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By Kate Randall

15 December, 2012

@ WSWS.org

A gunman walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday morning and opened fire, killing 26, including 20 young children. The shooter was also found dead inside the school of a self-inflicted gunshot.

The horrific event took place at Sandy Hook Elementary, a K-4 school for five- to ten-year-old students. The massacre was the worst in the US since the 2007 rampage at Virginia Tech University, which left 33 dead. The killings follow by less than five months the shooting rampage at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, where 12 were killed and 58 injured.

Newtown, a small, affluent New England town about 80 miles northeast of New York City, has been ranked as one of the safest places to live in America. The community attracts families who want to send their children to the town’s well-regarded public schools. Residents, shocked and in mourning, expressed disbelief that this type of tragedy could take place in their town.

The shooter has been tentatively identified by law enforcement officials as 20-year-old Adam Lanza. There was initially some confusion about his identity, as he was carrying the identification of his brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, of Hoboken, New Jersey. Ryan Lanza reportedly told authorities that his brother had a history of mental health issues. The elder brother is not a suspect.

Shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday morning, local police received a call from Sandy Hook Elementary where the rampage was under way. According to a Connecticut State Police news briefing, the shootings took place in two rooms in a single section of the school.

The Hartford Courant reported that one entire classroom of children was unaccounted for. Eighteen children were pronounced dead at the scene and two died after being transported to the hospital. One wounded victim remained hospitalized as of Friday evening.

Children, who huddled in the corners of classrooms, reported hearing loud booms. Survivors escaped the carnage in groups—holding hands, many crying—escorted from the school by teachers. Students reported that they were told to cover their eyes and not look around, apparently in an effort to prevent them from seeing the dead and wounded.

Six adults were killed, although not necessarily all at Sandy Hook. The school principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was shot and killed at the school. According to a law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly, kindergarten teacher Nancy Lanza, 52, the shooter’s mother, was among the victims. The body of an as yet unnamed adult male was found at the Newtown home owned by Nancy and Peter Lanza, Adam and Ryan Lanza’s father.

 

At least three weapons were recovered at the school shooting scene, including a .223-caliber assault rifle from the back of a car and two semiautomatic handguns found near Lanza’s body. Witnesses reported that some 100 shots or so were fired.

“It’s not a simplistic scene,” police spokesman Vance commented. “We will be here through the night, through the weekend. There is a great deal of work that has to be done.” He reported that the murder scene was so gruesome that first responders were provided counseling. “This was a tragic, horrific scene they encountered,” he said.

However, virtually nothing in the way of explanation has been offered in the nonstop media coverage of the shootings, or in the various comments of police and government officials, who uniformly term the deadly chain of events as “inexplicable” and “senseless”.

President Barack Obama made a brief statement from the White House Friday afternoon. “We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years,” he said. “And each time I learn the news I react not as a president, but as anybody else would—as a parent.” He made no effort to account for the events, which his own comment acknowledged were a persistent feature of American life.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s comments proceeded along similar lines: “School shootings are always incomprehensible and horrific tragedies,” he said. “But words fail to describe today’s heartbreaking and savage attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School.”

 

What intellectual bankruptcy! No US government official or media personality has the mental capacity or courage to ask why these horrible tragedies occur in America with such heartbreaking predictability. The public has barely adjusted itself to one horror when the next one takes place. Even as the media reports Friday’s incident, everyone knows that it is only a matter of time before the next atrocity.

Details of the tragic events in Connecticut are still emerging. In particular, little is known about what could have driven the shooter to plan and carry out such an atrocity. But statements to the effect that such tragedies are always incomprehensible block any examination of the processes that make possible such an antisocial explosion.

Whatever the immediate personal circumstances of each perpetrator, and such circumstances—psychological alienation, mental illness—of course play a role, the regularity of these mass killings expresses the profound sickness of American society, afflicted by social tensions that can find no progressive outlet.

The same figures that speak of “inexplicable tragedies” preside over extreme levels of violence both at home and abroad. Obama is the first US president to openly claim the right to select and order assassinations, including of US citizens. The ruling elite prosecutes an unending series of wars and military invasions, with hundreds of billions of dollars going to the giant killing machine. How could any expression of violence in America today be entirely “incomprehensible”?

At home, the American population is subjected to a culture of violence, not only in the form of police shootings and brutality, but an assault on democratic rights. While the financial elite continues to amass record profits, growing numbers of working families are plunged into poverty.

On the surface, such social tensions do not seem to be part of the reality of a town like Newtown, Connecticut, but they found terrible expression there Friday.

James Dietter, 26, lives in the neighborhood where one of the victims was found. His mother works in the school system. Dietter told the Hartford Courant. “This is the idyllic New England hamlet… there was a bit of a magical insulation or feeling that tragedy won’t happen here. Now it has, and, unfortunately, I think it is going to define this town.”

By Ralph Nader

15 December, 2012

@ Nader.org

Say what you will about Yoko Ono’s art, there is no denying that she is unique. Who else will put several $100,000 full-page notices in The New York Times displaying only the word “Peace” or “Imagine Peace” in small type with the rest of the page blank? No elaboration, no examples of the ravages of war or mention of people “waging peace” around the country and world. Inscrutable, yes. Effective, who knows, except maybe Yoko Ono?

Well, in the December 10th issue of the Times there appeared a most un-Yoko type message. And this one wasted no space with the headline “Governor Cuomo: Imagine there’s no fracking.” The ad, commissioned by her and her son Sean Lennon, contained a graphic case against fracking designed to get New Yorkers to urge the governor to ban fracking and make permanent the moratorium first established by former N.Y. Governor David Paterson. The moratorium was in place pending further scientific studies regarding the environmental and health impact of drilling deep into the Marcellus Shale deposits underneath a large portion of the state.

The gas companies are putting heavy pressure on Gov. Cuomo to join Pennsylvania, which is already suffering the ravages of fracking. Landowners in Pennsylvania and in other permitted states now realize that their water was contaminated by chemicals used in the fracking process and leaked natural gas from fractured shale deposits.

There also exists a formidable coalition of government officials, physicians, scientists at Cornell, civic groups, farmers and other diverse opponents fighting against this hydrofracking. The relentlessly-factual Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting in Ithaca, New York, is one of the most effective environmentalists opposing fracking.

Of course, on the other side are the oil and gas industries pursuing profits, landowners seeking royalties (though the fine print contracts may rise up to bite them), and upstate laborers hoping for employment. The gas industry publicists, who exaggerate the benefits to the local economies, ignore the short-term nature of most of the jobs and the costly toxic air, water and land destruction fracking leaves behind.

The fight against fracking in New York is like the recurrent struggle put on by the taxpayer-subsidized fossil fuel and nuclear industries that want to dominate energy policies in government and push the safer alternatives out of the way because energy efficiency and renewable energy don’t make profits for them. As Yoko and Sean point out, through their new group Artists Against Fracking, by insulating buildings, for example, they could “save far more energy and create far more jobs than fracking can produce, plus save consumers money forever.”

Industry engineering manuals portray the immense complexity of fracturing technology, the huge amount of water used per well, the pipelines and compressor stations, the congested truck traffic, the dozens of chemicals needed in the water to draw out the gas vertically and horizontally under the surface of the land. These materials leave out the emerging, grim reality which is memorably portrayed in the documentary “Gasland” by Josh Fox.

Hydrofracking, whose side effects haven’t been fully vetted, is a new industrial way of obtaining natural gas. Instead of seeking these deposits, alternative energy sources should be pursued. Think of solar energy, dutifully, naturally providing most of the energy needed, from absolute zero, to make the Earth habitable. The rest is up to Homo sapiens – a species that must be giving Mother Sun the fits over not adapting its energy for efficient, safe daily uses.

We need to remember Ben Franklin, our frugal forebear who coined the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Today he would say “a trillion BTUs saved is a trillion BTUs earned.” The problem is that reducing waste – and despite progress, we are far less energy efficient than Western Europe or Japan – is not encouraged by present perverse market and regulatory incentives.

Germany is way ahead of us in both energy conservation and renewable energy. There, nuclear power is being phased out. And, price is used to discourage use of fossil fuels. There is also growing support for a carbon tax in this country including some leading corporate chieftains, but the message hasn’t reached the lawmakers in Congress. Too many of them are marinated in oil.

Your tax dollars helped develop fracturing technology which, if not stopped, will unleash its furies all over the world. There are hydrocarbons everywhere. Methane, among other gases, will be released in excess, which is many times worse a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The regulators are not keeping up.

But the sun is everywhere in many forms – solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, passive solar architecture, wind power, wave power, non-corn biomass that doesn’t compete with food supplies and raise food prices. As I said years ago, “If Exxon owned the sun, we’d have solar energy very quickly.”

Therein is the rub. What is best for a planet with a decentralized, job-producing, safe, efficient, inexhaustible form of energy (at least for 3 billion more years) does not yet have the political muscle to go to the top of the U.S.’s energy priority ladder. The concentrated profits and the limited energy infrastructure are in the grip of the Chevrons and the Peabody Coals.

But history is not on their side. Countries with minimal fossils fuels are leading the way with renewables. Post the Fukushima disaster, Japan is upping the ante on conservation and renewables. Climate changes and natural disasters will wake up the rest of the world. Let’s act to make it sooner rather than later.

The latest bulletin (toxicstargeting.com/Marcellus_Shale) from the indefatigable Walter Hang alerts people to protest that the State Department of Health review is now “being conducted in total secrecy without any public participation.” He believes Mr. Cuomo will make his decision within three months and urges you to call the Governor’s office at 518.474.8390 or 212.681.4580.

 

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His latest book is The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future. Other recent books include, The Seventeen Traditions: Lessons from an American Childhood, Getting Steamed to Overcome Corporatism: Build It Together to Win, and “Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us” (a novel).

By Marian Wright Edelman

15 December 12

@ Reader Supported News

he horrendous news from Newtown, Connecticut has pierced our hearts. Allegedly, a black-clad man in his 20s armed with two semi-automatic handguns entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School and made an elementary school for kindergartners through fourth graders the scene of the worst mass shooting in a public school in American history. Reportedly, 20 children were shot and killed, and seven adults were shot and killed. We don’t yet know how many were wounded. We do know dozens of parents are experiencing the worst nightmare any parent could imagine. We do know more than 500 young children in the school are traumatized.

Once again we are faced with unspeakable horror from gun violence and once again we are reminded that there is no safe harbor for our children. How young do the victims have to be and how many children need to die before we stop the proliferation of guns in our nation and the killing of innocents? The most recent statistics reveal 2,694 children and teens were killed by gunfire in 2010; 1,773 of them were victims of homicide and 67 of these were elementary school-age children. If those children and teens were still alive they would fill 108 classrooms of 25 each. Since 1979 when gun death data were first collected by age, a shocking 119,079 children and teens have been killed by gun violence. That is more child and youth deaths in America than American battle deaths in World War I (53,402) or in Vietnam (47,434) or in the Korean War (33,739) or in the Iraq War (3,517). Where is our anti-war movement to protect children from pervasive gun violence here at home?

This slaughter of innocents happens because we protect guns before children and other human beings. Our hearts and prayers go out to the parents and teachers and children and the entire Newtown community that has been ripped apart by each bullet shot this morning. We know from past school shootings and the relentless killing of children every day that Newtown families and the community will never be the same. The Newtown families who lost children today will never be the same. The families of the teachers who were killed will never be the same. Every child at the Sandy Hook Elementary School this morning will never be the same.

Each and all of us must do more to stop this intolerable and wanton epidemic of gun violence and demand that our political leaders do more. We can’t just talk about it after every mass shooting and then do nothing until the next mass shooting when we profess shock and talk about it again. The latest terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School is no fluke. It is a result of the senseless, immoral neglect of all of us as a nation to protect children instead of guns and to speak out against the pervasive culture of violence and proliferation of guns in our nation. It is up to us to stop these preventable tragedies.

We have so much work to do to build safe communities for our children and need leaders at all levels of government who will stand up against the NRA and for every child’s right to live and learn free of gun violence. But that will not happen until mothers and grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, and neighbors and faith leaders and everybody who believes that children have a right to grow up safely stand up together and make a mighty ruckus as long as necessary to break the gun lobby’s veto on common sense gun policy. Our laws and not the NRA must control who can obtain firearms.

It is way past time to demand enactment of federal gun safety measures, including:

Ending the gun show loophole that allows private dealers to sell guns without a license and avoid required background checks;

Reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004;

And requiring consumer safety standards for all guns.

Why in the world do we regulate teddy bears and toy guns and not real guns that have snuffed out tens of thousands of child lives? Why are leaders capitulating to the powerful gun lobby over the rights of children and all people to life and safety?

I hope these shocking Connecticut child sacrifices in this holy season will force enough of us at last to stand up, speak out, and organize with urgency and persistence until the president, members of Congress, governors and state legislators put child safety ahead of political expediency. And we must aspire and act together to become the world leader in protecting children against gun violence rather than leading the world in child victims of guns. Every child’s life is sacred and it is long past time that we protect all our children.

Albert Camus, Nobel Laureate, speaking at a Dominican monastery in 1948 said: “Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children.” He described our responsibility as human beings “if not to reduce evil, at least not to add to it” and “to refuse to consent to conditions which torture innocents.” It is time for a critical mass of Americans to refuse to consent to the killing of children by gun violence.

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s Defense Fund and its Action Council.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

By Franklin Lamb

15 December, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

“Who does that obnoxious woman think she is?” demanded a staffer who works in the Russian Embassy media office inside the vast windowless soviet style massive high walled compound which belongs to his country, here in Damascus.

“Viktor” had been invited to our table, for lunch at the “Lady of Damascus” (“sitt a cham”) restaurant in the middle class neighborhood of Shalan, having been spotted by our charming host, a Sheik and MP in Syria’s Parliament. The well-spoken gentleman was furious, after putting down his mobile phone having apparently heard some rather upsetting news. What ignited Viktor were the recent statements of the US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland and her seemingly anti-Russian statements lecturing and insulting Syria’s ally, which Victor considered a bald effort to misinterpret the recent statement of Russia’s Middle East envoy, Mikhail Bodganov. Badganov, on 12/13/12 had stated, in response to a question, “One must look the facts in the face… unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out.” Bogdanov also noted that the Syrian government was “losing control of more and more territory.”

Viktor explained that what has galled the Russian and his embassy colleagues here about Nuland, known for her pro-Zionist, anti-Syrian, Russian, Arab and Muslim views, was her arrogant language: “We want to commend the Russian government for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime’s days are numbered.”

According to Viktor, “Bodganov said nothing really new. And we will issue a clarification of this very soon.” He continued, “Everyone knows that theoretically the foreign-backed rebels could win. This is not new and is always a possibility during an uprising. But Mrs. Nuland surely knows that the Syrian government has purposely pulled back from some rural areas where there is mainly open space in order to concentrate its forces to protect population centers. This is very basic military strategy and has been employed throughout history. In the English language I think it’s called something like a “strategic retreat or tactical redeployment. It is reprehensible for western and Gulf media to use our Middle East envoys statement as a form of psychological warfare while deceiving the media.” He added, “Of course we have contingency plans for an evacuation of our citizens if necessary. This is quite normal and we and other countries have such plans for Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Gulf countries and Palestine, among others. Russia has not lessened its support for Syria and to think otherwise is yet another in the series on many miscalculations from Washington.”

Sure enough, within hours, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, a friend of Viktor’s issued a statement: “We would like to remark that he (Bogdanov) has made no statements or special interviews with journalists in the last days. We once again confirm the principled Russian position about the lack of any alternative to a political solution in Syria.”

After venting on Nuland, Victor and others at our table were totally dismissive of the statement of the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who told reporters in Brussels after a meeting with the Dutch prime minister at NATO headquarters. “I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse,” he told reporters after a meeting with the Dutch prime minister at NATO headquarters. “I think now it is only a question of time.”

The Syrian MP explained that Rasmussen has no credibility at all after all the lies he spoke concerning NATO in Libya and how NATO’s more than 9,000 bombing missions “protected the civilian population” whereas in truth, everyone there at the time (including this observer) knew very well that the main threat to Libya’s population, starting in March 2011 and continuing until mid-October was from NATO. From Sorman to Sabna NATO forces rained indiscriminate death on the civilian population of Libya and according to Russian President, due to meet with Obama in February, has condemned the US and NATO for deceiving Russia and the international community regarding its true aims. Viktor told us that his country fears the same deception is afoot in Syria.

Damascenes are tense, sullen, but not panicked following the recent events and what many consider terrorist acts by so-called “rebels.”

According to students I very much enjoy meeting with from Universities and Colleges here, their President, Bashar Assad, still has the support of a majority of the population. Many, as does the Assad government, accept, in principal, the April 2012 Geneva Proposals. That initiative, proposes a transitional government resulting from dialogue leading up the 2014 election which would be open to all candidates. They favor letting the Syrian people choose at the ballot box the next president whoever that may be.

It is evident here in Damascus that the main worry of the population is the manifold effects of the generally viewed illegal and immoral US led sanctions. On a another subject, “Tamara, a university student explained that the target of students and intimidation by rebel backers of students and faculty plus the kidnappings, taking of houses and cars by these same elements are affecting education here although almost all the schools and universities are still functioning.

This observer had the help of a small group of Damascus University students in conducting a survey of the effects of the US led sanctions regime on the civilian population. Virtually every person who expressed a view on this subject told this observer that the only purpose of the American sanctions is regime change by way of trying to force the population to suffer to such an extent that the long lines for bread etc. turn violent and break the bond between the Bashar Assad government and the civilian population. People here commonly refer to the US led sanctions against Iran as also being about regime change and not because Washington believes it can force Iran to abandon its perfectly legal nuclear development program.

The results of a student led survey of grocery stores in Damascus, completed on 12/12/12, shows the following increases in food prices that citizens here must pay against the backdrop of current unemployment figures currently estimated by economists as being between 40-60 percent of the population.

Damascus Student survey: Price rises for food items between May 2011 and December 2012

(Official exchange rate is currently 80 Syrian pounds for one US dollar)

Lamb—500 Syrian pounds to this week’s price of 750 sp, Chicken—200 sp to 450 sp, Milk—per liter….from 40 to 95 sp, Rice—from 40 sp to 100 sp, Eggs—160-300 sp for a carton of 30 medium sized eggs, Cooking oil—30 per liter to 60, Sugar—40 sp per kilo to 85 sp, Bread—20 sp for 10 loaves of flat bread to 55 currently in Damascus but 220 s.p. in Aleppo where, as in Homs, Hama and the east, a massive humanitarian crises in rapidly spreading.

Russia has promised wheat for this basic staple in Syria. But time is of the essence. In many areas of Syria most in need, basic food stuff supplying NGO’s are absent.

Bottled cooking gas– 500 sp now up to 1000 sp, is also becoming more difficult to find in several Damascus neighborhoods.

Heating oil which was 100 sp per liter is now on average 250 sp but becoming quite scarce. Even some of the five star hotels here in Damascus, due to a severe shortage of “mazot” fuel oil, are cutting off the heat and hot water to rooms except for periods between 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 8-10 p.m. Russia has reportedly promised a tanker of fuel oil but it will be dangerous to transport it by road to the population centers here because, according to students working as volunteers with the Syrian Arab Republic Red Crescent Society and other humanitarian organizations, rebel forces are increasing stealing or destroying aid convoys and rampaging the countryside.

Students here in Damascus intend to publish a more detailed list of consumer goods every two weeks. Yesterday some picketed the empty American embassy in protest against US led sanctions. “The Syrian people will never forget or forgive the American campaign to starve us into submission”, one sign read.

It appears to this observer that, rather as is the case with Iran, the illegal and immoral US led sanctions, which urgently need to be challenged at The Hague, imposed on the civilian population of Syria is having the opposite effect of what their cynical architects intended. The piling on of sanctions is giving credibility to the Assad government which, while employing measures to curtail prices increases here, so far with modest success, is arguing that the price rises are the result of Syria’s American and Zionist enemies. This view is widely shared among students at Damascus University and the general public.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Damascus and is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

By Jay Janson

15 December, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Another school shooting massacre. Of course everyone is shocked and saddened. But why is it not expected that occasionally an armed America will turn on his own? ] (Wikepedia lists 54 massacres by Americans in the US since 1950.

Another school shooting massacre. This time in Connecticut. Twenty, as President Obama reported, “between the ages of five and ten.”

Of course everyone is shocked and saddened.

But why is it not expected that occasionally an armed America will turn on his own? [1] ( Wikepedia list of 54 massacres by Americans in the US since 1950 ) [2] (Worst Eight US Massacres recalling Columbine ) [3] (Top Recent Five)

Violence and heroic gun play is in the air in the United States of America. It’s on TV and in movies all the time, whether real or fictional. The world knows children in the US are brought up on violence and expected to be ready to go overseas to ‘protect American freedom’ in wars ordered by America’s presidents and commanders-in-chief.

Its kind of a catchy thing – ‘Like father like son!”

America’s pentagon fed war promoting prime time TV anchors are showing emotion, concern and compassion, as will all the organized clergy that have been blessing America’s innumerable ‘Just Wars.’ The politicians fronting for corporatist governance will be talking about gun control for weeks to come – once again.

This writer and all his anti-imperialist wars colleagues  might appropriately suggest or plead that every parent in the United States be assigned the following homework:

1. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” again and write a review of what it means to you. Full length movie at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jGtAcDefHg

2. Search the Internet for statistics on how many schoolchildren Armed Americans killed in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Dominica Republic, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, etc. – how many schools were bombed, how many children were killed in while at home. Weaponized Americans have been collaterally killing innocent people overseas in poor countries for the past sixty-four years.

3. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” a second time and write a review of what it means for America.

4. Meditate on how all Americans surely agree with President Obama that “Our hearts are broken,” while others say we should make sure they did not die in vain. Meditate on doing something about our school massacres. Meditate on the connection between the militarized nation backing US private investments abroad, that Martin Luther King Jr. spelled out for the world.  Try to realize that millions of hearts were broken in the same way in the above mentioned countries, by Americans firing weapons upon their countrymen designated as ‘bad guys.’

5. Never forget “They had their entire lives ahead of them,” as noted correctly President Obama. And in humility consider that those children that perished for having fallen in the way of armed Americans invading their beloved nations, also, “had their entire lives ahead of them.”

6. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” a third time and write a review of what it means for the world, and not only the danger Americans have become unto themselves.

7. Remind yourself daily that the only American with a three day holiday honoring his birthday, shocked the world and made headlines everywhere with, “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world is my own government,” and held himself and the American people responsible for being fully capable of making America’s “atrocity wars” as unacceptable as the “social injustice their expenditure caused at home.” [watch Martin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silence http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm]

[read King Condemned US Wars http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/

8. Do try to get your elected officials to make some effective gun control laws, but reflect upon the fact that every citizen in Cuba has been armed for decades, in expectation of another US invasion, but Cubans are not  using their weapons upon themselves.

9. Tell all your friends and family to watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine,” and to call for prosecution of US crimes against humanity, as the invasions of Germany were prosecuted at Nuremberg. [read Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign

http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/

I mean if Americans focus on their love for children, everyone’s children and not just their own, they can, Rev. Dr. King Jr. said, end American violence at home as well as the violence America brings overseas in the name of freedom for “predatory investments.” And the way to do this is for Americans to prosecute its crimes against humanity and let the indictments fall where they may.

What else but prosecution and the threat of imprisonment could possibly serve as a brake on future wars for profit, and give Americans the chance they and their children deserve to end its nation’s culture of violence,  and free the world of it as well?

Footnotes:

[1]

List of massacres in the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alabama

Geneva County massacre

2009 Mar 10

Geneva and Samson

11

6 injure

 

Arizona

2011 Tucson shooting

2011 Jan 8

Tucson, Arizona

14 wounded

4

2 wounded

 

Arkansa

Westside Middle School massacre

1998 Mar 24

Jonesboro, Craighead County

5

10 injured

 

 

California

101 California Street shootings

1993 Jul 1

San Francisco

9

6 injured

 

Cleveland School massacre

1989 Jan 17

Stockton

6

29 children and 1 teacher/ 30 injured

 

Cupertino quarry massacre

2011 Oct 5

Cupertino

4

7 injured; death toll includes perpetrator

 

Cal State Fullerton massacre

1976 Jul 12

Fullerton

7

2 injured

Golden Dragon massacre

1977 Sep 4

San Francisco

5

11 injured

 

Ingleside mass murder

2012 Mar 23

San Francisco

5

 

Newhall massacre

1970 Apr 6

Newhall

5

death toll includes 4 officers and perpetrator

 

Oikos University shooting

2012 Apr 2

Oakland

7

3 injured

 

San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre

1984 Jul 18

San Diego

21

19 injured

 

Seal Beach massacre

2011 Oct 12

Seal Beach

8

1 injured

 

Colorado

2012 Aurora shooting

2012 Jul 20

Aurora

12

59 injured. Suspect James Holmes in custody.

 

Columbine High School massacre

1999 Apr 20

Columbine

15

24 injured. Both perpetrators committed suicide.

 

Connecticut

 

 

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

2012 December 14

Newtown, Connecticut

27

20 killed were children, 6 were adults, and the gunman himself. One of the adults that perished was the gunman’s mother who was also a teacher at the school.

 

Illinois

Brown’s Chicken massacre

1993 Jan 8

Palatine

7

 

Northern Illinois University massacre

2008 Feb 14

Dekalb

6

18 injured

 

University of Iowa shooting

1991 Nov 1

Iowa City

6

4 faculty members and 1 student killed (in addition to the perpetrator), 1 student injured and paralyzed

 

Kansas

Wichita Massacre

2000 Dec 8–14

Wichita

5

 

Massachusetts

Blackfriars Massacre

1978 Jun 28

Boston

4

 

Wakefield massacre

2000 Dec 26

Wakefield

7

 

Chinatown massacre

1991 Jan 1

Boston

5

1 injured

 

O’Leary Family Massacre

1973 Jun 8

Boston

7

Includes the suspect

 

Michigan

2011 Grand Rapids, Michigan mass murder

2011 Jul 7

Grand Rapids

7

3 injure

 

Minnesota

Red Lake massacre

2005 Mar 21

Red Lake

10

Death toll includes perpetrator. 5 injured

 

Nebraska

Westroads Mall shooting

2007 Dec 5

Omaha

9

4 people injured

 

New Mexico

Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre

1990 Feb 10

Las Cruces

4 Dead, 3 injured

 

New York

Attica Prison riot

1971 Sep 9

Attica

39

 

Happy Land fire

1990 Mar 25

New York City

87

 

Wendy’s massacre

2000 May 24

Flushing, Queens, New York City

5

2 injured

 

Ohio

Kent State shootings

1970 May 4

Kent State University

4

 

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City bombing

1995 Apr 1

blast claimed 168 lives

 

Oregon

1977 Jul 23

Klamath Falls, Oregon

6

Gunman randomly kills patrons leaving nightclub.

 

Pennsylvania

Flight 93 of September 11 attacks

2001 Sep 11

 

Shanksville

40

Amish school shooting

2006 Oct 2

Nickel Mines

6

5 injured.

 

South Carolina

Orangeburg Massacre

1968 Feb 8

Orangeburg

3

 

Texas

Fort Hood shooting

2009 Nov 5

Ft. Hood

13

30 injured.

 

Luby’s massacre

1991 Oct 16

Killeen

24

20 injured.

 

Waco siege

1993 Apr 19

Waco

76

Deaths after fifty-day siege

University of Texas massacre

1966 Aug 1

Austin

16

 

Virginia

Virginia Tech massacre

2007 Apr 16

Blacksburg, Virginia

33

One death was perpetrator. 25 were injured. It was the worst shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S history and one of the deadliest massacres in the world.

 

Washington

Cafe Racer massacre

2012 May 30

Seattle

6

 

Capitol Hill massacre

2006 Mar 25

Seattle

6

 

Wah Mee massacre

1983 Feb 18

Seattle

13

 

Wisconsin

2004 Nov 21

Meteor

6

 

Chai Vang (Deer Hunting)

Sheraton Hotel massacre

2005 Mar 12

Brookfield

7

 

Terry Ratzmann {Bible Study}

Delavan Shooting

2007 Jun 9

Delavan

6

Ambrosio Analco killed his two sons, wife, her sister, a friend, and then himself

 

Crandon, Wisconsin shooting

2007 Oct 7

Crandon

6

Deputy Tyler Rampage – Killed by police sniper

2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting

2012 Aug 5

Oak Creek

6

Assailant died of self-inflicted gunshot wound

 

Spa Shooting

2012 Oct 21

Brookfield

4

Radcliffe Haughton (Shot 7 – Killed 3 and Himself)

 

[2] Top 5 Worst | Death Statistics | The United States | Crime & Punishment Statistics

The Top 5 Worst Gun Massacres in Recent U.S. History

Perpetrator

Location

Date

Victims

 

1 Seung-Hui Cho

(aged 23, suicide at scene)

Blacksburg, Virginia

(university campus)

April 16th, 2007

32 killed

(25 wounded)

 

2 George Hennard

(aged 35, suicide at scene)

Killeen, Texas

(restaurant)

Oct 16th, 1991

23 killed

(20 wounded)

 

3 Adam Lanza

(developing information)

Newtown Connecticut

(Sandy Hook Elementary School )

Dec 14th, 2012

*26 killed

(developing)

 

4 James Oliver Huberty

(aged 42, shot at scene by police)

San Diego, California

(McDonalds restaurant)

July 18th, 1984

21 killed

(19 wounded)

 

5 Nidal Malik Hasan

(age 39, arrested at scene)

Fort Hood, Texas, (military base)

Nov 5th, 2009

13 killed

(29 wounded)

 

[3] Shooting recalls Columbine massacre

1. April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, fatally shot 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, then killed himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

2. Oct. 16, 1991: A deadly shooting rampage took place in Killeen, Texas, as George Hennard opened fire at Luby’s Cafeteria, killing 23 people before taking his own life. Twenty others were wounded in the attack.

3. July 18, 1984: James Oliver Huberty, an out-of-work security guard, killed 21 people in a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif. A police sharpshooter killed Huberty.

4. Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman opened fire from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31.

5. April 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school’s library.

6. Aug. 20, 1986: Pat Sherrill, 44, a postal worker who was about to be fired, killed 14 people at a post office in Edmond, Okla. He then killed himself.

7. April 3, 2009: A shooter entered the American Civic Association building in Binghamton and killed 14 people, including himself, wounding four others.

8. July 29, 1999: Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, killed nine people in shootings at two Atlanta brokerage offices, then killed himself. Barton also killed his family before the spree, which raised the total dead to 13, including Barton.

 

Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India and the US; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong’s Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinnlent his name to various projects of his; Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents, Kerala, India; Minority Perspective, UK; Dissident Voice, Uruknet; Ethiopian Review; Palestine Chronicle; India Times; Ta Kung Bao; China Daily; South China Morning Post; Come Home America; OpEdNews; HistoryNews Network; Vermont Citizen News have published his articles; 300 of which are available at: click http://www.opednews.com/author/author1723.html ; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989.  Is coordinator and founder of the King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign: (King Condemned US Wars) http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/and originator of Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/ featuring a country by country history of US crimes.

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment

14 December 12

@ readersupportednews.org

I ask myself, “Why?”

Why do US cable news networks intensively cover these mass shootings, making it the only story for a day or two and prying into every detail of them, when they aren’t interested in preventing them from happening again through banning semi-automatic weapons? Is it just, like, a natural disaster to them?

Why don’t the news anchors or discussants ever bring up the simple fact that between 1994 and 2004, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994: The Federal Assault Weapons Ban prohibited assault weapons? The prohibition was not unconstitutional. Congress foolishly put in a 10-year sunset provision, and of course Bush and his Republican Congress allowed it to expire.

Why doesn’t anyone blame George W. Bush for these mass shootings? He’s the one who led the charge to let the assault weapons ban expire. Why aren’t the politicians in Congress who take campaign money from assault weapons manufacturers ever held accountable by the public?

Why don’t the news programs bring up the reported moves of Sen. Diane Feinstein to prepare new legislation banning assault weapons and their accoutrements? Are they so afraid of the NRA that they can’t even discuss the legislative process in public?

What in the world does the 2nd amendment have to do with these incidents? Do they look like a “well-regulated militia” to you? Semi-automatic weapons are the 18th-century equivalent of artillery in terms of their ability to kill. Do you think people should be allowed to have artillery pieces in their back yards, too? Is this some sort of sick joke, that you are telling us our children have to die because the Founding Fathers wanted madmen to have high-powered weaponry?

Why does complaining about semi-automatic weapons (and the means to make ordinary guns semi-automatic by attaching e.g. ammunition drums) being freely available always devolve into an argument about gun control and hunting? No one minds if people buy rifles to shoot deer with in the countryside. An ordinary, non-automatic rifle can’t produce a mass killing like that in Connecticut because it cannot get off so many rounds so quickly. Nobody hunts with an automatic pistol, and if they do, they should be publicly shamed by, like a group of hot girls calling them wusses as they set off in their hunting jackets.

Why aren’t there more class-action lawsuits against the people responsible for the proliferation of high-powered weaponry in our society? Lax gun laws and inadequate security checks in Mississippi, West Virginia and Kentucky and 7 other states meant that they supplied nearly half the 43,000 guns traced to crime scenes in other states in one recent year. The guns aren’t randomly acquired, and they aren’t used or Saturday night specials. They come disproportionately from specific states.

 

Likewise, a relatively small number of corporations produce and market semi-automatic weapons for the civilian market. Why aren’t they named and shamed?

Why doesn’t anyone on these news channels ever mention that firearms are used in 300,000 crimes a year in the US?

Why doesn’t anyone on television news ever simply give this statistic: In one recent year, there were 39 murders by gun in the UK, but 9,000 in the United States? Why is it wrong to let Americans know how peculiar is the situation Americans have to live in?

By Ismail Salami

14 December, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

It is very unfortunate to note that the United States has constantly sought to depict the Islamic Republic in the light of a tenacious nation resilient to any logic and dialogue whatsoever.

Iran ‘s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has emphasized the Islamic Republic’s readiness to hold negotiations on the country’s nuclear energy program in a win-win situation.

“We have repeatedly expressed our readiness and announced that we are ready for talks in a win-win situation.”

He added that Iran has never lost the “opportunity for diplomacy.”

Iranian officials are pessimistic about any upcoming dialogue with the US as they almost unanimously believe that Washington is not consistent in its policies and that it should first show some good will instead of resorting to an unacceptable bullying attitude. Spokesman for Iranian Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Naqavi Hosseini slams the contradictions between what Washington says and what it does and urges the US to show some goodwill if it ever seeks to hold talks with the Islamic Republic.

“The Americans are not honest in their words….there is no consistency in their words and actions.”

A historical look at Tehran-Washington relations testifies to the antagonistic nature of Washington in dealing with Iran .

According to Tim Guldimann, former Swiss ambassador to Tehran , Iran issued a proposal to the United States in May 2003 and called for negotiations on a number of issues. Based on the proposal, the US should accept a dialogue “in mutual respect” and agree that Iran put the following aims on the agenda:

1) Halt US hostile behavior and rectifications of status of Iran in the US : (interference in internal or external relations, “axis of evil”, terrorism list.)

2) Abolishment of all sanctions: commercial sanctions, frozen assets, judgments (FSIA), impediments in international trade and financial institutions.

3) Iraq : democratic and fully representative government in Iraq , support of Iranian claims for Iraqi reparations, respect for Iranian national interests in Iraq and religious links to Najaf/Karbala.

4) Full access to peaceful nuclear technology, biotechnology and chemical technology.

5) Recognition of Iran ‘s legitimate security interests in the region with according defense capacity.

6) Terrorism: pursuit of anti-Iranian terrorists, above all the MKO and support for repatriation of their members in Iraq , decisive actions against anti-Iranian terrorists, above all MKO and affiliated organizations in the US .

However, the Bush administration rejected the proposal and exerted additional pressure on the Islamic Republic.

In August 2005, France , Germany , and the United Kingdom presented their proposal for a long-term agreement which was dismissed by Iran simply because it did not recognize Iran ‘s right to enrichment.

In 2010, Brazil and Turkey conducted a diplomatic initiative to broker the TRR (Tehran Research Reactor) fuel swap with Iran . It was agreed that the Islamic Republic of Iran deposit 1200 kg LEU in Turkey . In an April 20 letter to the leaders of the two countries, US President Obama said , “For us, Iran ‘s agreement to transfer 1,200 kilograms of Iran ‘s low enriched uranium (LEU) out of the country would build confidence and reduce regional tensions by substantially reducing Iran ‘s LEU stockpile. I want to underscore that this element is of fundamental importance for the United States .”

The fruit of the initiative was the May 17 Tehran Declaration agreed among Lula da Silva, Erdogan, and Ahmadinejad. While the trio recalled “the right of all State Parties, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy (as well as nuclear fuel cycle including enrichment activities) for peaceful purposes without discrimination”, they agreed :

1) the nuclear fuel exchange is instrumental in initiating cooperation in different areas, especially with regard to peaceful nuclear cooperation including nuclear power plant and research reactors construction.

2) Based on this point the nuclear fuel exchange is a starting point to begin cooperation and a positive constructive move forward among nations. Such a move should lead to positive interaction and cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear activities replacing and avoiding all kinds of confrontation through refraining from measures, actions and rhetorical statements that would jeopardize Iran ‘s rights and obligations under the NPT.

3) Based on the above, in order to facilitate the nuclear cooperation mentioned above, the Islamic Republic of Iran agrees to deposit 1200 kg LEU in Turkey . While in Turkey this LEU will continue to be the property of Iran . Iran and the IAEA may station observers to monitor the safekeeping of the LEU in Turkey .

4) Iran will notify the IAEA in writing through official channels of its agreement with the above within seven days following the date of this declaration. Upon the positive response of the Vienna Group (US, Russia, France and the IAEA) further details of the exchange will be elaborated through a written agreement and proper arrangement between Iran and the Vienna Group that specifically committed themselves to deliver 120 kg of fuel needed for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR).

However, France , Russia , and the United States rejected the Tehran Declaration for reasons only known to themselves and easily comprehensible to others.

In 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an unprecedented move and sent an 18-page letter to George W. Bush , then US president, an act which was interpreted by some as an invitation to dialogue with the United States .

While the letter – thought to be the first from an Iranian president to a US leader since Iran’s 1979 revolution- addressed the paradoxical nature of Washington’s policies all across the world and addressed crucial issues such as the fake claim that Iraq possessed WMDs as a pretext to launch an invasion of the country, and billions of dollars spent from the common purse to inflict pain and misery upon the people of Iraq and America, it could have been used by the United States as a first step towards resolving an old-time gaping problem between the two countries.

Instead, Washington officials made a strategic mistake, ponderously ignored the letter and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed the letter as “offering nothing new” and the White House said there would be no formal written reply.

The letter was favorably received by many media channels. The Peninsula , a Qatari news site, saw it as “a taboo-breaking initiative … an opening—even if only slim—for the longtime foes to engage in a dialogue.” Arab News of Saudi Arabia hailed it as “remarkable and encouraging … an unexpected diplomatic opening.” Germany ‘s Der Spiegel calls it “a deft move for Ahmadinejad’s image in the Middle East .”

After all, the letter was a good sign that Iran was interested in talks but on equal terms and in an ambience of mutual respect, a condition the US has spitefully declined.

In a sudden turn of events, however, things seem to be taking a new spin and the US has made some gestures to the effect that it wishes a direct talk with the Islamic Republic. A recent report indicates that US President Barack Obama is planning to propose to Iran that it negotiate directly with the Americans about its nuclear program. According to the report, Obama’s move was made without any coordination or consultation with Israel and that Washington will allow a period of four to five months for negotiations with Tehran . If the talks fail, the report says, they may then resort to the military option.

Be that as it may, so far, the Islamic Republic has taken constructive steps towards talks with Washington in order to allay international concerns and resolve any ambiguities surrounding its nuclear program and each time Washington has embarked on a crooked diplomatic detour and has demonstrated a strong penchant for political approach-avoidance.

Does it not mean that Iran ‘s nuclear issue is not an issue at all but part of Washington ‘s pretext to persevere in its path of political pungency?

Dr. Ismail Salami is an Iranian writer, Middle East expert, Iranologist and lexicographer. He writes extensively on the US and Middle East issues and his articles have been translated into a number of languages.

By Mairead Maguire

14 December, 2012

@Warisacrime.org

Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire Goes to Afghanistan to Join Afghan Peace Volunteers’ Demand for Cease Fire and Negotiation

I have come here to give my support to the campaign for 2 million friends of the Afghan people. You have chosen to run this campaign because you remember that 2 million people from Afghanistan have died in violence under war, under killing.

We’re here today to remember every single one of those people who died needlessly and for this I am sorry, and I say, “Sorry to the Afghan people for what the governments of the US and NATO and other governments have done to the Afghan people, and I say, ‘Not in my name.’”

We’re here on behalf of the Afghan Peace Volunteers to give a petition to the UN and that petition is to ask the UN to broker a cease fire for Afghanistan amongst all the warring factions here in Afghanistan.

Peace is possible. You have to believe that when you’re working for peace.

The killing must stop in order for peace to develop and grow.

But a passion for peace can come from the people. And that passion, working for peace, marching for peace, demanding your politicians make these….

The people can do this when you believe that peace is possible. All the killing, all the war must stop.

I come from Northern Ireland and we had war and fighting among all the different ethnic groups, and it went on for a long time, a lot of people died.

My sister’s three little children were killed in our war.

People came out and said we want nonviolence, we want dialogue, we want negotiation from our politicians.

We want to solve the problems through forgiveness, through love, through dialogue.

And it happened! It took time, but it happened.

Today in Northern Ireland we have peace, and the people have security. They can go out and walk in freedom.

And I have hope in Afghanistan because I believe in the people of Afghanistan.

You’re good people. You don’t want war. You never asked for all these years of war and division and occupation of your country and that must cease. But you can that

You can do that through the methods of nonviolence

Your young people here, – I’m so inspired by them. They’re teaching Gandhi.

And they’re solving their problems without killing and this is a way that works

To all the armed groups, please put up your guns, stop the killing and start talking.

To the Taliban and the armed groups I say to you,

You love your people you want Afghanistan to be a better country

Do you want them to continue for a long time suffering, dying and living in poverty?

I know in your hearts, Taliban and armed groups, it’s not what you wanted. You started your struggle to have a better way for the Afghan people.

If you want a better Afghanistan, you must choose better means to bring about a good Afghanistan.

Bad means cannot bring about good results.

Your means must be consistent with your ends.

And if you really love the Afghan people and want a better future for them, put up your arms and enter into dialogue with the government.

I Appeal to the Afghan government that they enter into dialogue with the Taliban and the armed groups

There cannot be a solution without the groups that are part of the problem of a way forward

In Afghanistan

All inclusive unconditional talks around the table to solve this problem

In Northern Ireland it was the only way that we could get a solution

We acknowledged—and the Afghan government and the Taliban will surely acknowledge there will not be a military solution or a

Or a paramilitary armed solution to our deep ethnic political economic, human problems that can only be solved in a human, compassionate, loving way not by militarism and war.

Most especially to the US to the UK and to NATO forces:

Withdraw from Afghanistan.

You’re doing more damage by being here and using military force.

The use of drones on an innocent people is not acceptable in a civilized community. It is against international law and human rights to bomb innocent civilians. There’ve been over 400 drone bombs dropped by the allied forces on people in their villages. You’ve dropped them on weddings, you’ve dropped them on people working in the mountains collecting wood to warm their homes because they’re cold and hungry. This is against all international law and human rights and is indeed a crime against humanity to be using these methods against a civilian population.

So we appeal to them. The allied forces, NATO the US, they will say they are here to help the people.

How do you help a people? By giving them military aid worth billions, but then dividing it up. 60% of the military aid that comes in here from the west is used to maintain the infrastructure of the military forces, to provide them with all their needs.

A great percent of it then goes to contractors who are then not fulfilling their obligations to make roads, hospitals and schools for the Afghan people

What is left for the Afghan people? Nothing.

We have met women here who are living in absolute poverty, trying to rear their children, trying to feed them, hungry and cold. And they have received nothing in the way of aid coming into this country.

So that is not working.

I invite them to revisit….

When they send aid to the Afghan people that they monitor where it is going and how it is helping the people of Afghanistan Most certainly help them but help them build their schools, build their roads

Help them get a hope for life

One young Afghan woman described to me Afghanistan is like living in a hospital where people are being killed, people are dying, people are sick — they don’t have the basics of life

I invite the international community and the forces to turn their military towards helping people get the very basics of life in order that they may live free, human and dignified life in Afghanistan.

And to the women here,

I know you’re suffering tremendously and I feel for your pain and your suffering

But I encourage you to move beyond your suffering to work for peace and nonviolence

Because peace and nonviolence, – you have to work for it.

I know you pray, “Praise Allah” because you are a people of prayer.

The Muslim people are a people of faith, a people of prayer.

We also need to go out and work very hard for peace.

In Northern Ireland, when we had our war, women didn’t normally go out to work for peace, onto the streets and work and build a peace movement. But we knew for the sake of our children and our future, we had to act as well. So, I encourage you to act and work for your human rights, your dignity. The Afghan people have a right to rights and I encourage you to be more vocal in your demand to stop all killing, and to work for peace in Afghanistan.

To my friend President Obama.

President Obama, your foreign policies are killing many people in the world. You’re destroying our civil human rights. You’re destroying in the world people’s hope for a peaceful, united, fair world.

Your policies are not working, for us all, for the American people, for the Afghan people, for the Palestinian people, for the Israeli people, for the people of the world! Change your policies!

We want peace. We’re tired of war. We’re sick of militarism, war and killing. We don’t want stay on this road anymore. We want a new way. We want a way of friendship, reconciliation, working together, feeding the poor, taking care of each other as a human family.

President Obama, we need you. We need you and the American people to move on to a different foreign policy.

(To the children of Afghanistan and the world)

We adults pledge to work hard to make your world safer, more peaceful. And you can help us. You can help us by being happy, by singing for peace, by dancing for peace, by creating peace, by believing in peace because some of the older ones are not so sure peace can happen. But when we look at you, we know that peace is possible.

Salam ‘aleikum. God bless you all.

Mairead Maguire is a Northern Irish peace activist, and winner of 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. (www.peacepeople.com)

By Kourosh Ziabari

14 December, 2012

@Countercurrents.org

American philosopher and cultural critic Henry A. Giroux believes that under the influence of the government, the higher education system in the United States has moved toward silencing progressive and alternative voices which try to challenge the U.S. militarism and its expansionistic policies. He also believes that the American students are not trained to be critical thinkers.

“I think many students are weary of America ‘s expansionist policies but there is not enough dissent among college students over such policies at the present time to actually challenge them. Many American students are educated largely to be consumers not critical thinkers and those who do escape the strangulating grip of a poisonous market driven neo-liberalism are suffering under the burden of debt while facing a future in which they will be underemployed or unemployed,” said Prof. Giroux in an exclusive interview with Tehran Times conducted last week.

Prof. Henry A. Giroux is a cultural critic and one of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy who is best known for his contributions to cultural studies, youth studies, higher education and critical theory.

Seven books written by Giroux have been chosen as significant books of the year by the “American Educational Studies Association.” He has authored 33 books the latest of which is “Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability” which was published in 2012.

He has served as the Director of the Waterbury Forum in Education and Cultural Studies. He moved to McMaster University in May 2004, where he currently holds the Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies and currently runs the Public Intellectual project. Giroux is also a member of Truthout’s Board of Directors.

What follows is the text of Tehran Times’ interview with Prof. Giroux.

Q: What the majority of people around the world have heard about the United States is that it is a beacon of freedom in which everybody, is free to express his viewpoints, even if that certain viewpoint is not much favorable according to the mainstream discourse. What’s the reality? Are the leftist professors in the universities, for example, really free to express their unconventional opinions, in such cases as the special Israeli-American relationship, or other similar matters?

A: Academic dissent has been under attack for a long time in the United States . Its more notable moments came in the 1920s, the 1950s, and more recently after 9/11. What is new is that right wing elite, religious fundamentalists, and corporate groups have changed their strategy in limiting dissent. Instead of simply attacking, firing, and shaming intellectuals who criticize mainstream policies such as the Israeli-American relations–though that still happens–the more sophisticated approach is to prevent such intellectuals from getting tenure, influencing who gets hired, and finding ways to actually shape what is taught in the classroom.

For instance, some major donors are now demanding that particular books be read in classes. In one case, a donor demanded that Ayn Rand’s right wing book, “ Atlas Shrugged ,” be required reading in the class. In other cases, billionaire and mega corporate donors are trying to shape curriculum and hiring procedures as part of their gifts to higher education. This is not simply reactionary but undermines every noble principle that education embodies.

The other strategy is to increase the number of non-tenured professors in the profession so as to not only make them powerless in setting policy but also to keep them suspended in a state of fear over what they say in order not to jeopardize their paltry paying jobs. Over 70 percent of academics in higher education is either on a non-tenured track or is hired part-time. This is a form of indentured labor that undercuts a culture of questioning, dissent, and makes a joke out of academic freedom. As higher education becomes more expensive, corporatized, and devalued as a social good, there is also less and less room to teach subjects or create and sustain academic fields not tied directly to occupational training. In this instance, training is substituted for any viable form of critical education and the formative culture necessary for an educated citizenry withers.

Q: What do the new generation of American students and the foreign students who come to the United States for pursuing their studies, think about the U.S. foreign policy? Has the academia begun to challenge the American militarism, its hegemony and expansionistic policies? Does debate on such subjects take place in the American universities smoothly?

A: I think many students are weary of America ‘s expansionist policies but there is not enough dissent among college students over such policies at the present time to actually challenge them. Many American students are educated largely to be consumers not critical thinkers and those who do escape the strangulating grip of a poisonous market driven neo-liberalism are suffering under the burden of debt while facing a future in which they will be underemployed or unemployed. The present bears down on many American students as a burden as inequality and social disparities grow day by day. America has become the land of downward mobility for an entire generation of young people and not simply for a few. Under such circumstances, time becomes a burden and dissent a luxury, though within the last few years dissent has been growing. This movement is promising, but it does not have the reach and scope to make a real difference in power and control by the rich, mega corporations and financial elite. But its success remains to be tested.

Q: One of your perennial concerns, as reflected in your writings, has been social injustice. The United States last year witnessed the most unprecedented nationwide protests at the growing rift between the rich and poor and the social inequality in the framework of the Occupy Wall Street movement. What do you think about this movement and its achievements? Has it realized the objectives it was pursuing from the outset?

A: I think many young people in the Occupy Movement are changing the nature of the public conversation about politics, power, pedagogy, and hope. Young people are rejecting a future of debt, a society dominated by market values, militarism, a survival of the fittest ethic, and finance capital.

What they have made clear is that in order for democracy to become meaningful, all citizens, old and young, should be equally entitled, if not equally empowered, to shape the society in which they live. This is a message we heard from the brave students fighting tuition hikes and the destruction of civil liberties and social provisions in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Wall Street Movement has already won a decisive battle in producing a new language for how to talk about inequality, class and racial injustice, and the shape of a real democracy. For such a movement to succeed, progressives, educators, workers, middle-class professionals, and others need listen to the Wall Street Movement and young people all over the world who are insisting that the relationship between knowledge and power can be emancipatory, that their histories and experiences matter, and that what they say and do counts in their struggle to unlearn dominating privileges, productively reconstruct their relations with others, and transform, when necessary, the world around them. More importantly, they need to join students in engaging in a practice of freedom that points to new and radical forms of pedagogies that have a direct link to building social movements in and out of the colleges and universities.

Q: What’s your analysis of the popular uprisings in the Arab countries of the Middle East ? The whole scenario started with a Tunisian street vendor putting himself on fire in protest at the humiliation he had suffered, and the economic difficulties he and his family were subject to. Then the protests were extended to the rest of Arab world and engulfed the whole Middle East . Can we interpret these upheavals in the light of a set of revolutions aimed at realizing confiscated political, social and economic rights?

A: All of these protests emerge out of different religious, economic, political, and historical situations. What they have in common is the demand for an expansion of religious, social, political, and personal rights. They collectively signify a historical watershed in which the burning desire for democracy can no longer be contained. Young people, as a result of the new electronic and screen technologies, have immediate access to modes of knowledge, values, and social relations that point to the possibility of a future free of economic, political, and social injustice. Ideas can no longer be contained as they were under modernity. Borders are collapsing in the symbolic sense, knowledge flows, passions bleed into different bodies, public spheres, populations, and nations. Domination and domestic state terrorism can no longer isolate itself from the rest of the world. Democracy can no longer be contained, hidden behind walls, and contained by real and symbolic weapons of mass destruction. Democracy has become an aphrodisiac and tonic merging passion and a kind of wakefulness to the possibility of a new future, a new life, and new hopes.

Q: In your writings, you’ve spoken of the concept of economic Darwinism and called it one of the root causes of unbridled individualism which leads to the erosion of social responsibility, public values and community. Would you please share with us your insight on this concept and the impact it has had on the American lives?

A: Social Darwinism is the value system that drives the American economy. It is an ethic dominated by a war against all ethos which celebrates a radical individualism, extreme form of competitiveness, and separates actions from moral considerations. It is a poisonous worldview that views politics as an extension of war. In essence it is a form of domestic terrorism. It is a form of terrorism because it abstracts economics from ethics and social costs, makes a mockery of democracy, works to dismantle the welfare state, thrives on militarization, undermines any public sphere not governed by market values, and transforms people into commodities. Neo-liberalism’s rigid emphasis on unfettered individualism, competitiveness and flexibility displaces compassion, sharing and a concern for the welfare of others. In doing so, it dissolves crucial social bonds and undermines the profound nature of social responsibility and its ensuing concern for others. In removing individuals from broader social obligations, it not only tears up social solidarities, it also promotes a kind of individualism that is almost pathological in its disdain for public goods, community, social provisions, and public values. Given its tendency to instrumentalize knowledge, it exhibits mistrust for thoughtfulness, complexity, and critical dialogue and in doing so contributes to a culture of stupidity and cruelty in which the dominant ethic is organized around the discourse of war and a survival of the fittest mentality. Neo-liberalism is the antithesis of democracy.

The consequences of this worldview are everywhere in American society. Deregulation, privatization, atomization, and commodification now rule American institutions turning over the commanding heights of power to mega corporations, the defense industry, and ideological fundamentalists. America is a hugely rich country marked by massive poverty, inequality in wealth and income, and a political system controlled by big money. Its cultural apparatuses are controlled by mega corporations and its political system is now largely controlled by the apostles of finance and militarism. It is a country that is on the brink of a very dark historical period in which the winds of authoritarianism are posed to destroy all remnants of a claim to democracy.

Q: What do you think about the function of the multinational corporate media, their interests and their long-term objectives? Is it possible to have a sincere and ethical journalism while there are certain people in the power hierarchy who specify the direction and set the policies of the mainstream media?

A: A democracy cannot survive without a formative culture to support it. That culture is shaped in the commanding educational apparatuses in which knowledge is produced and subjects and identities are constructed. The mainstream media in the U.S. is largely controlled by 5 mega corporations that have abandoned their responsibility to act as a fourth estate, to make power accountable and offer critical analyses of American foreign and domestic policy. Instead, we have a mainstream media that trades in either an endless commercial bombardment of the American public, raises an insipid celebratory culture to the status of a state religion, and substitutes the obligations of real citizenship for the demands of consumerism and shopping. On the other hand, the new media is increasingly providing new public spaces for oppositional voices to be heard from a wide variety of sources, ranging from students and teachers to labor organizers and a range of new public intellectuals. There is no hope for the mainstream media. It has sold its soul to the market place and has largely become an inept source of legitimation for corporate and political sovereignty.

Q: What’s your viewpoint regarding the gradual decline of the U.S. imperial power and the weakening of its political, economic hegemony over the developing world? It seems that such countries as Brazil , China and Russia are emerging as serious contenders of the American economy and political power. Would you please share your viewpoint on that with us?

A: There are many other people who can speak to this issue more forcefully than I can. I am thinking particularly of Noam Chomsky, Andrew Bacevich, and Glenn Greenwald, among others. But what is clear is the U.S. is now facing a political and economic challenge unlike anything it has faced in the past. Politics is now local and power is global and that means that the U.S. has no way to challenge, within the usual rules, the power of multinational corporations that now write the rules for domestic and foreign policy. Moreover, this power is global and has no allegiance to the nation state except to use it to further its own financial interests. Hence, the full-fledged attack on the welfare state, women, minorities of class and color, public servants, and the institutions that do not buy completely into market driven values. As the power of the state crumbles, the state is reconfigured largely as a punishing state used increasingly to criminalize the behavior of those caught in dire social problems such as homelessness, debt servitude, unemployment, poverty, and various disabilities. Moreover, the model of the prison and its culture are seeping and spreading into schools where young people are now arrested for trivial behaviors such as dress code violations. How can a country that substitutes prisons for schools, revels in a culture of massive inequality and cruelty, and arrests huge numbers of its citizens make any claim on the future or for that matter even have one?

Q: And finally, what’s your prediction for President Obama’s upcoming second term? Will he yield to the pressures by Israeli lobby and comply with their demands in such cases as a possible military strike against Iran , the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip and settlement constructions, etc? Is there any way for Obama to evade being pushed by Israel ?

A: One would hope that Obama would show some courage in his second term and rule according to the precepts of justice rather than political pragmatism. I think that it is important to note that during his first time Obama moved the United States closer to the dictates of an authoritarian state. He initiated the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows him to kidnap and hold indefinitely without judicial rights anyone deemed a terrorist (a vague and abusive term); he has implanted targeted assassinations, which has included at least two American citizens living abroad; he has implemented what might be called an unaccountable surveillance state, and he has expanded the use of sinister drones to conduct a new and more ruthless type of warfare, which more often than not has resulted in the needless killing of innocent civilians. Obama has helped to create a Golden Age for executioners, revealing the grisly and gruesome side of state power committed to death through the use of cold, calculating machines run by automatons. Obama is not a liberal. He is not even progressive, but a conservative centrist who leans heavily towards the extremist elements in the Republican Party. He is inflexible around Israel ‘s repressive policies towards Palestinians and he has done nothing to address what it would mean to bring peace to the region.

But change is not made by people in power. It is often made by people in the streets. It is made by social movements who refuse to become the excess, disappeared, and disposable populations produced by authoritarian regimes. I am not optimistic but at the same time history is open and I would hope that as the Occupy Movement and other progressive social movements develop in the U.S. under the strain of severe political and economic conditions that Obama may find his footing and exhibit the kind of moral and political courage that is necessary to dismantle the allegiance to militarism that now characterizes its expansionist policies.

Kourosh Ziabari is an award-winning Iranian journalist and media correspondent. He writes for Global Research, CounterCurrents.org, Tehran Times, Iran Review and other publications across the world. His articles and interviews have been translated in 10 languages.

Five Martyred including People’s Assembly Member, 23 Injured in Three Terrorist Bombings Targeting Interior Ministry Building

Dec 12, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA)- Three terrorist bombings took place on Wednesday evening, targeting the Interior Ministry building Kafarsouseh area in Damascus, martyring five and injuring 23.

A statement from the Interior Ministry said that at 5:20 PM of Wednesday 12/12/2012, three explosions took place in front the Interior Ministry building, two of them caused by explosive devices with a delay between the two, followed five minutes later by the explosion of car bomb carrying around 200 kilograms of explosives, martyring five and injuring 23, including civilians and Ministry personnel.

The statement said that the authorities at the Ministry began investigations and lifted evidence, remains of explosives, and body parts from the site and sent them to labs to uncover the details of this terrorists attack.

The Ministry affirmed that this criminal act will not dissuade it from combating terrorism along with the Army and Armed Forces, vowing to exert all its forces and sacrifice everything for the sake of the security of citizens and the country, stressing that it will show no leniency in pursuing murderous takfiri terrorists.

Earlier, the Interior Ministry announced that the Interior Minister and senior officers at the Ministry are safe and unharmed.

People’s Assembly Member Martyred in Terrorist Attack on Interior Ministry

Among that martyrs was member of the People’s Assembly for the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Abdullah Kayrouz.

In a statement, the Politburo of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party said that the martyrdom of Kayrouz and other Syrians in the bombings that took place on Wednesday constitute clear evidence of the heinous, undiscriminating crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups in Syria.

The statement said that the Syrian Social Nationalist Party condemns terrorism and extremism and holds the western, Arab and regional forces that support terrorists groups responsible for the shedding of Syrian blood.

The statement affirmed that the blood of martyrs only makes Syrians more determined to confront the conspiracy targeting their homeland, and that terrorism will not dissuade them from carrying out their national duties and defending Syria’s unity and stability.

Kayrouz was born in the town of Kafer Takharim in Idleb. He assumed several posts in the Syrian Social Nationalist Party before becoming a member of its Politburo and a member of the People’s Assembly for Aleppo province.

Terrorists Detonate Explosive Device in Microbus in al-Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Martyring Three Citizens including a Journalist and Injuring Eight

Terrorists on Wednesday evening detonated an explosive device planted in a public transport minibus while it was in front of Hafez Ibrahim School in al-Mazzeh 86 neighborhood in Damascus, martyring and injuring a number of civilians including women and children.

A source at Martyr Yousef al-Azmeh Hosptial told SANA that the bodies of two martyrs arrived at the hospital, one of the a child, along with three people suffering critical injures due to the bombing.

A source at al-Muwasat Hospital said that the body of one woman who was martyred in the blast arrived at the hospital, along with five injure people, some of them women and children.

SANA’s reporter who visited the site of the attack said that the explosion destroyed the minibus completely and caused severe material damages to nearby cars and shops.

Al-Mazeh 86 was targeted several times by terrorists, most recently by an explosive device planted in a car near al-Saadeh bakery on December 6th which led to the martyring of one citizen and the injuring of others.

Journalist Anmar Yassin Mohammad who works at the News Center was among those who were martyred in this terrorist attack.

Mohammad worked as a chief editor and a program producer at the General Establishment of Radio and Television’s News Center, working on programs such as the daily news program Headlines and Columns and The World This Morning, in addition to working on a variety of other programs and interviews and as a field reporter.

Mohammad was born in 1973. He left behind a wife and two children.

One Citizen Martyred, Four Injured by Two Explosive Devices Blasts in Jaramana

Terrorists on Wednesday detonated two roadside bombs at the entrance of al-Qurayat neighborhood in Jaramana in Damascus Countryside, killing a citizen and injuring 4 others in addition to causing material damage.

A source at Jaramana Surgical Hospital told SANA reporter that a body of a martyr was admitted to the hospital, in addition to 4 citizens with light injures who were given necessary treatment.

Another source at al-Radi Hospital said that a citizen injured in the explosion was admitted to the hospital.

Member of Damascus Countryside Governorate Council, Iyad Barakat, said that the detonation of the two explosive devices took place near the Second Elementary School of Jaramana.

Terrorists Detonate 2 Explosive Devices in al-Qanawat, Citizen Injured

Meanwhile, terrorists blew up two explosive devices behind the Justice Palace building in al-Qanawat area in Damascus, injuring one citizen.

A source at Damascus Police Command told SANA reporter that the terrorists had attached one explosive device to a car, adding that the second one was planted between two parked vehicles.

The source said that one citizen was wounded by the terrorist attack, adding that there was material damage to the surrounding cars and stores.

A Number of Citizens, including Children, Martyred by Terrorists’ Shellfire in Aleppo

Terrorist groups fired a number of shells on al-Neel Street near the Orphaned Girl School, al-Qalaaji Hospital crossroad and the local market in Aleppo.

The terrorist attack caused the martyrdom of nine citizens at least, including children, a number of casualties and material damage.

An official source told SANA reporter that the authorities pursued the terrorists and clashed with them, killing and injuring many.

Terrorists Killed in Several Provinces, Explosive Devices Workshop Discovered in Damascus Countryside

Dec 12, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA) – A unit of the Armed Forces on Wednesday clashed with an armed terrorist group in Joret al-Shayyah neighborhood in Homs.

SANA reporter quoted a source in the province as saying that scores of terrorists, including snipers and machinegun shooters, were killed and others were wounded in the clashes.

In Homs countryside, an Armed Forces unit destroyed a gathering of terrorists north of al-Mustafa Mosque in the town of al-Rastan, inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists.

In the village of al-Ghanto in Telbiseh countryside, an Armed forces unit destroyed 8 cars, some of which were equipped with heavy machineguns, which were used by terrorists to move around and transport weapons and munitions.

Another unit destroyed 4 cars equipped with machineguns along with the terrorists inside them in al-Nsasirye in Teldo area.

Terrorists’ Hideout Stormed in Damascus, Explosive Devices Workshop Discovered in Daraya, Damascus Countryside

The security authorities stormed an armed terrorist group’s hideout in a neighborhood in Damascus, killing all of its members.

The leader of the terrorist group, Iyad Ibrahim al-Dabbas, was identified among the dead.

An army unit  discovered a workshop for manufacturing explosive devices near al-Furn roundabout in Daraya city in Damascus Countryside.

An official source told SANA reporter that the army unit seized tens of explosive devices that were ready for remote detonation inside the workshop, in addition to materials and tools used by terrorists to make explosives.

The source added that another unit of the Armed Forces foiled terrorists’ attempt to detonate two explosive devices near al-Bashaer al-Arabiya Kindergarten in al-Kournish area in Daraya. It indicated that one of the explosive devices weighed 30 kg and it was planted at the entrance of the kindergarten while the second explosive device, weighing 50 kg, was planted on the street adjacent  to the kindergarten.

In Darayya, an Armed Forces units eliminated a number of terrorists including Abdelmajid Shamshan, Munir al-Muwadamani, Maamound Ghabash, and Nazih Ashour.

The Armed Forces also destroyed a number of terrorist hideouts along with the terrorists, weapons and munitions inside them in Douma and Harasta. The terrorists killed in these operations include Mahmoud al-Rayes and Mohammad Elewa, two leaders of terrorist groups, along with Anwar al-Boushi, Mohammad Abu Taqiya, and five snipers.

In an operation in Sheba’a, the Armed Forces killed or injured a number of terrorists and destroyed a van loaded with weapons, munitions and terrorist near Aqraba.

After investigations and surveillance, an Armed Forces unit dealt with an armed terrorist group in the eastern part of al-Ghouta, eliminating its members including the group’s leader Tahsin Barakat.

Armed Forces Units Eliminate Terrorists in Aleppo and Its Countryside

A source in Aleppo province said that Armed Forces units destroyed terrorist hideouts and gatherings in Aleppo countryside, specifically in the areas of Babnes, al-Huwaydi farm in al-Maslamiye, near Amrit company, al-Qarya Mosque in Handarat, and Ibn Hayyan School in Hreitan, eliminating large numbers of terrorists and injuring others.

Other units targeted gatherings of terrorists near Aalam al-Sehr complex, al-Rashidin in al-Zarbeh, Qabtan al-Jabal, the Great Mosque in Mare’a, the cemetery in Kafer Da’ael, and enar the finance department and the municipality building in al-Safira.

The Armed Forces also destroyed eight vehicles along with terrorist inside them in Tal Rahhal and carried out several operations in Daret Azza.

In Aleppo city, Armed Forces units killed Ala’a al-Za’im, a leader of a terrorist group, alogn with several members of his group in the Castello area, in addition to destroying a missile launcher in Busta al-Basha near Saad bin Muaz, and a gathering of terrorists in al-Lairamoun near the bus stations area and Marketna mall.

Other units also targeted gatherings of Terrorists in Bani Zeid, Hanano housings, the Old City near Aleppo Citadel, and the schools of Zhuhair bin Abi Sulma and Zakariya al-Qawwas.

Terrorists’ Hideouts Destroyed, Terrorists Killed in Idleb Countryside

Military units carried out last night and early morning today several qualitative operations, destroying terrorists’ hideouts and killing dozens of the terrorists inside of them in Idleb countryside.

An official source told SANA reporter that the bodies of the terrorists Mohammad Abdul Rahman Shuheim and Abi al-Nour al-Sibaei were identified among the killed as a result of the operations carried out in Sarja, Khan al-Subul and Saraqeb towns.

The source added that the military units destroyed several terrorists’ hideouts completely in Sarmin, Taranba, Ein al-Sooda, al-Janoudiyeh and al-Ghassaniyeg in Jisr al-Shugour countryside. The Armed Forces are continuing hunting the armed terrorist groups in al-Hamediyeh and Maaret al-Numaan in Idleb Province according to the source.

An Armed Forces unit clashed with an armed terrorist group that attempted to attack an army checkpoint at Kafer Najd bridge in Ariha area, with the clash resulting in the killing of four terrorists including Ahmad Rahhal and injuring others.

An Armed Forces unit targeted a terrorist gathering in al-Bara, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their machinegun-equipped vehicles.

Another unit targeted a gathering of terrorists in the town of al-Maghara, killing 28 terrorists and wounding many others, while yet another unit targeted a terrorist gathering in the town of Shannan, killing a number of terrorists including Sallouh Obeid, Mohammad al-Sayyed and Khaled al-Bek.

Five Explosive Devices Dismantled in Hama Province

Army engineering  units dismantled five explosive devices rigged for detonation that were planted on al-Twayna bridge in al-Sqailibiye area in Hama province.

A source in the province told SANA’s reporter that the devices ranged in weight from 25 to 30 kilograms.

Military Source in Central Region Dismisses News of Any Massacre in Aqrab, Hama Countryside

Dec 12, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- A military source in the Central Region on Wednesday denied news claiming that a massacre took place in Aqrab in Hama countryside.

Lavrov: US Recognition of Opposition Syrian Coalition Contradicts Geneva Statement

Dec 12, 2012

MOSCOW, (SANA)- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that the US recognition of the opposition Syrian coalition contradicts what was agreed on in Geneva Statement regarding launching a comprehensive Syrian dialogue between representatives of the government and the opposition.

In a press conference following his talks with his Slovakian counterpart, Miroslav Lajcak, in Moscow on Wednesday, Lavrov wondered about this recognition, saying that by recognizing the opposition Syrian coalition, the US decided to bet on the military victory of the opposition.

The Russian Minister added that “Moscow will ask for explanations from Washington regarding its vision on the situation and its subsequent steps in light of this recognition.”

“Naturally, we will go for our American partners and see how they will act according to this announcement as it constitutes an unexpected turning point to Russia,” he confirmed.

He stressed that the American side showed during the latest talks in Geneva understanding to the need to create a climate for the Syrian comprehensive dialogue with the participation of the government.

While including one faction of terrorist groups committing terrorist acts in Syria in its list of international terrorism, Washington has recognized the rest of factions representing the political council of these groups.

US President Barack Obama awarded the ‘Doha Coalition’ as “the legitimate representative of the Syrian people”, in a new step that stresses the U.S. hypocrisy and double standards policy towards terrorism in Syria.

The US recognition of the Doha Coalition followed that of the European Union, constituting an aggression on the right of the Syrian people to determine their future and elect their representatives by themselves through recognizing externally-formed organizations as guardians for the Syrians.

The U.S. and European moves are considered obstacles in the way of the international efforts seeking a solution to the crisis in Syria through dialogue since the Doha Coalition has taken terrorism as a means to achieve the goals of its founders and funders.

Damascus First Attorney-General Issues 3 Arrest Warrants in Absentia against al-Hariri, Saqr and al-Mikdad

Dec 12, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The First Attorney-General in Damascus Mohammed Marwan al-Loji issued three arrest warrants in absentia against the Lebanese MPs Saad Eddin al-Hariri and Oqab Saqr and the Syrian citizen Loai al-Mikdad.

In a statement to SANA, al-Loji said that the crimes committed by these people are terrorist crimes and those involved in them are terrorists which makes them liable to the international law on terrorism. He added that any state where those wanted men exist should hand them over to the Syrian authorities to be prosecuted, indicating that the failure to implement any of these warrants constitutes a breach of the international law.

The First Attorney-General said that the Public Prosecution was informed about the records which revealed the involvement of al-Hariri and Saqr in providing money and arms to the terrorists in Syria and the death of some terrorists sent by al-Hariri and Saqr on the Syrian-Lebanese borders.

He added that the Public Prosecution has filed a public interest litigation against the two Lebanese MPs and the Syrian citizen involved with them to take necessary procedures and start collecting evidence and investigation reports in this regard.

Al-Loji said that it was the duty of the Lebanese authorities to lift the parliamentary immunity of the involved MPs and refer them to the Lebanese justice or hand them over to the Syrian justice in terms of the agreements signed between the two sides.

He added that the Public Prosecution continues collecting evidence and follows up on what has been revealed regarding any statements or recorded phone calls, pointing out that a public interest litigation will be filed against anyone who proved to be involved in terrorist acts in Syria.

Lebanese National Media Agency announced Tuesday that the Interpol at the Lebanese Interior Security received via web arrest warrants form the Syrian Judicial authorities against Saad al-Hariri, MP Uqab Saqr and Spokesman of the “Free Army” Louai al-Mikdad on charges of arming this “Army”.

The Interpol will refer the arrest warrants to the Special General Prosecution.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister: Solution to Crisis in Syria through Disarming Disputed Parties, Launching Peaceful Dialogue

Dec 12, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA) – The Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that the Zionist entity which occupied the Arab territories with a British-U.S. support is the main reason for what is taking place in Syria and the aggressive attacks against it.

 

In a statement to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Mahathir Mohamad indicated that the crisis in Syria turned into a war between the East and the West, with the foreign powers exerting all efforts to overthrow the Syrian government. “In case the situation got more complicated in any state and the protests against its political system escalated, the army of that state should protect its people,” he added.

He attributed the difference between the situation in Syria and the similar cases to two main reasons, the first is related to the diversity in the Syrian society and the strength of the Syrian army while the second reason is that the foreign countries and their forces are doing their best to bring down the Syrian government.

The Malaysian Former Premier stressed that the solution to the crisis lies in disarming the disputed parties and starting a peaceful dialogue to settle tension in countries and then reducing the number of victims through preventing the escalation of attacks.

Higher Committee for Relief Discusses Humanitarian Aid Offered to Affected Families

Dec 12, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Participants in the Higher Committee for Relief meeting held on Wednesday focused on following up on what has been implemented in terms of providing humanitarian aid and solving problems which hinder the national efforts to help the affected families in the temporary makeshift shelters.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Jassim Zakarya, said that SYP 23 million were transferred to about 40 civil associations to help them in providing aid to the affected families.

He referred to the Higher Committee for Relief humanitarian activities in Aleppo city to meet the citizens’ basic needs through distributing food and health aid and opening new temporary makeshift shelters in the city.

The Minister stressed the need for specifying obstacles hindering the delivery of aid to all areas and facilitating the passage of humanitarian convoys.

He added that a committee was formed to follow up on and evaluate the civil organizations’ work and funds with the aim of activating their role.

Minister Zakarya indicated that the Ministry has recently formed a committee to deal with any phenomenon regarding children who lost their parents and provide care for them.

In turn, Minister of State for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Affairs, Joseph Sweid said that a map to deliver humanitarian aid to the affected families in all provinces was set up in coordination with the sub-committees in order to meet all needs.

Director of International Organizations Department at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry Hussam-Eddin Ala reviewed the UN proposed project within the framework of the response plan for the first half of 2013 to be adopted before the end of this year.

He added that the United Nations proposed USD 523 million to fund the projects in the 2013 plan.

Syrian Human Rights Network, Syrian Family Forum Denounce Terrorist Bombings in Damascus

Dec 12, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Syrian Human Rights Network denounced the terrorist bombings which were committed by armed terrorist groups on Wednesday, resulting in the martyring and injuring of citizens.

In a statement, the Network said that these attacks are part of the efforts to undermine civil peace exerted by the opposition groups which are linked to foreign agendas, which constitutes a violation of the international human rights laws and resolutions that condemn terrorists and those who support and fund it.

The statement called for bringing the opposition groups that support terrorism to justice, stressing that those who support, finance and direct terrorism must be subject to articles 25 and 27 of the Rome Statute.

Syrian Family Forum Condemns Terrorist Bombings in Damascus

The Syrian Family Forum condemned the terrorist bombings that took place in Damascus on Wednesday, martyring and injuring innocent civilians.

In a statement, the Forum held the United States and its minions in the region – including Al Saud, Al Thani, the Doha coalition and its supporters – responsible for these crimes.

Austrian State Secretary Calls for Keeping Austrian Unit in UNDOF Forces

Dec 12, 2012

VIENNES, (SANA) – Austrian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Reinhold Lopatka stressed the need for maintaining  the deployment of the Austrian forces operating in the United Nations Disengagement Forces (UNDOF) deployed in the Golan, as the Austrian forces have a good reputation and considerable experience that allows them to take the necessary steps and precautions to protect themselves in light of the events in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Austrian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Lopatka said that Austria asked the UN to take extra precautionary measures to protect the UNDOF forces, particularly after the recent attacks by terrorists on a convoy transporting Austrian soldiers on the road to Damascus International Airport.

The statement said that the Austrian Parliament approved extending the mission of Austrian international forces operating in 12 areas around the world, including the Golan and South Lebanon.

The aforementioned attack by terrorists injured two members of the Austrian unit operating with the UNDOF forces.

Mother of Ukrainian Journalists Abducted in Syria Issues Appeal for Her Release

Dec 12, 2012

KIEV, (SANA) – The mother of Ukrainian journalist Anhar Kochneva, who was abducted in early October by terrorists in Syria who threaten to kill her, issued on appeal on Wednesday to release her daughter, asking her government and Russia to assist in this.

 

In a video broadcast by the Ukrainian channel 1+1, Lyudmila Kochneva was shown crying and addressing those who kidnapped her daughter, reminding them that they too have mothers and children and begging them to release her daughter.

In turn, the Ukrainian Foreign Minsitry warned Kochneva’s abductors from harming her.

Media sources reported that the terrorist group currently holding Kochneva hostage threatened to kill her on Thursday unless they receive a ransom of USD 50 million.

Authorities Confiscate Car Loaded with 300 Gas Cylinders to Be Smuggled in Hasaka

Dec 12, 2012

HASAKA, (SANA) – Authorities seized on Wednesday a car loaded with 300 gas cylinders for domestic use that were prepared for smuggling near al-Baydar crossroad on al-Qamishli-Tal Tamer road in Hasaka countryside.

An official source in the Province told SANA reporter that the cylinders were distributed to the citizens of al-Derbasiyeh town immediately at the official price.

The authorities confiscated last week a car loaded with 600 gas cylinders , as they were prepared for smuggling in the same area.

Khamenei: Sides Stoking Violence and Igniting Civil War in Syria Responsible for Continuing Crisis

Dec 11, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA) – Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, said that the parties which work on stoking violence and igniting a civil war in Syria are responsible for continuing the crisis in it.

Meeting the participants in the International Conference for Islamic Awakening in Tehran, Khamenei warned of the enemies’ attempts to create divisions among Muslims through exploiting their racial and sectarian disputes.

He called upon all Muslims to solve their disputes through dialogue and peaceful means and be aware of the western-U.S. moves.

Khamenei hailed the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, expressing appreciation of the Palestinian resistance’s victory over the Israeli enemy in its recent assault on the Gaza Strip.

MASSAR Carries out Several Activities Targeting Displaced Children and Youths in Lattakia

Dec 11, 2012

LATTAKIA, (SANA) – Lattakia’s Exploring Centre “Amwaj MASSAR” continued to hold several activities targeting children and youths with the aim of developing a generation able to shoulder responsibility towards the society.

Amwaj MASSAR is one of the projects of the Syria Trust for Development, which has expanded activities to include all children affected by the recent events, that forced large numbers of children and youths to leave their houses because of the acts of the armed terrorist groups.

The Trust, in cooperation with the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs and with the assistance of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, started a series of activities in the makeshift centers in the city, including distributing 300 baskets of children milk to families staying at the Sport City.

Activities, carried out in the framework of MASSAR, also included visits to elementary schools, in cooperation with the Education Directorate in Lattakia, where the Trust made medical tests to all the 6-year-old children in the school.

The Trust made several other health-related and artistic activities, including shaving for about 100 children, and taking hundreds others to watch films.

The Syria Trust for Development is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that works on empowering societies and persons through encouraging social initiatives and building partnerships with the civil society organizations