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Twenty-eight Martyrs, 235 Wounded in Twin Terrorist Bomb Blasts in Aleppo City

ALEPPO/DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Ministry of Interior issued a statement on Friday, in which it said that after the escalation of instigation campaigns and foreign logistic and media support  to armed terrorist groups, the city of Aleppo was the target of two terrorist bombings on Friday morning carried out by two suicide bombers in cars, martyring 28 and injuring 235 including military personnel, civilians and children, some of which are in critical conditions.

“At 9 AM on Friday morning, a terrorist bomber driving a whit microbus with a fake license plate carrying the number 475475-Syria broke through the security barrier at the entrance of a law-enforcement department in the crowded area of al-Arkoub, blowing himself up,” the statement said, adding that 11 were killed in the attack and 130 were wounded, both civilians and law-enforcement personnel.

The statement said that a few minutes later, another suicide bomber driving a white microbus blew himself up while trying to break into the military security branch in New Aleppo area, claiming 17 lives and wounding 105 people including military personnel, civilians and even children who were in the park near the branch.

Both bombings caused significant damage to nearby buildings and cars, and the first explosion left a crater two meters deep, the statement added.

The Ministry’s statement said that the authorities immediately arrived at the scene and collected evidence which are being analyzed to identify the terrorists and the owners of the human remains found at the site and identify the type of explosives used in this cowardly terrorist act.

Interior Ministry: Terrorist Acts Will Not Dissuade Authorities from Preserving Security and Order and Uprooting Terrorism

The Ministry affirmed that such terrorist acts will not dissuade the authorities from fulfilling their duty of preserving security and order, uprooting terrorism, and pursuing every criminal who dares to tamper with the security of the country and its citizens.

The Ministry also held the regional and international forces and countries which support terrorist groups and provide them with funds and weapons responsible for the Syrian blood which is being shed every day in several Syrian cities.

The Ministry called upon citizens to continue reporting any suspicious activities and provide any information on terrorist activities to the authorities.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health said in a statement that the death toll of the twin terrorist bomb blasts which hit Aleppo city on Friday rose to twenty-eight martyrs and 235 wounded, including soldiers, civilians and children.

The two terrorist bombings targeted Military Security Branch at the western bypass and headquarters of law-enforcement forces in al-Arkoub area in Aleppo city.

The bombings caused great damage to the two headquarters and the nearby residential buildings.

Medical teams are helping injured civilians and military members and pulling bodies from under the rubble.

Minister of Health Wael al-Halki said that the toll is poised to rise due to the critical condition of some of the injured and the ongoing rescue operations, hailing the people of Aleppo who rushed to donate blood.

He affirmed that all medical cadres at state and private medical hospitals joined their work so as to serve their national and humanitarian duty in saving the lives of the injured, adding that the Ministry has a strategic storage of medicine necessary for emergency cases.

Later, the Health Minister visited the injured and wounded victims of the terrorist bombings in al-Razi Hospital and checked on them, with the medical staff briefing him on their conditions.

During the visit, the Minister said that medical establishments in Aleppo governorate have been on alert since Friday morning and that all their resources, staff and emergency services were employed to help the victims of the bombing, lauding the people of Aleppo and residents in the city for rushing to donate blood for the victims.

Citizens Rush to Donate Blood to Victims of Aleppo Terrorist Bombings

Masses of citizens flocked to the Blood Bank in Aleppo to donate blood for the victims injured in the two terrorist bombings which took place on Friday in Aleppo.

The blood donors affirmed that they will not hesitate for a second to give all they can for the sake of Syria’s security and stability and for foiling the conspiracy against it, denouncing the terrorist attacks and affirming adherence to national unity.

The donors said that donating blood is the least they could do for their countrymen, stressing that those who committed these terrorist acts have nothing to do with religion, adding that the Syrians’ spontaneous rushing to donate blood shows their unity and solidarity in the face of conspiracies and plots.

Crowds gathered and marched in the streets of Aleppo towards Saadallah al-Jaberi Square as soon as the bombings took place, denouncing these crimes and foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs.

The masses, carrying Syrian flags and banners affirming adherence to national unity and resilience in the face of plots, affirmed that the events that took place in Aleppo on Friday are distant from religion and Islam, and that they will not dissuade Syrians from pursuing reforms and rallying around their leadership.

They said that there’s no reason to fear for Aleppo, because Syrians are aware of the conspiracies against their homeland, calling for dealing sternly with those who dare to tamper with Syria’s security and stability and spill Syrian blood.

President al-Assad Receives Copy of the New Draft Constitution

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday received a copy of the new draft constitution from the head of the National Committee charged with drafting a new constitution for the Syrian Arab Republic, during a meeting with the Committee’s members.

President al-Assad is to review the draft constitution before putting it to referendum.

The Committee’s members stressed their determination, since the Committee’s first meeting after the presidential decree on forming it, to prepare an integrated formula of a constitution that guarantees the dignity of the Syrian citizen and secures his basic rights.

They reiterated their keenness on a constitution that allows to turn Syria into an example to follow in terms of public freedoms and political plurality in a way to lay the foundation for a new stage that will enrich Syria’s cultural history.

The members briefed President al-Assad on the standards and mechanisms they have adopted to reach this end starting with the national principles, transparency and the peculiarity of the Syrian reality, along with preserving the achievements made over the past stage.

President al-Assad expressed appreciation of the Committee members’ efforts to carry out this national task, calling upon them to shoulder their responsibility as a Committee charged with preparing the draft constitution to explain its articles to the citizens with all possible means so that the citizen is the one to have the final decision to approve the constitution.

“When the new constitution is approved, Syria will have passed the most important stage of laying down the constitutional and legal structure through the reforms and laws that have already been issued to take the country to a new era in cooperation with all spectrums of the Syrian people to achieve what we all aspire for in terms of developing our country to draw a brilliant future for next generations,” said President al-Assad.

On October, 16th, 2011, President al-Assad issued a presidential decision to form a national committee to prepare a draft constitution for Syria within a period of four months starting of the date of issuing the decree

In Solemn Official & Popular Procession, Martyrs of Aleppo Two Terrorist Attacks Laid to Rest

ALEPPO, SANA_ The bodies of the martyrs of twin Aleppo terrorist blasts were escorted on Sunday from al-Iman Mosque to their final resting place.

Popular and official solemn procession were held for the martyrs amid massive popular and official crowds flocked to the mosque to participate in the procession.

Syria categorically Rejects the Arab League’s Resolutions as hostile act

CAIRO, (SANA)-Syrian Arab Republic categorically rejects the Arab League resolution issued on Sunday, Syria’s Ambassador in Cairo Yousef Ahmed said today, reminding that, since the beginning, Syria was not concerned in any resolution issued within its absence.

“The Arab Ministerial Council’s decision has shamefully reflected the reality of abducing the Arab joint action, the League decisions and falsifying the Arab collective will by governments of Arab Countries led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.. it also showed a state of Hysteria and stumble that these governments are passing through after their failure in the UN Security council to call for foreign intervention in the Syrian affairs,” Ahmad, Syria’s permanent Representative to the Arab League added.

He considered that the dominance of some Arab governments , particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the mechanism of the Arab work and resolutions regarding Syria is a flagrant violation of the Arab League convention and a hostile act that targets Syria’s security and stability.

Ambassador Ahmad said that such Arab governments are those who stand against any balanced, political solution to the crisis in Syria, reject calls for putting an end to terrorism and violence, impose sanctions on the Syrian people and destruct the infrastructure.

He underlined that the press show practiced by some Arab Ministers today during the Council’s meeting reflected the hostile and unbalanced stances of those countries against Syria.

Ambassador Ahmad called on the countries who have commitment to the independency of their national and pan-Arab decision to confront attempts of abducting the Arab decision, making it subject to Arab governments’ agenda and policies who seek, through money, Gas and oil, and in alliance with the US and west to impose hegemony on the Arab joint action and exploiting it in favor of foreign agendas.

Lebanon, Algeria Made Reservation on the Arab Ministerial Council Decisions

Lebanon reserved on all the decisions taken by the Arab Ministerial Council on Syria.

Algeria d also reserved on the 5th and 6th articles of the decisions, which call on the UN Security Council to issue a resolution on forming joint Arab and foreign peace-keeping forces to supervise a cease-fire in Syria.

The articles also call on the Arab group in the UN to submit a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) including the Arab work plan and the rest of the decisions taken by the Arab League in this regard.

Meeting of Arab Ministerial Committee on Syrian Crisis held

The Arab Ministerial Committee concerned with the Syrian crisis was held on Sunday to discuss the latest developments on the Syrian file.

The Committee will discuss the results of the ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s countries held earlier on the day regarding the stance towards the Syrian crisis.

The Committee is expected to refer its views to the resumed extraordinary session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level, which is to be held immediately after the Committee’s meeting.

Nabil al-Arabi, the Arab League Secretary General presented a proposal to the Arab Ministers to return to the UN Security Council in coordination with different sides concerned to issue an immediate resolution which reflects the AL determination to bring the foreign intervention into Syria.

He claimed that the Arab Observer mission “was shocked” since the beginning that the Syrian commitments were not fully implemented, ignoring the existence of armed terrorist groups that perpetrate crimes against civilians and law enforcement members.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal presented fallacies about what is really happening in the country, expressing support, along with Qatari counterpart to hold the so-called “Syria Friends Conference.”

Twenty-two Army, Law-enforcement Martyrs Laid to Rest

PROVINCES, (SANA) – The bodies of 22 army and law-enforcement martyrs on Sunday were escorted from Tishreen Military Hospital in Damascus, Martyr Zahi Azraq Military Hospital in Lattakia and the Police Hospital in Harasta to their final resting place.

Official funeral ceremonies were held for the martyrs, who were targeted while they were on duty in Damascus and its Countryside, Homs and Daraa, as they were carried up on shoulders while the music of “The Martyr” and “The Farewell” was played.

The martyrs are:

– Brigadier General, Doctor Issa Ahmad al-Kholi, from Lattakia.

– Major Ali Mahmoud Trabulsi, from Hama.

– Chief Warrant Officer Mohammad Ahmad Kousa, from Homs.

– Chief Warrant Officer Asef Hassan al-Hamoui, from Homs.

– Warrant Officer Ahed al-Mahmoud, from Homs.

– Sergeant Major Ali Ismael Ismael, from Lattakia.

– Sergeant Major Salim al-Sheikh Suleiman Mohammad, from Lattakia.

– Sergeant Major Abdel Kareem Ahmad al-Arjeh, from Hasaka.

– Sergeant Mohammad Hussein Azizi, from Aleppo.

– Sergeant Ghiath Ghazi Salloum, from Lattakia.

– Sergeant Haidar Adnan Ghadir, from Lattakia.

– Corporal Feras Salman Mohammad, from Lattakia.

– Conscript Abdullah Mohammad al-Ahmad, from Aleppo.

– Conscript Mohammad Akleh al-Hussein, from Hasaka.

– Conscript Saleh Obeid al-Juma’, from Deir Ezzor.

– Conscript Basrawi Ali Hamad, from Aleppo.

– Conscript Ibrahim Khalil al-Wadi, from Daraa.

– Conscript Mohammad Yousef Hawamdeh, from Daraa.

– Conscript Majd Suleiman Barakat, from Hama.

– Conscript Salman Hassan al-A’klak, from Hasaka.

– Soldier Mustafa Nidal Qassab, from Idleb.

– Policeman Rawad Jadallah Dawara, from Sweida.

The martyrs’ families stressed their confidence in the Syrian people’s ability to overcome the crisis through adherence to national unity, affirming their belief that the martyrs’ blood that was shed while defending the homeland will fortify Syria and make it stronger and more steadfast against the challenges.

They stressed that the Syrian people’s unity and their rallying around their leadership will foil the conspiracy and other schemes aiming at undermining their homeland’s stability.

Foreign Ministry Vehemently Denounces Israeli Likud Officials’ Calls for Storming al-Aqsa Mosque

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry vehemently denounced reports by news agencies on statements made by officials from the Israeli Likud Party in which they called for storming al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Palestinian territories on Sunday.

“The ministry considers such declaration as a very serious development and comes in the framework of the systematic provocation to attack a Mosque that enjoys a religious status and a referential value among all the Muslims in the world,” said a press statement issued by the Ministry’s official spokesman.

The Ministry called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards this serious development.

The statement, which SANA got a copy of, said that the city of Jerusalem is still under the Israeli occupation and that it is the responsibility of the Israeli occupation authorities to protect the properties and sanctities that are under occupation.

“Israel will bear the consequences and implications of this uncalculated venture,” added the statement, saying that the holy al-Aqsa Mosque is “much more than a card to be used up in the elections of an entity that has been evading the requirements of the just and comprehensive peace.”

The statement considered the Israeli calls to storm al-Aqsa Mosque as “a direct threat and disregard for the feelings of the Arabs and the Muslims everywhere.”

Armed Terrorist Groups Burglarize Agricultural Bank, Abduct Colonel in Homs, Authorities Clash with Terrorists in Damascus Countryside

GOVERNORATES, (SANA) – An armed terrorist group on Sunday burglarized the Agricultural Bank in al-Qseir city in Homs Countryside.

An official source told SANA reporter that the terrorist group wreaked havoc on the furniture and other contents and stole SYP 1 million, 4 computers and a television.

In al-Qarabees neighborhood in Homs, another armed terrorist group abducted Colonel Issam Fayyad al-Numan from a bus while he was on way to his workplace at al-Assad Academy of Military Engineering.

SANA reporter added that the terrorists got on the bus, searched the passengers and kidnapped Colonel al-Numan.

Authorities Clash with Armed Terrorist Group in Damascus Countryside, Kill Two Terrorists, Wound One and Arrest Six

The authorities raided a farm in Tel Kerdi area in Damascus Countryside and clashed with an armed terrorist group hiding in it, leading to the death of two terrorists.

One terrorist was wounded during the raid, and six were arrested. The authorities also confiscated a Kia car and a van, both of which were used for transporting weapons to other terrorist groups, and an amount of weapons and ammo.

Confiscated weapons include AK-47 rifles, a PKC machinegun, and large amounts of ammo.

Authorities Arrest Terrorists and Confiscate Weapons, Explosives and Night-Vision Goggles in Hama

During their pursuit of an armed terrorist group operating in Masha’a Wadi al-Jouz area in Hama, the authorities arrested a number of terrorists confiscated the weapons in their possession.

An official source told SANA’s correspondent that confiscated weapons include RPG launchers and rounds, AK-47 rifles and pump-action shotguns, in addition to military uniforms, explosive devices weighing between 10 and 200 kg, offensive and defensive grenades, night-vision goggles, magazines and ammo, and computers.

The source added that the authorities raided a terrorist den in the fields of al-Hersh area on Saturday, arresting gunmen and confiscating their weapons which included assault rifles and RPG launchers.

Authorities Arrest Wanted Men, Confiscate Weapon and Ammo During Raid of Terrorist Den Containing Workshop for Manufacturing Explosives in Daraa Countryside

The authorities raided the den of an armed terrorist group in eastern Daraa countryside, arresting a number of wanted men.

A source told SANA’s correspondent that during the raid, the authorities found a workshop used for making handmade explosives containing materials such as fertilizer, iron fillings, detonators, batteries and remote controls.

Items confiscated during the raid include hand grenades, AK-47 rifles, handguns one of which is equipped with a silencer, two night-vision goggles, computers, welding equipment, advanced communication devices, ammo, military uniforms, four remote-activated explosive devices, a handmade anti-armor missile, TNT sticks, a machinegun, a hunting rifle, RPG rounds.

The den also contained a field hospital stocked with medical equipment and supplies.

In Daraa city, terrorists tossed an explosive at law-enforcement sources in Basra Square. Upon examination, the authorities saw that the device was cylindrical in form and had openings that launch explosive projectiles in all directions.

Mikdad: Syrian-Russian Views Regarding Most Issues Identical

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad on Sunday said that the Syrian-Russian views are identical in international forums in most of the issues.

In a meeting with a Russian delegation comprising researchers, journalists and writers, Dr. Mikdad added that the Syrian leadership and people highly appreciate the Russian stances towards Syria.

Mikdad pointed out to the latest Russian veto at the UN Security Council, saying that this stance foiled the unjust resolution which contradicts the UN Charter and calls upon foreign interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

He highlighted that the mass popular reception for the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proves the gratitude of the Syrian people for Russia’s brave stance.

Mikdad added that the misleading media campaign escalated against Syria before the last UN Security Council’s session in an attempt to affect the public opinion and the international stances.

“This escalation started after the Arab League mission submitted its report to the Arab League. Despite the report being professional and objective, the Arab Ministerial Committee didn’t study the report because it didn’t please some countries in the region and at the UNSC.” He added.

He stressed that Syria provided all facilitation to the Arab League observers mission, provided protection to its members and didn’t interfere in its work.

He indicated that the USA has dominated all the region except for Syria which is standing against the colonialist schemes aimed at serving Israel interests, adding that the excellent Syrian-Russian relations confronted the US haughtiness.

Dr. Mikdad pointed out that the situation in Syria is improving, adding that President Bashar al-Assad met the members of the National Committee charged with drafting a new constitution and received a copy of it.

He said that the new constitution will be submitted to referendum before the end of this month and that the parliamentary elections will be held in May with the participation of all political powers in the country.

People’s Assembly Condemns Aleppo Terrorist Bombings as Targeting National Unity

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The People’s Assembly strongly condemned the two terrorist bombings which targeted Aleppo last Friday, considering that these bombings target the structure of national unity and Syria’s security and future.

In a statement on Sunday that SANA got a copy of, the Assembly placed the responsibility of those two terrorist acts fully on all the countries that have been supplying criminals and assassins with money and weapons and issuing “black fatwas” and inciting “blind sedition”.

It said that these criminal acts come at a time when the Syrians are close to implementing qualitative comprehensive reforms and conducting a promising national dialogue.

“The enemies, close or far, went crazy to target this time the city of Aleppo, the symbol of resistance, for being the capital of victory over the conspiracy,” added the statement.

“Now it’s more clear than ever that the barbarity of the armed terrorist groups that have been hitting the homeland and attacking the citizens, law enforcement forces and the state institutions only carries the ‘bloody chaos’ project which has nothing to do with the Syrians’ morals and values,” the statement pointed out.

It continued that this project is aimed at destroying the homeland backed by the flagrant U.S.-Israeli-Western-Arab support and carried out by terrorist means.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Warns Against Foreign Interference in Syria

BEIRUT, (SANA) – Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Sunday warned against foreign interference in Syria which would spread chaos and destruction in it, affirming that dialogue is the only way to resolve the Syrian crisis.

During the meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council held in Cairo to discuss the situation in Syria, Mansour pointed out that the Arab League’s decisions have so far held one side responsible and overlooked the opposition groups that bear arms and carry out military operations that they acknowledge in public.

He said that each Ministerial Council meeting resulted in new decision which shows that the Arab League failed to carry out dialogue and achieve security which is unacceptable.

Mansour said that if the Arabs want a political solution, then how can they stand with one side against another, stressing that the decision issued on Sunday increases economic sanctions which will do no good and will affect the Syrian people.

He added that the decision calls for providing political and financial support for the opposition, wondering if such a thing would bring stability to Syria.

“If the Arab League couldn’t rely on itself to resolve the Syrian crisis, then how can it rely on international sides and authorize them to resolve it?” he wondered.

Mansour: Lebanon Won’t Be a False Witness at the Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meetings on Syria

Earlier, Mansour reiterated his country’s rejection of any form of interference in Syria’s internal affairs.

“Lebanon will never be a false witness at the meetings of the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo,” said Mansour in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper, adding that if there were any comments on the decisions to be taken at the meetings, Lebanon would say them out loud courageously, especially if they would threaten Syria’s security and stability.

“What we want is to help Syria find a solution and come out of the crisis and not complicate the situation on the ground,” he added, considering that any solution outside the frame of dialogue will further complicate things.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister stressed Lebanon’s rejection of internationalizing the crisis in Syria as it will further complicate the situation and won’t ensure stability for Syria.

He said that there are some powers in the world that want to get even with Syria because of its rejection of the hegemony policies in the region and Israel’s expansionist plans.

Mansour added that Syria’s firm stance in refusing to subjugate the region to foreign policies that do not serve the interests of the Syrian people nor those of the region’s peoples pushed some powers to further escalate the situation in Syria.

He said Russia and China are familiar with the political equation in the region’s arenas and found in the draft Security Council resolution on Syria things that might disturb the balance because it takes into account the view of one party without the other, which is why they vetoed it.

“If the world really wants to get things back on the track and ensure stability, security and reform to Syria, it shouldn’t place the responsibility on one party against the other,” Mansour added.

He reminded of the US’s use of veto at the Security Council 14 times since 1994, 13 of which were on issues related to Israel’s settlement activities and its unfair practices, in addition to its aggression on Gaza.

Responding to a question on sharing Russia’s stance which holds the Syrian opposition responsible for the blood-shed in Syria, he said that there are two sides in any fight and that each country in the world has its dignity and position and it is the one responsible for protecting its sovereignty whenever there is a fight.

“No one can ignore the presence of armed groups in Syria, which is something undeniable,” said Mansour, adding that the Syrian opposition itself has declared in its statements its responsibility for carrying out armed operations.

He stressed the need for stopping the bloodshed in Syria and starting dialogue, pointing out that the Syrian state is ready for dialogue whereas the other side should help conduct it.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister said that Lebanon is concerned with what is taking place in Syria, stressing that Syria’s stability and security guarantee those of Lebanon, adding that Lebanon can’t isolate itself from the situation in Syria.

Asked about the request of the Syrian Ambassador in Beirut from the Lebanese government to take measures to stop smuggling of weapons and men, Mansour said what the Ambassador has asked for is not an interference in the Lebanese affair or an objection to Lebanon’s policy and it does not harm Lebanon given the security agreement signed between both countries.

He added that what is happening in Syria is very important as it is related to the national security of the country as well as its unity and stability.

Parties Affairs’ Committee Licenses New party

DAMASCUS, (SANA)-Parties’ Affairs Committee on Sunday licensed a new party called “the Democratic Arab Solidarity Party”, with its HQs in al-Rakka, to raise the number of parties licensed to five.

“The Committee gave the license to the new party after verifying its papers submitted by its founders according to the new Parties’ Law,” Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar, Head of the Committee said in statement.

During recent meetings, The Committee approved four new parties to work, they are “the Solidarity”, “Syrian Democratic”, “al-Ansar” and “Democratic Taliaa.”

Lebanese Hezbollah Party Condemns Aleppo Terrorist Blasts

BEIRUT, (SANA)- Lebanese Hezbollah Party condemned the two terrorist blasts hit Aleppo on Friday claiming the lives of 28 martyrs and injuring more than two hundreds civilians and military members.

In a statement, Hezbollah said the blind criminal act transformed from the political capital of Syria into its economic capital, Aleppo to kill the innocent civilians, demolish the buildings and to threaten the safety of the civilians.

“The double terrorist crime targeted Aleppo is a copy of what the foreign sides and their allies are preparing to Aleppo and other Syrian cities,” the statement said.

It asserted that the Syrian people are aware of the volume of the scheme targeting their country and they reject to be dragged into projects which aim at undermining Syria’s security and stability to serve the US-Zionist agenda in Syria and the region.

“Condemning this heinous terrorist crime, Hezbollah expresses heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyrs, wishing quick recovery to the wounded,” The statement said.

 

Press Statement by Narabail Virodi Vedike

The human sacrifice that took place at Thirumaladevara Koppa in Ranebennuru taluk of Haveri district of Karnataka State, India on 26 November 2011 has already drawn the attention of the people allover the state. A 17 year old dalit boy by name Basavaraja Kadimani was sacrificed to set right Vastu Dosha (Inauspicious faults and shortcomings in a building) of the house of Basavanagowda of the same village. Basavaraja was working with Basavanagowda , a land lord. as a tractor driver. In fact almost all the members of his family had worked for the land lord at one time or the other in the past.

Nijalinga swamy, popularly known as Tatu Ajja of Niralagi near Gadag used to visit Basavanagowda very often . Under his guidance the land lord had already performed many rituals on various occasions. On 26th November, 2012 Basavaraja went to his master’s place at night and did not return. Next day early in the morning the members of his family, father, mother and elder brother were informed by the police of Haligeri police station that Basavaraja had been injured in a fight with Ninganagowda, the son of Basavanagowda and had been hospitalized. The police took them not the hospital, but to the police station where they told them that their boy had been killed and not just injured. They were brought to a spot near their village where they saw a gunny sack containing the dead body of Basavaraj. The body bore marks of vermilion and turmeric . It also had a hole on the forehead. An eye had been plucked out and a few teeth ere missing. The parents and others suspected that it was a case of sacrifice and complained to the police on those grounds. But the police did not register it as case of sacrifice but continued to maintain that it was only a murder . Later on the villagers also found traces of blood sprinkled all over around the house. When the police opened the doors of the house nearly 50 days after the incident blood marks were also found inside the building. Still the police were not ready to consider the angle of human sacrifice in this case. Ninganagowda , the son of Basavanagowda had surrendered to the police saying that he had killed Basavaraja.

Members of Peoples’ Democratic Forum and Swabhimani Dalita Shakti visited the village on 9th January 2012 met the villagers including the parents and relatives of Basavaraja and also the police officer(Dy S P of Ranebennuru) investigating the case. We found that in spite of the evidence and complaint by the parents the police are not ready to consider the angle of human sacrifice seriously. They have been insisting that it was only a murder committed by Ninganagowda suspecting illicit relationship between Basavaraja and his (Ninganagowda’s) wife which on verificatio does not sound credible. The people of the village and also various other progressive elements of the area held a protest rally and demonstration at Ranebennuru on 30th January 2012 to press the demand to consider it as not merely a murder but as human sacrifice. It is only then that the sorcerer, Tatu Ajja’s role will be exposed. It is essential not merely to find out the truth but also to prevent any recurrence of such superstitious practices in future. But some how the police of Ranebennuru are not prepared to move in that direction . This will only protect the sorcerer and the head of the family Basavanagowda.

Already an application has been made to the State Human Rights Commission and an appeal to the honourable governor of Karnataka has been submitted through the Tahasildar of Ranebennuru.

Demands:

1)The police of Ranebennuru should take the complaint of the parents of Basavaraj seriously and treat it as a case of human sacrifice.

2)In case of the local police failing to do so the case should be handed over to the CBI by the state government.

3)The sorcerer Tatu Ajja and the head of the family Basavanagowda who was responsible for the murder/sacrifice should be arrested.

3)Compensation should be paid to the family according to rules existing in such cases.

Shivalingam

(Swabhimani Dalita Shakti)

Nagari Babaiah

(People’s Democratic Forum)

Nagaragere Ramesh

(Peoples’ Democratic Form)

Kranti Govind

(Swabhimani Dalita Shakti)

Ramadas Rao

(P U C L)

By Narabail Virodi Vedike

16 February 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

The world watches as tragedy unfolds beneath its gaze. Khader Asnan is entering his 61st day as a hunger striker in an Israeli prison, being held under an administrative detention order without trial, charges, or any indication of the evidence against him.

From the outset of his brutal arrest in the middle of the night – in the presence of his wife and young daughters – he has been subject to the sort of inhumane and degrading treatment that is totally unlawful and morally inexcusable. Its only justification is to intimidate, if not terrify, Palestinians who have lived for 45 years under the yoke of an oppressive occupation. This occupation continuously whittles away at Palestinians’ rights under international humanitarian law – especially their right to self-determination, which is encroached upon every time a new housing unit is added to the colonising settlements that dot the hilltops surrounding Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The case of Khader Adnan is a revealing microcosm of the unbearable cruelty of prolonged occupation. It draws a contrast in the West between the dignity of an Israeli prisoner and the steadfast refusal to heed the abuse of thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails through court sentence or administrative order.

Mr Adnan’s father poignantly highlighted this contrast a few days ago by referring to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held by Hamas in captivity for several years and recently released in good health: “Where are the mother and father of Gilad Shalit? Do they not feel for me in this humanitarian case? Where are they?” He went further in drawing this comparison: “My son was arrested from his house, from among his wife and children, was taken prisoner. He was not carrying any weapon. Whereas Shalit was fighting against the people of Gaza, and destroying their homes, and firing upon, and Shalit was released.”

It is true that foreign authority figures, from the UN Secretary General on down, showed their empathy for the agony experienced by Israelis concerned for the wellbeing of Shalit, but these same personalities are notably silent in the much more compelling ordeal being experienced before our eyes in the form of Mr Adnan’s captivity, seemingly unto death. It should not be surprising that surviving family members of IRA hunger strikers should step forward expressing solidarity with Mr Adnan and compare the Irish experience of resistance to that of the Palesinians.

And who is Khader Adnan? We do not know very much about him except that he is a member of the Islamic Jihad Party. There are no accusations against him that implicate him in violence against civilians. His fellow prisoner from an earlier period of confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Abu Maria, recalls his normalcy and humanity while sharing a cell, emphasising his interest in informing other Palestinians: “Prison was like a university in those times and he was one of the professors.” Commenting on his hunger strike that has brought him extreme pain, Abu Maria says he is convinced that Khader Asnan wants to live, but will not live in humiliation: “He is showing his commitment and resistance in the only way he can right now, with his body.”

Adameer, the respected Palestinian NGO concerned with prisoners, “holds Israel accountable for the life of Khader Adnan, whose health has entered an alarmingly critical stage that will now have irreversible consequences and could lead to his fatal collapse at any moment”. Physicians who have observed his current condition conclude that, at most, he could live a few more days, saying that such a hunger strike cannot be sustained beyond 70 days in any event. Any attempt at forced feeding to keep a prisoner from dying is widely viewed as an additional abuse, a form of torture.

Finally, the reliance by Israel on administrative detention in cases of this sort is totally unacceptable from the perspective of the Geneva Convention, especially so when no disclosure of the exceptional circumstances that might warrant for reasons of imminent security the use of such an extra-legal form of imprisonment. There are currently at least 300 Palestinians being held in a manner similar to that of Mr Adnan, and so it is no wonder that sympathy hunger strikes among Palestinians are underway as expressions of solidarity.

Have we not reached a stage in our appreciation of human rights that we should outlaw such state barbarism? Let us hope that the awful experience of Khader Adnan does not end with his death, and let us hope further that it sparks a worldwide protest against both administrative detention and prisoner abuse. The Palestinian people have suffered more than enough already.

By Richard Falk

17 February 2012

@ Al Jazeera

Richard Falik is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored and edited numerous publications spanning a period of five decades, most recently editing the volume International Law and the Third World: Reshaping Justice (Routledge, 2008). He is currently serving his third year of a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights. Follow him on Twitter: @rfalk13

 

The hopes vested in last year’s uprising have ended in continued censorship, growing intolerance and unemployment, says Robert Fisk in Tunis

Want to remember what Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was like? Just walk down the Avenue Habib-Bourguiba – until a few weeks ago still cordoned off by armoured vehicles and barbed wire – and drop by your local bookshop for Z’s wonderful Révolution! Des années mauves à la fuite de Carthage. Z always painted Ben Ali’s sycophants purple; his cartoons were the joy of the revolution, Ben Ali’s bloated relatives flaunting their new shopping malls while the people – 96 per cent of whom were always said to be Ben Ali’s secret police – are beaten by thugs in black uniforms and shades. Ben Ali receives support even from his telephone, his lampshade and the national flag in his office until he does a bunk on his jet while flunkies load aboard chests of cash along with the ginger family cat. Even the press get a run for their money.

“The huge number of young people signing up for the Charter of Tunisian Youth demonstrates the support of young Tunisians for the reforming project of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, their attachment and loyalty to their country and their willingness to contribute to the development of Tunisia…” A fictional editorial from 2009 – until you realise it really is a leader from the 29 March edition of La Presse.

Thank God for freedom, then. Saloua Rachdi’s tribute to the Tunisian writers who worked courageously under the dictatorship – Plumes de mon pays – sits in the bookshop window alongside French editions of Tariq Ramadan’s Islamic scholarship.

But then I’m driving in the suburbs with an old Tunisian journalist friend. “Don’t tell me about liberal writers, Robert,” he snaps at me. “Do you know that of all the books now published in Tunisia, 92 per cent are Islamist? Outside Tunis, the bookshops just sell school notebooks and these tracts. Don’t you think we should be worried?” I tell him about Egypt – there are no military rulers like Field Marshal Tantawi in Tunisia – and the violence of Bahrain and Syria. He’s a lucky guy.

But he doesn’t think so. Nasreddine Ben Saida, the managing editor of the newspaper Attounisia, Habib Guizani, the editor-in-chief, and the journalist Mohamed Hedi Hidri have just been arrested for publishing a photograph of a German footballer of Tunisian origin holding his half-naked German wife in his arms. It’s the old story: morality versus freedom. But the elected government (with the Islamic Ennahda Party holding 40 per cent of the October 2011 vote) has used article 121 of the penal code to detain the three journalists, a law dating back to the Ben Ali era. Mongi Khadraoui, a senior member of the Tunisian journalists’ union, points out that 121 was introduced to lock up all kinds of opponents of the regime, and that, while the publication of the photo was a mistake, it “should be treated as a professional error rather than a crime.”

 

What happened, then, to decree-law 115 on the freedom of the press, passed under last year’s provisional administration? Two days before the arrests, the Ennahda Party was already being condemned by journalists’ groups for supporting a free press while at the same time claiming that 115 was no longer valid. Attunisia suddenly disappeared from the news-stands.

All this might be a luxury in a country of 10 million whose 3.5 million working population now boasts a terrible 800,000 unemployed, whose Central Bank announced a growth rate of zero for 2011, which 80 international companies have already abandoned, and whose government will only last for a maximum of 18 months, the time it takes to come up with a new constitution. But this is not the only legacy of the Ben Ali years. His fawning governments poured money into Tunis and starved the countryside; and this is where the Salafists – hated by Ben Ali, amnestied after the revolution – first made their appearance.

The town of Sejnane, north-west of Tunis, witnessed, briefly, the existence of an “Islamic emirate” at the end of last year when around 200 Salafists took control, turned government buildings into prisons for “sinning” – in most cases for drinking alcohol – and beat inmates. A shop selling CDs of western songs in Arabic was set on fire and a self-proclaimed Islamist “judge” announced to the owner that “if you try once more to distract Muslims from the mosque, it will be your home and all those in it who will burn”.

Women began to wear the niqab, men to grow beards and wear Afghan-style clothes. The government did nothing. Was the Ennahda Party supporting the Salafists?

Attacks on cinemas began shortly afterwards, the owner of Nessma TV, Nabil Karoui, put on trial for showing Persepolis – about the reactions of a young girl growing up in the 1979 Iranian revolution – a film deemed “contrary to the values of the people”. Two intellectuals were savagely beaten and 10,000 demonstrators marched through Tunis and other cities to protest at the increase of extremism.

In the much-underrated French magazine Jeune Afrique, Amel Grami, head of the Islamic Studies department at Manouba University, described how a dispute over a female student who insisted on wearing full head-covering to college resulted in an invasion of the campus by sword-carrying Salafists, some of whom shouted “dirty whore” when staff objected to the separation of male and female students. According to Amel Grami, the Salafists were supported by two sons of the Tunisian Interior Minister, Ali Laarayedh.

Little wonder, then, that the impending arrival in Tunisia of the Egyptian preacher Wajdi Ghanim created such anger among secular Tunisians. Ghanim supports the Tunisian Salafists, advocates a return to an older, more “genuine” Islam and – in the view of human rights groups – wants to “create hatred between Tunisians”. It all has the feel of Algeria before the army’s cancellation of the second round of elections which would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front to power in 1992. We shall not dwell on the carnage and bloodletting that followed.

But in this context, the voice of secular Tunisia sounds familiar. Tunisia has given the world great heroes – Hannibal, Jugurtha, Ibn Khaldoun, even Habib Bourguiba – the Tunisian writer Abdelhamid Gmati pointed out. “So why do we bring here these Salafists, these Islamists, these Wahabis, these Afghanists, these preachers (sexually obsessed and probably paedophiles), who speak of the mutilation (of women), who make fatwas … who have nothing to do with our civilisation, our idea of religion, our values which have developed over thousands of years? Sorry – but their beards, their niqabs, their robes, their blackness, their “Middle Ages” are not ours.” Even if they were born Tunisian, “they are not Tunisians”.

All well and good. Until, of course, one notes that Gmati is writing in that fine newspaper La Presse. Was this not, after all, the same paper Z quotes so maliciously from the days of Ben Ali. Couldn’t the Salafists claim that they, too, now represent a “Charter of Tunisian Youth”? Too awful to contemplate…

By Robert Fisk

21 February 2012

@ The Independent

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for military intervention in Syria.

A military strike would be coordinated with Turkey, the Gulf States and the NATO powers, according to reports that acknowledge such plans officially for the first time. The plan is described as an “internal review” by Pentagon Central Command, to allow President Barack Obama to maintain the pretense that the White House is still seeking a diplomatic solution.

This is considered vital, as military intervention would most likely be conducted through various Middle East proxies, which the US and NATO could then back with airpower. Turkey and the Arab League states, led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, do not want to be seen for what they are: stooges of the US. Deniability for them therefore requires the US to conceal the full extent of its involvement.

In the February 6 Financial Times, Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning for the US State Department, argued for “A little time… for continued diplomatic efforts aimed at shifting the allegiances of the Sunni merchant class in Damascus and Aleppo.”

As with the war against Libya last year, military intervention would again be justified citing the “responsibility to protect” civilians. But its real aim is regime change to install a Sunni government beholden to Washington, allied with the Gulf States, and hostile to Iran.

A State Department official told the UK’s Daily Telegraph that “the international community may be forced to ‘militarise’ the crisis in Syria” and that “the debate in Washington has shifted away from diplomacy.”

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said, “We are, of course, looking at humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and we have for some time.”

The Telegraph noted, “Any plan to supply aid or set up a buffer zone would involve a military dimension to protect aid convoys or vulnerable civilians.”

Leading US political figures have also been calling publicly for the arming of the Free Syrian Army, an exclusively Sunni force stationed in Turkey and backed and funded by Ankara, Riyadh and Doha. They include Joe Lieberman, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

The issue was discussed this week in Washington directly with the FSA, whose logistical coordinator, Sheikh Zuheir Abassi, took part in a video conference call Wednesday with a US national security think tank.

The US, France, Britain and Arab League are already operating outside the framework of the United Nations as a “Friends of Syria” coalition, in order to bypass the opposition of Russia and China to a Libya-style intervention.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are known to be arming the FSA and to have their own brigades and advisers on the ground, as they did in Libya.

According to the Israeli intelligence website Debka-File, both British and Qatari special operations units are already “operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus… Our sources report the two foreign contingents have set up four centers of operation—in the northern Homs district of Khaldiya, Bab Amro in the east, and Bab Derib and Rastan in the north. Each district is home to about a quarter of a million people.”

But the Gulf States do not have the firepower required to overthrow the Assad regime. For that Turkey is the key player. Debka-File notes in the report that the presence of the British and Qatari troops “was seized on by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for the new plan he unveiled to parliament in Ankara Tuesday, Feb. 7. Treating the British-Qatari contingents as the first foreign foot wedged through the Syrian door, his plan hinges on consigning a new Turkish-Arab force to Homs through that door and under the protection of those contingents. Later, they would go to additional flashpoint cities.”

Turkey is publicly debating military intervention based on establishing “safe havens” and “humanitarian aid corridors,” with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visiting Washington this week after stating that Turkey’s doors are open to Syrian refugees.

Writing in the February 9 New Republic, Soner Cagaptay argues, “Washington’s reluctance to lead an operation may prove a blessing, leaving space for Turkey to take the reins… Turkey would support an air-based intervention to protect UN designated safe havens—as long as the mission is led by a ‘regional force,’ composed of both Turkish and Arab militaries. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who are funding the opposition, should be happy to work with their new ally in Ankara to protect the safe havens; Washington and European powers could then remotely back the operation, facilitating its success.”

The aim of isolating Iran has become the stated aim of US and Israeli officials, backed by a media campaign prominently involving the liberal press, mixing anti-Iranian sentiment with humanitarian hyperbole professing concern with the fate of Syria’s people.

Efraim Halevy, a former Israeli national security adviser and director of the security service Mossad from 1998 to 2002, wrote in the February 7 New York Times describing Syria as “Iran’s Achilles’ Heel.”

He writes, “Iran’s foothold in Syria enables the mullahs in Tehran to pursue their reckless and violent regional policies—and its presence there must be ended … Once this is achieved, the entire balance of forces in the region would undergo a sea change.”

 

The New York Times’ British counterpart, The Guardian, entrusts Simon Tisdall with the task of endorsing such anti-Iranian sentiment. He cites favourably Hillary Clinton’s ridiculing of Assad’s claims of foreign intervention in support of the opposition as being “Sadly… fully justified.” Rather, he insists, “The foreign power most actively involved inside Syria is not the US or Britain, France or Turkey. Neither is it Russia, Saudi Arabia nor its Gulf allies. It is Iran—and it is fighting fiercely to maintain the status quo.”

The appalling consequences of an American war against Syria would dwarf those of its Libyan adventure. Syria is only the ante-chamber of a campaign for regime change in Iran and its targeting poses ever more clearly conflict with Russia and possibly China.

Moscow last month sent three warships, including an aircraft carrier, to its only Mediterranean naval base, the Syrian port of Tartus. This followed its blocking of the US, France and UK-backed Arab-League resolution, meant to pave the way for intervention, with the dispatch of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Damascus for talks with Assad, Tuesday, in a further show of solidarity. Lavrov was accompanied by Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Office.

Of greater significance still were comments made the following day by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, linking efforts to overthrow Assad with a direct Western threat to the stability of Russia through its support for opposition protests there. “A cult of violence has been coming to the fore in international affairs in the past decade,” he said. “This cannot fail to cause concern… and we must not allow anything like this in our country.”

By Chris Marsden

10 February 2012

@ WSWS.org

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that U.S. intelligence shows Iran is enriching uranium in a disputed nuclear program but that Tehran has not made a decision on whether to proceed with development of an atomic bomb.

Fears of a nuclear-armed Iran produced tough talk from Panetta and the nation’s top intelligence officials, all of whom offered insights and observations on the secretive regime in separate congressional hearings. Their testimony came amid increasing international fears of a Mideast conflagration as Iran boasted of major advances in producing nuclear fuel and threatened an oil embargo in retaliation for economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Israel has accused Iran of being behind recent attacks on its diplomats in Thailand, Georgia and India and has threatened military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. This isn’t just about containment. We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,” Panetta told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. “We will not allow Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz. And in addition to that, obviously, we have expressed serious concerns to Iran about the spread of violence and the fact that they continue to support terrorism and they continue to try to undermine other countries.”

The Pentagon chief delivered President Barack Obama’s oft-repeated statement that “we do keep all options on the table.”

Panetta, the former CIA director, said U.S. intelligence shows that Iran is continuing its uranium enrichment program. “But the intelligence does not show that they’ve made the decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon. That is the red line that would concern us and that would ensure that the international community, hopefully together, would respond,” he said.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said the decision on a nuclear weapon would be made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, raising questions about the role of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the process.

“He (Khamenei) would base that on a cost-benefit analysis in terms of, I don’t think he’d want a nuclear weapon at any price,” Clapper said. “So that I think plays to the value of sanctions, particularly the recent ratcheting up of more sanctions and anticipation that that will induce a change in their policy and behavior.”

Clapper said it’s “technically feasible” that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon in one or two years if its leaders decide to build one, “but practically not likely.”

The Obama administration recently imposed sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank, the latest round of penalties that have widespread bipartisan support in Congress. The Treasury Department announced Thursday that it was slapping sanctions on Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security, asserting that it supports global terrorism, commits human rights abuses against Iranians and participates in ongoing repression in Syria.

The first round of penalties on the Central Bank go into effect Feb. 29, and would prohibit any foreign financial institution from conducting business in the United States if Obama concludes that it has conducted or facilitated a significant financial transaction with the Central Bank or other sanctioned Iranian financial institutions.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a chief sponsor of the sanctions, met with David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, and said the administration was eager to press ahead despite reservations last year that the penalties could drive up oil prices and benefit Iran’s economy.

“I have no sense that they’re looking to get an extension,” Menendez said in an interview. “The administration shares with us that this is our best hope of deterring Iranian action and their march to nuclear weapons.”

Panetta and lawmakers insist the sanctions are taking an economic toll on Iran, reflected in their erratic response. But Israel is not speaking with one voice on the issue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sanctions haven’t been effective yet, while his defense minister and vice premier said the penalties are strong and have the Iranians panicking.

Despite the tough talk from Netanyahu, Clapper and the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, said they do not believe Israel has decided to strike Iran.

But if Iran is attacked, Burgess said, it “can close the Straits of Hormuz, at least temporarily, and may launch missiles against United States forces and our allies in the region.”

“Iran could also attempt to employ terrorists’ surrogates worldwide. However, the agency assesses Iran is unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict,” he said.

Clapper said Iran has a “kind of shotgun marriage” with al-Qaida despite the fact that Iran is a Shia state and al-Qaida is Sunni Muslim.

“The Iranians may think that they might use perhaps al-Qaida in the future as a surrogate or proxy,” he said.

Ratcheting up the pressure, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a non-binding resolution that rules out containment of a nuclear weapons-capable Iran and backs U.S. policy to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. Republicans and Democrats said the purpose of the measure was to show support for the Obama administration as they likened the situation to a slow-moving version of the Cuban missile crisis.

“It is a statement to Iran, the international community and President Obama that if Iran refuses to negotiate an end to their nuclear program, and President Obama decides a military strike is necessary in the interests of our national security, he can count on strong bipartisan support in Congress for that decision,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said at a news conference.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the message on sanctions to the administration was, “Do it faster.”

“We will end their nuclear weapons program,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

At a news conference, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that for the sake of Israel and moderate Arab nations, “We need to take further action.”

“We gave the president a lot of tools to use,” he said, referring to the Iran Sanctions Act. “He’s used some of them, but there are more tools available to the president to try to bring Iran into the world community.”

By DONNA CASSATA

16 February 2012

@ ABC News

Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier, Larry Margasak, Matthew Lee and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Russia and China made up for their shameful conduct in the Libyan tragedy by vetoing the UN ploy to invade Syria, temporarily muffling those war drums. But the crazed drumbeat about Iran continues even though cooler heads argue against military action. This while they impose punishing sanctions on Iran in order to avoid diminished funds for Obama in an election year when American Zionist money is vital for the purchase of American Christian votes.

Wikileaks documents revealed Israel behind a group that murdered several Iranian scientists and when an attack was made on Israeli diplomats in the same fashion, charges that the Iranians were behind it all but drowned out the American presidential campaign farce. In all this fantasy, mainstream media are not just stenographers but leaders in hyping information poor Americans into believing Iran, Syria, Muslims and socialists are menacing the USA. A severely damaged global economy is major reason for this epidemic of unreason and its capitalist class becomes further detached from reality as the situation grows more critical.

After a recession bordering on a depression the U.S. continues economic war on its people by cutting public spending while other nations reduce their populations to even more misery. Greece slashes its minimum wage and lays off more than a hundred thousand public employees so that private investors can collect interest on the national debt. That is the same situation all over the capitalist world, including Russia and China. Though they have only recently jumped into that economic frying pan they seem to have noticed it has become so overheated that the entire kitchen may burst into flames at any moment.

The attack on economic survival is what financial rulers call an austerity program. It means the majority is being forced to pay for the profits of a small minority. As one example, the U.S. Postal Service – the nation’s number one public employer – is under assault because it uses too many workers in an electronic age that finds profits increasing even faster for the few by loss of jobs for the many. These economic rules are a malignant social disease which is at the root of much that threatens humanity’s future.

As western people suffer this austerity assault, those in countries not yet totally under the smothering blanket of finance capital are menaced with the even more deadly threat of war.

Like Libya, Syria has played according to rules not wholly in accord with global capital’s political priests and rabbis and for this reason they are treated as aberrations. They, and nations like Cuba , Iran and Venezuela are labeled anti-democratic by perverters of language who define democracy as the minority rule which exists everywhere in the western world. Libya is now controlled by foreign capital and much less a unified state than it ever was under Kaddafi’s rule. Syria has been run by a party and dynasty for a longer time and is less dependent on a single figure but more on a bureaucracy , a military and a middle class which probably supports the regime, including many who want change but not if it’s imposed on them for the benefit of the west. The depiction of a murderous dictator is a gross simplification, as in Libya, with infiltration and financing from outside the nation helping to foment violence among people with honest grievances, dishonestly provoked. Divisions are heightened among Islamic groups and economic classes with contradictions that find America’s supposed arch enemy al-Qaida now often aligned with its program.

While Syrian people are bombarded with violence and suffering at least partly caused by the west, western people are bombarded by media with inflated death tolls seemingly coming from the only Syrian not yet murdered but whose calculator may soon need new batteries so he can keep counting the slaughters he miraculously avoids.

Bloody foreign policy is an extension of America’s domestic problems, with a billion dollar presidential race that reduces social and moral issues to a battle between religious fanatic patriarchy and secular obsessed bigotry providing a distraction from the reality of a collapsing political sham resting on a precarious economic foundation. An emerging trend towards real democracy offers hope for the future but little immediate relief.

So we continue enduring attacks on our sanity and intelligence that claim Iran is a threat to the planet, especially Israel, while we pile embargos, sanctions and hostilities short of overt war on a nation which has never done anything to the USA or Israel, except rebel against our interference in its rule and criticize that apartheid state , a crime of genocidal anti-Semitism in the mental health crisis center of USraeli misinformation.

Surrounded by American and NATO military bases, without nuclear weapons and no history of invading any nation in modern times, Iran is a threat. Israel, with hundreds of nukes and a record of assaulting its neighbors, and the U.S, with hundreds of military bases all over the world and the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons, are guardians of the peace. If you believe that, you need to take a sedative and see a mental health professional. The rest of us need to further investigate our supposed democratic reality before we allow it to be imposed on other nations.

196 individuals – less than one millionth of a percent of our population! – – have each already given 100,000 dollars or more to “our” presidential candidates, and there are still nine months to go before the election. If excrement is cuisine and war is peace, that’s democracy. We’d better Occupy our government before it destroys us and the rest of the world as well.

By Frank Scott

18 February 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Frank Scott writes political commentary and satire which appears in print in The Independent Monitor and online at the blog Legalienate http://legalienate.blogspot.com Email: fpscott@gmail.com

 

Aquino Aligns with U.S. Military Build-Up in Asia-Pacific, a Threat to Peace in the Region

Filipino-Americans across the U.S., under the banner of BAYAN USA, express condemnation and disgust over the efforts of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “Noy-Noy” Aquino III to accommodate the “new” U.S. defense strategy that entails a so-called “rebalance to Asia”, including an increase in U.S. military presence in the Philippines. BAYAN USA also denounces the U.S. government’s Cold War-style media offensive against economic rival China as a pretext to justify its gross expansion of U.S. military powers in the Asia-Pacific in order to increase U.S. economic, political, and military investments in the region.

Economically-Motivated

Under neoliberalism, the U.S. economy is largely dependent on the Pacific Rim, particularly because of its export position. In 2010, the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum accounted for 61% of U.S. exports ($775 billion) and 37% of private services exports ($205 billion). The U.S. economy’s export position in the region accounts for nearly 5 million U.S. jobs. But for countries such as the Philippines, the U.S. investment and export position is at the heart of deepening crisis and poverty due to lack of sovereign claim to natural resources and territory. In line with their national interests, countries like the Philippines must wage fierce struggles against U.S. interventionism in order to assert their right to chart their own economic and political paths.

With China’s economic growth threatening U.S. dominion over the region, and with Obama’s push for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that would outline a US-dominated free trade zone in the region, the U.S. government has announced it will shift its military focus away from Iraq and Afghanistan and renew its commitment to assert its position in Asia-Pacific. It has found a reliable stooge in the Aquino government. Recent negotiations framed as a Strategic Dialogue between top Washington security and defense officials and the Aquino administration have laid the ground work for the consolidation of the Philippines as a key U.S. military base location, serving as a permanent staging ground for U.S. military offensives, storage space for surveillance drones, resupply and refueling station for U.S. warships and aircrafts, as well as rest and recreational facility for U.S. servicemen.

In addition to violating Philippine national sovereignty, Aquino’s compliance in accommodating U.S. saber-rattling seeks to undo the 1991 landmark decision of the Philippine Senate to reject the U.S. bases treaty that essentially shut down permanent U.S. military bases in Subic Bay and Clark Air Field by once again opening these ports for indefinite and “rotational” basing of U.S. troops and throughout the archipelago.

Aquino Positions the Philippines in the Crossfire

Not only does the Aquino government reach an all-time high in the barometer of U.S. puppetry with these negotiations, it is aligning the Philippines with a military scheme that will threaten peace in the entire Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. government, driven by its war-dependent economy, is expanding its military presence in Asia-Pacific region under the rhetoric of security in the South China Sea and in particular the territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands, when in fact it seeks an excuse to provoke military aggression and create a war-like situation against China that will boost its military-industrial complex at the expense of surrounding countries. Such compliance on the Aquino government’s part will surely position the Filipino people in the middle of the crossfire.

Starting with the Philippine-American War of 1899, which marked the advent of U.S. imperialism onto the global stage at the turn of the 20th century, 113 years of U.S. geopolitical strategy in the region has left the Philippines with a tragic history and ongoing reality of U.S. military infestation whose social costs have burdened its people with untold pain and misery. From hosting the largest U.S. permanent foreign military bases to succumbing to the onerous US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)—the mother of all unequal military treaties and agreements—to the virtually permanent Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), over one century of U.S. military presence in the country has been directly linked to the indiscriminate killings, rape and other sexual offenses, massive displacement of rural communities, waste, disease, and other forms of human rights abuses.

Call for Resistance & Solidarity

As Filipinos in the U.S., BAYAN USA sees concretely how both the Aquino and Obama governments—guardians of financial oligarchy—are acting in betrayal of the broad interest of the Filipino and American peoples. Just as the poor grow poorer in the Philippines under Aquino’s failed economic policies, so are the working people in the U.S. forced to carry the heavy burden of paying for a debt crisis they did not create. As people’s resistance to the intolerable 1% escalates amidst the crisis, BAYAN USA joins the call for greater solidarity between people in the U.S. struggling against the U.S. military-industrial complex and for economic equality and the Filipino people’s ongoing struggle for genuine national independence and democracy. This must translate to greater efforts to expose and oppose the U.S. geopolitical strategy in the Asia-Pacific region as a scheme of the purveyors of crisis and war to maintain tight control over the region’s wealth. People’s resistance and firm solidarity are key in our efforts to frustrate U.S. interventionism in the region!

U.S. OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES!

U.S. OUT OF ASIA!

JUNK THE US-RP MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY!

JUNK THE US-RP VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT!

UPHOLD PHILIPPINE NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY!

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!

Reference:

Bernadette Ellorin

Chairperson, BAYAN USA

chair@bayanusa.org

— BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org

 

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—”Action must be taken before it is too late, sanctions on Iran must be intensified,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The Iranian threat to produce nuclear weapons is “the issue that most concerns Israel,” Netanyahu said, because Iran has already decided to become a nuclear state.

He told his host, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, that Israel and the Netherlands “stand together in opposing Iran’s feverish pursuit of nuclear weapons, while declaring its intention to wipe Israel off the map.”

“Nuclear arms in Iran are a threat to Israel, the region and the world,” he said in a speech in Amsterdam. “Sanctions should be applied to Iran’s central bank and its oil exports–and they should be applied now.”

“I want to thank the Netherlands for its support for strong sanctions on Iran,” Netanyahu added.

Turning to a conflict closer to home, Netanyahu reiterated his call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “start negotiations for peace with no preconditions.” He praised the Dutch Parliament for passing a motion last year calling on the PA to recognize Israel as the Jewish state. “The persistent [Palestinian] refusal to accept a Jewish state within any boundaries is the core of the conflict,” he said.

During an hour-long meeting at Prime Minister Rutte’s home in The Hague, he urged Netanyahu to freeze construction in territories beyond the pre-1967 armistice lines, saying his government “finds a freeze would be extremely beneficial.”

At a press conference after the meeting, Netanyahu responded to a question by a Dutch journalist regarding construction in east Jerusalem by pointing out that construction “was not an issue” during the 18 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority is “using this as a pretext to avoid negotiations,” he said, adding that the settlements concern only 2 percent of the territories and are therefore a “side issue.”

Earlier in the day Netanyahu met with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch parliament and with Queen Beatrix.

Netanyahu’s day began with a meeting with Prof. Johan van Hulst, 101, who saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust by helping them to reach safe houses across Holland.

“We say those who save one life save a universe. You saved hundreds of universes,” Netanyahu told him. “I want to thank you in the name of the Jewish people, but also in the name of humanity.” The prime minister presented Van Hulst with a copy of the Bible.

17 February 2012

@ Jerusalem World News

The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats.

In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show.

Special Operations forces are a key part of the Obama administration’s strategy to make the military leaner and more agile as the Pentagon confronts at least $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.

Lt. Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, declined to elaborate on the floating base’s purpose or to say where, exactly, it will be deployed in the Middle East. Other Navy officials acknowledged that they were moving with unusual haste to complete the conversion and send the mothership to the region by early summer.

Navy documents indicate that it could be headed to the Persian Gulf, where Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for much of the world’s oil supply. A market survey proposal from the Military Sealift Command, dated Dec. 22 and posted online, states that the floating base needed to be delivered to the Persian Gulf.

Other contract documents do not specify a location but say the mothership would be used to “support mine countermeasure” missions. Defense officials have said that if Iran did attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, it would rely on mines to obstruct the waterway.

With a large naval base in Bahrain, and one or two aircraft carrier groups usually assigned to the region, the Navy has a substantial presence in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters. Adding the mothership would do relatively little to bolster U.S. maritime power overall, but it could play an instrumental role in secretive commando missions offshore.

The deployment of the floating base could also mark a return to maritime missions for SEAL teams, which for the past decade have spent most of their time on land in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other details of the project became public Tuesday when the Military Sealift Command posted a bid request to retrofit the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, on a rush-order basis.

Until December, the Navy had planned to retire the Ponce and decommission it in March after 41 years of service. Among other missions, it was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea last year in support of NATO’s air war over Libya.

Instead, the ship will be modified into what the military terms an Afloat Forward Staging Base. Kafka said it would be used to support mine-clearance ships, smaller patrol ships and aircraft.

The documents posted by the Military Sealift Command in December, however, specify that the mothership will be rebuilt so that it can also serve as a docking station for several small high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEAL teams.

Among the vessels listed are Mark 5 Zodiacs, inflatable boats that can carry up to 15 passengers and can roll up into bags, and seven-meter-long Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats, which can carry an entire SEAL squad.

SEAL teams also deploy from regular warships, but most vessels in the Navy’s fleet must patrol or move around on a regular basis. A mothership can stay in one spot for weeks or months, effectively serving as a floating base for commandos as they monitor coastal areas or prepare for amphibious operations.

The U.S. Special Operations Command has sought a transportable floating base for several years, saying that a mothership would expand the range of commando squads operating from small speedboats, particularly in remote coastal areas.

Defense officials said the Ponce will serve as a stopgap measure until the Navy can build a new Afloat Forward Staging Base from scratch. In budget documents released Thursday, the Pentagon said it would fund that project starting next year.

The floating base also could be suited to the coast of Somalia, a failed state that is home to an al-Qaeda affiliate and gangs of pirates. A mothership there would give SEALs or other commandos more flexibility in missions such as Wednesday’s rescue of a pair of American and Danish hostages who had been held for months by Somali pirates.

The term “mothership” is also commonly used to describe a vessel used by Somali pirates. After hijacking a large container or cargo vessel, pirate crews often turn it into a floating base to extend the range of their skiffs or speedboats far into the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf.

U.S. military officials declined to say what prompted them to give the Ponce a sudden new lease on life. But contract and bidding documents underscore the urgency of the project.

One no-bid contract for engineering work states that the military was waiving normal procurement rules because any delay presented a “national security risk.” Other contract bids are due Feb. 3. The Navy wants the conversion work to begin 10 days later on the Ponce, which is docked in Virginia Beach.

By Craig Whitlock,

28 January 2012

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