provide a solution to this problem but this is not the case.”

Friends of the Earth however said the scale of Nigeria’s oil pollution was twice that of the five million barrels dumped in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010, in the biggest ever marine spill. Shell disputes the Nigerian figure and puts it much lower.

The UN’s environmental agency last year released a landmark report, saying decades of oil pollution in the Niger Delta’s Ogoniland region may require the world’s biggest ever clean-up and could take up to 30 years.

Jonathan Verschuuren, an environmental law expert at the Netherlands’ Tilburg University, said that a win for the farmers would set a precedent.

“If they win the case then it will be an important step that multinationals can more easily be made answerable for the damage they do in developing countries,” Verschuuren told AFP.

“Until now it’s been very tricky because it’s difficult to bring cases against these companies in developing countries themselves, because the legislation is often not advanced or properly applied,” he said.

Environmentalists want the Netherlands, and other Western nations, to pass laws forcing companies to enforce the same environmental responsibility standards abroad as at home.

Judges said they hoped to hand down a ruling next January 30.

Source:

[1] “Nigerian villagers sue Shell in landmark pollution case”, dateline: The Hague, Oct 11, 2012, http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/uk-shell-nigeria-lawsuit-idUKBRE89A11320121011

[2] Maude Brulard, “Nigerian farmers sue Shell over oil pipe leaks”, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iaBKrfiVMzB-ag2s_m2vy56W-PJQ?docId=CNG.365b03e7b26fdafeebcd8f1bc06d5b24.181

11 October, 2012

By Scott Creighton

@ willyloman

UPDATE 8: The Staged Malala Yousafzai Story: The Making of Malala – The CFR Mockingbird Reporter and the Charter School Owner Father

UPDATE 7: read The Staged Malala Yousafzai Story: The Face of the “Universal” For-Profit School Movement

UPDATE 6: read The Staged Malala Yousafzai Story: The End Game of the “New Great Game” Unfolds

UPDATE 5: read The Staged Malala Yousafzai Story: It’s a Miracle! Malala’s Brain Not Damaged at All – Ready the Talk Shows!

UPDATE 4: read The Staged Malala Yousafzai Story: You’re With Malala or You’re With the Turrrrorrists

UPDATE 3: see picture at the end of the article. About 50 activists were ready less than 24 hours after her “shooting” with slick banners, in English, for a march that took place on Oct. 10th. How they got them done so quickly and why they chose to print them up in English is anyone’s guess.

UPDATE 2: Single Bullet Theory redux – a single bullet went from her forehead into her skull, then somehow manged to end up in her shoulder near her neck. They had to change the story of her being shot in the head AND the neck because even as they kept putting out pics of her with her neck covered up like this one, someone screwed up and published the photo I include below which clearly shows she wasn’t shot in the neck. “Malala was shot twice — once in the head and once in the neck — but her wounds were not life-threatening, according to Tariq Mohammad, a doctor at the main hospital in Mingora.” RT

You mean to tell me a doctor can’t tell if she was shot in the neck? Look at that picture I post just below… you tell me if she was shot in the neck.

“Official sources told Dawn that the single bullet, which hit Malala’s head, had pierced down to her backbone.

We have thoroughly examined her, she is in critical condition. The bullet traveled from her head and then lodged in the back shoulder, near the neck,” a doctor told the AFP agency, according to Dawn, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media. NBC “News”

And what about that shot in the neck? What kind of doctor says she was shot in the neck?

Shot in the neck? oops…. better fix that story

“Kony2012 , Nurse Nayirah, Gay Girl from Damascus, Babies in Syrian hospital story, the Nada story from Iran ,CNN’s Misogynistic Cell Phone Porn Propagnada , the “Obeidy” gang rape story, the Jessica Lynch lies, the Pat Tillman lies, etc. etc. etc…”

Endless, mind-numbingly stupid pro-war propaganda designed for maximum emotional context in an era of identity driven “news”

“She is our daughter,” Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf

“In attacking Malala, the terrorists have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism,” General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

Two days after the Pakistani military put down a protest against U.S. drone strikes killing innocent civilians in Pakistan, along comes the fake Taliban to claim credit for shooting little innocent Malala in cold blood. The Pakistani military was all over this story from day one and she is now in some military hospital recovering from her “wounds”. Say nothing of the fact that the Pakistani military is deeply imbedded with the Pentagon and the fact that the Peace Pipeline (Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project) is well underway while Unical’s Trans Afghan Pipeline is languishing.

The Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project is a major point of contention between U.S. and Pakistani governments. Russia is also now involved as it was Gasprom who stepped up to cut a deal with the Pakistani government to finance and build their section of the pipeline which will take Iranian oil and LNG to areas in Pakistan and India. This was the market that Unical wanted to reach with their Trans Afghan pipeline when they  were attempting to cut a deal with the Taliban back in 1999 and 2000. Survey work is to be completed this month with construction starting by December. Iran has completed their section.

There is a lot at stake in Pakistan these days and suddenly we have the story of little innocent Malala plastered on every news channel and paper in the country. This is the story of Malala Yoursafzai: neoliberal near-martyr of the Global Free Market Wars

Thus is the story of little Malala Yousafzai cruelly shot down by the mean-old Taliban because she dared to want to go to school like all the other little kids and wrote a blog under a pen name for… wait for it… wait for it… the BBC.

“My mother liked my pen name ‘Gul Makai’ and said to my father ‘why not change her name to Gul Makai?’ I also like the name because my real name means ‘grief stricken‘.” BBC

Bring in the professional photographers and the acting lessons for little miss “grief stricken” from corporate artisians like those at Hill & Knowlton who taught Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ to lie to the U.S. congress about a bunch of mean-old Iraqis who took babies from their incubators and threw them on the cold floor. You can expect a staring performance by Malala in front of some kind of congressional committee just as soon as she “recovers” from her “wounds”

Malala wants to be a politician when she grows up according to the Washington Post. Ask my opinion and she is well on the way. Seems like she and her father want some kind of position in the newly minted Pakistan, fresh filled with U.S. and British puppet politicos much like the Vichy French regime who were installed by the Nazis in July of 1940 and collaborated with them for 4 years afterwards sending French Jews and other “undesirables” to meet their ends in the concentration camps of Germany.

Enter Laura Bush stage left. She writes an Op Ed for the Washington Post where she lauds the “brave” young Malala and commands us to know “a girls courage challenges us to act“. Forget the fact that Laura Bush’s husband did more lasting damage to the education of children with his relentless campaign to defund public schools across the country so they could be privatized like the prison system and the military industrial complex. Forget the fact that her husband is directly responsible for lying us into two wars of aggression in which countless Malala’s have been blown to pieces. Forget the fact that under the Bush regime, our troops ran midnight raids in occupied nations dragging the fathers out of the homes leaving little girls like Malala fatherless in a war-torn, broken nation.

Forget all that… Malala challenges us to act.

But what does she mean by “act”?

As coincidence would have it, the Taliban just “happened’ to attack little innocent Malala at a perfect time for the Obama administration. Protests across Pakistan were gaining the attention of the international press. The people of Pakistan are sick of Barack’s drones blowing up their children while a study just came out exposing the fact that for every assumed “terrorists’ they kill, his drones kill 40 or so innocent people. And thus, little innocent Malala’s attack couldn’t have come at a better time for the re-election seeking President Peace Prize.

“Pakistani security forces have prevented a convoy protesting American drone strikes, headed by opposition politician Imran Khan, from entering a lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

The convoy of at least 10,000, which also included American members of the U.S.-based Code Pink antiwar group, was stopped by hundreds of security personnel just miles from the border of South Waziristan. The region is a hotbed for Pakistani Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.” RFE Oct. 7th 2012

Two days later on Oct. 9th 2012, Malala was reportedly shot on a school bus. Interesting timing huh?

Also of note, the Pakistani military has been all over the Malala shooting story since the very first moments. She was reportedly taken to a military hospital. Here is a photo of that transfer via military helicopter.

If you go here you can pull up a bunch of photos of little innocent Malala being carted out of the ambulance which first took her to a hospital in Mingora. As she was being pulled out of the vehicle, you can see military personel makes up about 60% of the people standing around with the rest being hospital staff. In this dramatic shot, you can see a high ranking Pakistani military figure lurking in the background.

How did the Pakistani military get to the hospital at the same time the ambulance did? How did they mobilize high ranking officials so quickly?

Immediately afterwards the fake Taliban spokesman in Pakistan, Ehsanullah Ehsan, took credit for the attack on the schoolgirl by a “phone call” claiming they did it because she liked Barack Obama and because she supported “Western Ideas”. This by the way is the same fake Taliban spokesman who told the drone protesters to basically “f*ck off” after the protest was turned back by the Pakistani military.

This is the same Ehsanullah Ehsan who took credit for a double bombing in 2011 claiming it was in response to the killing of bin Laden. That confession was also by phone from an “undisclosed location”

Conclusion

The “brave Malala” story is completely fake just like the Jessica Lynch story, just like the Nurse Nayirah story, just like the Nada story from Iran. It’s a marketing campaign, selling war via emotional contextualism dependent on high levels of cognitive dissonance. In other words;

“we need to act to have our Peace Prize “winning” president commit to sending MORE drones and bombers into Pakistan to blow up a lot of innocent little girls because the evil Taliban shot ONE little girl in the head.. and by the way… she’s just fine because the military which we fund has been all over the case since the moment it began… and by the way don’t think about that up-coming election or that anti-drone protest building in Pakistan or that Peace Pipeline that is about to have construction started on it by our new-old arch rivals, the Russians.”

That’s the nature of political discourse in America these days. They get some Madison Avenue hotshot to come up with the same old tired bullshit (Gay Girl from Damascus anyone?) and they fully expect us to swallow it without a second thought. It’s ridiculous, it’s insulting, but it’s all they have. They want that pipeline stopped and they’ll sink to any low to see that they have a justification for doing it.

And thus our little “grief stricken” mouthpiece has a new role to play; neoliberal near martyr of the Global Free Market Wars.

UPDATE: Jan noticed something in one of the photos on CNN which I linked to. Check out the young person (or shorter person) walking behind the man in the white at the rear of the group. She’s wearing the same color pants and shawl as Malala in the other photos and it seems that the gurney they are using to carry her to the waiting chopper is empty. Did she and her father walk onto that chopper and someone screwed up when editing the photo?

Here is a picture of the girl with her father. Notice the guy running beside the woman in the picture is ducking down a bit but it seems like they are the right height ratio father to daughter to possibly be the two in the picture.

Here is a little known photo of the girl right after the attack. Who washed her hair while she was fighting for her life? Bullet went in this girl and down through her neck?

By Countercurrents.org

11 October, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

The global food crisis is looming while the US ethanol program is pushing up corn prices by up to 21 percent as it is expanded to consume 40 percent of the harvest. The poor countries and the poor are paying the price. Biofuel is increasing hunger. Now is the time to call: “put food before fuel and people before cars.”

Africa is the most afflicted, with six of the seven states are at extreme risk. Fourteen countries are particularly vulnerable to the recent food-price increase. The food crisis reality questions the biofuel production and consumption.

Timothy A Wise, the Policy Research Director, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, Medford writes in an essay [1]:

“This is the third food price spike in the last five years, and this time the finger is being pointed squarely at biofuels. [T]he loss of a quarter or more of the projected US corn harvest has prompted urgent calls for reform in that country’s corn ethanol program.”

Excerpt from the essay:

“As I showed in my recent study, The Costs to Developing Countries of US Ethanol Expansion, the US ethanol program pushed up corn prices by up to 21 percent as it expanded to consume 40 percent of the US harvest. This price premium was passed on to corn importers, adding an estimated $11.6bn to the import bills of the world’s corn-importing countries since 2005. More than half of that – $6.6bn – was paid by developing countries between 2005 and 2010. The highest cost was borne by the biggest corn importers. Mexico paid $1.1bn more for its corn, Egypt $727m.

“Besides Egypt, North African countries saw particularly high ethanol-related losses: Algeria ($329m), Morocco ($236m), Tunisia ($99m) and Libya ($68m). Impacts were also high in other strife-torn countries in the region – Syria ($242m), Iran ($492m) and Yemen ($58m). North Africa impacts totaled $1.4bn. Scaled to population size, these economic losses were at least as severe as those seen in Mexico. The link between high food prices and unrest in the region is by now well documented, and US ethanol is contributing to that instability.

“The debate over biofuels has grown urgent since food prices first spiked in 2007-2008, ushering in a food crisis characterized by repeated jumps in global food prices. Prices for most staple foods doubled, fell when the bubble burst in 2009, then jumped again to their previous high levels in 2010-2011.

“Experts have debated how much of the price increases should be blamed on global biofuels expansion. Few argue now that the contribution is small. A US National Academy of Sciences review attributed 20-40 percent of the 2007-2008 price spikes to global biofuels expansion. Subsequent studies have confirmed this range for the later price increases.

“Why is the impact so large? Because so much food and feed is now diverted to produce fuel, and so much land is now used for biofuels feedstocks – corn and sugar for ethanol, soybeans, palm oil and a variety of other plants for biodiesel. This rapidly growing market was fuelled by a wide range of government incentives and mandates and by the rising price of petroleum.

“Nowhere is the impact clearer than in the diversion of US corn into ethanol production. Ethanol now consumes roughly 40 percent of the US corn crop, up from just 5 percent a decade ago. The biggest jump came after the US Congress enacted the RFS in 2005 then expanded it dramatically in 2007.

“A blending allowance of 10 percent for domestic gasoline added to the demand, a level now potentially being raised to 15 percent. These mandates for rising corn ethanol production combined with tax incentives to gasoline blenders and tariff protection against cheaper imports to create today’s massive ethanol demand for corn.

“As corn prices rose farmers increased production, but not enough to accommodate the increased ethanol demand. So prices just kept rising and corn stocks just kept getting thinner and thinner. They were at dangerously low levels – about 15 percent of global use – when the first price spikes happened in 2007-2008. They are at 14 percent now.

“Corn is probably the most problematic feedstock for biofuels. In many parts of the world it is grown as food for human consumption, serving as the staple grain for some one billion people worldwide. It is also a key feed for livestock, giving it another direct link to the human food supply through meat, dairy and egg prices.

“US corn ethanol is particularly disruptive to international markets. The United States is by far the largest producer and exporter of corn in the world. That 40 percent of the US corn crop being put into US cars represents an astonishing 15 percent of global corn production. The diversion of so much corn from food and feed markets has produced a ‘demand shock’ in international markets since 2004.

“For our study of the impacts on corn importers, we relied on estimates of how much lower corn prices would have been if ethanol production had not grown past its 2004 levels. The impacts rose with ethanol demand, reaching an estimated 21 percent in 2009. We took those annual estimates and calculated the added cost each year, 2005-10, to the world’s net corn-importing countries based on their net import volumes.

“The largest importer by far is Japan and the ethanol premium cost Japan an estimated $2.2bn. But our interest was developing countries because of their vulnerability to food price increases.

“Over the last 50 years, and particularly since the 1980s, the world’s least developed countries have gone from being small net exporters of agricultural goods to huge net importers. The shift came when structural reforms in the 1980s forced indebted developing country governments to open their economies to agricultural imports while reducing their support for domestic farmers. The result: a flood of cheap and often-subsidised imports from rich countries, forcing local farmers out of business and off the land.

“In the price spike of 2008, the world’s least developed countries imported $26.6bn in agricultural goods and exported only $9.1bn, leaving an agricultural trade deficit for these overwhelmingly agricultural countries of $17.5bn, more than three times the deficit recorded in 2000 ($4.9bn). This squeezes government budgets, strains limited foreign exchange reserves and leaves the poor more exposed to food price increases.

“Guatemala, for example, saw its import dependence in corn grow from 9 percent in the early 1990s to around 40 percent today. This in a corn-producing country, the birthplace of domesticated corn. According to our estimates, Guatemala saw $91bn in ethanol-related impacts, $28m in 2010 alone. How big an impact is that? It represents six times the level of US agricultural aid that year and nearly as much as US food aid to Guatemala. It is equivalent to over 10 percent of the government’s annual expenditure on agricultural development. It is devastating for a country in which nearly half of children under five are malnourished.

“Of course, poor consumers are the ones most hurt by ethanol-related price increases, especially those in urban areas. Even in a net corn exporting country like Uganda, domestic corn prices spiked as international prices transmitted to local markets. Ugandans spend on average 65 percent of their cash income on food, with poor urban consumers getting 20 percent of their calories from corn purchased in the marketplace. More than half of Ugandans were considered “food insecure” in 2007, and the price spikes have only made that worse.

“US ethanol expansion has accounted for 21 percent of corn prices in recent years, so it has forced thousands of Ugandans deeper into poverty and hunger.

“The US and other Northern governments can stop fuelling the food crisis with reckless biofuels expansion. The US can waive the RFS mandates to allow tight markets to adjust in a year of drought. It can join the European Union in reconsidering its mandates. It can halt the increase in blending targets to 15 percent.

“On World Food Day, October 16, the FAO will convene an emergency meeting on the food crisis in Rome. Disgracefully, the G-20 group of economically powerful nations declined to convene its own emergency meeting, with a US spokesperson saying that ‘agricultural commodity markets are functioning’.

“Global leaders should take a strong stand in Rome against biofuels expansion, endorse the use of food reserves to cushion markets in times of drought, demand rules to end financial speculation on food commodities and restrict the land grabs that are driven largely by global demand for biofuels.”

Timothy A Wise concludes his essay with the following call:

“It’s time we put food before fuel and people before cars.”

Citing global risk analysis firm Maplecroft’s food security index for 2013 Joshua Berlinger writes [2] in Business Insider on Oct. 10, 2012:

Africa is clearly the most afflicted, with six of the seven states at “extreme risk.” Afghanistan was the only nation outside of Africa at extreme risk.

Food insecurity could also become yet another factor fueling the already tense relations and civil unrest in the Middle East.

At the current rate, Rabobank, a financial specialist in agro-commodities, estimates that prices of food staples could rise by as much as 15 percent by June 2013.

Another report [3] adds:

Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that depends largely on food imports, appears to be on the verge of a serious food crisis.

Food-price hikes have been witnessed across the globe. Indeed, the Food and Agricultural Organisation announced last week that food prices rose slightly in September, approaching levels reached during the global food crisis in 2008.

The World Bank has also said that its Food Price Index soared by 10 percent in July compared to a month earlier. Over the same period, prices of maize increased by almost 25 percent and wheat prices surged by around 30 percent.

The high proportion of expenditures on food, high rates of malnutrition and the recurrent crisis and insecurity — particularly in the Sahel region — are enough reason for increased concern and monitoring, the bank said.

Aside from the external factors, the presence of desert locusts and ongoing conflict in the Sahel region of West Africa have also been linked to the risk of a food crisis in the region.

In its April issue of Africa’s Pulse, the World Bank mentioned countries like Mali and Niger as already suffering from locust infestation and said there is potential for the swarm to move to neighboring countries such as Mauritania and Chad.

“The impact of this latest food-price increase in local markets across Africa is difficult to determine as current trends show significant variation in domestic prices across the region. In West and Central Africa, prices of cereals are still at record high levels owing to low production in 2011. However, better rains in 2012 have caused prices in the coastal countries to decline…” the bank said in the October edition of Africa’s Pulse.

A recent report by the FAO and USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network lists 14 countries as being particularly vulnerable to the recent food-price increase. In many of these countries, maize and wheat provide 20% or more of the average household’s caloric intake. For Lesotho, the figure is as high as 69% and for Malawi it is 52%.

In Ghana, rice remains a major staple in particularly urban households which have a taste for imported rice. The country’s own self-sufficiency rate of rice is estimated at 33%. A huge chunk of the rice the country consumes is imported.

Information on the National Rice Development Strategy for Ghana reveals that the per capita rice consumption in Ghana is currently 38 kg, and this is expected to rise to 63kg in 2015 — giving an aggregate demand of 1.68mn metric tones.

Ghana’s demand for rice hovers around 700,000 metric tones, but the local Ghanaian rice farmer is able to produce only 150,000, leaving a deficit of 550,000 metric tones.

According to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, despite overall strong economic growth over the past decade, the agricultural sector in Ghana has declined from 51 percent to 36 percent of GDP.

The rural poor now account for almost three-quarters of all Ghanaians who live below the poverty line. Smallholder farmers, whose farms average just 1.2 ha, currently have limited opportunities to prosper.

Source:

[1] Al Jazeera, “US corn ethanol fuels food crisis in developing countries”, Oct. 10, 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/201210993632838545.html

[2] “Global Food Crisis Risk Is Soaring”, http://www.businessinsider.com/global-food-crisis-risk-is-soaring-map-2012-10

[3] GhanaWeb, “Food crisis looms”, Oct.8, 2012, http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/artikel.php?ID=252488

By F. William Engdahl

11 October, 2012

@ Global Research,

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-turkey-israel-and-the-greater-middle-east-energy-war/5307902

On October 3, 2012 the Turkish military launched repeated mortar shellings inside Syrian territory. The military action, which was used by the Turkish military, conveniently, to establish a ten-kilometer wide no-man’s land “buffer zone” inside Syria, was in response to the alleged killing by Syrian armed forces of several Turkish civilians along the border.

There is widespread speculation that the one Syrian mortar that killed five Turkish civilians well might have been fired by Turkish-backed opposition forces intent on giving Turkey a pretext to move militarily, in military intelligence jargon, a ‘false flag’ operation.[1]

Turkey’s Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Foreign Minister, the inscrutable Ahmet Davutoglu, is the government’s main architect of Turkey’s self-defeating strategy of toppling its former ally Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.[2]

According to one report since 2006 under the government of Islamist Sunni Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his pro-Brotherhood AKP party, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood.[3] A well-informed Istanbul source relates the report that before the last Turkish elections, Erdogan’s AKP received a “donation” of $10 billion from the Saudi monarchy, the heart of world jihadist Salafism under the strict fundamentalist cloak of Wahabism. [4] Since the 1950’s when the CIA brought leading members in exile of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Saudi Arabia there has been a fusion between the Saudi brand of Wahabism and the aggressive jihadist fundamentalism of the Brotherhood.[5]

The Turkish response to the single Syrian mortar shell, which was met with an immediate Syrian apology for the incident, borders on a full-scale war between two nations which until last year were historically, culturally, economically and even in religious terms, closest of allies.

That war danger is ever more serious. Turkey is a full member of NATO whose charter explicitly states, an attack against one NATO state is an attack against all. The fact that nuclear-armed Russia and China both have made defense of the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime a strategic priority puts the specter of a World War closer than most of us would like to imagine.

In a December 2011 analysis of the competing forces in the region, former CIA analyst Philip Giraldi made the following prescient observation:

NATO is already clandestinely engaged in the Syrian conflict, with Turkey taking the lead as U.S. proxy. Ankara’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has openly admitted that his country is prepared to invade as soon as there is agreement among the Western allies to do so. The intervention would be based on humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the “responsibility to protect” doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya. Turkish sources suggest that intervention would start with creation of a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border and then be expanded. Aleppo, Syria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, would be the crown jewel targeted by liberation forces.

Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army. Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers. [6]

Little noted was the fact that at the same day as Turkey launched her over-proportional response in the form of a military attack on Syrian territory, one which was still ongoing as of this writing, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) undertook what was apparently an action to divert Syria’s attention from Turkey and to create the horror scenario of a two-front war just as Germany faced in two world wars. The IDF made a significant troop buildup on the strategic Golan Heights bordering the two countries, which, since Israel took it in the 1967 war, has been an area of no tension.[7]

The unfolding new phase of direct foreign military intervention by Turkey, supported de facto by Israel’s right-wing Netanyahu regime, curiously enough follows to the letter a scenario outlined by a prominent Washington neo-conservative Think Tank, The Brookings Institution. In their March 2012 strategy white paper, Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings geo-political strategists laid forth a plan to misuse so-called humanitarian concern over civilian deaths, as in Libya in 2011, to justify an aggressive military intervention into Syria, something not done before this.[8]

The Brookings report states the following scenario:

Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Assad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training.[9]

This seems to be precisely what is unfolding in the early days of October 2012. The authors of the Brookings report are tied to some of the more prominent neo-conservative warhawks behind the Bush-Cheney war on Iraq. Their sponsor, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, includes current foreign policy advisers to Republican right-wing candidate Mitt Romney, the open favorite candidate of Israel’s Netanyahu.

The Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy which issued the report, is the creation of a major donation from Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media billionaire who also owns the huge German Pro7 media giant. Haim Saban is open about his aim to promote specific Israeli interests with his philanthropy. The New York Times once called Saban, “a tireless cheerleader for Israel.” Saban told the same newspaper in an interview in 2004, “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” [10]

The scholars at Saban as well as its board have a clear neo-conservative and Likud party bias. They include, past or present, Shlomo Yanai, former head of military planning, Israel Defense Forces; Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel and founder of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a major Likud policy lobby in Washington. Visiting fellows have included Avi Dicter, former head of Israel’s Shin Bet; Yosef Kupperwasser, former Head, Research Department, Israeli Defense Force’s Directorate of Military Intelligence. Resident scholars also include Bruce Riedel, a 30 year CIA Middle East expert and Obama Afghan adviser; [11] Kenneth Pollack, another former CIA Middle East expert who was indicted in an Israel espionage scandal when he was a national security official with the Bush Administration. [12]

Why would Israel want to get rid of the “enemy she knows,” Bashar al-Assad, for a regime controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood? Then Israel’s security would seemingly be threatened by the emergence of hard-line Muslim Brotherhood regimes in Egypt to her south and Syria to her North, perhaps soon also in Jordan.

The geopolitical dimension

The significant question to be asked at this point is what could bind Israel, Turkey, Qatar in a form of unholy alliance on the one side, and Assad’s Syria, Iran, Russia and China on the other side, in such deadly confrontation over the political future of Syria? One answer is energy geopolitics.

What has yet to be fully appreciated in geopolitical assessments of the Middle East is the dramatically rising importance of the control of natural gas to the future of not only Middle East gas producing countries, but also of the EU and Eurasia including Russia as producer and China as consumer.

Natural gas is rapidly becoming the “clean energy” of choice to replace coal and nuclear electric generation across the European Union, most especially since Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear after the Fukushima disaster. Gas is regarded as far more “environmentally friendly” in terms of its so-called “carbon footprint.” The only realistic way EU governments, from Germany to France to Italy to Spain, will be able to meet EU mandated CO2 reduction targets by 2020 is a major shift to burning gas instead of coal. Gas reduces CO2 emissions by 50-60% over coal.[13] Given that the economic cost of using gas instead of wind or other alternative energy forms is dramatically lower, gas is rapidly becoming the energy of demand for the EU, the biggest emerging gas market in the world.

Huge gas resource discoveries in Israel, in Qatar and in Syria combined with the emergence of the EU as the world’s potentially largest natural gas consumer, combine to create the seeds of the present geopolitical clash over the Assad regime.

Syria-Iran-Iraq Gas pipeline

In July 2011, as the NATO and Gulf states’ destabilization operations against Assad in Syria were in full swing, the governments of Syria, Iran and Iraq signed an historic gas pipeline energy agreement which went largely unnoticed amid CNN reports of the Syrian unrest. The pipeline, envisioned to cost $10 billion and take three years to complete, would run from the Iranian Port Assalouyeh near the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, to Damascus in Syria via Iraq territory. Iran ultimately plans then to extend the pipeline from Damascus to Lebanon’s Mediterranean port where it would be delivered to EU markets. Syria would buy Iranian gas along with a current Iraqi agreement to buy Iranian gas from Iran’s part of South Pars field.

South Pars, whose gas reserves lie in a huge field that is divided between Qatar and Iran in the Gulf, is believed to be the world’s largest single gas field. [14] De facto it would be a Shi’ite gas pipeline from Shi’ite Iran via Shi’ite-majority Iraq onto Shi’ite-friendly Alawite Al-Assad’s Syria.

Adding to the geopolitical drama is the fact that the South Pars gas find lies smack in the middle of the territorial divide in the Persian Gulf between Shi’ite Iran and the Sunni Salafist Qatar. Qatar also just happens to be a command hub for the Pentagon’s US Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In brief Qatar, in addition to owning and hosting the anti-Al-Assad TV station Al-Jazeera, which beams anti-Syria propaganda across the Arab world, Qatar is tightly linked to the US and NATO military presence in the Gulf.

Qatar apparently has other plans with their share of the South Pars field than joining up with Iran, Syria and Iraq to pool efforts. Qatar has no interest in the success of the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, which would be entirely independent of Qatar or Turkey transit routes to the opening EU markets. In fact it is doing everything possible to sabotage it, up to and including arming Syria’s rag-tag “opposition” fighters, many of them Jihadists sent in from other countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Libya.

Further adding to Qatar’s determination to destroy the Syria-Iran-Iraq gas cooperation is the discovery in August 2011 by Syrian exploration companies of a huge new gas field in Qara near the border with Lebanon and near to the Russian-leased Naval port of Tarsus on the Syrian Mediterranean.[15] Any export of Syrian or Iranian gas to the EU would go through the Russian-tied port of Tarsus. According to informed Algerian sources, the new Syrian gas discoveries, though the Damascus government is downplaying it, are believed to equal or exceed those of Qatar.

As Asia Times’ knowledgeable analyst Pepe Escobar pointed out in a recent piece, Qatar’s scheme calls for export of its huge gas reserves via Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba, a country where a Muslim Brotherhood threat to the dictatorship of the King is also threatening. The Emir of Qatar has apparently cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood in which he backs their international expansion in return for a pact of peace at home in Qatar. A Muslim Brotherhood regime in Jordan and also in Syria, backed by Qatar, would change the entire geopolitics of the world gas market suddenly and decisively in Qatar’s favor and to the disadvantage of Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq. [16] That would also be a staggering negative blow to China.

As Escobar points out, “it’s clear what Qatar is aiming at: to kill the US$10 billion Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, a deal that was clinched even as the Syria uprising was already underway. Here we see Qatar in direct competition with both Iran (as a producer) and Syria (as a destination), and to a lesser extent, Iraq (as a transit country). It’s useful to remember that Tehran and Baghdad are adamantly against regime change in Damascus.” He adds, “if there’s regime change in Syria – helped by the Qatari-proposed invasion – things get much easier in Pipelineistan terms. A more than probable Muslim Brotherhood (MB) post-Assad regime would more than welcome a Qatari pipeline. And that would make an extension to Turkey much easier.” [17]

The Israeli Gas dilemma

Further complicating the entire picture is the recent discovery of huge offshore Israeli natural gas resources.

The Tamar natural gas field off the coast of northern Israel is expected to begin yielding gas for Israel’s use in late 2012. The game-changer was a dramatic discovery in late 2010 of an enormous natural gas field offshore of Israel in what geologists call the Levant or Levantine Basin. In October 2010 Israel discovered a massive “super-giant” gas field offshore in what it declares is its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). [18]

The find is some 84 miles west of the Haifa port and three miles deep. They named it Leviathan after the Biblical sea monster. Three Israeli energy companies in cooperation with the Houston Texas Noble Energy announced initial estimates that the field contained 16 trillion cubic feet of gas—making it the world’s biggest deep-water gas find in a decade, adding more discredit to “peak oil” theories that the planet is about to see dramatic and permanent shortages of oil, gas and coal. To put the number in perspective, that one gas field, Leviathan, would hold enough reserves to supply Israel’s gas needs for 100 years.[19]

Energy self-sufficiency had eluded the state of Israel since its founding in 1948. Abundant oil and gas exploration had repeatedly been undertaken with meager result. Unlike its energy-rich Arab neighbors, Israel seemed out of luck. Then in 2009 Israel’s Texas exploration partner, Noble Energy, discovered the Tamar field in the Levantine Basin some 50 miles west of Israel’s port of Haifa with an estimated 8.3 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of highest quality natural gas. Tamar was the world’s largest gas discovery in 2009.

Source:  Jerry Gordon,  newenglishreview.org 2011

Israel discovered huge gas in Levantine Basin with Noble Energy. Source: Noble Energy map, see above

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the time, total Israeli gas reserves were estimated at only 1.5 tcf. Government estimates were that Israel’s sole operating field, Yam Tethys, which supplies about 70 percent of the country’s natural gas, would be depleted within three years.

With Tamar, prospects began to look considerably better. Then, just a year after Tamar, the same consortium led by Noble Energy struck the largest gas find in its decades-long history at Leviathan in the same Levantine geological basin. Present estimates are that the Leviathan field holds at least 17 tcf of gas. Israel went from a gas famine to feast in a matter of months.[20]

Now Israel faces a strategic and very dangerous dilemma. Naturally Israel is none too excited to see al-Assad’s Syria, linked to Israel’s arch foe Iran and Iraq and Lebanon, out-compete an Israeli gas export to the EU markets. This could explain why Israel’s Netanyahu government has been messing inside Syria in the anti-al-Assad forces. However, a Muslim Brotherhood rule in Syria led by the organization around Mohammad Shaqfah would confront Israel with far more hostile neighbors now that the Muslim Brotherhood coup by Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi has put a hostile regime on Israel’s southern border.

It is no secret that there is enmity bordering on hate between Netanyahu and the Obama Administration. The Obama White House and US State Department openly back the Muslim Brotherhood regime changes in the Middle East. Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Turkey’s Davutoglu in August this year was reportedly aimed at pushing Turkey to escalate its military intervention into Syria, but without direct US support owing to US election politics of wanting to avoid involvement in a new Middle East debacle.[21]

State Department Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin has been accused by several Republican Congress Representatives of ties to organizations controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. Dalia Mogahed, Obama’s appointee to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, also a member of the US advisory council of the Department of Homeland Security, is openly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and an open foe of Israel as well as calling for the toppling of Syria’s al-Assad. [22] Obama’s Washington definitely seems to be backing the Muslim Brotherhood horse in the race for control of the gas flows of the Middle East.

And the Russian role

Washington is walking a temporary tightrope hoping to weaken al-Assad fatally while not appearing directly involved. Russia for its part is playing a life and death game for the future of its most effective geopolitical lever—its role as the leading natural gas supplier to the EU. This year Russia’s state-owned Gazprom began delivery of Russian gas to northern Germany via Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea from a port near St. Petersburg. Strategically vital now for the future role of Russia as an EU gas supplier, is its ability to play a strategic role in exploiting the new-found gas reserves of its former Cold war client state, Syria. Moscow has long been engaged in promoting its South Stream gas pipeline into Europe as an alternative to the Washington Nabucco pipeline which was designed to leave Moscow out in the cold. [23]

Already Gazprom is the largest natural gas supplier to the EU. Gazprom with Nord Stream and other lines plans to increase its gas supply to Europe this year by 12% to 155 billion cubic meters. It now controls 25% of the total European gas market and aims to reach 30% with completion of South Stream and other projects.

Rainer Seele, chairman of Germany’s Wintershall, the Gazprom partner in Nord Stream, suggested the geopolitical thinking behind the decision to join South Stream: “In the global race against Asian countries for raw materials, South Stream, like Nord Stream, will ensure access to energy resources which are vital to our economy.” But rather than Asia, the real focus of South Stream lies to the West. The ongoing battle between Russia’s South Stream and the Washington-backed Nabucco is intensely geopolitical. The winner will hold a major advantage in the future political terrain of Europe.[24]

Now  a major new option of Syria as a major source for Russian-managed gas flows to the EU has emerged. If al-Assad survives, Russia will be in the position as savior to play a decisive role in developing and exploiting the Syrian gas. Israel, where Russia also has major cards to play, could theoretically shift to back a Russian-Syrian-Iraqi-Iran gas consortium were Israel and Iran to reach some modus vivendi on the nuclear and other issues, not impossible were the political constellation in Israel to change after the coming elections. Turkey, which is presently in a deep internal battle between Davutoglu and President Gül on the one side and Erdogan on the other, is dependent on Russia’s Gazprom for some 40% of gas to its industry. Were Davutoglu and his faction to lose, Turkey could play a far more constructive role in the region as transit country for Syrian and Iranian gas.

The battle for the future control of Syria is at the heart of this enormous geopolitical war and tug of war. Its resolution will have enormous consequences for either world peace or endless war and conflict and slaughter. NATO member Turkey is playing with fire as is Qatar’s Emir, along with Israel’s Netanyahu and NATO members France and USA. Natural gas is the flammable ingredient that is fueling this insane scramble for energy in the region.

F. William Engdahl is author of Myths, Lies and Oil Wars. He may be contacted through www.williamengdahl.com .

Notes

[1] Reuters, Turkish artillery strikes on Syria continue for second day: Several Syrian soldiers killed in overnight attack; Turkey launched artillery strikes after mortar bomb fired from Syria killed five Turkish civilians, October 4, 2012. Accessed in

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/turkish-artillery-strikes-on-syria-continue-for-second-day-1.468142

[2]  Hüsnü Mahalli, Davutoglu  Betting on the Fall of Assad, Al Akhbar English, August 7, 2012, accessed in http://english.al-akhbar.com.

[3] Steven G. Merley, Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2011, accessed in http://www.jcpa.org/text/Turkey_Muslim_Brotherhood.pdf. See also for more ties between Erdogan’s Turkish AKP and the Musllim Brotherhood, GlobalMB, Syrian Ambassador Names Associate Of Turkish Prime Minister As Muslim Brotherhood Leader, May 25, 2011, accessed in http://globalmbreport.org/?p=4496

[4] The figure of $10 billion was relayed in a private discussion with the author by a Turkish businessman and political figure who asked to remain anonymous. Indian diplomats, including H.E. Gajendra Singh, former Ambassador to Ankara, have independently confirmed Saudi funding of the Turkish AKP. Presumably like most $10 billion cash grants, it came with heavy strings attached from Riyhad.

[5] F. William Engdahl, Salafism+CIA: The winning formula to destabilize Russia, the Middle East, Voltairenet.org, 13 September, 2012, accessed in http://www.voltairenet.org/article175801.html

[6] Philip Giraldi, NATO vs Syria, December 19, 2011, The American Conservative, accessed in

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/nato-vs-syria/.

[7] Linda Gradstein, Israel fears Syrian violence spilling over Golan Heights border, October 4, 2012, accessed inhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/04/israel-fears-syrian-violence-spilling-over-golan-heights-border/

[8] Daniel Byman, Michael Doran, Kenneth Pollack, and Salman Shaikh, Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change, The Brookings Institution, Washington D.C., March 2012, accessed in http://www.scribd.com/doc/108893509/BrookingsSyria0315-Syria-Saban

[9] Ibid., p. 6.

[10] Andrew Ross Sorkin, Schlepping to Moguldom, September 5, 2004, accessed in

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05sab.html?ei=5088&en=9eb8c2a72c2b5e7d&ex=1252123200&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=print&position&_r=0; see also Source Watch, Haim Saban, accessed in

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Haim_Saban.

[11] M. J. Rosenberg, AIPAC Cutout: The Rise & Fall Of The Washington Institute For Near East Policy, Talking Points Memo (TPM), 11 April 2010, accessed in http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=126218

[12] Nathan Guttman, Bush officials subpoenaed in AIPAC trial, Jerusalem Post, March 13, 2006, accessed in http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=15860

[13] Alexander Medvedev, Role of Gas in a Sustainable Energy Future, 2^nd Ministerial Gas Forum, Doha, Qatar, 30 November, 2010.

[14] Hassan Hafidh and Benoit Faucon, Iraq, Iran, Syria Sign $10 Billion Gas-Pipeline Deal, The Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2011, accessed in http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903591104576467631289250392.html

[15] Daily Star, Syria Announces Gas Discovery, August 17, 2011, accessed in http://www.naturalgasasia.com/syria-homs-gas-discovery.

[16] Pepe Escobar, Why Qatar Wants to Invade Syria, Asia Times, September 27, 2012, accessed in http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NI28Ak03.html.

[17] Ibid.

[18] F. William Engdahl, The New Mediterranean Oil and Gas Bonanza – Part 1: Israel’s Levant Basin—a new geopolitical curse?, VoltaireNet.org, 20 February, 2012, accessed in http://www.voltairenet.org/article172827.html

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] The Economist, Turkey’s political in-fighting: Erdogan at bay: The Turkish prime minister faces new enemies both at home and abroad, Feb 25th 2012; see also Hillary Clinton, Remarks With Foreign Minister Davutoglu After Their Meeting, Conrad Hotel Istanbul, Turkey, August 11, 2012, accessed in http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/08/196358.htm

[22] CSP,  Center Report Reveals Radical Islamist Views and Agenda of Senior State Department Official Huma Abedin’s Mother, Washington, Center for Security Policy, July 22, 2012, accessed in  http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p19045.xml?genre_id=3. See also  Aaron Klein, Muslim Brotherhood endorses Obama faith adviser: Gives thumbs up to ‘Sister Mogahed’ for Twitter post on dead journalist, WorldNetDaily, April 29, 2012, accessed on http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/muslim-brotherhood-endorses-obama-faith-adviser/.

[23] F. William Engdahl, Moscow’s High Stakes Energy Geopolitics, Voltairenet.org, 15 November, 2011, accessed in http://www.voltairenet.org/article171902.html

[24] Ibid.

Copyright © 2012 Global Research

Tens of Machinegun-Equipped Cars Destroyed, Many Terrorists, Some Not Syrians, Killed

Oct 10, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA)- The Armed Forces on Wednesday destroyed 3 stolen ambulance vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition and 2 DShK-Equipped cars near Agyour roundabout in Aleppo city.

SANA reporter quoted a source at the province as saying that terrorist Ahmad Abu al-Lail, leader of an armed terrorist group, along with 3 PKC gunmen and 2 RPG users were killed.

The army continued the operation of clearing the area of Karm al-Jabal in Aleppo from the terrorists, eliminating large numbers of them.

A unit of the Armed Forces targeted a terrorists’ gathering in Bab al-Hadid roundabout and destroyed a truck equipped with a mortar and a twin-mounted anti-aircraft machinegun and two Jeeps.

The army members also killed and wounded a large number of the terrorists in the area. Terrorist Ahmad Lolek, leader of one of the armed terrorist groups, was identified among the dead.

Another unit of the Armed Forces confronted an armed terrorist group attempting to enter the Great Umayyad Mosque, killing and injuring a large number of its members while the rest fled away.

An official source in the province dismissed as “baseless and false” the news reported by some instigative channels about the terrorists taking over the Mosque, SANA reporter said.

A unit of the armed forces destroyed 9 cars equipped with DShK machineguns and a twin-mounted anti-aircraft machinegun in a qualitative operation against terrorists near Qadi Askar roundabout and Kefah al-Ghaderi School in Aleppo city.

The operation resulted in killing scores of terrorists, in addition to destroying 5 stolen ambulances loaded with weapons and ammunition.

A leader of an armed terrorist group, nicknamed Abu Issam, and a number of terrorists were killed in a qualitative operation near al-Wahda bakery in Kadi Askar area in Aleppo.

The armed forces carried out a qualitative operation that destroyed a Volvo refrigerated truck and several ambulances loaded with weapons and ammunition and terrorists on al-Bab road in Aleppo.

Armed forces units targeted terrorist headquarters in Bustan al-Qasser and Souq al-Fustuq areas, eliminating a number of terrorist and injuring others. One of the injured is Ahmad Afesh, the leader of a terrorist group, and his assistance who is nicknamed al-Zabbah (throat-slitter).

In al-Marjeh area , terrorist Sleiman Mahmoud al-Hantoush was injured all the members of his terrorist group were killed in an operation by the armed forces.

An armed forces unit destroyed two trucks loaded with weapons and eliminated a number of terrorists near Khayyata Mosque in al-Fardous area.

Father Imad al-Daher was wounded when two mortar rounds were fired by terrorists at the Greek Catholic Archdiocese in Farhat Square.

DShK-equipped Cars Destroyed in Aleppo Countryside

On Tuesday, the Armed Forces carried out a qualitative operation against a terrorists’ gathering in Andan area in Aleppo countryside.

The operation resulted in destroying 9 cars equipped with DShK machineguns and killing a large number of terrorists.

Terrorists Abdul-Aziz Oneizi Bin Hamed, of a non-Syrian nationality, Abdullah al-Ahmad al-Dahho and Mahmoud al-Mahmoud al-Dahho were identified among the dead.

12 year-old child Ali Mohammad al-Hammoud was injured when a terrorist group led by Mohammad Ismael al-Beff opened fire on a protest demanding that terrorists leave the village of Assan in Aleppo.

An armed forces unit destroyed eleven cars equipped with DShK machineguns along with the terrorists inside them on the road between Tal Refaat and Akhtyarin in Aleppo countryside.

The armed forces targeted gathering and bases of terrorists in al-Kamari, al-Khafsa and Deir Haffer, leaving tens of them dead or injured.

Armed forces units carried out an operation targeting terrorist bases in al-Atareb area, resulting in the death of tens of terrorist including Khalaf al-Sawat from Saudi Arabia and Mahmoud Talal al-Fahed from Iraq, in addition to Mohammad Barakat from Jabal al-Zawiye, Tamam Mushir al-Masri from Jisr al-Shughour, and Abdullah Mohammad Eid from Daret Azza.

Another armed forces unit targeted a terrorist base in Oram al-Sughra, killing a number of terrorists and injuring others.

Terrorists Killed, DShK-Equipped Cars Destroyed in Homs

A unit of the Armed Forces on Wednesday destroyed 4 DShK-equipped cars and killed scores of terrorists in the town of Burj Qa’ai in al-Houla area, Homs countryside.

SANA reporter quoted a source in the province as saying that a number of terrorists were killed and others injured in Burj Qa’ai town and in al-Rastan city.

The source added that another unit of the Armed Forces targeted a terrorists’ gathering near Bab Hud in Homs city, killing scores of them.

The armed forces also carried out an operation in Bab Hud neighborhood in which a 23.5 mm cannon was destroyed and a number of terrorists were killed or injured.

An armed forces unit targeted gatherings of terrorists in the towns of Kammam and al-Saloumiye in al-Qseir northern countryside in Homs province, killing and injuring a number of terrorists.

Another unit pursued terrorist groups in the areas of al-Zira’a, al-Nizariye and Jusiye in al-Qseir southern countryside, eliminating a large number of terrorists.

Terrorist Mohammad Bakkar, leader of a terrorist group, was killed along with his entire group in an operation carried out by the armed forces in al-Qseir countryside.

In the town of al-Rastan, an armed forces unit targeted terrorist gatherings, killing and injuring them, while another unit clashed with a terrorist group in al-Khalidye neighborhood, eliminating a number of them and injuring others.

Armed Forces Seize Explosive Device Factory, Locally-Made Missilles in Damascus Countryside

In Damascus countryside, armed forces discovered a factory for making explosive devices, locally-made rockets hidden underground and various weapons, including U.S.-made sniper rifles in Jisreen Farms in Eastern Ghouta.

A military source told SANA reporter that the army killed dozens of terrorists during the operation.

The authorities arrested terrorist Omar Kamel al-Shamandi while he was planting an explosive device in al-Suyouf square in Jaramana. Engineering units are working to dismantled the device.

Army Kills Scores of Terrorists in Daraa

A unit of the Armed Forces on Tuesday evening clashed with an armed terrorist group that tried to attack a law-enforcement post in al-Yadouda town in Daraa countryside, killing and wounding scores of the terrorists.

SANA reporter was informed by a source in the province that terrorists Thaer al-Haj Ali, Mohammad Shtara and Mohammad al-Hasheesh were identified among the dead.

The source added that another army unit clashed with terrorists in the town of Kafr Shams in the countryside, killing scores of them.

The source said that terrorists Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaabani and Mohammad Mousa al-Dammad were among the dead.

In the same context, the authorities confiscated a large amount of weapons, ammo and stolen medical supplies while pursuing terrorists in the towns of al-Karak al-Sharqi and al-Ghariyeh al-Sharqiyeh in Daraa countryside.

A source at the province said that the authorities pursued terrorists in the area of Waar al-Masmiyeh in al-Lajat area, eliminating a large number of them and confiscating automatic rifles and handguns they had in the possession.

The source added that engineering units dismantled a large number of explosive devices and antitank landmines planted by terrorists at the entrances of al-Karak al-Sharqi and al-Ghariyeh al-Sharqiyeh.

Armed Forces Destroy Terrorists’ Den near the Farmers Union in Deir Ezzor

A unit of the Armed Forces in Deir Ezzor Province on Wednesday destroyed a terrorist’s den near the Farmers Union building.

Authorities Confiscate Weapons and Explosives in al-Sejen Neighborhood in Lattakia

During a raid of a terrorist hideout in al-Sejen neighborhood in Lattakia city, the authorities confiscated weapons and firearms, including 175 kilograms of C4.

Confiscated items also include detonators, RPG rounds, remote-controlled circuits for detonating explosives, diving equipment, and gas masks.

Authorities Clash with Terrorist Group in Raqqa Countryside

The authorities clashed with a terrorist group near the turnpike of the village of Ali Bajlia in Tal Abyad area, Raqqa countryside.

The clash resulted in the destruction of 3 pickup trucks equipped with machineguns and the elimination of the terrorists inside them, in addition to confiscating two RPG rounds, ammo and three pump-action shotguns.

Premier al-Halqi: National Media Confronted Terrorism… Al-Moallem: Solving Crisis through Political Dialogue, National Reconciliation

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Prime Minister Dr. Wael al-Halqi highly appreciated the high performance of public and private national media in the face of terrorism and the misleading methods of some foreign media outlets in dealing with events in Syria.

Chairing the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Premier al-Halqi stressed the importance of constructive communication and cooperation between public institutions and media outlets, calling upon ministries and related bodies to provide journalists with information and facilitation needed to carry out their role in conveying the truth within a transparent and clear framework to serve the public interest.

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem briefed the cabinet on the outcome of his meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, especially things that are relevant to the situation in Syria and the different international stances in this regard.

He reviewed the Syrian delegation’s efforts to explain the reality of what is taking place in Syria as an international terrorism that is backed by foreign powers and countries to destabilize Syria’s security serving the U.S. and Israeli interests.

Al-Moallem said that the delegation stressed the firm Syrian stance in solving the crisis through political dialogue, national reconciliation and rejection of foreign intervention in the Syrian internal affairs.

Later on, Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs, Minister of Local Administration Omar Ghalawanji and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, Qadri Jamil presented a review on the services and economic situation, hailing the government’s efforts to provide food, oil derivatives and basic materials for citizens, in addition to following up on the situation of the displaced families in the makeshift centers and the rehabilitation of damaged services facilities.

In turn, Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar reviewed the ministry’s communications and meetings with national figures and powers within the framework of its task in pushing the national dialogue ahead and encouraging national reconciliation in some areas to restore stability and normal life.

The cabinet discussed a number of draft laws, approving the new draft law on scientific missions.

Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Subhi al-Abdullah briefed the Cabinet on the ministry’s procedures to provide farmers and livestock breeders with their production needs for the winter season in all provinces.

In turn, Minister of Transport, Mahmoud Ibrahim Said, reviewed the results of his visit to Russia and the talks with Russian companies with the aim of enhancing the railway, air and maritime transport systems in Syria.

He added that the two sides have completed procedures to purchase two planes while other procedures are underway to provide the air transport sector with 14 planes in the next five years.

In a statement to the journalists following the meeting, Minister of Electricty, Imad Khamis said that the cabinet approved the ministry’s proposal on supporting solar water heaters as part of the government’s policy to encourage the use of renewable energy as a substitute for fossil fuels.

He added that the government has allocated SYP 2 billion to support the first stage of the project.

Photographer of al-Ikhbariya TV Martyred by Terrorists’ Gunfire in Deir Ezzor

Oct 10, 2012

DEIR EZZOR, (SANA) – Photographer of al-Ikhbariya TV Mohammad al-Ashram was martyred by terrorists’ gunfire in Deir Ezzor city on Wednesday.

Journalists’ Union Condemns the Heinous Act

Journalists’ union condemned the terrorist act which targeted al-Ikhbariya TV photographer Mohammad al-Ashram while he was conveying the reality of what is going on in Deir Ezzor.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Union called on Arab and international organizations and bodies to condemn that criminal act and prosecute its perpetrators.

“Once again the terrorism targets the media body without any deterrent of conscience or moral.. today al-Ikhbariya TV cameraman was martyred in line of duty in Deir Ezzor at the hands of terrorists,” the statement said.

National Media Council: Martyrdom of al-Ashram Shows National Media is Doing Its Duty of Uncovering Terrorists’ Crimes

The National Media Council denounced the continuing attacks against national media and journalists, with the martyrdom of al-Ikhbariya TV correspondent Mohammad al-Ashram in Deir Ezzor showing that national media is doing its duty of uncovering the crimes and terrorism of the armed groups.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Council said that the assassination of al-Ashram is a reprehensible crime that violates all laws and conventions on freedom of press and the right of journalists to do their job during times of wars and preserving their lives.

The statement said that attempts to target the Syrian national media will fail to achieve their goals as the national media and those who work in it will continue to carry out their noble duty to serve the truth and uncover the enemies of Syria.

The Council offered sincerest condolences to the family of the martyr and all Syrian journalists.

Director of al-Ikhbariya TV: Martyrdom of Colleague al-Ashram Only Makes Journalists at the Channel More Determined to Say the Truth

Director of al-Ikhbariya TV, Imad Sara, said that the martyrdom of al-Ashram while carrying out his national duty of relaying the truth of what is happening in Syria will only make journalists working at the channel more determined to say the truth.

In a statement to SANA, Sara said that terrorists had abducted al-Ashram before and tortured him, and even burned down his house and his mother’s house, all because he insisted to do his job for Syria’s sake.

He affirmed that workers at al-Ikhbariya TV will remain faithful to their country and will continue to relay the whole truth due to their commitment to the homeland.

Makdissi: UN Secretary General’s Statement on Unilateral Ceasefire by the Syrian Side Incomplete

Oct 10, 2012

Damascus, (SANA)_Foreign and Expatriates Ministry Spokesman, Jihad al-Makdissi said that the UN Secretary General’s statement in Paris yesterday on the implementation of unilateral ceasefire by the Syrian side during his talks in New York, and that the Syrian side has asked him about what is next is incomplete and contained half of the truth regarding what has really happened during the talks and here is the whole story:

The UN Secretary General proposed implementing unilateral ceasefire and, in the same session, the Syrian side informed him that the Syrian Arab Republic has already implemented this proposal twice. The first time was during the work of the Arab Observers Mission headed by al-Dabi and the second one was on April 12th in the presence of the UN Observers Mission to Syria and in line with Mr. Kofi Annan’s six-point plan.

In both times, the armed groups exploited the commitment of the Syrian government to expand their armed deployment in some areas and since then human losses among military and civilians doubled due to the terrorist operations carried out by these groups in violation of the truce.

In light of what has been said, we agreed with the UN Secretary General on that the truce aims at creating appropriate atmosphere for the desired political dialogue and not to undermine Syria’s stability and exploit the commitment of the Syrian state. Therefore we asked the Secretary General to send his envoys to the countries concerned, especially Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey which fund, harbor, train and arm the armed groups to ensure these countries’ commitment to refrain from such acts, since they have influence on the armed groups, and to use their power to halt violence by the other side.

He added that the Syrian side asked to be informed on the outcome of the UN Secretary General’s efforts to discuss them with its leadership and make necessary arrangements.

Speaker of People’s Assembly Discusses with Lamani Efforts to Solve Crisis in Syria

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham discussed on Wednesday with Mokhtar Lamani, the head of UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s office in Syria, the efforts to come out of the crisis in Syria.

The two sides stressed the importance of finding a peaceful settlement to the crisis and ending violence, and work to launch a national dialogue that brings together the different spectrums of Syrian people with the aim to protect Syria.

Al-Laham reviewed the terrorist acts of the armed terrorist groups, in addition to the fierce media campaign led by misleading media and the impact of the unjust economic sanctions on the lives of the Syrian people.

Al-Laham highlighted the reforms enacted in Syria in response to the citizens’ demands and the People’s Assembly’s efforts to achieve national reconciliation, especially after setting up a permanent committee for this end so as to play an effective role on the ground to emphasize dialogue until achieving reconciliation.

Lamani said he will resume his meetings with different parties in Syria to listen to their viewpoints and urge them to engage dialogue to reach a solution to the crisis.

In a statement to SANA after the meeting, Lamani said ”the meeting comes as part of a series of meetings with different parties to listen to their views about the crisis,” indicating that he discussed with al-Laham the crisis in Syria and listened to the People’s Assembly position on it.”

Chavez Reiterates Support to Syria, Stresses That the US Most Responsible for Crisis

Oct 10, 2012

CARACAS, (SANA) – The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday reiterated his country’s support to Syria in the face of the pre-planned scheme targeting it, stressing that the U.S. administration is one of the powers most responsible for the crisis in Syria.

In his first press conference after being re-elected as Venezuela’s President, Chavez said that he will continue supporting the Syrian government under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad.

“How can we not suppor the government of President Bashar al-Assad as long as it is Syria’s legitimate government? If we didn’t support it, then who should we support? Should we support the terrorists who want a transitional council and kill people wherever they are?!”, President Chavez wondered.

He considered it odd that some western governments are holding meetings with terrorists and no longer recognize a legitimate government.

The Venezuelan President hailed the stance of Russia and China regarding the crisis in Syria.

Chavez stressed in a statement last September that the Syrian people is currently the victim of a violent imperialist policy.

Lavrov: We Will Defend UN Charter while Solving Crisis in Syria

Oct 10, 2012

MOSCOW, (SANA) – Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, stressed on Wednesday that Russia will defend the principles of the UN Charter regarding solving the crisis in Syria and settling the Iranian nuclear file.

Russia Today website reported Lavrov as saying before the Russian Federation Council that arbitrary interpretations of the general principles of the UN Charter such as preventing the use and threat of force, resorting to peaceful solutions to pending issues, respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries and non-interference in the internal affairs constitute a threat to the global system.

Lavrov added that Russia will continue its persistence on the sovereignty of law in the international issues, pointing out that his country is exerting efforts to search for means to solve crisis in Syria and the Iranian nuclear file.

The Russian Foreign Minister expressed Moscow’s readiness for holding the second meeting of the action group on Syria at any time.

“We are ready to hold this meeting at any time but we realize that it should be prepared to,” said Lavrov, noting that when Russia last August proposed holding a meeting for the group to stress the necessity to implement Geneva statement and most importantly for the members to take upon themselves to influence the two parties to the conflict in Syria, its partners were not ready for that.

In the same context, Lavrov said that Syria and Turkey should engage into a direct dialogue to settle the situation after the incident which took place on the border early October.

He added that the Syrian side “is interested in regaining contact with Turkey”, expressing hope that Ankara too is ready to communicate with Damascus.

Lavrov noted that the UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will formulate, after having visited Damascus, ideas for “settling the conflict” in the country based on Geneva statement.

“Brahimi visited the region and Damascus, and now is heading to the region again. Afterwards, he’ll formulate ideas that will be based, as he told me in New York, on the main points of Geneva meeting, which is absolutely correct,” said Lavrov.

On the Iranian issue, the Russian Foreign Minister warned of the dangerous repercussions that would result from launching military strikes against Iran, hoping that there would be no such strikes.

He considered that such developments, if happened, “would be the nearest way towards undermining the efforts seeking to settle all the issues regarding the Iranian nuclear file.”

Al-Maliki: Iraq Rejects NATO Intervention in Syria under Pretext of Defending Turkey

Oct 10, 2012

MOSCOW, (SANA) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that his country rejects the NATO intervention in Syria under the pretext of defending Turkey which adopts a wrong policy that affects the security of the region, stressing that Turkey is not under threat.

In a statement to journalists in Moscow, al-Maliki said that a war should not be ignited, nor a whole organization such as the NATO alliance dragged to such a war to defend Turkey which is not really under threat.

He considered what has been circulated by some media about Syrian aircrafts bombing the Turkish territories an exaggerated allegation and does not deserve to wage a war for its.

Al-Maliki warned against the risks of NATO intervention in Syria since it might lead to a big war in the whole region.

Regarding the Turkish policy towards Syria, the Iraqi Premier described it as wrong, adding that Turkey is taking risks through its policies, particularly those related to the security in the region, and its behavior is rude as it takes the responsibility of solving the issues in Syria instead of the Syrian people, indicating that Turkey wants to impose its decision and that is why the international community has to take action to stop Turkey.

He said that Ankara is trying to drag the NATO to interfere in Syria’s affairs which is a serious matter as it means a repetition of the Libyan scenario, stressing that the solution to the crisis in Syria should be peaceful so that in the future, the Syrian people will be able to decide what they want, adding that”Only then, there will be no danger threatening Syria or other countries in the region.”

Al-Maliki refuted the US allegations of Iran sending aircrafts loaded with weapons to the Syrian government through the Iraqi territories as baseless, adding that “We will not allow using the Iraqi territories to transport weapons and fighters to the neighboring countries. We searched the aircrafts without earlier warning and no weapons were found on their boards.”

He added that transporting weapons through transit violates the international law and the Iraqi Constitution and it might cause problems to the country, describing the U.S. allegation to be a political game or trick since Syria does not need weapons to be transported through the Iraqi territories.

Premier al-Maliki said that Iraq has asked for evidence on such allegations but it received none, adding that “We did not get assurances that Iranian aircrafts are transporting weapons to Syria. We informed both Syria and Iran that we allow transporting cargos but not weapons and we will continue conducting international inspections in this regard.”

Minister of Education: Syria Submitted Written Reports on Transgressions against Syrian Heritage to UNESCO

Oct 10, 2012

PARIS, (SANA) –The Syrian Minister of Education, Hazwan al-Wazz stressed Syria’s cooperation with all friends and its openness to all sincere initiatives to end the crisis.

Speaking on his behalf at the opening session of the 190th session of the Executive Council of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UNESCO, Ambassador Lamia Shakkour reiterated Syria’s sincere call for starting unconditional national dialogue to get out of the crisis and overcome its repercussions through appropriate solutions.

He added that Syria believes that the solution to the crisis should be Syrian and by the Syrians themselves without excluding anyone.

On September 16th, Syria’s children started their new school year and the Syrian universities and institutes opened despite the huge damage caused by the armed terrorist groups to the education sector, Shakkour said.

He indicated that 2,073 schools have been damaged, some of which need to be reconstructed completely, while 796 other schools were transferred into makeshift centers for those who were displaced and forced to leave their houses and cities in light of the criminal acts committed by the armed terrorist groups.

Al-Wazz said that the ministry documented the assassination of 88 workers at the education sector and the value of damage caused to this sector alone was estimated at SYP 5,444 billion, not to mention the damage caused to universities, media institutions, services facilities, museums, in addition to hindering the tourism movement and industry as well as other aspects of life in the country.

The statement added that Syria’s calls upon the UNESCO and other international organizations stressed these organizations’ right and freedom to send whoever they want to closely inspect the reality and the huge damage on the ground.

The Minister added that Syria, under the current crisis, is facing real threats to its rich cultural heritage, indicating that the Syrian government has adopted firm measures to protect the national cultural heritage, including those sites which are listed on the World Heritage List.

The Minister of Education said that coordination with the UNESCO and its bodies continues, adding that UNESCO and international concerned bodies have been provided with written reports on the transgressions against the Syrian heritage to unite international and national efforts to protect and preserve the Syrian heritage, calling upon international sides to adhere to their obligations according to the Heritage Protection Agreements / 1954 – 1972 and 2003/ and the relevant protocols.

The statement added that ” contrary to the US Permanent Representative’s false allegations and the non-objective information, Syria has always welcomed the General Director’s support and the nomination of a team of international experts to head to Syria as soon as possible to organize a workshop, adding that ”We look forward that the UNESCO and the specialized bodies would have a role in reaching an international census on “the position of Morals in Preserving World Heritage”.

He said that Syria, which is committed to the UN Charter and the principles of the international law and the legitimacy of human rights on respecting the independence and sovereignty of states and the inadmissibility of foreign intervention in their domestic affairs, in addition to these countries’ complete responsibility of protecting the civilians, is punished today in such a precedent that has never been witnessed throughout the history of the international relations.

He regretted that ”the appreciation and the confidence in some brothers and friends made them betray us and our people and became tools in the hands of sponsors of strange western project that serves a serious Zionist scheme as they practiced misleading media and provided money and arms to armed terrorist takfiri groups that are killing, kidnapping and terrifying the Syrians, not to mention destroying economic, scientific, cultural and social infrastructure in Syria.

He added that “In Syria, we still have hope that these countries and powers which support the armed terrorist groups will reconsider their stances to play objective and moral roles that maintain their reputation in history within the international community’s efforts to form a just and transparent order to face climate, environment and security challenges… an order that is based on the UN Charter and the international law that guarantee the inadmissibility of intervention in the sovereign affairs of countries.”

The minister said that the Syrian national sides presented to the Security Council and the international organizations concerned official documents and references on the crimes committed against the Syrians serving major powers and their regional projects.

The minister added that the 18-month crisis in Syria never hindered the enactment of reforms to fulfill popular demands as a new constitution was issued including political plurality, parliamentary elections and local administration laws, freedom of press and media, decentralization and the formation of new government that comprised representatives of national opposition parties.

”Through this, Syria achieved a wide popular participation in the Syrian government’s reform project and its commitment to enhance democratic atmosphere for a political and economic future that stressed the rule of the law, preserved security and stability and consolidated the national unity.”

”Despite that, the armed terrorist groups continued their violations of the moral principles and the international conventions, resorted to what might hinder the process of reform and national reconciliation and targeted the lives of innocents, their security and their daily living backed and covered by major foreign powers,” said the minister.

It is no more a secret what Syria is facing, the killing of journalists, the misleading media campaigns, the fabrications, the halt of the Syrian TVs broadcast and the instigation on violence and hatred by some media outlets.

He said “On August 29th, President Bashar al-Assad stressed the Syrian people’s ability to overcome the current situation and its repercussions ,” adding that today in Syria we are determined to make reforms that meet the aspirations of our citizens and their struggle to restore rights and achieve comprehensive and just peace that is based on international legitimacy resolutions despite all obstacles.

The minister called upon the UNESCO to inform the member states about the progress made regarding the implementation of the resolutions on the occupied Arab territories in Palestine and the occupied Syrian Golan, especially forming expert committees to inspect the daily aggressive practices of the Israeli occupation authorities against cultural and educational institutions, their transgressions against al-Aqsa Mosque and their attempts to juadize Jerusalem City and threatening its cultural heritage.

He expressed Syria’s appreciation to the UNESCO resolution on accepting the full membership of Palestine, reiterating Syria’s stance in support of the just causes of G77, China, the Non-Aligned Movement and other friendly countries represented in the UNESCO, hailing their humanitarian and political stances in support of Syria against this ferocious attack which threaten its security, sovereignty and territorial unity.

He added that Syria, which is a unique model of fraternity and coexistence, strongly condemns desecrating religions, messengers and holy sites, and urges world countries to be alarmed to the threats posed by terrorism that undermines the values of societies, urging UNESCO to take a firm stance against these violations.

The minister expressed Syria’s welcome to the ”Education First” initiative that was put forward by the UN Secretary-General that UNESCO was honored to lead, indicating that Syria has paid its annual financial donation despite the unjust sanctions.

National Media Council: Protecting Syrian Human Heritage a Defense of the Homeland

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_The National Media Council stressed that protecting the Syrian human heritage is a defense of the homeland threatened by groups of extremist gunmen allied with the mafias of ancient monuments, and a defense of the world human civilization.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Council called upon the journalists, reporters, intellectuals, students and clergymen to defend the Syrian cultural identity through defending the national ancient monuments that are a symbol of this culture, indicating that the international organizations should shoulder responsibilities in protecting this human heritage as this lies at the core of the tasks of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Council saw that there must be an immediate scientific action that would put an end to the violations and thefts threatening these human and cultural milestones, calling upon the Syrians who value their heritage to be a staunch shield in defense of their heritage.

The Council alarmed to the grave danger threatening the archeological sites, historical buildings and the Syrian museums amid the current war waged on Syria, adding that in parallel with targeting the economic, educational, service and health structure, the terrorist groups are targeting the Syrian cultural identity and world mafias are threatening the Syrian ancient treasures.

The statement indicated that the barbaric targeting of Syrian antiquities is evidenced by reports on the excavations in al-Madiqe, the Krak des Chevaliers and Ebla citadels and attempts to steal the mosaic floors in Apamea and the Aramaic golden statue from Hama museum, and armed attacks on Maaret al-Nu’man museum, burning down Aleppo ancient souks, demolishing ancient churches, monasteries and mosques in Homs as the armed terrorist groups are using citadels, historical buildings and souks as barricades, making the invaluable cultural achievements a battlefield.

”The Syrian civilizations have endowed the Syrian society with diversity and made the Syrian spiritual structure take pride in the cohesive social fabric…this historical cultural memory is derived from the material landmarks exhibited in museums,” the statement concluded, warning of the goals of the terrorist colonial war on Syria which aims at uprooting this unequalled example of diversity.

Ghalawanji Chairs Meeting on Establishing Funds for New Organizational Regions

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs, Minister of Local Administration Omar Ghalawanji on Wednesday chaired a meeting on establishing funds for the two new organizational regions established as pet Legislative Decree No. 66 for 2012 and financing them.

The meeting discussed the steps needed to provide funding for the two regions and carrying them out according to schedule, which will cost around SYP 90 billion; 24 billion for the infrastructure, 6 billion for paying rents of former occupants of the two areas, and 60 billion to build houses.

The meeting also tackled establishing funds for financing and managing the costs of the two regions, with Ghalawanji noting that there are various options for providing the necessary funding such as bank loans, partnering up with companies, and so on.

Ghalawanji ordered the formation of a committee to study all possible scenarios for securing funding for the project from start to finish, in addition to studying the establishment of the funds.

For his part, Governor of Damascus Bishr al-Sabban gave a presentation on the organizational regions in question, noting that Damascus Governorate Executive Office allocated SYP 500 million for funding this project from the Governorate’s budget.

In turn, Governor of the Central Bank of Syria Adib Mayyaleh stressed the need to adopt a balanced and calculated solution to fund the project to avoid hurdles, suggesting te possibility of finding additional sources for funding the projects other than banks and loans to guarantee its continuation and take inflation into account.

Britain Admits British Extremists Intend to Join Fighting in Syria

Oct 10, 2012

LONDON, (SANA) – Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday admitted that British extremists intend to join the fighting in Syria.

In a statement to BBC, Hague said that the government is aware of some British people joining the battles in Syria, warning them against traveling there or taking part in the fight.

“We strongly advise them not to travel to Syria, and we do not want British people taking part in violent situations anywhere in the world,” he said.

Hague’s implicit confessions came in line with the divulging of the conspiracy hatched against Syria, not to mention the flow of international media reports which revealed the involvement of the US and some western countries in sending terrorists to Syria and providing them with military and financial support by some Gulf countries with the aim of toppling the Syrian state and spreading chaos.

Today, the British Police arrested a man and a woman, both aged 26, on suspicion of preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism in Syria as part of the investigation into travelling there and supporting terrorist acts.

The police statement indicated that the two were arrested upon their arrival at Heathrow Airport after which they were taken to a police station in central, adding that are still in custody.

The statement added that the police searched several properties in eastern London as part of the investigations.

In the same context, BBC News on Monday uncovered that shipments of weapons intended for the Saudi army have been diverted to the gunmen in Aleppo.

“Three crates from an arms manufacturer – addressed to Saudi Arabia – have been seen in a base being used by gunmen in the city of Aleppo.” BBC correspondent in Syria Ian Pannell reported.

Rizospastis, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece, stressed that the imperialist powers are targeting Syria and the entire Middle East region through using mercenary armed terrorist groups to hit Syria’s stability under the cover of opposition, with the aim of overcoming Iran and controlling the oil and natural gas transfer lines.

The newspaper called upon the Greek people and the other peoples in the region to be cautious and aware of these schemes.

General Union of Arab Students Reiterates Rejection of Foreign Intervention in Syria

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The General Union of Arab Students reiterated rejection of all forms of foreign intervention in Syria, calling for immediate halt of violence and launching the comprehensive dialogue among all sides to draw up Syria’s future.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Union called for cancelling all the unjust Arab, western and U.S. sanctions imposed on the Syrian people.

It also called upon monarchies of the Gulf and the Turkish government not to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs, to stop supplying criminal mercenaries with funds and arms and to leave the Syrian people alone to decide their future.

Second Syrian Youth Sculpture and Drawing Forum Kicks Off

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The second Syrian Youth Sculpture and Drawing Forum kicked off on Wednesday at the courtyard of Damascus Citadel, organized by the Fine Arts Directorate and the Institute of Applied Arts.

Director of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture, sculptor Aktham Abdelhamid, said that this event provides young artists with a chance to meet and build bridges with art establishments, noting that it also helps artist train in working within a set time period to prepare them for participating in international events.

Abdelhamid noted that the forum also aims to nurture young talents, and that holding it during these difficult times shows the world that the Syrian people will continue living life to the fullest regardless of the difficulties.

Sculptor Nisreen al-Saleh said that her participation in the forum consists of an abstract presentation of the woman as a mother, sister and wife, using poplar wood as a medium.

In turn, sculptor Waddah Salameh said his sculpture represents a composition of social layers that suffered cultural disorders that caused them to become destabilized, using both wood and iron to produce his piece.

For her part, sculptor Wala’a Kateb said her piece is an abstract representation connecting different pieces through a mutual emotion, with an underlying theme of the role of music in clarifying the human spirit, using olive wood as her medium of choice.

Similarly, sculptor Julia Wahbe said that she’s working on an abstract expressionist piece representing aesthetic values through the human being’s higher qualities, naming the sculpture “wing and pride.”

Artist Juliana Salloum said her painting consists of three windows depicting similar conditions that combine the elements of earth, air, water and fire.

In turn, forum supervisor and artist Lina Affash said that the event contains a wide variety of artistic styles and techniques, revealing the Syrian youths’ creativity.

Old Coins Exhibition in Shahbaa Festival for Heritage and Arts Activities

Oct 10, 2012

SWEIDA, (SANA) – The second day of Shahbaa Festival for Heritage and Arts observed the opening of an exhibition for historical currencies and antique instruments.

The exhibition, held in cooperation with the locals in Qanawat town, showcased more than 200 old paper money and 500 antique coins, most of which are Syrian, as well as to a collection of Arab and foreign coins that date back to early last century.

Member of the executive office for the Provincial Council for Tourism and Antiquities told SANA reporter that the festival is an opportunity to introduce Syria’s history and enhance the role of governmental sector and the civil organizations in protecting national archeological findings.

In turn, head of Qanawat committee in the Antiquities institution, Hussein Zariyfeh stressed the importance of preserving the national identity and the cultural and intellectual heritage against globalization.

He reviewed the institution’s efforts to take care of ancient ruins and make use of the archeological sites in the province to contribute to tourism industry.

Head of Sweida Antiquities Department, Hussein Zein Eddin said that a number of archeological houses have been acquisitioned in Qanawat town with the aim of showing their historical value.

Syrian Firefighters Have Become a Target of Terrorists’ Hatred-charged Gunfire

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- Number 113 is very known by all the Syrians, as it is considered their first resort when exposed to any harm or accident which necessitate calling the firefighters.

Despite their noble mission and the humanitarian services they offer to those in need, firefighters in Syria have also been a target of the terrorists’ hatred and perfidy as the bullets of the terrorists claimed the lives of many firefighters.

“The firefighters are now being targeted like all the Syrians who care for protecting their homeland,” a firefighter said in a statement to SANA, expressing grief over the loss of number his comrades who were the victim of the terrorist groups’ gunfire.

Known for their extraordinary self-motivation and enthusiasm to respond to any a call of fire or help, the Syrian firefighters are now not only being blocked from doing their job, but also shot dead by the mercenary and armed terrorist groups.

“This is our homeland and we should maintain it…build it stone by stone,” the firefighter said.

“It takes minutes to destroy the walls of this great edifice of Syria, while years are needed to rebuild it,” he went on as saying, stressing that “this is the message I address to the terrorists.”

He called upon all those who participate in the destruction of the homeland to return to their senses and to contribute to preserving Syria and its dignity and honor.

Early Warning System for Communicable Diseases during Crisis Established

Oct 10, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The Ministry of Health has recently established an early warning system to collect information on communicable diseases during the current crisis the country is going through.

A workshop held recently by the Ministry in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), which helped in setting up the early warning system, discussed means of taking the appropriate measures to prevent the outbreak of epidemics and diseases.

The participants in the workshop focused on gathering information on the temporary residential places where displaced families are staying, who fled the practices of the armed terrorist groups, with the aim of ensuring their needs of vaccine, medicines and reproductive health services.

Health Minister, Saeed al-Nayef pointed out 104 health centers across the provinces were chosen for weekly notification on a specific list of diseases including 12 contagious diseases.

“This aims for early confrontation and treatment of such diseases upon emerging,” said the Minister.

He highlighted that the health sector in Syria has been subjected to great losses during the current crisis, estimating these losses at SYP 6 billion, which included hospitals, clinics, health centers, ambulances and medical equipment.

Minister al-Nayef stressed that the Ministry is cooperating with the friendly countries of Iran, Korea, Cuba, India and China, in addition to international organizations and civil charity associations, to bridge the gaps suffered by the health sector.

Acting WHO Representative in Damascus, Elizabeth Hoff, said the Organization has established the early warning system to enhance the National System for Epidemic-prone Disease Surveillance during Emergencies, which is aimed at detecting diseases that constitute danger on public health and informing about them in the right time.

She stressed that the WHO will provide the necessary technical support to this system through securing communication means and helping in specifying the data and issuing reports.

For his part, Director of Health Care Department at the Ministry, Ahmad al-Abboud, said the objective behind launching the early warning system was the spread of local internal immigration inside the cities and provinces, which he said created a kind of overpopulation and caused reduction in the level of vaccine coverage.

The Health Ministry is launching a national vaccination campaign by the beginning of November that targets children aged between 1 and 5 for measles and paralysis.

Director of Contagious and Chronic Disease Department at the Ministr, Kinaz Sheikh, affirmed that no unusual disease cases were recorded in the National Surveillance System despite the unprecedented circumstances faced by the System staff while performing their duty.

Kilicdaroglu Slams Turky’s Foreign Policy as Strategic Blidness

Oct 10, 2012

ANKARA, (SANA) – Leader of the Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Tuesday slammed Turkey’s foreign policy decisions, calling Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu “an idiot”.

The Turkish newspaper of Hurriyet quoted Kilicdaroglu as wondering “who is on Turkey’s side?”, citing Hamas, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, while Syria has Brazil, Iran, Russia and China on its side.

“Is this a strategic depth or a strategic blindness?”, he asked.

Kilicdaroglu said that the process that resulted in Turkey’s becoming part of such a meaningless balance comes from a foreign minister whose incompetence is known by the entire world.

“You don’t need deep knowledge to know that. You have to be a real idiot to do that,” he added.

Late September, Kilicdaroglu stressed, in a large popular demonstration in Istanbul, that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan followed the course of the West against Syria, adding that Erdogna’s policy towards Syria is dangerous and contrary to conscience and morals as it is helping in training, arming and sending fighters to Syria.

Syria’s Youth Football Team Wins 5-0 over Kuwaiti Counterpart in Friendly Match

Oct 09, 2012

KUWAIT, (SANA)- Syria’s national youth football team beat the Kuwaiti counterpart 5-0 in a friendly match held on Tuesday at the stadium of al-Qaddissiya Club in the capital Kuwait.

Three of the goals were scored in the first match, while the other two were scored in the second.

Both teams will meet again in a second friendly match on October 14 before the Syrian team comes back to Damascus.

Tuesday’s match was part of the preparations of the Syrian team to participate in the Asian Cup finals set to be held in November in the UAE.

Syria’s team is in group D, along with Australia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.