"friday-lunch-club"

Lebanon Rattles Its Saber at Israel

2012-02-27T18:05:00.000-05:00

Lebanon Rattles Its Saber at Israel - Defense/Security - News - Israel National News

"Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran ..."

2012-02-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

"JERUSALEM (AP)-Israeli defense officials say state-run Israel Aerospace Industries will sell $1.6 billion in drones and anti-aircraft and missile defense systems to Azerbaijan.
The deal will bring sophisticated Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran. Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have been rising because of close Azeri ties with Israel..."

"Conversation with a weapons dealer ..."

2012-02-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

"... Meanwhile, my source claims that along with launching missiles on the nuclear site in Iran, Israel will also occupy southern Lebanon in order to take control of millions of missiles that Iran has stationed there to launch aerial attacks on Israel in the event of an Israeli airstrike on Iran.
Moreover, the U.S. will not be simply an innocent bystander in the event of a Saudi supported Israeli attack on Iran. Rather, my source believes that U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in the wake of the recent killing of two Americans in a NATO facility.
He expects the U.S. to announce victory in the next few months and to make the troops in Afghanistan available to support the Israeli attack on Iran in some way.
Is any of this plausible? ... ... ...
Politically, such a war has the potential to boost President Obama’s chances for reelection. Even if the U.S. is not directly involved in fighting Iran, such a military action would make Americans focus their attention on whether they would prefer the Republican candidates — none of whom have experience in the military – to a commander-in-chief who gave the order to kill Osama bin Laden, ended the war in Iraq, and led the coalition that took out Gaddafi."

"When Assad Won"

2012-02-27T11:47:00.002-05:00

"... The winter of 1979 might have been the most perilous time for the regime: Its leading lights were slowly being snuffed out, its support within key segments of the army and broader population was in doubt, and even its top officials were beginning to breaking away. On Dec. 27, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations Hammud al-Shufi abruptly resigned, due to what he termed "the anti-democratic and repressive methods and corruption of the Assad regime." (No Syrian ambassadors have yet defected during the present unrest.)....

History is written by the victors, and the story of Syria's civil war is no exception. .......
Assad's response was as cunning as it was ruthless. He retaliated by dissolving the associations and arresting their leaders..... Meanwhile, he found allies in the Damascene merchant class and was able to weather the economic storm. According to Seale, the merchants' support for Assad at this critical juncture cemented the regime's relationship with the Damascus businessmen -- an alliance that has persisted through the present day.
Having cut off all avenues of dissent but violence, the Assad regime then moved to ensure that its enemies had no hope of winning through armed revolt. After a failed assassination attempt against Assad on June 26, 1980, the regime's strongmen determined to make the Muslim Brotherhood pay....
The Sunni insurgents responded by escalating their campaign of terror in Damascus.... For all the stresses put on the Syrian regime, the sharp and unbridgeable sectarian rifts that the conflict had opened made it virtually impossible for the Alawite ruling class to do anything but fight to the death. "[The Muslim Brotherhood] has succeeded in widening the distance between the government and the majority of the people, but not in destabilizing the regime," wrote the historian Hanna Batatu in December 1982. "Instead of splitting the ‘Alawis and thus weakening their foothold in the army, they have, by their anti-‘Alawi practical line, frightened the ‘Alawi community into rallying behind Asad."
With the military remaining largely loyal, nothing could stop Assad from crushing the opposition's strongholds. By the time the city of Hama rose in open revolt in February 1982, the stage was set for a final confrontation between Assad's opponents and more than 10,000 well-equipped Syrian security forces -- a battle the Sunni insurgents could not hope to win..... In the end, the Sunni insurgency of the late 1970s and early 1980s was too focused on Sunni revivalism, too shadowy -- simultaneously too violent to attract widespread support and not violent enough to pose an existential threat to the regime.
Could the modern-day opponents of Bashar al-Assad, Hafez's son, suffer the same fate as the insurgents of years past? .....Syria's revolutionaries have not been able to make a complete break with the past. After months of largely peaceful protest, the effort to topple Assad is increasingly defined as a struggle between Syria's security forces and an armed insurgency. According to activists' own figures, the past two months have seen a higher proportion of Syrian soldiers killed than at any other point in the revolt -- totaling roughly 25 percent of the total deaths. This surge in violence has also been marked, in the past two weeks, by devastating car bombings in Aleppo and the first assassination of a Syrian general -- tactics that carry an echo of the dark days of civil war...."

Syria: '57.4 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots & 89.3% 'approve the new Constitution'!

2012-02-27T10:32:00.001-05:00

Syria says new constitution approved - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

'Why is India refusing to augment American pressure on Iran? Oil & Afghanistan!'

2012-02-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

"... So why is India now refusing to augment American pressure tactics on Iran? One clear answer is that Iran is India’s second-biggest oil supplier. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. asserts that a $10 increase in India’s oil price would probably shave 0.2 percentage point from India’s gross-domestic-product growth -- a setback India can ill afford as it looks at already reduced targets for this year. Given the blow it may inflict on the economy, war in the Middle East looms over Indian horizons as a terrible prospect.
There are also less tangible reasons for India’s reluctance to join another “coalition of the willing” against a Muslim country. Relations between India and Israel have developed fast since the countries established full diplomatic relations in 1992; Israel is India’s second-biggest arms supplier and a close adviser on security issues. But India’s links with Iran are much older, grounded in a shared religion and history.
Shiites from Persia once ruled large parts of India. The Safavid Empire represented the apex of cultural sophistication for the Mughal dynasty that held sway for centuries. Persian was the language of administration in large parts of India and remained so late into the British colonial era. (My own grandfather read Persian more easily than Hindi.) India’s anti- colonial leaders, “Mahatma” Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, in turn, were heroes for a whole generation of Iranian intellectuals and activists fighting against foreign domination of their country.
That history of political and cultural partnership might seem very remote today. But it doesn’t lack for recent examples. India and Iran worked together to back the Northern Alliance, specifically Ahmed Shah Massoud, against the Taliban in the 1990s.
India switched to supporting the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks, hoping to extend its influence within Afghanistan under a U.S. security umbrella. But that policy, predicated on a long U.S. commitment to Afghanistan and opposition to the Taliban, now lies in tatters as the U.S. prepares to withdraw its troops from the country.
Afghanistan, for better or worse, will again have regional arbiters. Trying to regain its influence there, India would, of course, find Iran a safer interlocutor and partner than Pakistan. Could India turn its unavoidable proximity to Iran into a diplomatic advantage? A recent contributor to a hawkish Indian website proposed that India bring about a “grand rapprochement” between the U.S. and Iran since the latter’s nuclearization is now inevitable..... ....
There is no doubt that, short of a catastrophic war that turns much of the Middle East into a wasteland, Iran’s nuclear program, which was started by the Shah, will be completed -- either by the present regime in Tehran, or the one that replaces it.
If many Indians feel this to be inevitable, it is because India itself defied intense international pressure to build its nuclear capacity.............
In at least one evolutionary narrative of international relations developed during the Cold War, countries attain adulthood when, after outgrowing adolescent neuroses, they align their interests with U.S. objectives. The example of India (and its attitude toward Iran) points at a newer and more widespread model of individuation: one in which nation states reach maturity when they grow aware of their own needs and interests, and define their foreign policies through the interplay of geopolitical imperatives, domestic politics, regional histories, and national pride.
To ignore this dawning reality of the multipolar world is to risk regressing beyond adolescent neuroses; it is to lapse into child-like narcissism."

"Turkey’s Syria policy will also be more of the same!"

2012-02-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

"... What will be the main driver of Turkish policy in Syria? The short answer is the famous phrase “Events, my dear boy” -- former British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan’s tongue-in-cheek answer when he was asked what was the biggest challenge facing him as a leader. There seem to be four different ways the events in Syria could evolve. I will evaluate the first two scenarios in this article and focus on the other two next week.
In the first scenario Bashar al-Assad manages to muddle through and maintains his hold on power, despite growing pockets of resistance. Bashar’s units continue their crackdown. The rate of killing does not exceed a daily average 15 to 50 people. Damascus makes cosmetic reforms and promises. Under this scenario, which more or less reflects the conditions on the ground today, Turkey’s Syria policy will also be more of the same.
The main drivers of Turkey’s Syria policy will not change. These drivers can be summarized as first, the Kurdish problem at home. Ankara is highly concerned about Damascus and Tehran’s capacity to play the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) card. Second, Turkey is highly reluctant to confront Iran and Russia because of Syria. Let’s not forget that Turkey depends on Iran and Russia for close to 85 percent of its energy needs. Third, Turkey is concerned about Washington “leading from behind” and thus “outsourcing” the bulk of military operations to Ankara. Turkey doesn’t want to “own” the crisis. ... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will continue to call for Bashar to step down, but Ankara will also seek to maintain lines of communication with the regime by keeping the Turkish ambassador in Damascus. In short, the longer Bashar stays in power, the more Turkey will attempt to hedge its Syria policy. A difficult coexistence will become inevitable.
(Continue, here if you think other 'scenarios' are possible!)

Wikileaks on Stratfor's 'Syrian Oppisition informers': "Mistakes like that put your credibility in question!".

2012-02-27T09:54:00.001-05:00

Cumulus:

"...I trust ME1 on this question. i hate this region, aaaaargh ...........
I found OS reports of them being Alawite, as well, but it was a truly
mixed bag. Nothing seems to agree....
could ME1 be wrong? We've got overwhelming OS vs one source. Not saying that ME1 is lying but maybe they're misinformed as well. We should dig into this more before we give an answer....
Wow, that is crazy. Overwhelmingly OS is reporting that they are Sunni.
Some reports even talk about the exact tribal affiliation of Shawkat as
coming from the Sunni tribe of Bani Khaled.... well, shit. most of the OS info on them is wrong. ME1 is saying they're Alawites.....
Goddamnit. I'll write to the reader and work with the writers to
include a correction. Lesson learned - don't trust OS on verifying sectarian affiliation.....
I concur with Reva, I have read multiple reports in multiple languages
that indicate these guys are Sunni.... the background material I've seen and re-read on these two guys is
that they are Sunni. I sent a message to ME1 this morning to verify
once again what sect is...
Is this guy correct?...
In your analysis you have mentioned that Assef Shawkat and Ali
Mamalouk are Sunni Muslim. That is wrong they both are Alawite. Mistakes like that put your credibility in question..."

STRATFOR's emails on Wikileaks: "You have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control..."

2012-02-27T09:34:00.002-05:00

LONDON—Today, Monday 27 February, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example :
"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase" – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla (many of us traded jabs with her in email) on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.
The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.
The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the "Yes Men", for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.
Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : "We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either."
Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to "utilise the intelligence" it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : "What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like". The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested "substantially" more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral... It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor... we are already working on mock portfolios and trades". StratCap is due to launch in 2012.
The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and "other government intelligence agencies" in "becoming government Stratfors". Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates "without ideology, agenda or national bias", yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.
Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused "gravy train" that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :
"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."
Like WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor’s subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Readers will discover Stratfor’s internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as ’alpha’, ’tactical’ and ’secure’. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as ’Hizzies’ (members of Hezbollah), or ’Adogg’ (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).
Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor’s "Confederation Partners", whom Stratfor internally referred to as its "Confed Fuck House" are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.
WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor’s list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant "Geronimo" , handled by Stratfor’s Former State Department agent Fred Burton.
WikiLeaks has built an investigative partnership with more than 25 media organisations and activists to inform the public about this huge body of documents. The organisations were provided access to a sophisticated investigative database developed by WikiLeaks and together with WikiLeaks are conducting journalistic evaluations of these emails. Important revelations discovered using this system will appear in the media in the coming weeks, together with the gradual release of the source documents.

"There is something surreal about a group of "friends" promoting change in Syria that includes one of the most notorious for resisting progress: Saudi Arabia!"

2012-02-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

"... What we should fear most is not western military intervention, since it isn't in prospect, but eastern intervention. There is something surreal about a group of "friends" promoting change in Syria that includes so many autocrats and, as one of its leading lights, the country most notorious for resisting progress: Saudi Arabia.
At one point during Friday's meeting, the Saudi foreign minister reportedly stormed out, self-righteously complaining about "inaction" (though some reports deny it). Later, asked if arming the Syrian opposition would be a good idea, he replied: "I think it's an excellent idea." Indeed, some suspect the Saudis are already doing just that.
Meanwhile Qatar, a less oppressive autocracy than Saudi Arabia but an autocracy nevertheless, called for the creation of "an Arab force" for Syria.
None of that bodes well for Syria's future. The Saudis, who have banned all forms of demonstrations on their own turf and are not averse to shooting protesters, have deliberately messed up two Arab revolutions over the past year – first by sending troops into Bahrain to preserve the monarchy there, and then by manipulating the Yemeni uprising to ensure that nothing much would change after they abandoned President Saleh.
Given that, there was a curious irony to the banners hung around the conference area in Tunis on Friday. The English "Friends of Syria" had been changed in Arabic to say "Friends of the Syrian people" – as if to emphasise that they had the interests of ordinary Syrians uppermost in their hearts.
The reality, of course, is that for all countries attending, national interests (or what they perceive as their national interests) come first and the Syrian people second. In some cases a distant second, even among the "brotherly" Arabs.
Saudi Arabia's Sunni/Wahhabi rulers are paranoid about what they see as a threat from Shia Muslims. They are fearful not just of Iran but of the marginalised Shia communities inside their own realm and the rebellious Shia majority in Bahrain ruled over by a Sunni king. There's also Iraq on their northern border where long-suppressed Shia influence has re-emerged – thanks to George Bush – following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. ... Saudi "support" for the Syrian opposition, therefore, is likely to make the conflict more sectarian rather than less.
Syrians should beware of "friends" as much as enemies."

Is David Petraeus Leaking to Undercut the President? Or Is Someone Framing Him?

2012-02-26T10:20:00.001-05:00

"...Note the way the WaPo describes its sources inconsistently. It offers this quote from a senior defense official.
“The sanctuaries are a deal-killer for the [Afghan war] strategy,” said a senior defense official who is familiar with the ongoing debate and who, like several officials in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. [my emphasis]
But then the WaPo suggests military leaders have motive to leak the cable, distinguishing between “defense” and “military” officials.
The cable, which was described by several officials familiar with its contents, could be used as ammunition by senior military officials who favor more aggressive action by the United States against the Haqqani havens in Pakistan. It also could buttress calls from senior military officials for a more gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan as the 2014 deadline for ending combat operations approaches.
These military officials have maintained for months that the strategy of targeting raids against Taliban leadership and building local Afghan governance is showing impressive results. [my emphasis]

Barak: "The Iranian response to our attack won’t be 50,000 dead, nor 5,000, not even 500 if people would just stay inside their homes!"

2012-02-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

"...Amnon Abramovitch, the respected political correspondent of Israel’s Channel 2 news, reports this story in Yediot Achronot (not available online). But he precedes it with a recitation of a long list of errors, disasters and miscalculations credited to either Bibi or Barak while each was prime minister: including the second Intifada, the 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon, the failed assassination of Khaled Meshal, the Mavi Marmara massacre, the only cancelled IDF chief of staff nomination in Israeli history, failed negotiations with Syria, etc.
He quotes an especially outrageous recent claim by Barak:
'... The Iranian response to our attack won’t be 50,000 dead, nor 5,000, not even 500 if people would just stay inside their homes....'
The journalist asks, with more than a hint of sarcasm, what if the war between Israel doesn’t even last as long as the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war; what if, say, it only last two or three years. Are we not supposed to leave our homes the whole time?
The message is clear: these are the “adults” whom Israel has chosen to lead them into this war with Iran. ..."

Ovadia Yosef: "No to attack on Iran!"

2012-02-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

Via TikunOlam;

"... His senior cabinet representative, Eli Yishai, will therefore oppose any effort to attack Iran. Yisahi is also one of the eight most senior cabinet members who will have the decisive vote on whether to attack. Shas is one of the largest of the governing coalition members aside from Likud..."

The Muslim Brotherhood: "“It is against our interest to ‘export the revolution’ to the Gulf in the meaning of exporting chaos!"

2012-02-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

The Brotherhood and Gulf security

"I agree!"

2012-02-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

"...The new draft also says the president should be over 40 and a Muslim, a prime flaw that independents in the Constitutional Committee were unable to correct.
Christians and secular Muslims raised red flags, but did not say they would boycott the referendum.
Thousands of people gathered in a main square in the capital to show their support to President Bashar Al-Assad, many carrying Syrian flags and pictures of the incumbent leader.

"I came here to say 'yes' to the reforms President Assad is leading," said Ammar, a 29-year-old engineer. "I think the draft constitution is unique, modern and an example that the countries of the Middle East should follow."
"Today is national celebration. Everyone should see what President Assad is doing. He is the only one among Arab leaders who cares of his people," said Samira, as her friends around her shouted slogans to show their loyalty to the President who is facing an unprecedented challenge to his rule. ..."

Syrian Free Army blocks Syrian Red Crescent ambulances

2012-02-25T16:22:00.000-05:00

"... Nadir Husseini, an activist in Bab Amr, said people in the neighbourhood were suspicious of the ICRC's local partner, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and did not want to work with a group "under the control of the regime".

The ICRC denied this, saying the Syrian Red Crescent was an independent organisation.
"Their volunteers are risking their lives on a daily basis to help everyone with no exceptions," Hicham Hassan, ICRC spokesperson, said in Geneva.
The ICRC said the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had evacuated a total of 27 people from Bab Amr on Friday. On Saturday, it carried out two evacuations in other neighbourhoods in Homs.
The injured were taken to a privately owned local hospital, the Red Cross said.
A journalist involved in Saturday's negotiations told the AFP news agency that ambulances entered rebel stronghold Baba Amr twice in the afternoon but were blocked by the Free Syrian Army..."

Syria’s 'Electronic Warriors' Hit Al Jazeera

2012-02-25T13:01:00.000-05:00

"On Wednesday, the entire staff of the Al Jazeera network allegedly received an email instructing them to change their computer and email passwords.
Earlier in the week, the network’s server had been hacked by the self-styled Syrian Electronic Army, and some of its secrets were released to the media.
The major find to be made public was an email exchange between anchorwoman Rula Ibrahim and Beirut-based reporter Ali Hashem. The emails seemed to indicate widespread disaffection within the channel, especially over its coverage of the crisis in Syria.
Ibrahim wrote to her colleague saying that she had "turned against the revolution" in Syria after realizing that the protests would "destroy the country and lead to a civil war.” She went on to deride the opposition Free Syrian Army, which she described as "a branch of al-Qaeda."
Ibrahim also complained about the attitudes of various colleagues at the channel’s Doha headquarters, saying some of them “have refused to greet me ever since the outbreak of events in Syria because they hold a grudge against my sect.”
Al Jazeera staffers were relieved that the email exchange had been leaked, "because it exposed the station's biased and unprofessional coverage Syria.”
Hashem responded sympathetically, saying he had opted to sit on the fence after sending the channel footage of armed men clashing with the army which he had witnessed while reporting from northeastern Lebanon. He said that after he submitted the video, he was told to return to Beirut on the grounds that he was exhausted.
In her response, Ibrahim once again protested that she had “been utterly humiliated. They wiped the floor with me because I embarrassed Zuheir Salem, spokesperson for Syria’s Muslim Brothers. As a result, I was prevented from doing any Syrian interviews, and threatened with [a] transfer to the night shift on the pretext that I was making the channel imbalanced.”
Ibrahim also spoke of how Syrian activists invited onto Al Jazeera use terms of sectarian incitement on air, “which Syrians understand very well.”
Hashem wondered in response where the channel’s head of news, Ibrahim Hilal, stood in all this. Ibrahim answered that he was “stuck between a rock and a hard place: the agenda and professionalism..." (continue, here)

'"The voices calling for Assad's departure grow louder every time they refuse to involve themselves militarily in the overthrow of the same man!'"

2012-02-25T12:47:00.001-05:00

"... Still, it was good to be reassured that "we are not favouring the idea of anybody attacking Iran at the moment". Maybe later, then. Or maybe after President Assad eventually falls, thus depriving Iran of its only – and valuable – ally in the Middle East. Which is, I suspect, what a lot of the roaring and raging against Assad is all about. Get rid of Assad and you cut out part of Iran's heart – though whether that will induce the crackpot Ahmadinejad to turn his nuclear plants into baby-milk factories is another matter. For here's the rub. The mighty voices calling for Assad's departure grow louder every time they refuse to involve themselves militarily in the overthrow of the same man. The more they promise not to "do a Nato" on Syria – every time they claim there can be no "no-fly" zones over Syria – they get angrier and angrier at Assad. Why doesn't he just go off to retirement in Turkey, end the theatre once and for all, and stop embarrassing us all?

Needless to say, Hague-Hague waffles on and on about Syria, too, while presumably not "favouring the idea of anybody attacking Syria at the moment". And this is a real stinker for the Foreign Secretary. He was rightly denouncing the killing of Marie Colvin this week – I last saw her in the final, joyous days of the Egyptian revolution, heading, as usual, towards the crack of tear-gas grenades – but hundreds of other innocent human beings have been cruelly killed in Syria without so much as a whisper from Hague-Hague. And some of these were killed by the armed opposition to Assad ...

No, we are not going to involve ourselves in Syria, thank you very much. Because the new Cold War in the region which Hague was blathering on about has already started over Syria, not Iran. The Russians are lined up against us there, supporting Assad and denouncing us. Just what reaction Putin expects from any Assad replacement is a mystery. Nor will a "new" Syria necessarily be the pro-Western democracy that Hague-Hague and others would like to see..."

Pentagon officials: 'The daily death toll in Iraq exceeds that of Syria!'

2012-02-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

Foreign policy issues continue to lag well behind domestic concerns in the political debate. However, on three issues – Syria, Iran, Afghanistan – President Obama is coming under pressure from the Republican presidential candidates to be more aggressive in asserting US interests. They have criticized his apology to Afghan President Karzai over the accidental burning by US troops of copies of the Koran; a group of prominent conservative foreign policy specialists has called for immediate US action on Syria; on Iran, there is Republican unanimity on the need for military action. This pressure is uncomfortable for the White House and, on Iran, is pushing policy in a more confrontational direction. However, on Syria, Secretary of State Clinton has made clear that US policy is to act in concert with US allies and partners, not to take unilateral action. The debate about arming the Syrian opposition is an active one within the Administration but, unlike Libya which, officials remind us, represents a growing worry for the White House, perceptions of the Syrian National Council are cautious, with few officials seeing it as a viable structure to assume governing. We are also told by Pentagon officials that the daily death toll in Iraq sometimes exceeds that of Syria. With regard to Afghanistan, we also do not expect Obama to respond to the Republican criticism by making any radical changes in the US approach. On Iran, tensions continue to rise in the wake of downbeat assessments from the IAEA. Within the US intelligence community, the analysis is that there is still no hard evidence that Iran is presently working on a nuclear weapons program. None of this will be relevant at the March 4-6 AIPAC conference in Washington at which President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will both speak. The hardest of hard lines will be on display (the making of US policy on Iran!) from all participants, which will include the entire Congressional leadership. Nonetheless, US policy is unchanged in seeking to deter Israel from military action and allowing the force of sanctions to play out. Rules of engagement for US naval forces in the region continue to be to avoid provocative action, while at the same time beefing up their capability to ward off Iranian attacks and attempts to close the Strait of Hormuz. Our assessment is that the Administration will continue to play for time.

“Unnamed hands” targeting Islam & the Arabs

2012-02-25T12:24:00.001-05:00

(Thanks to 'b')

"... “There were hands that are known to you all ... behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain, where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers. However, the kingdom strongly backs the largely Sunni uprising in Syria against Iran’s ally, President Bashar Assad..."

“We also know from many sources that there are people around Assad who are beginning to hedge their bets ..."

2012-02-25T12:17:00.000-05:00

"...Clinton, speaking to reporters, raised the prospect of a coup to remove Assad, who has withstood an almost yearlong rebellion.
“We also know from many sources that there are people around Assad who are beginning to hedge their bets ... they didn’t sign up to slaughter people,” Clinton said.
Clinton cited the cases last year of Tunisia and Egypt, where militaries stepped in to remove longtime autocratic leaders after popular protests. ... “We saw this happen in other settings last year,” Clinton said. “I think it is going to happen in Syria.”
Clinton’s suggestion that top Syrian officers might take matters into their own hands was an explicit recognition of one scenario that could avert an even longer struggle: removing the polarizing figure of Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years. Much of the opposition, including the Syrian National Council, has rejected negotiations with Assad and insisted that he must go.
Clinton and other Obama administration officials have hinted that they would like to see elements within Syria oust Assad. But Robert Danin, a former State Department official now with the Council on Foreign Relations, said Clinton’s statement Friday was “by far the most explicit call by the administration for what would be a coup.”

America's shameless: "It is just despicable ... to see two permanent members of the Security Council using their veto while people are being murdered!"

2012-02-24T18:18:00.000-05:00

"... They took a tentative step toward recognition by declaring the council to be “a legitimate representative” of the Syrian people, a possible precursor to calling it “the legitimate representative.”
Despite the show of unity, which diplomats said they hoped would impress upon Assad that the end of his family’s four-decade autocratic rule is inevitable and at hand, there were signs of division. Some nations argued for arming Assad’s foes, while others called for the creation of protected humanitarian corridors to deliver aid.
Neither idea was included in the conference’s final document, which instead focused on steps nations should take to tighten the noose on the regime, including boycotting Syrian oil, imposing travel and financial sanctions on Assad’s inner circle, and working with the opposition to prepare for a post-Assad Syria, including lucrative commercial deals....
Highlighting the divisions, though, Saudi Arabia called publicly for weapons and ammunition to be sent to the opposition, .... Clinton demurred on the question..... "

"I am positive there will be no problems with the Bahrain Grand Prix!"

2012-02-24T14:12:00.000-05:00

Full speed ahead for Bahrain Grand Prix - Formula One - Al Jazeera English

“Time is running out for the Syrian opposition to establish its credibility & viability"

2012-02-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

'Victory not at hand!'

"... The divisions and shortcomings within the council were fully on display last week when its 10-member executive committee met at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar — its soaring lobby bedecked with roses and other red flowers left over from Valentine’s Day...
“They were in a constant, ongoing struggle, which delayed anything productive and any real work that should be done for the revolution,” said Rima Fleihan, an activist. She was representing Syria’s Local Coordination Committees, an alliance of grass-roots activists, on the council until she quit in frustration this month. “They fight more than they work,” Ms. Fleihan said. “People are asking why they have failed to achieve any international recognition, why no aid is reaching the people, why are we still being shelled?”
Even by comparison with Libya, where infighting among rival militias and the inability of the Transitional National Council to exert authority fully created turmoil after the successful uprising there, Syria’s opposition appears scattered.... The United States and other Western governments are also wary of the uncertain role of Islamists in Syria....
“This is a manufactured problem,” said Burhan Ghalioun, the council president, in a brief interview outside an executive committee meeting last week. “Some independent people don’t want to join the S.N.C., but there is no strong opposition power outside the national council.” He said lack of money was the group’s most acute problem. Although the Qatari government picked up the bill for the Doha meeting and for frequent travel, council members said that no significant financial support from Arab or Western governments had materialized despite repeated promises, ....
After communicating via Skype with activists in embattled cities like Homs, Hama and Idlib, council members admitted sheepishly that those activists just flung accusations at them, demanding to know why they seemed to swan from one luxury hotel to the next while no medical supplies or other aid flowed into Syria.
The bickering takes place in plain sight. “Is this any way to work?” yelled Haithem al-Maleh, an 81-year-old lawyer and war horse of the opposition movement, “They are all stupid and silly, but what can I do?”...
No one from Syria’s ruling Alawite community, sits on the executive committee, despite repeated attempts to woo a few prominent dissidents. The fight over Kurdish seats remains unsettled even... The council has also not reconciled with members of another opposition coalition, the Syrian National Coordination Committee, some of whom remain in Syria ....
“Time is running out for the Syrian opposition to establish its credibility and viability as an effective representative of the uprising,” said Steven Heydemann, who focuses on Middle East issues at the United States Institute of Peace, a research group financed partly by Congress.
Even the council’s diplomatic efforts remain troubled. The council has yet to appoint an official envoy in Washington, .... The key issue the council is grappling with right now is how to coordinate an increasingly armed opposition. The council says it supports the defensive use of weapons. But exiled Syrian Army officers who formed the Free Syrian Army, based in Turkey, have stayed aloof from the council, and even they do not really control the many local militias that adopt the army’s name alone."

Al Faisal: Arming Syrian opposition is "an excellent" idea

2012-02-24T12:23:00.001-05:00

AJELive ‏ @AJELive

Saudi foreign minister says arming Syrian opposition is "an excellent" idea- Reuters #Syria