Saturday, 20 August 2011

Egypt gets its 'apology', but

Turkey not so lucky!
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Libya and the end of Western illusions

by Thierry Meyssan /

Thierry MeyssanFive months into the bombing campaign, it is no longer possible to believe the initial official version of the events and the massacres attributed to the "Gaddafi regime". Moreover, it is now essential to take into account Libya’s legal and diplomatic rebuttal, highlighting the crimes against peace committed by television propaganda, the war crimes perpetrated by NATO military forces, and the crimes against humanity sponsored by political leaders of the Atlantic Alliance.

Just under half of Europeans still support the war against Libya. Their position is based on erroneous information. They still believe, in fact, that in February the "Gaddafi regime" crushed the protests in Benghazi with brutal force and bombed civilian districts in Tripoli, while the Colonel himself was warning of "rivers of blood" if his compatriots continued to challenge his authority.


However, the reader who doesn’t know where he stands on this issue and who - despite the brainwashing of September 11 and Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction - is reluctant to accept that the United States, France, the UK and Qatar were actually capable of fabricating such lies, will be able to forge an opinion over time. NATO, the largest military coalition in history, has failed after five months of bombardments to overthrow the one it designated as a "tyrant."

Every Friday, a large demonstration in support of the regime is organized in a different city and all experts are unanimous in considering that Colonel Gaddafi enjoys at least 90% of popular support in Tripolitania and 70% across the entire country, including the "rebel" areas. These are people who every single day put up with the blockade, aerial bombardments and ground fighting. Never would they be defending with their flesh and blood someone who committed against them the crimes of which he has been accused by the "international community." The difference between those in the West who believe that Gaddafi is a tyrant who fired on his own people, and those in Libya who believe that he is a hero of the anti-imperialist struggle, is that the former live in an illusion created by TV propaganda, whereas the others are exposed to the concrete reality on the ground.

That said, there is a second illusion to which the West has succumbed - and in the "Western" camp I now include not only Israel, where it has always claimed to belong, but also the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Turkey which, though of Eastern culture, have chosen to embrace it -, the illusion to think that it is still possible to devastate a country and kill its people without legal consequences. It is true that, until now, international justice has been the justice of the victors or the powerful. One may recall the Nazi official who heckled the judges at Nuremberg telling them that if the Reich had won the war, the judges would have been the Nazis while those held accountable for the war crimes would have been the Allies.

More recently, we saw how NATO used the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to try to justify post facto that the war in Kosovo was "the first humanitarian war in History," according to the expression employed by Tony Blair. Or again, how the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was used in an attempt to overthrow the Syrian government, then to decapitate the Lebanese Hezbollah, and probably soon to accuse the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Not to mention, the International Criminal Court, the secular arm of the European colonial powers in Africa.

However, the development of instruments and organs of international justice throughout the twentieth century has gradually established an international order with which the superpowers themselves will have to comply or which they will have to sabotage in order to escape their responsibilities. In the case of Libya, the violations of international law are countless. The main ones, presented below, were established by the Provisional Technical Committee, a Libyan ministerial coordination organ, and expounded at various press conferences by the legal adviser to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, French attorney Marcel Ceccaldi [1].

TV channels which, under the leadership of their respective Governments, have manufactured false information to lead to war, are guilty of "crimes against peace", as defined by the relevant UN General Assembly resolutions in the aftermath of World War II [2]. The journalist-propagandists should be considered even more culpable than the military who perpetrated war crimes or crimes against humanity, to the extent that none of these crimes would have been possible without the one that preceded them: the "crime against peace."

The political leaders of the Atlantic Alliance, who diverted the object and purpose of Resolution 1973 to engage in a war of aggression against a sovereign state, are personally responsible before international justice. Indeed, according to the jurisprudence established by the Tokyo Court following the Second World War, crimes cannot be ascribed to either States or organizations, but to individuals. Plundering the assets of a state, establishing a naval blockade and bombing infrastructure to cause people to suffer, attacking an army inside its barracks and ordering the assassination of enemy leaders or, failing this, terrorizing them by murdering their families, all amount to war crimes. Their systematic perpetration, as is the case today, constitutes a crime against humanity. This crime is imprescriptible, which means that Messrs. Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and Al-Thani will be pursued by the law for the rest of their lives.

NATO, as an organization, is legally responsible for the material and human damage of this war. The law leaves no room for doubt that the organization must pay, even though it will surely try to invoke a privilege of jurisdiction to dodge its responsibilities. It will be up to the Alliance to decide how the bill for the conflict should be split among Member States, even though some of them may be on the verge of bankruptcy. This will be followed by disastrous economic consequences for their peoples, guilty of having endorsed such crimes. In a democracy, no one can claim to be innocent of the crimes committed in its name.

International justice will have to address more specifically the case of the Sarkozy "administration" - I use this Anglicism here to underscore the fact that the French president has been piloting his Government’s policy directly, without going through his prime minister. Indeed, France has played a central role in preparing for this war since October 2010 by organizing a failed military coup and then, as early as November 2010, by planning with the United Kingdom the bombing of Libya and the landing of ground troops on its soil, which was then believed to be feasible, and finally by actively conspiring in the lethal unrest in Benghazi which led to the war.

In addition, France, more than any other power, has deployed Special Forces on the ground - without uniforms, no doubt - and violated the arms embargo by supplying the insurgents, either directly or through Qatari airplanes. Not to mention that France has violated the UN freeze of Libyan assets, funnelling part of the fabulous cash from the Libyan Sovereign Fund to the CNT puppets, to the detriment of the Libyan people who wanted to guarantee the well-being of their children in the face of oil depletion.

These gentlemen from NATO, who hoped to escape international justice by crushing their victim, Libya, in a few short days so that it would not survive to pursue them, will be disenchanted. Libya is still there. She is filing complaints with the International Criminal Court, the Belgian courts (whose jurisdiction NATO falls under), the European Court of Justice, and the national courts of aggressor states. She is undertaking steps before the Council of Human Rights in Geneva, the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations. It will be not be possible for the big powers to extinguish these fires all at once. Worse, the arguments they will use to evade a court will ricochet against them in another court. In a few weeks or months, if they have not succeeded in destroying Tripoli, they will have no other way out to avoid humiliating convictions than to negotiate the withdrawal of the complaints at a very high price.
[1] Putting an end to the confusion that prevailed at the beginning of the war when various departments hired lawyers for different disorderly proceedings, Libya has appointed Marcel Ceccaldi in July to oversee all proceedings.



Alan Duncan irks British Israel Lobby

British Israel Lobby’s mouthpiece, Jewish Chronicle, has been running a campaign of character-assassination against British Minister of State for International Development, Alan Duncan for a while for speaking a few truths in public about the Zionist entity. Alan Duncan works under Andrew Mitchell, the Secretary of State. Lobby’s anti-Alan campaign has already effected Alan’s position in the ruling Conservative Party. He was demoted from shadow leader of the house to shadow prison minister before Conservative victory. Alan is known for having close personal relations with Israel-Firsters prime minister David Cameron and foreign secretary William Hague. British daily, The Telegraph, had reported on November 29, 2010 that Alan Duncan had been spied upon by CIA (why not Mossad?).

Alan visited the West Bank in July 2011. He did not visit Gaza as London, under Israeli pressure, doesn’t recognize democratically elected Hamas as true Palestinian representative authority. That was no problem for the British Israel Lobby. However, while in the West Bank, Alan made a few statements which made him 101% anti-Semite. For example Alan criticized Israel’s so-called ‘security wall’ – calling it a Jewish tactic to grab more Palestinian land. Alan also claimed that Jew settlers are stealing water from the Native Palestinian Muslim and Christian farmers (watch a video below).
Israel’s ‘Security Wall’ was condemned by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – as an ‘Apartheid Wall’ in 2004.

“The construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and its associated régime, are contrary to international law,” ruled the ICJ by a vote of fourteen to one. “Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated, and to repeal or render ineffective forthwith all legislative and regulatory acts relating thereto.”


Since 1948 – when the European powers created the Zionist entity in the Muslim Middle East to solve their centuries-old ‘Jewish Problem’ – Jewish settlers have been stealing Arab waters from Jordan River, Litani River and the Nile.

Israelis and Jewish settlers in the West Bank consume 78% of the groundwater, leaving only 22% for its native Palestinians. From the Gaza Strip, Jews steal 50% of the groundwater. the rate of water consumption by the Israeli Jews is 344 cubic meter per year as compared to 93 million cubic meter per year by Palestinians

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hezbollah: TIME Magazine Interview Fabricated by STL

Hezbollah denied on Saturday that one of the four suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri has been interviewed by the TIME magazine, and considered that the mentioned interview was fabricated by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The TIME magazine has claimed that its reporter was meeting with a Hezbollah source when he found himself introduced to the suspect who arrived alone aboard a scooter at the home of his Hezbollah comrade. “While discussing the indictments, he revealed his true identity and confirmed it by showing an old ID card, but agreed to be interviewed only on condition that neither his nor the location be revealed,” the daily claimed.
In a statement it released, Hezbollah stressed that any Hezbollah official source did not meet the TIME magazine’s reporter. “Thus, the mentioned report is inaccurate, as the claimed interview did not even happen,” the statement said. It considered that the whole issue was fabricated by the STL, after it made us used to wrong and fabricated detective novels.

The magazine has claimed that the suspect said that the Lebanese authorities would have arrested him if they wanted to. “The Lebanese authorities know where I live, and if they wanted to arrest me they would have done it a long time ago. Simply, they cannot,” he was quoted as saying.
Source: Hezbollah Media Relations

Hariri Slams Hezbollah…
Former Prime Miniser Saad Hariri slammed Hezbollah and the cabinet over the ‘fabricated’ TIME magazine interview with one of the four suspects named in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment.

Hariri’s press office issued a statement on Saturday in which he claimed that Hezbollah considers that the State, its institutions, its government and its security and judiciary forces are only tools to protect Hezbollah… and to cover up what he called “their violations and abuses against Lebanon and the Lebanese.”

The statement went on to say that Hezbollah wants the state to cover up its political, military and security existence, stressing that “some officials in the cabinet are providing this cover and participating with Hezbollah in their policy to escape from the truth and justice.”

Hariri wondered if President Michel Suleiman, PM Najib Miqati and his cabinet are aware of the interview published by the magazine. “It seems that none of them want to hear, read, see or talk about anything linked to Hezbollah and their dominance over the government’s decision… and no one can contradict the opinion and the will of the supreme leader of the Lebanese Republic,” the statement added.
Source: Website Team

TIME interviews one of the Hezbollah accused men

During a recent conversation with a Hizballah source, a TIME reporter found himself introduced to one of the four members of the organization accused of playing a role in the assassination of Rafik Hariri. The accused man arrived alone aboard a scooter at the home of his Hizballah comrade. While discussing the indictments, he revealed his true identity and confirmed it by showing an old ID card, but agreed to be interviewed only on condition that neither his name nor the location be revealed. �
TIME: Why did you agree to this interview? �
I want to send a message to the world that I wasn't involved in the assassination of Rafik Hariri and that all the charges attributed to me are empty.

TIME: But what can you say about the cellphone data analysis?
Everyone knows that the Mossad can manipulate the cellphone data with the help of spies, and some of the spies were arrested which gives clear evidence that Israel can manipulate the telecommunications data. If the tribunal was built on [genuine] evidence I would have given myself [up] from the first day. �

TIME: Let's go back to the day of the assassination. Where were you on February 14, 2005? �
I was carrying out my [military] work and I cannot reveal where, but I can prove that I wasn't in the area of [the] Saint George [Hotel], the place of the assassination, and I was at least an hour-and-a-half away from that area. �

TIME: Then you deny your participation in this terrorist act? �
Absolutely. I was even surprised when I heard the news that Hariri was assassinated, and I stopped with a friend of mine in one of the coffee shops to watch it on TV. And the next day I went to my work as usual and people saw me. If I had participated in the assassination I would have taken more measures. �

TIME:� After the formation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, did you expect you would be among the four defendants? �
For several years, Syria was accused of the assassination, and the whole international community encircled Syria on this basis. But after Syria's cooperation with the international community, Hizballah was accused of the assassination and � they put our names as the killers. �

TIME: Why don't you hand yourself over to the Tribunal? �
I will not turn myself in to a tribunal the main goal of which is to end Hizballah and not ... [to] reveal the [identity] of the real assassins. This is a politicized tribunal � admitted to even by some of its members. If they are looking for the truth, let them search somewhere else than Lebanon. Let them go to neighboring countries and they will find the real suspects. �

TIME: Do you mean Syria? �
Of course not. They have to go to Israel which has the first and only interest in the killing of Hariri. Can't you see that the only beneficiary from this assassination is Israel and its allies? �

TIME: Do you think Hizballah will deliver you to the Tribunal? �
If I was guilty, Hizballah would have turned me over from the first day to the so-called international justice. I said it once and will repeat it for the last time: I am innocent of all charges against me. �

TIME: The Lebanese authorities are also looking for you. �

TIME: What do you think will happen to the Tribunal? �
Since the day of its formation, the Tribunal has had no credibility. I am sure it will continue, but Lebanon will not execute any of its resolutions. The international community has to find a better way to end the Resistance [Hizballah], Syria, and Iran. �

TIME: What are your future plans? �
I will continue living my ordinary life without giving any attention to the Tribunal and any of its resolutions.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Egyptian security experts warn Israel planning on occupying part of Sinai

[ 20/08/2011 - 12:47 PM ]
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Egyptian security experts warn Israel is planning on taking control in part of the Sinai Peninsula with support from the United States.
The move would be a proactive step by the Israelis after the ouster of Israeli ally and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Former Major General Sameh Seif El-Yezel, an expert on national security and intelligence, said that Israel was planning on crossing Egyptian borders and occupying somewhere between five and seven kilometers of the Sinai Peninsula in order to secure its borders. He pointed out that world powers would support Israel in case that happened.
Another security expert Ibrahim Salah said the plan had leaked during the onset of Egypt’s Jan. 25 revolution. He said that Israel managed to convince the U.S. that the Mubarak removal would threaten the stability of its borders with Egypt and that it was in the best interest to secure those boundaries by occupying part of Sinai by any means necessary.
Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yawm quoted Egyptian security sources as saying that the situation in Sinai has become serious, as tensions rise at home and abroad. He said on one hand there is an internal conflict across the peninsula between elements from the Egyptian armed forces and armed groups, and on the other hand, the Israelis have attacked in the north, confirming fears that Israel has intent to move into the peninsula.
The sources said that Israel wanted to demonstrate that Egypt was unable to control security in Sinai and that its borders with Egypt are not secure. He also said there was a possibility that in the near future, Israel would ask for international armed forces to be deployed to monitor its borders with Egypt.
Meanwhile, Israeli war minister Ehud Barak has instructed to take additional contractors to accelerate the constructing of a security fence on its boundaries with Egypt following the Elat attacks. The new plan is to have the wall built by the end of 2012 instead of 2013 as initially planned. 

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Geagea Convinced STL Indictment Accurate! - Vera Yammine: Other Bloc’s Rhetoric… Polluted!

Vera Yammine: Other Bloc’s Rhetoric… Polluted!
Hussein Assi
Vera Yammine to Al-Manar Website:
  • Other Bloc’s Rhetoric… Polluted!
  • Indictment Illegal, Same as Whole Tribunal
  • Sun of Justice Arose Many and Many Times!
  • Which Sovereignty We Are Talking about?!
  • Wise Men Committed to Topple Sedition Plot
  • Do We Finance STL to Get Such Indictment?

Al-Marada movement politburo member in Lebanon Vera Yammine said that the indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri’s case was illegal, just like the whole work of the international tribunal. She wondered whether Lebanon was obliged to finance the so-called international tribunal for six years to get such a weak indictment at the end of the day.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Yammine regretted the “polluted rhetoric” adopted by the other bloc as if it was translating the international community’s intention to create sedition in Lebanon. Yet, she assured everybody that the wise men of the country, at the top of which comes those directly concerned with the indictment i.e. Hezbollah and the Resistance alongside all those convinced that the tribunal was politicized, were committed to overthrow this scheme. While recalling that the ‘sun of justice’ has arisen many and many times for this bloc, she wished a new sun would not arise when the international political balances change.

Commenting on the STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen latest statement in which he established jurisdiction over three attacks relating to former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr and former head of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, Yammine wondered which sovereignty and state we can speak of when the justice abandons its duties.


Mrs. Vera Yammine told Al-Manar Website that, regardless of her evaluation of the indictment released two days ago, she believes that this indictment was released a long time ago and that it was illegal, just like the whole tribunal’s work. She noted that the weakness of the indictment consolidated this belief, and wondered whether Lebanon was obliged to finance the so-called international tribunal for more than six years to get such a weak and politicized indictment at the end of the day.

While noting that justice experts have confirmed the weakness of the indictment, she highlighted that the main and political goal of the tribunal was to create repercussions that translate, in one sense or another, the international community’s intention to create sedition. Yet, she assured that the wise men of the country, at the top of which comes those directly concerned with the indictment i.e. Hezbollah and the Resistance alongside all those convinced that the tribunal was politicized, were committed to overthrow this scheme.


Yammine wished the other bloc would be responsible enough to refuse to translate the international community’s intentions in Lebanon, and regretted their ‘polluted rhetoric’. She found strange how this bloc could accept to reflect an international will seeking to create sedition in Lebanon.

Answering a question on the other bloc’s support of the indictment despite the weakness of its evidence, Yammine laughed at the “suns of justice” that arise many and many times according to the other bloc’s logic. “We all remember when former PM Fouad Saniora claimed, with tearful eyes, that the sun of justice arose when the unfair indictment against the four officers has been released. Now, it appears that this sun has vanished, paving the floor for the appearance of another sun from another place.”


Yammine stressed that she doesn’t find strange the other bloc’s rhetoric, given that they have anticipated the indictment, in harmony with media leaks of German daily Der Spiegel, Canadian CBC network, Israeli daily Yedihot Ahronot and other international media panels. However, she noted that, although she was not surprised with such rhetoric, she was hurt become some Lebanese voices are translating the international will to create sedition in the country. “We wish they won’t provide us with a third sun of justice, according to the new international political balances,” she added.

Answering a question about the presence of specific fears, Yammine noted that sedition needs two parties, which is not the case here. “The majority is committed to national unity and civil peace. It has proven this through its way of facing the security incidents that recently erupted,” she went on to say.


Yammine expressed belief in the Lebanese army’s ability to protect all Lebanon, and noted the army was part of the golden formula, as Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah described it. She was referring to the Resistance-Army-People balance.

Commenting on the STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen latest statement in which he established jurisdiction over three attacks relating to former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr and former head of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, Yammine wondered which sovereignty and state we can speak of when the justice abandons its duties. “We must unite in the internal scene to force the foreigners to deal with us as strong people and stop considering us as underage.”

Source: Al-Manar Website

Geagea Convinced STL Indictment Accurate!
Despite its weakness and the absence of evidence, the indictment released by the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon someone to defend it.
It’s Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea who held a press conference on Saturday to reject solid arguments that the indictment was politicized, and claim that it contains ‘enough evidence’ to accuse those who were accused.

According to Geagea’s ‘logic’, the indictment is based on circumstantial evidence, documents and witness accounts. He ruled out the ability of Israel or the US to manipulate telecom data. Telecom uncovered 90% of Israeli spies, he said. “Had it (Israel) been able to control the telecom sector it would have protected its agents.”

The LF chief claimed that the evidence provided by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon prosecutor in the indictment draws question marks on the role of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran in former PM Rafiq Hariri’s February 2005 assassination.
Source: Website Team

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Fabricating False Witnesses…How was the STL Indictment Devised?

Nedal Hamadeh

On August 22, 2006, that is within less than ten days from the end of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, “Le Figaro’s” Georges Malbrunot, published an article titled "The Shadow of Hezbollah in the Assassination of Hariri." He mentioned certain information in which he referred to close Lebanese sources to Hariri’s family divulging the responsibility of members from Hezbollah in the assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri. Malbrunot's report was the starting point for launching the accusations lying ahead against Hezbollah after every possibility to accuse Syria was exhausted.
Malbrunot's report in the French paper "Le Figaro" was republished by the German magazine "Der Spiegel" after two and a half years of the first release; later it republished the same report many times which eventually turned out to be the precisely verbatim phraseology of the SITL indictment in this case.
Georges Malbrunot
At that time, and after my return from Beirut to Paris, I met Georges Malbrunot on the margin of a press conference at a foreign press club in Paris. On that day, Georges was occupying the second floor at the International Radio of France. He and I went into a discussion in which he uncovered the party that had phrased and fabricated the indictment, which was issued two days ago.
What Does "Georges Malburnot" say about this Issue?
When we met, I went through my observations on his reputable report in "Le Figaro" in relation to the timing of publishing his report synchronized with halting the military operations in Lebanon and Palestine, in addition to the pressure exercised on Hezbollah from the corner of discord especially that the diplomatic controversy was at its climax with regard to allowing new UNIFIL, mainly made of European forces including French, to be deployed in the South of Lebanon. I, also, said to him exactly that his report was neither innocent nor credible. The French right wing and the close-minded reporter to the neoconservatives of the U.S.A. responded abruptly. He jumped up to his feet protesting to my attributing untrustworthiness to his report and he said, "I assure you that those words were relayed by a Lebanese official close to Hariri; also, I can add that the French Intelligence are aware of the meeting between the source and I in Paris during the war." When I asked him about the identity of that source close to Hariri family, he refused to divulge the name, however, the French media, then, spoke of Lieutenant Colonel Wissam Al-Hasan, the Head of the Lebanese Intelligence, that he was the one who had provided Gergoes Malbrunot with the news.
Surprisingly, it was the same news which turned out to be but the same SITL indictment issued after 5 years from the date the same news was issued by "Le Figaro."
The article-indictment in "Le Figaro" did not give the result expected both because of the French involvement in Hariri court as a party and because of the personality of the reporter Malbrunot in "Le Figaro," as he was the one who addressed all his articles about Syria, but suddenly he changed his direction. This was the reason that made the French paper and the French reporter lose their credibility and, subsequently, the article was not given the expected stimulation, yet it was rather away for two and a half years from the scene till it was republished, but this time in the German magazine "Der Spiegel" in an attempt to redraw a map for dealing with the STL and for the way of media promotional methodology.
The change in the media mechanism with a consideration for the new need to focus on Hezbollah and its responsibility resulted from several external reasons which are namely French ones:
a. France having been exposed as a direct party in the case of Hariri case after the endeavors made by Jacques Chirac in the case and his reception the “king” false witness Mohammad Zuhair Al-Siddique, which dismisses France as a source of truth in the case.
b. The approval by Hezbollah then to allow French forces within the UNIFIL in the South of Lebanon made France review its burden of accusing Hezbollah even in the media context.
c. France's desire to have Germany in the front of the evolving events in this case, especially after the scandals of Judge Detlev Mehlis and his corruption, lies, and his false representations.
Malbrunot's speaking of the French Intelligence knowledge of this meeting between Wissam Al-Hasan and him, which took place at a Parisian restaurant according to what he told me himself clearly indicates that the intelligence involvement in this case and in charging members of Hezbollah have been the foundation, apart from the sorrowful songs about the faultless STL court, its judges, and the neutrality of the international law that never moves except upon the desires of the authoritative states and their intelligence; and the rest is to come yet…
Source: Al-Manar Website

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Book: Buying Jewish business is ‘anti-Semitism’

she did not criticized Jews as British fashion designer John Galliano did early this year. She is accused of wresting the control of the Chanel perfume line from the Jewish Wertheimer brothers in the 1940s.

Chanel 5 issued a statement debunking Hal Vaughan’s lie: “She would hardly have formed a relationship with the family or counted Jewish people among her close friends and professional partners”.

Let me get Chanel 5′s above statement straight. The Jewish family which made billions of dollars during the last eight decades from Coco’s perfume and using her as company’s trademark – is not “close friendship and professional partnership”!!

Any thoughts on Hugo Boss, who designed Nazi uniforms which also were worn by 150,000 German Jews serving in the Nazi Army!

Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel (1883-1971) was born into a poor French family. She grew-up in an orphange and started her career as a singer to survive. She was a self-made businesswoman. Over 57 books and even a movie (Coco Avant Chanel) have been made about her life. However, none of them mentioned Hal Vaughan’s accusation that Ms Chanel was a Nazi spy.

When the Germans entered Paris in June 1940, Coco closed her fashion house and moved into the Ritz hotel with German intelligence officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. She was even involved in an anti-Semitic attempt to negotiate a separate British-German peace in 1943 through her friends in the British royalty and aristocracy. Her plan failed thanks to the World Zionist movement which had declared boycott of German good in 1933.

The pink suit worn by Jackie Kennedy (died May 19, 1994) in Dallas on the day of her husband’s assassination by Israeli Mossad agents in 1963 was a Coco Chanel creation.
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Egypt to Withdraw Envoy to Israel, Barak ’Regrets’ - Thousands of Egyptians protest, demand removal of Israeli ambassador

Egypt to Withdraw Envoy to Israel, Barak ’Regrets’
Egypt has decided Saturday to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv to protest the killing of five policemen on the border during attacks on Palestinian resistance fighters, state television said Saturday.

The Egyptian government had asked "for an official apology from Israel" at the end of a crisis meeting overnight, the state-run MENA news agency reported in a statement.

Just hours later, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed ‘regret’ over the deaths of Egyptian policemen and promised a full investigation. He said he ordered the "army to open an investigation" into the killings. "The circumstances of this incident will be examined jointly with the Egyptian army," and the conclusions will be drawn in light of the results of the probe, he said in a statement. He also insisted that the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel was "strategic and highly important for stability in the Middle East."

A top Israeli defense official stressed meanwhile that peace with Egypt "is a strategic asset" and it would be unthinkable for Israeli personnel to target their Egyptian counterparts.

Amos Gilad, head of the defense ministry political department, also urged patience until the results of a probe are known. "Nobody in the army, nobody anywhere in the security establishment has any intention of harming Egyptian soldiers or Egyptian policemen, on the contrary, the intention of course is to not harm them," he said. "No soldier would consciously aim his weapon at Egyptian soldiers or policemen," Gilad told Israeli public radio.
High-ranking Egyptian politicians have reacted to the deadly incident.
“Israel has to realize that the days in which our sons are killed without an appropriate and strong reaction are forever gone,” said Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister and head of the Arab League, on his personal Twitter account.
Former Egyptian ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy has also stated that such violence against a “democratic Egypt” is unacceptable.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has said in a message published on his Facebook page: "Egyptian blood is too precious to be spilled for no reason." "Our glorious revolution took place so that Egyptians could regain their dignity at home and abroad. What was tolerated in pre-revolution Egypt will not be in post-revolution Egypt," he said.
Egypt's cabinet has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Cairo over the issue, expressing regret over the reaction of Tel Aviv to the incident. "Egypt deplores the irresponsible and hasty statements made by some leaders in Israel, which lack the wisdom and prudence and pass judgment before arriving at the truth, particularly keeping in mind the sensitivity of Egyptian-Israeli relations," the cabinet said in a statement.
Meanwhile, angry Egyptians have continued their protest outside the Tel Aviv embassy in Cairo, calling on authorities to cut ties with the Tel Aviv regime and expel its ambassador.
Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted as saying by MENA that five policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory."

Egypt's military chief of staff, Sami Enan, headed to the Sinai on Friday to probe the deaths of the policemen killed a day earlier. There have been conflicting reports from the Egyptian military and police about how they lost their lives.

A military official told Egypt's official MENA news agency on Thursday that they were killed by stray Israeli helicopter fire aimed at the fleeing gunmen. But on Friday, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper quoted a military official as saying the policemen were killed by gunmen trying to slip in from “Israel”.

Source: AFP

Thousands of Egyptians protest, demand removal of Israeli ambassador

[ 20/08/2011 - 10:29 AM ] 

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Thousands of Egyptians continue to demonstrate outside of the Israeli embassy in Cairo demanding the removal of the Israeli ambassador in response to Israeli gunfire that killed five men from the Egyptian security forces.

The demonstrations began on Friday after sermons and congregational prayers in several cities across the country. The largest have taken place in Cairo and Alexandria.
Our correspondent in Cairo has learned that those behind the Egyptian revolution in January have refused to respond to requests to disperse by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. He said there are intentions to turn the demonstration into a sit-in that would carry on until the embassy was shut down.

Egypt has protested after Israel killed five of its troops in Sinai on its borders with the Palestinian territories.

Egyptian media outlets have quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Israel.

Egypt’s MENA has quoted one military official as saying the soldiers were killed by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter in pursuit of activists near the Egyptian borders.

Among those who have taken part in the protests is presidential candidate Abdul-Mun’im Abul Fattouh. He called for considering what happened as an opportunity to amend the country’s peace treaty with Israel and allow more Egyptian troops to be deployed along the borders.
In Alexandria, protesters have tried to enter the Israeli consulate in the city’s Kafr Abdo district as military police have surrounded the area with tanks and barbed wire in order to stop them.
A number of youths managed to ascend to the top of the building where the consulate is located and raise Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Attorney General in El-Arish has issued its first report on the Sinai killings, saying that Israel used projectiles that explode inside the body, confirming the intent to kill.

The report added that one of the soldiers was hit by seven bullets to various parts of the body and another in the chest and abdomen, confirming that there was intent to kill the targets.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Lebanon Blocks UN Statement Condemning Eilat Attack

Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor expressed his disappointment with Beirut’s move, noting that Lebanon is itself “a state controlled by a terrorist organization.”
The UN envoy said that the latest fiasco proved that the UN has become “blind and deaf” when it comes to condemning “terror attacks against Israeli citizens”. “The UN secretary general condemned it, the Americans condemned it, the European Union condemned it, yet the bottom line is that the Security Council again failed as a body,” he said. “Every time an issue pertains to Israel, we see deafening silence. They become blind and deaf.”

A draft proposal for a presidential statement was distributed to the Security Council’s 15 members Thursday. The United States, Europe and India vigorously supported a harsh UN denunciation of the attack in “Israel”, yet the Arab representative in the Council, Lebanon, announced Friday that it will endorse such censure only if it is “balanced” with a condemnation of Israel’s barbaric strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Europe, the US and Israel rejected the Lebanese equation, in essence burying the condemnation and demonstrating yet again that the UN is unable to address some of the most vital issues on its agenda.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council in an effort to halt Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement Saturday morning Palestinian media reported.
According to the statement, Abbas instructed Palestinian representative at the United Nations Riyad Mansour to call for an urgent session of the Security Council to discuss the airstrikes on Gaza.
On the other hand, the Arab League is to discuss the latest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza strip in an emergency meeting on Sunday.

"The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday, at the request of Palestine, to examine the repercussions of the dangerous situation following Israel's continuous aggression on Gaza," the deputy leader of the group, Ahmed Ben Helli told AFP news agency on Saturday.

Ben Helli said the meeting would be attended in Cairo by the permanent delegates of the 22-member pan-Arab organization.
Source: Websites

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

WINEP/AIPAC to Obama: 'This is how you oust Assad!'

Via FlC

Seriously, after reading Schenker's 'recommendations' & weighing their effectiveness, one gets the feeling that Dabid Schenker secretly hearts Bashar Assad & wishes his regime well!
"... short of dropping bombs on Damascus, to hasten Assad’s fall... there’s no need to wait before implementing:
If the United States were to be joined in its energy sanctions by the EU...there is no guarantee that these measures—even in place for years—would be successful in bankrupting and dislodging the regime...Energy sanctions, in other words, are perhaps the best arrow in the U.S. policy quiver, but, to mix metaphors, they are not a silver bullet...
In addition, when it comes to aiding the Syrian opposition, the Obama administration should elevate and routinize its contacts with key leaders in the movement, both at home and abroad. If asked, Washington should assist the opposition to better organize its ranks, as well as to develop a publicly articulated vision for Syria’s future that is tolerant, pluralist, and democratic. U.S. support for the opposition might also include the provision of modest funding for Thuraya satellite phones, which can help regime opponents on the ground in Syria to better communicate with each other and with the outside world. At the same time, to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to Syria’s future, President Obama himself should consider an Oval Office meeting (and photo op) with respected Syrian opposition figures.
Towards the Syrian regime, meanwhile, the administration should establish a declaratory policy targeting the Syrian military in order to encourage more desertions. The message from Obama should be that Syrian military officers will be held accountable for war crimes committed against the Syrian people.
Within the United Nations, the administration should move forward on a broad range of initiatives, including pressing the U.N. Security Council to level sanctions against Syria for the regime’s ongoing violation of its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency. While China and Russia may be loathe to sanction the Assad regime for its human rights violations (Russia this week announced it would continue to sell weapons to Syria), they might prove more amenable to abstaining from—rather than vetoing—a resolution hitting Damascus for its efforts develop nuclear weapons.
The administration’s best potential source of leverage against the Assad regime, however, resides in the Middle East. The Gulf States—and Qatar, in particular—have been an important source of foreign direct investment in Syria in recent years. Washington should work with its Gulf allies to ensure that that spigot is turned off. (Since April, Qatar, promisingly, has been featuring the Syrian opposition and its officials on the air on Al Jazeera).
Most important, in this regard, is swaying Syobria’s immediate neighbors, all of which have complicated relationships with the Assad regime...If Turkey joins the growing coalition of states that have written off the Assad regime—and also levies sanctions—it would undermine support for the regime among the country’s Sunni business elite, a critical pillar of regime stability. Regrettably, relations between Washington and Turkey are not what they once were. But that doesn’t mean that Obama shouldn’t make every effort to bring Ankara in line with the growing international consensus on the Assad regime..."
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Events in Syria – Which side are you on? / Les événements en Syrie – Quel camp avez-vous choisi?

By Sara Flounders

When U.S. imperialism engages in an attack on any government or movement, it is essential that the workers’ and progressive political movements for change gather as much information as is available and take a stand.

It is cowardly to be neutral and rank betrayal to stand on the same side as the imperialist octopus, which seeks to dominate the world.

This has been an ABC for workers’ movements through 150 years of class-conscious struggles. It is the very basis of Marxism. It is reflected in union songs that raise the challenge “Which side are you on?” and by labor organizers who explain again and again: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

A social explosion is shaking the Arab world. U.S. imperialism and all the old regimes tied to it in the region are trying desperately to manage and contain this still unfolding mass upheaval into channels that do not threaten imperialist domination of the region.

The U.S. and its collaborators are also trying to divide and undermine the two wings of the resistance -- the Islamic forces and the secular nationalist forces -- which together overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia. There is now a concerted U.S. effort to turn these same political forces against two regimes in the region that have opposed U.S. domination in the past -- Libya and Syria.

Both Libya and Syria have their own development problems, which are exacerbated by the general global capitalist crisis and decades of compromise imposed on them as they tried to survive in a hostile environment of unrelenting attacks -- political, sometimes military and including economic sanctions.

The U.S./NATO bombing of Libya has clarified where imperialism stands regarding that country. The transnational exploiters are determined to totally seize hold of the richest oil reserves in Africa and cut off the billions of dollars that Libya was contributing toward the development of much poorer African countries.

Syria is also targeted by imperialism -- because of its heroic defense of Palestinian resistance over decades and its refusal to recognize the Zionist occupation. Syria’s assistance to Hezbollah in their struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and their strategic alliance with Iran cannot be forgotten.

Even if a great deal of Syria’s internal situation is difficult to understand, it is important to note that in this unfolding struggle clear statements of support for the Syrian government and against U.S. destabilization efforts have come from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon and several exiled leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian organization that was elected by the people of Gaza.
These political leaders have experienced first-hand U.S. destabilization campaigns that used corporate media fabrications, externally financed opposition groups, targeted assassinations, special ops sabotage and well-trained Internet operatives.

On the side of the supposedly “democratic opposition” are such reactionaries as Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chair of the powerful Senate Homeland Security Committee, who called on the U.S. to bomb Syria next, after Libya. Outspoken supporters of the opposition in Syria include James Woolsey, former CIA Director and advisor to Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Wikileaks exposes U.S. role


The article describes the U.S.-funded efforts as part of a “long-standing campaign to overthrow the country’s autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad,” which began under President George W. Bush and continued under President Barack Obama, even though Obama claimed to be rebuilding relations with Syria and posted an ambassador to Damascus for the first time in six years.

According to an April 2009 cable signed by the top-ranking U.S. diplomat in Damascus at the time,
Syrian authorities “would undoubtedly view any U.S. funds going to illegal political groups as tantamount to supporting regime change.” The Washington Post article describes in some detail the links between the U.S.-funded opposition Barada TV and the role of Malik al-Abdeh, who is on its board and distributes videos and protest updates. Al-Abdeh is also on the board of the Movement for Justice and Democracy, which his brother, Anas Al-Abdeh, chairs. The secret cables “report persistent fears among U.S. diplomats that Syrian state security agents had uncovered the money trail from Washington.”

Role of Al Jazeera

Perhaps the most revealing challenge to and exposé of the destabilization campaign in Syria came with the resignation of Ghassan Ben Jeddo, the best-known journalist with Al Jazeera’s television news programs and chief of its Beirut bureau. Ben Jeddo resigned in protest of Al Jazeera’s biased coverage, especially noting a “smear campaign against the Syrian government” that has turned Al Jazeera into a “propaganda outlet.”
Al Jazeera favorably covered the unstoppable mass upsurge of millions in Egypt and Tunisia. However, this satellite news channel has also extensively reported every claim and political charge, regardless of how unsubstantiated, made by the political opposition in both Syria and Libya. It became the strongest voice in the region, watched by millions of viewers, to call for U.S. “humanitarian” intervention, no-fly zones and bombing of Libya. So it is important to understand the position of Al Jazeera as a news corporation, especially when it claims to speak for the oppressed.

Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, never reports that 94 percent of the work force in Qatar is made up of immigrants who have absolutely no rights at all and exist in conditions of near slavery. The brutal repression of the mass movement in the absolute monarchy of Bahrain, which is just next door to Qatar and is now occupied by Saudi troops, also receives little coverage on Al Jazeera.

Is this censorship because Al Jazeera TV News is funded by the absolute monarch of Qatar, the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani?

It is especially important to note that Al Jazeera never mentions the huge U.S. Central Command military air base right there in Qatar. Drones on secret missions throughout the region regularly take off from this base. Qatar has also sent planes to participate in the U.S./NATO bombing of Libya.

Qatar works closely with the U.S. State Department in supporting U.S. intervention in the area. Qatar was one of the first Arab states, and the first among the Gulf States, to establish relations with Israel. During the 2009 Israeli bombardment of Gaza, it canceled these relations but has since offered to renew them.

Facebook and counter-revolution
The CIA and National Endowment for Democracy have become expert at utilizing a barrage of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to overwhelm targeted governments with millions of fabricated messages, wild rumors and images.

Fabricated alerts about struggles and splits among rival factions in Syria’s military leading to resignations turned out to be false. For example, Major Gen. al-Rifai (Ret.) denied as baseless news broadcasts over satellite television that he was leading a split in the military. He added that he had retired 10 years ago.

Izzat al-Rashek of the Hamas Politburo and Ali Baraka, Hamas representative in Lebanon, denied published claims that the leadership of this Palestinian resistance organization was relocating to Qatar from Damascus. Ali Baraka explained that this was a U.S. fabrication to pressure Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and obstruct Palestinian reconciliation while raising conflict between resistance movements and Syria.

The Syrian government has charged that snipers fired into demonstrations, shooting army and police in an effort to have police open fire on demonstrators.
Rumors, anonymous Internet postings and satellite television reports aimed at heightening sectarian differences are part of the destabilization campaign.

Dual character of Syria

It is not difficult to see why U.S. imperialism and its pawns in the region, including Israel and the corrupt dependent monarchies of Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, would want to see “regime change’ in Syria.

Syria is one of the few Arab states that have no relations with Israel. Several Palestinian resistance organizations have offices-in-exile in Syria, including Hamas. Syria is allied closely with Iran and with Lebanon.

Syria today is not socialist nor a revolutionary country. Capitalism with its resulting inequality has not been overturned. There is a capitalist class in Syria; many within it have benefited from “reforms” that sold formerly state-owned industries to private capital.
However, the Syrian state represents contradictory forces. It has been a bulwark to protect the gains won in the anti-colonial struggles and upheavals by the Arab masses in 1960s and 1970s. During that period many important social gains were made, major industries and resources that had belonged to foreign capital were nationalized, and big advances were made in guaranteed health care, living standards and education.

Syria under the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party is fiercely secular. It has maintained religious freedom for all while allowing no one religious grouping to dominate or be promoted by the state.

But the regime in Syria has also harshly repressed efforts of mass movements based in Lebanon and Syria that wanted to take the struggle further. It has defended its repression of past movements by pointing to its precarious position right next to Israel, the impact of two Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973, and the resulting Israeli occupation and annexation of the important Golan Heights region of Syria for 44 years.

Years of U.S. sanctions and past destabilization efforts have also had a cumulative effect. The state apparatus, ever fearful of continuing outside intervention, has become fearful of change.

It is essential to recognize this dual character and not apologize for or ignore all the problems that flow from it.
Syria has had the added burden of providing for more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants for the past 63 years. Their conditions are better than in any surrounding countries because, unlike in Lebanon and Jordan, healthcare, education and housing are accessible to Palestinians in Syria.

Impact of Iraq war

The massive U.S. invasion and destruction of neighboring Iraq, the Bush-Blair discussion of a similar attack on Syria in 2003, and the harsh new sanctions on Syria have added intense pressure.

But the most dislocating factor is never discussed in the corporate media: More than 1,500,000 Iraqis have flooded into Syria to escape the last eight years of U.S. occupation.

This was a huge influx for a country with a population in 2006 of 18 million. According to a 2007 report by the office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Refugees, the arrival of 2,000 desperate Iraqis per day had an extreme impact on all facets of life in Syria, particularly on the services offered by the state to all its citizens and all refugees. Syria has the highest level of civic and social rights for refugees in the region. Other surrounding countries require a minimum bank balance and ban destitute refugees.

The unexpected arrival of these Iraqi refugees has had a dramatic impact on the infrastructure, on guaranteed free elementary and high schools, on free healthcare, on housing availability and other areas of the economy. It has led to a rise in costs across the board. The prices of foodstuffs and basic goods have gone up by 30 percent, property prices by 40 percent and housing rentals by 150 percent.

Iraqi refugees also benefited from Syrian state subsidies in gasoline, food, water and other essential goods provided to everyone. Such a large mass of unemployed people led to the lowering of wages and increased competition for jobs. The impact of the global economic downturn during this difficult period added to the problems. (Middle East Institute, Dec. 10, 2010, report on Refugee Cooperation)

The U.S. created the refugee crisis, which left more than 25 percent of the Iraqi population displaced by sectarian violence. Yet it accepts the lowest number of refugees and has donated less than the cost of one day of the war in Iraq toward U.N. relief costs. U.S. sanctions on Syria have increased the economic dislocations.

All this has increased the awareness of the Syrian government and people about the dangers of U.S. occupation and the internal destabilization and bloodbath that can come with U.S.-instigated sectarian violence.

Washington claims it is worried about instability in Syria. But U.S. imperialism as a system is driven to create instability. The overwhelming dominance and power of military and oil corporations in the U.S. economy and the enormous profits of military contracts endlessly reinforce the drive to seek military solutions.

Every statement made by the Syrian government has recognized the importance of making internal reforms while maintaining national unity in an extremely diverse country that has historic differences in religion, tribes and regions and now contains almost 2 million refugees.

The diverse nationalities, religions and cultural groupings in Syria have every right to be part of this process. But what they need most is an end to constant, unrelenting U.S. intervention.

U.S. hands off!

12 mai 2011

Quand l’impérialisme américain s’engage dans une agression contre l’un ou l’autre gouvernement ou mouvement, il est essentiel que les mouvements ouvriers et les mouvements politiques progressistes en faveur du changement puissent collecter le maximum d’informations disponibles et prendre position.

Il est lâche de rester neutre et c’est une trahison à l’égard de sa classe que de se ranger dans le même camp que celui de la pieuvre impérialiste qui cherche à dominer le monde.

C’est le b a ba des mouvements ouvriers depuis un siècle et demi de lutte des classes. C’est la base même du marxisme. Cela se retrouve dans les chants syndicaux qui posent la question : « Which side are you on ? » (De quel côté êtes-vous ?) et chez les organisateurs ouvriers qui ne cessent de répéter « En blesser un, c’est les blesser tous. »

Une explosion sociale ébranle le monde arabe. L’impérialisme américain et tous les anciens régimes qui lui sont liés dans la région tentent désespérément de gérer et de contenir ce soulèvement de masse incessant dans des voies qui ne mettent pas en péril la domination impérialiste sur le Proche et Moyen-Orient.

Les États-Unis et leurs collaborateurs essaient également de diviser et de saper les deux ailes de la résistance – les forces islamiques et les forces nationalistes laïques – qui, ensemble, ont renversé les dictatures soutenues par les États-Unis en Égypte et en Tunisie. On assiste actuellement à un effort américain concerté en vue de dresser ces mêmes forces politiques contre deux régimes de la région qui, dans le passé, se sont opposés à la domination américaine : en Libye et en Syrie.

Ces derniers pays ont tous deux leurs propres problèmes de développement, lesquels sont exacerbés par la crise capitaliste mondiale en général et par des décennies de compromis qu’on leur a imposés du fait qu’ils tentaient de survivre dans un environnement hostile d’attaques incessantes – politiques et parfois militaires, le tout comprenant également des sanctions économiques.

Les bombardements de la Libye des œuvres des États-Unis et de l’Otan ont clairement montré où en est l’impérialisme vis-à-vis de ce pays. Les exploiteurs transnationaux sont bien décidés à s’emparer totalement des réserves pétrolières les plus riches de l’Afrique et de mettre un terme au flux de milliards de dollars par lequel la Libye contribuait au développement de pays africains beaucoup plus pauvres.

La Syrie est également visée par l’impérialisme – en raison de sa défense héroïque de la résistance palestinienne des décennies durant et de son refus de reconnaître l’occupation sioniste. L’aide de la Syrie au Hezbollah dans sa lutte pour mettre un terme à l’occupation israélienne du Liban et dans son alliance stratégique avec l’Iran ne peut être oubliée non plus.

Même si une grande partie de la situation interne de la Syrie est malaisée à comprendre, il convient de faire remarquer que, dans la lutte qui se déroule actuellement, des déclarations claires de soutien au gouvernement syrien et d’hostilité aux efforts américains de stabilisation ont été prononcées par Hugo Chávez au Venezuela, par le secrétaire général du Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, au Liban et par plusieurs dirigeants en exil du Hamas, l’organisation Palestinienne élue par les habitants de Gaza.

Ces dirigeants politiques ont vécu aux premières loges les campagnes américaines de déstabilisation, qui recouraient à l’invention de mythes par les médias traditionnels, à des groupes d’opposition financés de l’extérieur, à des assassinats bien ciblés, à des opérations spéciales de sabotage et se servaient d’agents bien entraînés travaillant sur Internet.

Du côté de ce qui est censé être « l’opposition démocratique », on trouve des réactionnaires comme le sénateur Joseph Lieberman, président de la puissante Commission sénatoriale pour la sécurité intérieure, qui a lancé un appel pour que les États-Unis bombardent la Syrie, après la Libye. Parmi les partisans déclarés de l’opposition en Syrie, on trouve également James Woolsey, ancien directeur de la CIA et conseiller de la campagne électorale du sénateur John McCain.

Wikileaks dénonce le rôle des États-Unis
Un article intitulé « Les États-Unis ont soutenu secrètement les groupes d’opposition syriens » et rédigé par Craig Whitlock (Washington Post, 18 avril) décrivait par le menu les informations contenues dans les câbles diplomatiques américains que Wikileaks avait adressés aux agences d’information du monde entier et publiés sur son site Internet.
L’article résume ce que ces câbles du ministère américain des Affaires étrangères révèlent à propos du financement secret des groupes syriens d’opposition politique, y compris la transmission dans le pays d’émissions antigouvernementales et ce, via la télévision par satellite.

L’article décrit les efforts financés par les États-Unis comme faisant partie d’une « campagne de longue haleine visant à renverser le dirigeant autocratique du pays, Bashar al-Assad », qui a fait ses débuts sous le président George W. Bush et a poursuivi sa carrière sous le président Barack Obama, même si ce dernier a prétendu qu’il reconstruisait les relations avec la Syrie et qu’il a installé un ambassadeur en Syrie pour la première fois depuis six ans.

Selon un câble d’avril 2009 signé par le diplomate le plus élevé en grade à Damas à l’époque, les autorités syriennes « considéraient sans aucun doute tout financement de groupes politiques illégaux comme équivalant à appuyer un changement de régime ».

L’article du Washington Post décrit plus ou moins en détail les liens entre la chaîne de TV de l’opposition Barada, financée par les États-Unis, et le rôle de Malik al-Abdeh, qui fait partie de son conseil d’administration et diffuse des vidéos de protestation. Al-Abdeh fait également partie de la direction du Mouvement pour la justice et la démocratie, présidé par son propre frère, Anas Al-Abdeh.

Les câbles secrets « font état de craintes persistantes, parmi les diplomates américains, que les agents de la sécurité d’État syrienne n’aient découvert que la piste de l’argent remontait jusqu’à Washington ».

Le rôle d’Al Jazeera

Peut-être le défi de la campagne de déstabilisation en Syrie, ainsi que sa dénonciation, sont-ils venus avec la démission de Ghassan Ben Jeddo, le journaliste bien connu des nouvelles émissions de télévision d’Al Jazeera et le responsable de l’agence d’Al Jazeera à Beyrouth. Ben Jeddo a démissionné pour protester contre la partialité d’Al Jazeera, mettant tout spécialement en exergue une « campagne de diffamation contre le gouvernement syrien » qui a transformé la chaîne de TV en « vulgaire organe de propagande ».

Al Jazeera a couvert favorablement l’incontrôlable soulèvement de masse de millions de personnes en Égypte et en Tunisie. Cependant, cette chaîne d’information par satellite a également fait état par le détail de toute revendication et accusation politique, sans égard pour la façon dont elles pouvaient n’être pas fondées, qui ont été exprimées par l’opposition politique, tant en Syrie qu’en Libye.

Al Jazeera est devenue la voix la plus forte de la région – elle est captée par des millions de spectateurs – pour réclamer l’intervention « humanitaire » des États-Unis, des zones d’exclusion de vol et le bombardement de la Libye. Ainsi donc, il est important de bien comprendre la position d’Al Jazeera en tant que société d’information, et tout particulièrement lorsqu’elle prétend s’exprimer en faveur des opprimés.

Al Jazeera, dont le siège est au Qatar, ne fait jamais état du fait que 94 pour 100 du travail au Qatar est effectué par des immigrés qui n’ont absolument aucun droit et qui survivent dans des conditions proches de l’esclavage. La répression brutale du mouvement de masse dans le royaume à monarchie absolutiste de Bahrein, voisin immédiat du Qatar et actuellement occupé par les troupes saoudiennes, ne reçoit que peu de couverture non plus de la part d’Al Jazeera.

Cette censure est-elle due au fait qu’Al Jazeera TV News a été fondé par le monarque absolu du Qatar, l’émir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ?

Il est particulièrement important de faire remarquer qu’Al Jazeera ne mentionne jamais l’énorme base aérienne militaire du Commandement central américain, installé au Qatar précisément. Des drones en mission secrète dans la région décollent régulièrement de cette base. Le Qatar a également envoyé des avions pour participer aux bombardements en Libye des États-Unis et de l’Otan.

Le Qatar travaille en étroite collaboration avec le ministère américain des Affaires étrangères pour appuyer à fond l’intervention des États-Unis dans la région. Le Qatar a été l’un des premiers États arabes, et le premier des États du Golfe, à établir des relations avec israël. Lors des bombardements de Gaza par Israël, en 2009, il a suspendu ces relations mais, depuis, a proposé de les renouer.

Facebook et la contre-révolution
La CIA et le NED (National Endowment for Democracy – Fondation nationale en faveur de la démocratie) sont devenus des experts dans l’utilisation des barrages des médias sociaux tels que Facebook, Twitter et Youtube pour submerger les gouvernements visés de millions de messages fabriqués, de rumeurs et d’images incontrôlées.

Les alertes fabriquées sur les luttes et les scissions entre les factions rivales de l’armée syrienne, lesquelles auraient abouti à des démissions, étaient fausses. Par exemple, le général de division al-Rifai (retraité) a nié comme dénuées de fondements les informations par TV satellite prétendant qu’il dirigeait une scission au sein de l’armée. Il a ajouté qu’il était retraité depuis dix ans.

Izzat al-Rashek, du Bureau politique du Hamas, et Ali Baraka, représentant du Hamas au Liban, ont infirmé publiquement des allégations prétendant que la direction de cette organisation palestinienne de résistance quittait Damas pour se réinstaller au Qatar. Ali Baraka a expliqué que c’était un bobard monté par les États-Unis pour exercer des pressions sur Mahmoud Abbas, du Fatah, et entraver la réconciliation palestinienne tout en attisant le conflit entre les mouvements de résistance et la Syrie.
Le gouvernement syrien a accusé des snipers d’avoir tiré sur des manifestations, sur l’armée et sur la police dans l’intention de voir la police ouvrir à son tour le feu sur les manifestants.

Les rumeurs, les messages anonymes sur Internet et les rapports émis par TV satellite dans l’intention d’exacerber les divergences sectaires font partie de la campagne de déstabilisation.

Le caractère dual de la Syrie

Il n’est pas difficile de comprendre pourquoi l’impérialisme américain et ses pions dans la région, y compris Israël et les monarchies corrompues et dépendantes que sont la Jordanie, le Qatar, les Émirats arabes unis et l’Arabie saoudite, aimeraient voir un « changement de régime » en Syrie.
La Syrie est l’un des rares pays arabes à n’entretenir aucune relation avec Israël. Plusieurs organisations de résistance palestinienne ont des « bureaux en exil » en Syrie, y compris le Hamas. La Syrie est alliée de façon étroite à l’Iran et au Liban.
La Syrie aujourd’hui n’est ni un pays socialiste, ni un pays révolutionnaire. Le capitalisme - et l’inégalité qui en résulte - n’y a pas été renversé. Il existe une classe capitaliste, en Syrie : nombreux sont ceux qui, en sont sein, ont bénéficié des « réformes » au cours desquelles des industries anciennement aux mains de l’État ont été vendues à des capitaux privés.

Toutefois, l’État syrien représente des forces contradictoires. Le pays a été un bastion de protection des gains obtenus lors des luttes et soulèvements anticoloniaux des masses arabes dans les années 60 et 70. Au cours de cette période, de nombreux gains sociaux importants ont été réalisés, des industries et ressources majeures ayant appartenu au capital étranger ont été nationalisées et d’importants progrès ont été enregistrés dans la garantie des soins de santé, dans le niveau de vie et l’enseignement.

La Syrie sous le parti socialiste arabe Ba’ath est résolument laïque. Elle a maintenu la liberté religieuse pour tous tout en n’autorisant aucun groupement religieux à dominer l’État ou à être promu par ce dernier.

Mais le régime syrien a également réprimé sévèrement les efforts des mouvements de masse basés au Liban et en Syrie et qui voulaient poursuivre la lutte. Il a justifié sa répression des mouvements passés en insistant sur sa position précaire à proximité d’Israël, sur l’impact des deux guerres contre Israël, en 1967 et 1973, et sur l’occupation et l’annexion par Israël de l’importante région syrienne que sont les hauteurs du Golan, et ce, depuis 44 ans.

Les années de sanctions de la part des États-Unis et les efforts de déstabilisation du passé ont également eu un effet cumulatif. L’appareil d’État, craignant depuis longtemps les perpétuelles interventions de l’extérieur, craint désormais le changement.

Il est essentiel de reconnaître ce caractère dual et de ne pas excuser ni d’ignorer tous les problèmes qui en découlent.
La Syrie a assumé le fardeau supplémentaire de nourrir et d’héberger plus de 500.000 réfugiés palestiniens et leurs descendants ces 63 dernières années. Les conditions sont meilleures que dans n’importe quel pays avoisinant parce que, contrairement à ce qui se passe au Liban et en Jordanie, les soins de santé, l’éducation et le logement sont accessibles aux Palestiniens vivant en Syrie.

L’impact de la guerre en Irak

L’invasion et la destruction massive par les États-Unis du pays voisin, l’Irak, la discussion entre Bush et Blair d’une semblable agression contre la Syrie en 2003 et les nouvelles sanctions très dures contre la Syrie ont encore accru l’intensité des pressions.

Mais le facteur le plus destructeur n’a jamais été discuté dans les médias traditionnels : plus de 1.500.000 Irakiens ont afflué en Syrie afin d’échapper à l’occupation américaine de ces huit dernières années.

Ceci a eu une importante influence sur un pays dont la population était de 18 millions d’habitants en 2006. Selon un rapport sorti en 2007 par le bureau du haut commissaire américain pour les Réfugiés, l’arrivée quotidienne de 2000 Irakiens désespérés a eu un impact extrême sur toutes les facettes de la vie en Syrie, particulièrement sur les services proposés par l’État à tous ses citoyens et à tous les réfugiés. La Syrie a le plus haut niveau de droits civiques et sociaux pour les réfugiés, dans toute la région. D’autres pays des alentours exigent un minimum de solvabilité bancaire et expulsent les réfugiés nécessiteux.

L’arrivée inattendue de ces réfugiés irakiens a eu un impact dramatique sur les infrastructures, sur les écoles primaires et supérieures à la gratuité garantie, sur les soins de santé gratuits, sur la disponibilité des logements et sur les autres domaines de l’économie. Elle a provoqué une hausse des prix dans toute l’alimentation. Les prix des denrées alimentaires et des biens de première nécessité ont augmenté de 30 pour 100, les prix des propriétés de 40 pour 100 et les prix des loyers de 150 pour 100.

Les réfugiés irakiens ont également bénéficié de la part de l’État syrien de subsides pour le carburant, la nourriture, l’eau et autres produits essentiels pour tout le monde. Une telle masse de personnes sans emploi a amené une baisse des salaires et a augmenté la concurrence autour des emplois. L’impact du ralentissement économique mondial durant cette période difficile a encore aggravé les problèmes. (Middle East Institute, 10 décembre 2010, rapport sur la Coopération au profit des réfugiés).

Les États-Unis ont créé la crise des réfugiés, qui a amené le déplacement de plus de 25 pour 100 de la population irakienne en raison des violences sectaires. Pourtant, ils acceptent le nombre le plus bas de réfugiés et ils ont contribué aux frais des secours des Nations unies pour une somme moindre que le coût d’un seul jour de guerre en Irak. Les sanctions américaines contre la Syrie ont encore accru la désorganisation économique du pays.

Tout cela a accru la conscience du gouvernement et du peuple de Syrie à propos des dangers de l’occupation américaine et de la déstabilisation interne et du bain de sang qui pourraient venir de la violence sectaire attisée par les États-Unis.

Washington prétend être ennuyé à propos de l’instabilité qui règne en Syrie. Mais l’impérialisme américain en tant que système est amené à créer l’instabilité. La domination et le pouvoir débordants de l’armée et des sociétés pétrolières sur l’économique américaine et les énormes profits résultant des contrats militaires renforcent cette motivation à rechercher des solutions militaires.

Chaque déclaration faite par le gouvernement syrien a reconnu l’importance de réaliser des réformes internes tout en maintenant en place l’unité nationale dans un pays extrêmement diversifié présentant des différences historiques sur le plan de la religion, des tribus et des régions, et qui héberge actuellement près de deux millions de réfugiés.

Les diverses nationalités, religions et groupes culturels en Syrie ont absolument le droit de faire partie de ce processus. Mais ce dont ils ont le plus besoin, c’est que soit mis un terme à l’intervention constante et sans relâche des États-Unis
USA, bas les pattes !

Traduction : JMF / Investig'Action
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