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Israel will not attack Iran. Period.

The United States will not attack Iran. Period.

The United States will not attack. Not this year, nor in years to come. For a reason far more important than electoral considerations or military limitations. The United States will not attack, because an attack would spell a national disaster for itself and a sweeping disaster for the whole world.

“If you want to understand the policy of a country, take a look at the map,” said Napoleon. Minutes after an attack is launched, Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz, through which passes almost all the oil exported by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran – 40% of the world’s sea-borne oil passes through the strait. A few minutes after that, oil prices will rise, will double, triple or quadruple – and the U.S. and global economy will collapse.

Such small issues do not cross the minds of generals, military commentators and other wise guys who look at the world between narrow “security” blinkers.

Closing the Strait would be the most easy of military operations. A few missiles, launched from either the sea or the land, would do it. To reopen it, it would not be enough to send the US Navy’s mighty aircraft carriers on show cruises. The United States would have to conquer large parts of Iran, so as to put the Strait out of range of the Iranian missiles. Iran is larger than Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined. It would be a long war, something on the scale of the Vietnam War.

For Iran, there is no difference between an Israeli attack and an American attack. They would be treated as one and the same. In both cases, the consequence will be the blocking of the Strait and a large scale war.

All of which is more than enough for the United States not to attack, and to forbid Israel from attacking.

It’s 56 years since Israel went to war without giving notice to the Americans and getting their consent. When Israel did this in 1956, President Eisenhower took away all the achievements of victory, to the last millimeter. Before the Six Day War and on the eve of the First Lebanon War, the government of Israel sent special envoys to Washington to ensure unequivocal consent. If this time it did attack against the Americans’ will, who would restock the IDF armories? Who would protect the cities of Israel, which would be exposed to many tens of thousands of missiles from Iran and its proxies? Not to mention the wave of anti-Semitism which can be expected to burst out once the American public finds out that it was Israel, and Israel alone, which brought upon them a national disaster.

American diplomatic and economic pressure might be sufficient to stop the ayatollahs’ gallop towards the Bomb. It worked in Gaddafi’s Libya and is now happening in the North Korea of Kim. The Persians are a nation of merchants, and it might be possible to formulate a deal which would be worth their while.

This is questionable, because a few years ago the Neo-Conservatives in Washington engaged in glib talk about how easy it would be to occupy Iran – which surely convinced the Iranians that they must acquire the ultimate weapon of deterrence.  What would we have done in their place? Or rather, what did we actually do (according to foreign reports, etc.) when we were in their position?

So what is going to happen? If no deal is reached, Iran will develop nuclear weapons.  That’s not the end of the world. As has been pointed out by some of our more courageous security chiefs, this is not an existential threat. We’ll live in a situation of a balance of terror. Like America and Russia during the Cold War. Like India and Pakistan now. Not pleasant, but not too terrible, either.

Iran has not attacked any other country in a thousand years. Ahmadinejad talks like a wild demagogue, but the Iranian leadership actually treads very carefully. Israel does not threaten any Iranian interest. Joint national suicide is not an option.

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar boasted, and rightly, that Netanyahu had managed to distract the whole world’s attention, away from the Palestinians and to the Iranian problem. A fantastic success, indeed. Obama in effect tells him: OK, go and play with settlements as much as you want, but please leave Iran for the adults.

By Uri Avnery

11 March 2011

Published in Hebrew in Haaretz

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. – Buddha

America’s relations with Israel has always been explained by politicians on both sides as ‘friendship’. Today, more than any other time in the course of their ‘friendship’, this relationship brings to mind the story of “Blockhead and the Judge”.

According to English folklore, Blockhead complained to the Judge of being annoyed with flies. The Judge granted Blockhead permission to strike them wherever he saw them. Observing a big fly on the judge’s nose, Blockhead delivered a powerful blow with his fist, smashing the fly – and the Judge’s nose.

Israel, annoyed at Iran’s refusal to abrogate its rights granted under international law and treaties, and for resisting injustice, has demanded that the United States not only impose crippling sanctions on Iran, but place an embargo on Iran’s crude oil. America’s compliance with such irrational and harsh demands has in turn raised the prospect of retaliation which could halt the flow of oil from the Strait of Hormuz, depriving the world of an estimated 35% of its total oil needs.

As Ted Koppel wrote rather candidly in the New York Times (February 24, 2006) “Keeping oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz has been the bedrock of American foreign policy for more than half a century.”[i] In complying with Israel’s wishes, not only has America acted contrary to its long-standing foreign policy, violated international treaties, but it has also inflicted harm on its national interest by creating a shortage which has sent gas prices skyrocketing setting back the economy.

A March, 2012 Gallup Poll is indicative of the dire effects of this decision on the US economy. The poll shows that 85% of Americans want the President and Congress to “take immediate actions to try to control the rising price of gas.” Ironically, it is the President and Congress, hedged on by Israel and its lobbies in the U.S. that have caused the gas price increase.

A simple equation determines the price of oil: supply and demand (granted, at times other variables factor in such as speculators, specifically at times of political crisis, and oil refinery related issues, bearing in mind that much of the oil refineries in America and elsewhere are Israeli owned – see footnote[1]). There is ample empirical evidence pointing to price increases whenever oil supplies are disrupted.

The Iranian revolution and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war is estimated to have cost the US a total of $355 billion in higher oil prices (T. Stauffer, 2003)[ii]. The oil strikes leading up to the 1978-79 Iranian revolution reduced Iranian oil production by 3.8 million barrels per day for 3 months. Although outside production increased by 1.8 million barrels to make up for the loss, the net loss to the world was 150 million barrels of oil, this fact alone had a compounding result which resulted in a net loss to U.S. economy of an estimated billions of dollars in 1979 and 1980 (Deese & Nye 1981)[iii]. It is crucial to note that in this period China was a net exporter oil and became a net importer in 1993.

Ignoring such statistics, they have placed an oil embargo which without a doubt will have far graver repercussions than those periods. This dire situation is of no concern to the Israelis – thanks to America having “their back”. The burden is America’s due to the renewable 1975 15-year Memorandum of Understanding it signed with Israel which costs American taxpayers billions of dollars a year in oil subsidies.

Point (b) of Annex to the MoU stipulates:

“If the oil Israel needs to meet all of its normal requirements for domestic consumption is unavailable for purchase in circumstances where quantitative restrictions through embargo or otherwise also prevent the United States from procuring oil to meet its normal requirements, the [iv]United States Government will promptly make oil available for purchase by Israel in accordance with the International Energy Agency conservation and allocation formula, as applied by the United States Government, in order to meet Israel’s essential requirements. If Israel is unable to secure the necessary means to transport such oil to Israel, the United States Government will make every effort to help Israel secure the necessary means of transport.”

The 85% Americans who demand “immediate action” from Congress and the President, should remind the government of the 2008 research developed by economists Dean DeRosa and Gary Hufbauer which makes a clear case for the United States to lift sanctions on Iran, arguing that the this would drop the world price of oil by 10 percent, translating into an annual savings of $38-76 billion for the United States.

As Americans are being crushed under the weight of sanctions and oil embargo, in demanding action from the government, they should bear in mind that Israel is no friend, and Iran is no fly.

By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

11 March 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich has a Master’s degree in Public Diplomacy from USC Annenberg for Communication and Journalism and USC School of International Relations. She is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy.

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[1] Some recent examples of Israeli oil refinery takeovers include a 2006 takeover – Alon USA Energy Inc. gained a foothold in California ‘s lucrative gasoline market Monday, announcing plans to buy Paramount Petroleum Corp. and Edgington Oil Co.” (Alon Buys 2 Refiners in State: Elizabeth Douglass. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.:May 2, 2006. p. C.8,

2008- Alon Israel Oil had multiple transactions resulting in acquisition of 100,000 shares of stock. The company now owns 36.07 million shares of stock directly” (US Fed News Service, Including US State News. Washington, D.C.: Sep 3, 2008).

——————————————————————————–

[i] Cited in “Resource Wars”, William K Tabb. Monthly Review. New York:Jan 2007. Vol. 58, Iss. 8, p. 32-42

[ii] Thomas R. Stauffer, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2003, pages 20-23

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/june2003/0306020.html

[iii] Deese, David A. and Joseph S. Nye, ed. Energy and Security. Cambridge: Balllinger Publishing Co.: 1981.

These days a controversy is raging about female circumcision in India among a section of Muslims (Bohras). A woman belonging to the community has sent a petition to issue a firman banning the practice and is also preparing a petition to be filed in the Supreme Court to issue a ban order. Many newspapers and magazines are carrying articles on the issue condemning the practice and many have approached me for an interview on whether it has Islamic sanction.

Needless to say it is a highly controversial subject and there is no unanimity among Muslims on this question. It is not found among all Muslims but among Bohras in India and among Shafi’is in Egypt, Sudan and Ethopia besides other African countries.  Among Indonesian Muslims too, it is reported to be prevalent as they too are Shafi’is. But among the Shafi’is in India who are found in Western Maharashtra (Kokan area), in Kerala and Tamilnadu it is not prevalent. Thus all Shafi’is also do not practice it.

Whatever it is, it has an African connection. It appears this originated in Africa and spread to other parts of the world. It is important to note that Imam Shafi’I lived and compiled his fiqh mostly in Egypt and as far as Bohras are concerned Cairo (Egypt) was the seat of power of Fatimid Imams and Isma.ili book of jurisprudence Da’aim al-Islam was written by Sayyidna Qadi al-Nu’man in Cairo during the time of 14^th Imam Mu’iz. Thus among Bohras also the African connection is obvious.

As to the Question whether it has any Islamic sanction the answer falls in a rather grey area. One cannot say categorically either way. The Qur’an does not talk of either male or female circumcision and that is why even male circumcision is referred to sunnah or Sunnat=e=Ibrahimi or Sunnat-e Mohammadi. But in the case of men, it is considered obligatory and all Muslim sects are unanimous about it. Before Islam it was practiced by Jews and that is why it is also referred to as Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi too and according to some traditions the Prophet (PBUH) adopted it from there.

While male circumcision is celebrated publicly and people are invited to a public dinner,  female circumcision is done secretly (by those who practice it) and except for family members no one comes to know about it. The hadith (tradition) cited is also considered weak by many Muslims. Thus we find in Abu Dawood (Book 41, no. 5251)  that Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah narrated that a woman used to perform (female) circumcision in Madina. The Prophet (PBUH) told her do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.

Similarly we find in Muslim too in Book 3 no.684 Abu Musa reported. There cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs…He (Abu Musa the narrator) said I got up (and went) to A’isha and sought her permission and it was granted…. I said: what makes a bath obligatory for a person? You have come across one well informed! The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: when anyone sits amidst four parts and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory.

We find similar hadith narrated b by Abu Musa al-Ash’ari in Malik’s Muwatta too. This hadith also refers to A’isha as the source. Similarly in Malik’s Muwatta Book 2 Number 2.19,77 it is said Yahya related to me from Malik from Naf’I that Abdullah ibn Umar  “when circumcised part passes the circumcised part ghusl (bath) is obligatory.

Similarly we find in the Shafi’I source book  Reliance of the Traveller (Umdat al-Salik) written by  Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri that female circumcision is obligatory. This book has been certified by al=Azhar University. This book says “Circumcision is obligatory (both for men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce and for women removing of the clitoris (bazr in Arabic). Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna.

Thus it will be seen that there is no unanimity among Muslims about female circumcision and it is found prevalent, as pointed out, mostly among African Muslims as among many African tribes. Whereas in case of men, circumcision does not reduce sexual pleasure but is considered necessary from a hygienic point of view, in the case of female circumcision it reduces sexual pleasure and has no hygienic function as in case of men. While male circumcision is universal among all Muslims, female circumcision, at least in practice, is confined to a few Muslim sects, primarily those of African origin.

Since female circumcision interferes with woman’s sexual pleasure, almost replacing the old Roman chastity belt, it has become a human rights issue today. Female circumcision came into vogue to restrict her sexuality. Today women are demanding its abolition. It should also be noted that Islam does not, in any way seek to restrict either male or female sexuality but only restricts illegitimate sex outside marital bond and gives the right to a woman to seek divorce from an impotent husband if he had hidden this from her at the time of marriage.

Thus Islam fully respects women’s right to sexual pleasure as it is essential for perpetuating human progeny. It is society which, in the name of morality does so, but being patriarchal in structure, does not put any restriction on male sexuality.  Actually both sexes should be permitted natural sexual pleasure as it is absolutely necessary not only for healthy human growth but also for the perpetuation of the human species. Justice demands that both sexes be treated equally.    

By Asghar Ali Engineer

14 February 2012

Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s president, was summoned to the country’s outgoing parliament on Wednesday to answer accusations of disloyalty and mismanagement.

He responded with defiance and mockery that outraged his political foes.

It was the first time in the Islamic republic’s history that an Iranian president had been called before the legislature, illustrating a tense power struggle between competing conservative factions after parliamentary elections on March 2. The showdown was seen as a key test of who holds the upper hand after the vote, with critics of the president so far winning most of the new parliament’s 290 seats.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad gave no indication that his position had been weakened, teasing MPs for holding fake degrees, accusing them of giving themselves high salaries compared with most public employees and berating them for trying to impose social restrictions on the country’s youth.

The president’s strength in the next parliament, which convenes in June, remains unclear. Many of his supporters disguised their affiliation in the election in order to get through vetting procedures instigated by his political enemies.

The allegiance of dozens of independent candidates is still uncertain while about a quarter of the seats will be decided in a run-off next month.

“Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s language today shows he has not suffered a major defeat in the election and he may even enjoy a lot of support in the next parliament,” said one political analyst.

The summons took place after about a quarter of MPs signed questions covering the president’s alleged failures. These included accusations of disloyalty to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, and questions on the faltering economy, unemployment and even the financing of the Tehran metro.

One of the main questions concerned the president’s apparent defiance of an order from Ayatollah Khamenei – whose instructions are meant to be followed unconditionally – not to sack the intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi.

Although the president finally obeyed, he refused to go to his office for 11 days in protest against what he saw as political interference.

The MPs also cast doubt on the president’s claims that he had created 1.6m jobs and blamed him for weakening the industrial and agricultural sectors and fuelling unemployment. They also said Islamic values were being undermined by the government’s failure to enforce Islamic dress and its promotion of Iranian nationalism at the expense of religious values.

But Mr Ahmadi-Nejad brushed aside the accusations, sounding confident and often making flippant remarks.

“You should not be so tough on girls and boys,” he said. “They are our children. Which one of us has not committed any sins? Who is dealing with your sins?”

As for his non-appearance at his office, the president denied challenging the supreme leader, saying: “Ahmadi-Nejad staying home and resting? Most people tell me I should rest one day. Work has not stopped for even a day in this government.”

Nonetheless, he did not explicitly express his full allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei as his opponents had expected. And many parliamentarians were enraged at the tone of his remarks, calling them “illogical, illegal and evasive” and an insult to the legislature.

“Is this a place for joking?” one MP, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, asked the assembly.

In theory, parliament could impeach the president but most observers believe this is unlikely, with the supreme leader content to keep him in place until his term expires in 2013. Under the constitution Mr Ahmadi-Nejad is not allowed to stand again.

More likely, say analysts, is that the president will try to manoeuvre an ally into a position to succeed him, for which he will need a solid power base in parliament.

“Ahmadi-Nejad will do his best to entice the new parliamentarians who are less critical of him by promising financial support for their constituencies,” said one opponent of the president.

“If he manages it, which seems likely, he will not be forced out of Iranian politics easily.”

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran

14 March 2012

@ Financial Times

Let us on this historic day reaffirm our commitment to:

•  Resist the increasing assault on people’s land and other resources, livelihoods and lives.

•  Fight the increasing sexual assault in society at large, especially on women in mass struggles.

•  Rescue March 8 from the cacophony created by media, corporates and government to fearlessly forge ahead in the struggle for the liberation of all women.

On this day, in 1857 , women workers in the textile and garment industries in New York went on strike to protest against  unfair wages, 12 hour working days, sexual harassment in the workplace and other  inhuman working conditions. One of the first recorded strikes by women workers, they were fired upon by police and brutally repressed. Women’s participation in struggles only increased more across the world. So has the repression of the Indian state, especially in the era of neo-liberal reforms, as is happening in other countries too.

The crushing of dissent is making more women step forward in India . Whether to protect forests or rivers, a dwelling place or land, the future of children or safety of the elderly, source of livelihood or the right to dignity, women across the country are in the forefront of these struggles in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra  and other states.  While  the relentless assault by national and international capital forcefully dispossesses, displaces, starves and kills many, sexual violence is being used systematically as a repressive measure by the armed forces, paramilitary and police. Women and girls are increasingly subjected to sexual violence, whether it is in a police station or on the way to one, and especially when they attempt to place their demands before authorities.

A growing number of incidents reveal that the state  is actively abetting the violence against women and facilitating the plunder of resources.  Law makers are manipulating existing laws and enacting new ones that favor the corporations, big banks and other elite.  New draconian laws and archaic ones  like the Sedition Act are being used to silence dissent. N egotiation  with elected representatives has become a farce as the forces of capital have taken control of the state, judiciary and the media.  Police are often perpetrators of violence or abet as mute spectators or fail to file FIRs . Instead of protecting people’s rights, with few exceptions, the judiciary like other custodians of law is crushing the hopes of the ordinary people.

Let us look at two incidents in the recent past. On January 25,  2012 when the entire nation was gearing up for the Republic day celebrations,  4000 women and men were peacefully marching to the Jindal Steel Plant in Angul to demand a more just compensation for the land forcibly grabbed from them and also the jobs promised to them by the company and Odisha Government. Security guards and hired goons brutally attacked them with iron rods; many were left profusely bleeding. Women’s clothes were torn; there were reports of iron rods inserted into the private parts of some. When an FIR was lodged at the local police station, except for a token arrest of the security officer, none of the senior executives of the company culpable for the violence were arrested.  This reveals the type  of state support corporate forces have for their land grab. It also highlights the type of violence women at the forefront of these struggles are subjected to.

On January 31, 2012 two representatives of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy accompanied by fifteen women, who have been peacefully opposing the Koodankulam Nuclear Power plant (KNPP) since the late 1980s, were attacked by Hindu Munnani and Congress thugs in the presence of local Congress leaders and police in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Four of the women who were badly injured were from the fishing community, which has been at the forefront of the non-violent campaign to stop the KNPP along with Dalit workers, farmers, shopkeepers and women engaged in beedi rolling. During this attack, these four women formed a human shield around the two male representatives of PMANE. All four were kicked on the stomach and hit with helmets. Their hair was pulled and blouses torn. One woman had a fracture while another had her neck disc dislocated. This incident occurred within the premises of the Tirunelveli Collectorate, while the Collector remained in his office and the police merely watched.  Violent attacks on those involved in democratic and peaceful mass movements by state and corporate sponsored goons, state and private security forces, in collusion with other political parties and police as well as Hindutva extremists, are on the rise in this country.

Custodial torture has reached unprecedented heights as in the case of Soni Sori, an Adivasi school teacher from Dantewada, Chhattisgarh who was arrested on October 3, 2011 after the police registered a false case.  Medical evidence submitted at the request of  the Supreme Court shows that she was subjected to electric shocksand had stones pushed into her vagina and rectum while in custody . This was under the supervision of the SP who was soon awarded the President’s Gallantry award on Republic day for leading an encounter attack on Maoists.  By conferring this award, the state not only ignored the concerns of the families of the innocent villagers killed in that encounter, it also endorsed  the custodial torture and sexual assault on an adivasi woman.  Denied bail, Soni Sori remains in pain in the  custody of her torturers, without access to a doctor. Womens groups’s demands to meet her were denied citing prison security reasons.  Her poignant letters from jail reveal the injustice and violence faced by women prisoners in this country.

Our hopes lie in this refusal to be silenced against injustice as well as  in exposing other incidences , while  building our strength and unity through active solidarity. Although the path for women’s liberation has become more uphill, WSS will pursue its struggle against casteist patriarchy, state repression and capitalism.

Let us reaffirm our determination to:

•  RESIST STATE REPRESSION ON DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS!

•  SPEAK UP AGAINST  SEXUAL VIOLENCE  OF WOMEN PRISONERS!

•  FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO DISSENT  IN CORPORATE INDIA !

VANQUISH CASTEIST PATRIARCHY, COMMUNALISM  AND CAPITALISM!

By Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression

6 March 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) is a nonfunded effort started in November 2009, to put an end to the violence perpetrated upon our bodies and societies. We are a nationwide network of women from diverse political and social movements comprising of women’s organizations, mass organizations, civil liberty organizations, student and youth organizations, mass movements and individuals. We unequivocally condemn state repression and sexual violence on women by any perpetrator (s).

againstsexualviolence@gmail.com

Join the April Actions in Washington DC for the Cuban 5

After the call went out for “5 days for the Cuban 5 in Washington DC” from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5, a large number of friends responded enthusiastically to support the actions in Washington from April 17 – 21.   From several U.S. cities as well as Canada, Europe and Latin America, advocates will travel to Washington to participate in the activities in support of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly imprisoned in the United States.

Well-known personalities and organizations from the U.S. and abroad have sent their endorsements to support the 5 days, including intellectuals, professors, religious personalities, trade unionists, actors, artists and activists. Individual endorsers include Noam Chomsky, Danny Glover, Mike Farrell, Pete Seeger, Angela Davis, Tony Woodley, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond, CA, Catholic Priest Geoffrey Bottoms and many others.  Organizations include the National Lawyers Guild, William Velazquez Institute, Alliance for Global Justice, School of the Americas Watch, National Network on Cuba, Center for Constitutional Rights and many others (SEE ENDORSERS LIST IN PROGRESS).

JOIN THIS HISTORIC 5 DAYS OF SOLIDARITY AND PROTEST TO DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE FREEDOM OF GERARDO, RAMON, ANTONIO, FERNANDO AND RENE

THERE IS STILL TIME TO SUPPORT THE 5 DAYS FOR THE CUBAN 5 TO TAKE THE CASE OF THE FIVE TO THE CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES

•        If you are interested in participating or would like to add your organization to the list of endorsers write to info@thecuban5.org

•        If you would like to volunteer to do postering or other tasks please write to info@thecuban5.org and let us know when you will be available to come to DC.

•        If it is not possible for you to travel to Washington DC and you are able to make a donation, please do so by going to DONATE.

We urgently need your support so that these important days in support of justice and human rights can be successful.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE FROM APRIL 17 TO 21

Tuesday, April 17

•        All day of lobbying on Capitol Hill

Wednesday, April 18

•        Lobby activities continue with distribution of information to elected officials.

•        Afternoon Public Event (Time and place TBA) featuring Canadian author Stephen Kimber, speaking on his most recent book, “What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five”.

•        7pm: Screening of the documentary “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up, Nyumburu Cultural Center at University of Maryland, with the participation of invited guest Miguel Barnet, President of  the National Association of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC)

Thursday April 19

•        Morning: setting up outreach tables in strategic points around Washington D.C.

•        6:00 pm, Community Event in Takoma Park to launch a new committee in support of the Cuban 5.  Local elected officials will be invited. Distribution of information and showing of the new documentary “Esencias” about the historic tour of La Colmenita in the U.S. in October 2011.

•        7pm: Screening of the documentary “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up,” Blackburn Auditorium at Howard University, featuring Professor Piero Gleijeses, author of Conflicting Mission: Havana, Washington and Cuba 1959-1976.

Friday, April 20

“OBAMA GIVE ME FIVE”

•        Public Event, Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Road, NW. Beginning at 6 pm with the traveling exhibit,  Humor From My Pen, the political cartoons of Gerardo Hernandez. Meeting begins at 7pm with topics including; 1) Lift the blockade of Cuba 2) End the Travel Ban 3) Free the Cuban Five, 4) Remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism and 5) Return Guantanamo to Cuba.

Invited Keynote Speaker: Father Miguel d’Escoto, President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009, former Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Relations, Catholic Priest.  Also Wayne Smith, Salim Lamrani, Mavis Anderson, James Early, Jose Pertierra, Saul Landau, and others. Poetry readings by invited guest Nancy Morejón and Abayomi Huria. U.S. and International guests: Cindy Sheehan, Norman Paech (Germany) Arnold August (Quebec), Stephen Kimber and Brian Gordon Sinclair (Canada) Katrien Demynck (Belgium), Salim Lamrani (France), Invited Ambassadors of ALBA’s countries

Saturday 21 April

•        10 am, meeting with leaders of different religious denominations (Place TBA)

•        1 pm picket/rally at the White House,  people will be coming from DC and cities all over the country including  5 Buses, representing each of the 5 heroes, from New York City that will travel to DC under the slogan “Freedom ride for the Cuban 5”.

We are urging everyone to bring their signs and banners to send a strong  message to President Obama.

•        4 pm, Closing Event, Bolivarian Salon of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 2443 Massachusetts Ave, N.W., Keynote Speaker Cindy Sheehan. Presentations by DC children’s theater group: “The greatest weapon of Cuba, a tribute to Cuban doctors”, directed by Obi Egbuna Jr. and “Hemingway on Stage”: Brian Gordon Sinclair, Artistic Director.

In addition to activities planned, organizers will place ads in local newspapers and posters with the slogan Obama Give me Five will be placed across the city of Washington. Also audiences from Washington DC and surrounding areas will hear about the Cuban 5 and existing obstacles to the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba on local radio stations.

HELP MAKE THE 5 DAYS FOR THE CUBAN 5 A MEMORABLE WEEK OF ACTION IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

For more information visti:

www.thecuban5.org

Information on the Foreign Journalists Who Entered Syria Illegally

The Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Malaysia presents its compliments to the esteemed recipients and in referring to the misleading western media campaign on the foreign journalists who entered Syria illegally, would like to provide the following information:

•           The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has considered the tragedy of the American journalist Marie Colvin in humanitarian terms only and has offered her family its deepest condolences following her death in Syria.

•           The late Marie Colvin could have entered Syria legally if she so wished as Syria accept all applications from journalists desiring to enter the country.

•           As soon as the Syrian authorities heard the sad news of the killing of Marie Colvin and her colleague, the French journalist Remi Ochlik in an area controlled by armed terrorist groups, it exerted all efforts to know the circumstances in which the two were killed and to remove their bodies immediately to be delivered to their respective countries.

•           The Syrian authorities permitted three visits for intermediaries, the Syrian Red Crescent and the International Committee for Red Cross to evacuate journalists and remove the bodies of the said two journalists but without success due to the refusal by the armed groups as well as some journalists as some quarters were planning to take the bodies illegally to a neighbouring country.

•           The procrastination from both the journalists there and the armed groups led to the delay in the requisite humanitarian work of removing the bodies and the ambulances not reaching the injured at a time when the Syrian authorities had a helicopter on stand-by to transfer the journalists, the bodies of the two deceased journalists as well as the wounded to Damascus for their safety.

•           The Syrian authorities believe that some countries associated with the armed groups are encouraging them to commit more murder and to ignore the efforts by Syria, its Red Crescent and mediators to solve the problem.

•           Syria affirms that it will meet all its obligations in the humanitarian field, whilst hoping not to permit any violations to its sovereignty and territorial integrity and for journalists to avoid placing themselves at risk and legal prosecutions.

With best compliments.

KL  2/MAR/2012

The Indian Defence Ministry has banned for 10 years some defence contractors for corruption,  notably Israeli Military Industries which supplies weapons, ammunition and military technology to the Israeli military, including the Uzi submachine gun used by criminals and mercenaries around the world to kill people (see “Indian Defence Ministry bans 6 arms firms”, UPI, 6 March 2012: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2012/03/06/Indian-Defense-Ministry-bans-6-arms-firms/UPI-30341331064890/?spt=hs&or=si and   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Military_Industries ).

Race-based, nuclear terrorist and genocidal Apartheid Israel ( Israel anagram: e-LIARS) has an appalling record of corruption, racism, genocide and horrendous criminal violence throughout the world as set out below.

1. Apartheid Israel  has violently attacked some 13 countries (Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, the United States, Australia)  with 1950-2005 avoidable deaths from deprivation in these countries totalling 75.630 million, this carnage being related in part to the need of African, Asian and Latin American countries  to defend themselves from Zionist- and US-backed traitors, Zionist-backed US violence, and from the US-backed rogue state Apartheid Israel (see Gideon Polya, ”Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com.au/ ).

2. Apartheid Israel has actually occupied the territory of all its neigbours, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria , this being associated with 1950-2005 avoidable deaths from occupation- and militarization-imposed deprivation totalling 28.684 million (see Gideon Polya, ”Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com.au/ ).

3. Apartheid Israel was involved in the genocide of Guatemalan Indians, Colombian Indians, the Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka   and backing anti-Asian, Anti-African, Nazi-inspired  Apartheid South Africa to the extent of co-development of nuclear weapons.

4. Apartheid Israel has been involved in deep corruption in India , a country in which about 4 million people die avoidably from deprivation every year.

5. Apartheid Israel has backed the US War on Muslims (1990-2012;  associated so far with 12 million violent deaths and avoidable deaths from war- and occupation-imposed deprivation) that transmuted after the US Government- and likely Apartheid Israel-complicit 9-11 atrocity (see “Experts: US did 9-11”: https://sites.google.com/site/expertsusdid911/ ) into the US War on Terror (2001-2012; 9 million violent deaths and avoidable deaths from war- and occupation-imposed deprivation, mainly in Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Libya) (see “Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide”: http://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ ).

6. Apartheid Israel has subverted the Western democracies which have become Murdochracies (Big Money, such as that of the Zionist Murdoch media  empire, buys truth,  public perception and votes) and Lobbyocracies (Big Money buys politicians, parties, policies, public perception and votes).

7. In particular, Apartheid Israel has perverted the US  (where 8% of members of Congress are pro-war, racist Jewish Zionists as compared to 2% of the US population being Jewish,  and the remainder are mostly pro-war, racist Christian Zionists), the UK (where all parties are pro-war and pro-Zionist) , Canada (where the conservatives under Harper are pro-war and rabidly pro-Zionist) and Australia (where the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition Opposition and the Labor Government are pro-war and rabidly pro-Zionist and where in 2010 a pro-Zionist -led Coup removed the very popularly elected PM Kevin Rudd).  1 million Americans and 66,000 Australians die preventably each year under racist Zionist-dominated governments (see Gideon Polya, “One million Americans die preventably annually in USA”, Countercurrents, 18 February 2012: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya180212.htm and Gideon Polya, “Why PM Julia Gillard must go: 66,000 preventable Australian deaths annually”, Countercurrents, 21 February 2012: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya210212.htm ).

8. Apartheid Israel and the traitorous Israeli Lobbies support the US War on Terror that has already killed 50,000 US veterans who have suicided since 2001 plus 200,000 Americans, 18,000 British, 3,700 Australians and 1 million people world-wide who have died opiate drug-related deaths since 2001 due to US restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry from 6% of world market share in 2001 to 90% today (see “Afghan Holocaust, Afghan Genocide”: http://sites.google.com/site/afghanholocaustafghangenocide/ .

9. Apartheid Israel dominates the Ecstasy trade and the illegal human body parts trade.

10. About 18 million people die avoidably from deprivation each year on a Spaceship Earth controlled by a racist  Zionist-perverted United States which gives most of its international aid each year to Apartheid Israel in the  form of military aid for invasion and occupation of other countries and for the continuing Palestinian Genocide.

11.  The Palestinian Genocide has involved the following: 0.1 million violent Palestinian deaths since 1936 as compared to 3,718 violent Jewish deaths at the hands of Palestinians since 1920; 1.9 million Palestinian avoidable deaths from war-, expulsion- and occupation-imposed deprivation; 7 million refugees; of 12 million Palestinians 6 million are not permitted to live in their own countries; only adults of 1.5 million Palestinian Israelis are permitted  to vote for the government ruling all of Palestine plus ethnically cleansed parts of  of Lebanon and Syria albeit as Third class citizens under Nazi-style race laws; 1.6 million Palestinians, half of them children, are abusively confined to the Gaza Concentration Camp and 2.7 million are abusively confined to ever-dwindling West Bank mini-Bantustans under racist Zionist military rule and without  human rights (see the recently published multi-author book  “The Plight of the Palestinians”: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html and “Palestinian Genocide”: http://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ ).

12. And now nuclear-armed, nuclear terrorist Apartheid Israel (400 nuclear weapons) is hysterically mounting a campaign to destroy  anti-nuclear weapons, NPT-signatory Iran – a country with a population  of 74 million,  that has not invaded another country for centuries, that has no nuclear weapons and that desires no nuclear weapons –  with conventional or even nuclear weapons.

There need to be comprehensive Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against racist,  war criminal, genocidal, race-based, nuclear terrorist Apartheid Israel and all its backers,  as were successfully applied to Apartheid Israel-backed Apartheid South Africa . The traitorous racist Zionists  need to be sidelined in public life as have already been like racists such as the Nazis, neo-Nazis, Apartheiders and KKK.

By Dr Gideon Polya

7 March, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Dr Gideon Polya has been teaching science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific .

NEW DELHI: India is making a concerted push into Central Asia by taking charge of a crucial transportation network through Iran into the region and beyond. After getting an enthusiastic thumbs up from 14 stakeholder countries in the region in January, experts from all the countries will meet in New Delhi on March 29 to put final touches to the project known as the International North-South Corridor.

The project envisages a multi-modal transportation network that connects ports on India’s west coast to Bandar Abbas in Iran, then overland to Bandar Anzali port on the Caspian Sea; thence through Rasht and Astara on the Azerbaijan border onwards to Kazakhstan, and further onwards towards Russia. Once complete, this would connect Europe and Asia in a unique way — experts estimate the distance could be covered in 25-30 days in what currently takes 45-60 days through the Suez Canal.

In the January meeting, Sanjay Singh (secretary east, MEA) and Rahul Khullar (commerce secretary) told Iran that India would take charge of the project, including building the missing sections of the railway and road link in Iran. Thanks to US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, India is finding it difficult to pay for its oil imports with hard currency. One of the best ways of paying for Iranian oil is through infrastructure projects like the corridor, which serves economic and strategic interests of all states concerned.

This has been a win-win proposition for India since the North-South Corridor agreement was signed between India, Iran and Russia in September 2000. But over the years, the project fell into disuse. Iran made little attempt to complete construction on its side, expending little political or administrative energy. Neither did Russia or India, which preferred to talk about it but did little to push it. Meanwhile, 11 other countries, including all the Central Asian states, joined up.

Several recent developments have changed India’s timid approach. First, China has been building an extensive road and railway network through Central Asia, aiming to touch Europe. It’s fast, efficient and already on the ground. While this has made Central Asia accessible to China and others, it is worrying these countries no end. Over the past few years, Central Asian states have repeatedly approached India to play the balancing role. Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan actually gave an oil block, Satpaev, to India on strategic considerations.

Second, with Pakistan in a state of almost chronic instability, India can never hope to access Central Asia through Pakistan. Its best bet remains Iran. While India will have to reduce oil imports from Iran, building a big-ticket infrastructure corridor is a reaffirmation of its commitment to the relationship.

Meena Singh Roy, senior fellow at IDSA, who is closely connected with the project, said, “The potential of this corridor will be manifold with India, Myanmar and Thailand getting linked by road. This will boost trade between Europe and South East Asia as well.”

The North-South Corridor, which can be described as part of the “new great game”, is now a battle for “power, hegemony, profits and resources”, as a senior official put it. Quite apart from opening up new markets for India, the corridor could also be used to transport energy resources to India — from oil, gas to uranium and other industrial metals.

In the forthcoming expert-level meetings in Delhi, Indian officials expect to finalize issues of customs and other commercial infrastructure. India has now agreed to provide all this expertise.

Simultaneously, India is eyeing two other transit and transportation networks from Central Asia — all of them going through Iran. One is a Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan Corridor — a 677-km railway line connecting these countries with Iran and the Persian Gulf. It will link Uzen in Kazakhstan with Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek in Turkmenistan and end at Gorgan in Iran’s Golestan province.

The second comes in from Uzbekistan through northern Afghanistan, known as the Northern Distribution Network through which the US and NATO currently route 70% of their supplies for the ISAF forces. But after the US and NATO exit Afghanistan in 2014, India plans to extend this route to link up with the Zaranj-Delaram road that enters Iran.

India has been pushing Iran to complete construction of the Chahbahar port, which is crucial for these corridors to work to India’s advantage. Iran has been notoriously slow in taking these up but India expects that in its current isolation, Iran could do a rethink.

By Indrani Bagchi, TNN

13 March 2012

@ The Times of India

In her address at the U.N. Security Council Monday 3/12 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated: “The US believes firmly in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states, but we do not believe that sovereignty demands that this council stand silent when governments massacre their own people, threatening regional peace and security in the process. And we reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government’s military machine and the actions of civilians under siege driven to self-defense”. For a while I thought that Mrs. Clinton’s heart had a touch of compassion for the 5 years long besieged and starved Palestinians in Gaza , who have been the target of unprovoked assassinations, murder and extensive aerial bombardments in a graduated extermination scheme by the Israeli military machine. Last such unprovoked attack took place weekend of 3/10-11 in 37 aerial sorties during four days that murdered 27 Palestinians many of them school children while on their way to school. The real reason of this Israeli attack was to draw out Palestinian rockets in order to test the Israeli “Iron Dome” defense system in a real life situation.

Unfortunately Clinton was defending instead the Western/Qatari/Saudi armed foreigners, al-Qaeda, and Syrian rebels, who had been terrorizing and massacring Syrian civilians in many Syrian border cities. As for the Palestinian self-defense Clinton had this hippocratic contradictory response : “Let me also condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel , which continued over the weekend.” Clinton ‘s fake humanitarian sentiments towards the Palestinians were also expressed in her threats to stop the American financial aid to Egypt if it exports fuel to Gaza to operate its power station. Gaza has been in total darkness for weeks due to shortage of fuel. It seems that in Clinton ‘s twisted logic Palestinians have no right for self-defense and Syrian government has no right to fight terrorists.

US State Department spokeswoman, Vicoria Nuland , , had also stressed the American disregard to Palestinian’s right of self-defense and the continuous unconditional prejudiced support to Israeli terror when she condemned “in the strongest terms” the rocket fire from Gaza towards southern Israel.

The 60 years long suffering of Palestinians under the Zionist occupation, the Israeli theft of their land, the daily destruction of their homes, the imprisonment of their children, the never ending destruction of their economy and uprooting and burning of their farm trees and slaughter of their farm animals by religiously extremist occupiers (so-called settlers), the assassination of their leaders and political dissidents, the extreme violations of their human rights and freedom, and the ethnic cleansing of their families had never moved any humanitarian feeling in the heart of any American senators while the defeat of the Syrian armed terrorists and their flight to Syrian border towns during just one year had moved many senators to demand military intervention in Syria to protect those “poor” Syrian citizens. The most enthusiast among these senators is the Zionist-bribed, “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran ” warmongering, power-drunk senile Republican John McCain . We should also mention here the “soft hearted” US ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly , who called on Tuesday March 6 th for the protection of all whom she called disarmed Syrians including members of the terrorist Free Syrian Army during her meeting with Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Connelly wanted Lebanon to create a “safe buffer zone” on its border with Syria to host “Syrian refugees” where this zone would become a military base to train terrorists and a launching pad for terrorist attacks within Syria . The Pentagon, also, has prepared basic plans to attack Syria including limited airstrikes, the establishment of a no-fly zone and a humanitarian corridor to deliver $10 million worth of relief (and military) supplies, as revealed by Army General Martin Dempsey . An internal email dated December 7 th 2011 from an official at Stratfor Global Intelligence Agency exposed that the US had sent American special operation forces to Syria to train and to arm Syrian armed militia to topple Syrian Assad’s regime in an act of war.

This humanitarian Pentagon would not even ponder neither the idea of establishing a no-fly zone nor spending $1 worth of relief supplies delivery to the Palestinians besieged and starved in Gaza for the last seven years in the dark without electricity and under the unprovoked routine Israeli air strikes, rather it gives Israel more sophisticated weapons to murder more Palestinian children. If we forget about the besieged Palestinians because the US supports Israel unconditionally, then we would ask for support to Bahraini and Yemini popular uprising to obtain social freedom and adopt democratic rule.

The US would be better off helping its own people before helping other countries. The American tax payers are suffering from high rate of unemployment, homelessness, budget cuts on all social services including medicare and education, increase of crime rate, and millions of families living under the poverty line. The number of beggars; young and old, standing on major freeway exits in a metropolitan city of Los Angeles is on the increase. Where is Clinton ‘s humanitarian help for her own citizens?

The US is not the only hypocritical party when it comes to Syria . European countries, especially France , are also guilty. France wants its old colony back; Syria was under the French mandate (occupation) since WWI until independence in April 1946. Along with the US France had tried hard, but failed due to Russian and Chinese veto, to secure a UN resolution calling for military intervention in Syria . French military special operation forces , some of which have been captured by Syrian security forces when they reclaimed Baba-Amr in Homs , had been sent to Syria to train and arm militias. This is an act of war. Humanitarian France, the birth place of the French Revolution defending human rights and freedom, had justified sending fighter planes to Libya causing the death of thousands of Libyans in order to free them from Qaddafi, and is now calling for arming Syrian rebels to affect another civil war and destruction, had stood dumb silent for sixty long years watching the Palestinians butchered by Israel. French humanitarian mouth is also shut tight about Yemini and Bahraini peaceful demonstrations faced with savage attacks by their governments.

The most hypocritical of them all are the Arab States especially the Gulf absolute dictatorships of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who, instead of helping their Arab brothers reach a peaceful resolution, have become the western tools to divide, destroy, and ignite civil wars within other Arab States. Qatar is an absolute monarchy ruled by Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who seized power from his father in a coup d’état in 1995. He persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed most of his father’s loyalists and revoked citizenships from almost five thousand dissidents. Qatar has no constitution, no democracy, no freedom, and no human rights. Qatar served as a launching pad for American invasion of Iraq and has been turned into an American military base since 1992. The Emir and his foreign minister, Hamad bin-Jassim, had turned into Arab enemy combatants through their cooperation with Israel . Their pictures with Israeli war criminals are all over the internet. They also planned to run gas and oil pipe lines from Qatar to Israeli port of Haifa and had invited Israeli companies to invest in Qatar . When Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2008/9 the Emir and his foreign minister stood cheering the Israeli army and predicting the end of Hezbollah and Hamas. Their antagonism to Arab causes was also apparent when Qatar sent military trainers, advisers and weapons to help Libyan rebels destroy Libya , while similar armed military troops were also sent to Yemen and Bahrain , but paradoxically, to oppress the peaceful civilian demonstrators demanding freedom and democracy. Bin Jassim was heard vowing vehemently to topple Syrian Assad’s regime, and Qatari money, weapons, and military officers have not been spared for this purpose. Qatari weapons have been sent to Syrian rebels through Jordan , and Bin Jassim , in a meeting with Lebanese, Saudi, Turkish, American and French intelligence officers, had pledged to pay a million dollar to every terrorist group who would perpetrate a terror attack in Syria ‘s main cities. Car bombings in Damascus and Halab killing scores of Syrian citizens seem to come as a result of such a pledge. Through Qatar ‘s leadership of the Arab League Bin Jassim had pushed hard to adopt resolutions against Syria , to call on UNSC to pressure Syria , to organize Friends of Syria Conference, and to call for arming Syrian militias.

Similar to Qatar , Saudi Arabia is an absolute dictatorship. There is no constitution, no freedom, no democracy and no human rights. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had criticized Saudi Arabia for grave human rights violation in death penalty by beheading for many crimes and especially when it comes to women’s rights. Saudi women have no rights at all. They must be completely veiled, not allowed to walk in the streets alone without an escort and not even drive a car. Although considered the richest Arab state due to oil revenue it is estimated that 20% of citizens are below the poverty line while 30% are jobless when foreigners occupy Saudi jobs. Saudi Arabia was virtually occupied by American forces and became the launching pad for war against Iraq in 1990 and again in 2003. Saudi foreign policy has been covertly pro-American and pro-Zionist and did not serve the interest of its citizens or the interest of the rest of Arab world. This was clearly exposed lately during the American invasion of Iraq, by sending troops and weapons to Libya to get rid of Qaddafi, by sending troops to Yemen and to Bahrain to aggressively oppress the popular demonstrators and finally by arming Syrian militias . While claiming to protect Syrian human rights Saudi troops are savagely crushing their own citizens demonstrating in the eastern and northern towns, especially university female students and professors, demanding political reform, freedom and democracy. Demonstrations and strikes are spreading largely to Saudi pilots and to government employees fighting corruption and demanding equality. The Saudi Spring seems on the verge of exploding.

After playing the lead role in criticizing Assad’s regime Turkey ‘s rhetoric was quickly subdued after the capture of Turkish officers in Baba Amr and the economic loss Turkey had suffered due to economic boycott by Syria . Turkish oppositional parties had criticized Prime Minister, Erdogan’s, policy towards Syria , and had opposed his decision to establish a safe buffer zone on the Syrian border to harbor Syrian rebels. Turkey has its own Kurdish problem and has been militarily suppressing Kurdish liberation movements. Armed clashes between Turkish troops and Kurdish groups are on the rise. During this month, March, five Turkish soldiers and seven armed Kurds were killed on 22 nd during clashes in Istanbul and Diyarbakir while Kurds were celebrating Nowruz Day. In the 24 th of the month the Turkish Interior Ministry announced the killing of fifteen Kurdish militia men in skirmishes in south eastern part of the country. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization fighting an armed struggle against Turkey to establish autonomous Kurdistan , vowed to hit Turkish targets if Turkey interfered in Syria ‘s affairs by establishing a buffer zone. Before meddling in its neighbors’ affairs by harboring, training and arming Syrian rebels Turkey should instead handle its own Kurdish problem first.

Syrian citizens have the right to demonstrate peacefully demanding change in their government. Unfortunately the so-called Syrian opposition was not peaceful and was not political. It did not offer any political program and refused to negotiate with the ruling regime. It also rejected the new constitution that guaranteed democratic reform. They have turned armed terrorists whose goal is to topple the regime by force rather than reform it. Opposition is always political and never calls for armed struggle otherwise it becomes a coup. Some western and Arabic countries hijacked the demonstrations, and turned them militarized in an attempt to topple Assad’s regime. Foreign fighters; Lebanese, Libyans , Iraqis, Qataris, Saudis, Turkish, French, and American , were sent to Syria to train and arm rebels, who call themselves “Free Syrian Army” This armed militias are divided among themselves in different groups under different leaderships with different goals. They have occupied neighborhoods by force , destroyed oil pipelines, bombed bridges, car-bombed government buildings, ambushed Syrian security forces, and massacred pro-Assad citizens, at times whole families. They have disrupted basic services critical to citizens’ survival including access to food supplies, medical care, water, electricity, transportation and education. These are grave human rights violations and extensive war crimes as was reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Countries that support and arm these terrorist are guilty of terror attacks as well. There is no sovereign state in the world that would accept foreign calls to arm oppositional militias, whose goal is to topple the government through terrorist attacks, and Syria has every right to fight these armed terrorists.

Syrian Assad’s regime has responded positively to his people’s demands, accepted Arab League’s resolutions, received international monitors, offered political negotiations through Russian mediation, offered a new constitution in a referendum to the people, and announced new parliamentary election on May 7 th . Yet arms are still flowing into the country.

By Dr. Elias Akleh

26 March 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Dr. Elias Akleh is a writer living in Corona, CA., eakleh@ca.rr.com