SYRIA – MATERIAL EVIDENCE

Syria

The civil war in Syria is a conflict that the country cannot solve since 2011. A conflict that nearly caused a military intervention of the world community. Who “benefits” from this war? What is happening in Syria now? The events in Syria are another episode of the Arab Spring; but here it has turned the cities into ruins with a horrific number of victims and divided the society different, opposing groups. By visiting the exhibition, where each photo is a frozen reality of human misery, we can learn to understand and even experience the horror of the civil war in Syria.

SYRIA, A “NEW” LIBYA WITH VERY LITTLE TIME LEFT?

                   Fotograph courtesy of the New York Times

 

There could be no more apt image to describe Libyan politics today than the prime minister himself, the beleaguered Mr Ali Zeidan, being kidnapped on Tuesday morning by a militia notionally allied to his own government. When he was released several hours later, he noted, with marvellous understatement, that “there are many things that need dealing with”. Indeed there are.

For one thing, Mr Zeidan’s was not the first abduction of the week. That came courtesy of American special forces, who strolled into Tripoli on Saturday to pick up Abu Anas al-Liby, a senior member of al‑Qaeda wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Uganda. The Americans then made life immeasurably harder for the Libyan government by insisting that it had known about the raid. The predictable result was uproar.

But it’s no surprise that the US felt the need to step in. Libyan forces were neither able to prevent the 2011 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, nor arrest anyone afterwards. If the US had simply put in an extradition request, the prospect of al-Liby being picked up or ever facing trial would have been vanishingly small.

In truth, the prime minister’s kidnapping and the US raid are both no more than symptoms of something that has been obvious for over a year: Libya’s post-Gaddafi state lacks the firepower to impose its will on an increasingly lawless country. The Italian consulate in Benghazi was attacked in January, the French embassy in April, the EU ambassador’s convoy in August, and Russia’s embassy last week. And those are just the foreign targets.

This is about much more than terrorist violence. The state in Libya, which Colonel Gaddafi eviscerated for his own despotic ends, is now being consumed by the same rebel groups that brought it into life back in 2011. Performing the most basic tasks of administration, such as making arrests or monitoring borders, can require a negotiation between the government and whichever militias happen to have accumulated enough guns in that particular area. It’s not just that the enfeebled police and army won’t take them on for fear of losing. It’s also that the state has decided to outsource these functions to its tormentors. Both the prime minister’s kidnapping and the attack in Benghazi were perpetrated by groups that have worked with the government and its ministries.

Related Articles

• Libyan PM Ali Zeidan ‘arrested’ at gunpoint and released: how it unfolded10 Oct 2013
• Libyan prime minister vows not to quit after kidnap by gunmen10 Oct 2013
• How was Libyan PM kidnap possible?10 Oct 2013
• Libya’s descent into chaos fuelled by rise of militias12 Oct 2013
• Hague joins European leaders to call for Libyan PM’s release10 Oct 2013
• Libyan prime minister kidnapped from hotel by gunmen10 Oct 2013

Why are militias challenging the government in the first place? There’s no simple answer, because there is a dizzying variety of groups with guns. Some are Islamist, others secular and nationalist. Some are formed around particular cities or provinces. Others formed in a jumbled way during the 2011 uprising, and claim a sort of Jacobin revolutionary legitimacy against what they see as a government tainted by corrupt, pro-Western stooges.

In March, a coalition of militias, with the typically self-important title of the Supreme Security Council, laid siege to the ministries of justice and foreign affairs for two weeks, insisting that parliament sign a wide-ranging law that would ban Gaddafi-era officials from serving in government. Remarkably, parliament capitulated. It had essentially been coerced into legislating at the barrel of a gun. The speaker of parliament himself was forced to resign.

Outside of Tripoli, the problem is no better. For the past two months, Libyan oil exports have plummeted to a fifth of their Gaddafi-era peak, after guards at eastern oil facilities and ports went on strike. Part of that dispute was a demand that eastern Libya, which chafes at Tripoli’s domination, be given more autonomy.

Wars, once won, tend to be forgotten. This was the fate of Afghanistan in the years after 2001, Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011. But Libya’s problems will not stay within its borders. Adding to all of these domestic concerns is the massive flow of arms across Libya’s long, porous borders. Libyan weapons, looted from Gaddafi’s armouries, have been smuggled across the region, turning up in places as diverse as Mali, the Sinai, Gaza and Syria. According to one estimate, around 3,000 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles – capable of bringing down civilian airliners – remain missing.

The dilemma is clear: Libya’s government is too weak to fix these problems itself, but unilateral American or European steps – or assistance that is too public – risks tainting the government further in the eyes of Islamists and nationalists. A careful balance has to be struck. This government’s authority has been eroding for over a year, and it has now suffered the most grievous blow yet. Unless Mr Zeidan shows he can check the power of militias, he risks a continued slide into irrelevance.

The Attack on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya

The American mission in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked twice on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Below, the events that evening that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans according to the latest information available.

 

The American mission in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked twice on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Below, the events that evening that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans according to the latest information available.

Sept. 11, 9:30 p.m. Benghazi time

Militants, firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades, attack the main compound, moving on multiple entrances at once. The main entrance is protected by three armed and four unarmed Libyan guards. No more than seven Americans are in the compound, including three civilians and four who have guns. Mr. Stevens is alone in the main building, according to guards interviewed later. The militants enter the compound, backed by truck-mounted artillery.

Libya Envoy’s Killing Was a Terrorist Attack, the White House Says

WASHINGTON — The White House is now calling the assault on the American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, a “terrorist attack.”

A New Libya,
With ‘Very
Little Time Left’

FEB. 27, 2016

The fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi makes Hillary Clinton suspicious of the terrorist attack to the diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya and and her refusal to talk about the many attempts by American ambassador in Libya Chris Stevens to reach Mrs Clinton asking for help. Mrs. Clinton never answered Chris Stephens requests. They all knew a terrorist attack was inminent. They did nothing to help Ambassador Chris Stephens and four deaths of American officials.

Mrs Clinton involvement in Syria’s militia madness was a big mistake. Poor Libya has fallen to militia madness.  The Libyan state lacks the firepower to impose its will on an increasingly lawless country.  Next is Syria, a country Mrs Clinton doesn’t know but wants to convert it into another lawless country. She knows nothing about diplomacy and much less foreign policy.

In Libya, the militias refused to disarm, neighbors fanned a civil war, and the Islamic State found refuge.

“It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. “Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials.”

Until now, White House officials have not used that language in describing the assault. But with the election less than two months away and President Obama’s record on national security a campaign issue, they have come under criticism from Republican lawmakers who say the administration is playing down a threat for which it was unprepared.

Related Coverage

• interactive The Attack on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya SEPT. 20, 2012

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Mr. Carney offered the new assessment in response to a question about remarks by Matthew G. Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who told a Congressional committee Wednesday that J. Christopher Stevens, the United States ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans had died “in the course of a terrorist attack.”

Asked if the president drew a connection between the Libyan attack, which occurred on Sept. 11, and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 11 years before, Mr. Carney said, “The attack occurred on Sept 11, 2012, so we use the same calendar at the White House as you do.”

In a highly charged political atmosphere, the mere use of the term “terrorist” is loaded, not least, as one administration official acknowledged privately, because the phrase conjures up an image of America under attack, something the White House wants to avoid.

Beyond that, different government agencies have different definitions for what defines terrorism, said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism expert at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group.

The classic definition, Mr. Fishman said, “is an attack by a nonstate group on noncombatants with the intent to intimidate people.” He said that another reason the administration was shying from using that term is because “they really didn’t know who did it.”

And the president, campaigning in Florida on Thursday, did not use the word terrorism when asked about the attacks.

Mr. Carney maintained on Thursday that Obama administration officials still were not calling the attack preplanned.

“According to the best information we have now, we believe it was an opportunistic attack on our mission in Benghazi,” he said. “It appears that some well-armed militants seized on that attack as the events unfolded that evening. We do not have any specific intelligence that there was significant advance planning or coordination for this attack.”Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier in the week that there had been no intelligence warnings that an attack was imminent.

Mrs. Clinton said that F.B.I. investigators had arrived in Tripoli and that the United States, with the Libyan authorities, would find those responsible. She did not discuss any potential ties to Al Qaeda, but blamed extremists opposed to the democratic changes in places like Libya, Tunisia and Egypt for the violence and protests around the region generally.

Mrs. Clinton announced the creation of a panel to investigate the attack. The panel, called an Accountability Review Board, will be led by Thomas R. Pickering, a veteran diplomat and former under secretary of state. The board is authorized by a 1986 law intended to strengthen security at United States diplomatic missions.

“We are concerned first and foremost with our own people and facilities,” Mrs. Clinton said in an appearance at the State Department with the Indonesian foreign minister. “But we are concerned about the internal security in these countries, because ultimately, that puts at risk the men, women and children of these societies on a daily ongoing basis if actions are not taken to try to restore security and civil order.”

No regime change in Syria? Hmmm keep your foot far from the trap…

peace_dream_by_raw75

Bizarre Kerry Claim About US Not Seeking Regime Change in Syria

Kerry made the comment during his Tuesday Moscow visit – at Washington’s request. 

Both countries are unable to square the circle on their differing views on Syria, despite their diplomatic rhetoric suggesting otherwise.

Two major issues separate both sides. Washington won’t agree to recognize certain indisputable terrorist groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate, responsible for gruesome atrocities against civilians. 

Russia justifiably maintains they all must be called what they are, nations worldwide united against them.

The second sticking point is over who should lead Syria, including its president and majority parliamentarians. Washington wants a pro-Western puppet of its choosing, supported by like minded legislators. Russia insists it’s up to Syrians alone – with clear core international law backing.

No nation may interfere in the internal affairs of any others for any reason except self-defense if attacked – even then only if Security Council authorized.

Syria threatens no one, not its neighbors, Washington or any other Western states. No Security Council resolution or Damascus permission authorized Washington and coalition allies to bomb Syrian territory and invade with small numbers of combat troops – on the phony pretext of combating ISIS.  

Assad is fighting to keep what the vast majority of Syrians want, cherish and deserve – their sovereign independence, putting them at odds with US imperial objectives.

Syria is Obama’s war, launched in March 2011, ongoing for nearly five years, along with other US imperial wars fully responsible for the severest refugee crisis since WW II – besides the millions of corpses and dismembered bodies, a stark testimony to US barbarity.

America wants its will imposed everywhere. Nations unwilling to obey its rules risk being ravaged and destroyed by its killing machine – complicit with imperial partners.

Kerry came to Moscow for another try at getting Putin to bend to America’s will, a futile mission. 

Russia’s leader wants all conflicts resolved diplomatically. He’s fundamentally anti-war, involved in Syria to combat the scourge of terrorism, not for territorial or any other gains.

Washington escalated its military operations in Syria, exclusively bombing infrastructure and government targets along with coalition allies – supporting, not opposing ISIS.

All claims otherwise are Big Lies. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad blasted US-led intervention in his country, saying:

“We doubt (it’s) sincere in their fight against terrorism. They do not coordinate their actions with the Syrian Army.” 

“This makes those forces illegal in Syria’s territory. One cannot say they are fighting terrorism. (It) must be a practical task, not this advertising gig that the West is engaged in.”

Mikdad blasted Saudi Arabia for forming a pro-ISIS bloc, comprised of terrorists wanting Assad forcibly ousted. 

“Syria does not negotiate with terrorists,” Mikdad stressed. The only place we meet them is (on) the battlefield. He welcomed support from any groups dedicated to combating ISIS and other terrorist groups – at the same time praising Russia for achieving “significant successes.”

Russia’s objectives are polar opposite Washington’s – supporting nation-state sovereignty, international law and world peace.

A Final Comment

Iraqi parliamentarians want Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request Russian aid in combating ISIS. Washington is going all-out to prevent it. 

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Baghdad to warn him against accepting Putin’s help. He’s stopped short of asking so far – for how long remains to be seen. Iraq has no chance to defeat its scourge without it.

US-led NATO war on Libya ravaged and destroyed the country, creating a continuing cauldron of violence in a divided country.

The West recognizes the Tobruk-based regime, led Abdullah al-Thani. A rival power headed by Prime Minister Khalifa al-Ghawi operates from Tripoli, the nation’s capital.

Days earlier, both sides agreed to a UN-brokered deal to form a unity government based in Tripoli. Earlier diplomatic efforts failed – perhaps this one as well.

General Khalifa Hafter was involved in US-led NATO’s war to oust Muammar Gaddafi. He’s now al-Thani’s armed forces commander.

On Friday, he said “(w)e welcome support from Russia in fighting terrorism.” ISIS has a foothold in Libya. Hafter commented after meeting with UNSMIL (UN peacekeeping) head Martin Kobler.

“(E)very day we wait, that you wait, is a gain for Daesh in this country,” said Kobler. “(I) am very glad to see that the general agrees on the urgency of the matter.”

Whether Russia will be asked to help (and if Putin will agree) remains to be seen. Washington will exert extreme pressure to prevent it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

Ukraine: Fascist Dictatorship, Deadbeat Borrower

 

Ukraine: Fascist Dictatorship, Deadbeat Borrower

Kiev’s US-installed, Nazi-infested putschist regime represents the reemergence of fascism in Europe’s heartland for the first time since WW II.

It’s run by a criminal gang of miscreants, headed by a billionaire oligarch crook and rogue prime minister. Both belong in prison, not high office.

Its regime imposed a moratorium on repaying its $3 billion eurobond debt obligation to Russia. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk announced it at a Friday cabinet meeting – duplicitously saying:

“Considering that Russia has refused, despite our efforts, to sign an agreement on restructuring and to accept our proposals, the cabinet is imposing a moratorium on payment of the Russian debt worth $3 billion. (It’s halted) until we make restructuring proposals or a relevant court decision is made.”

Russian upper house Federation Council International Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev blasted Kiev’s decision, saying:

“According to IMF rules, a moratorium by the Ukrainian government on the $3 billion debt repayment to Russia (constitutes) a declaration of Ukraine’s default.”

On Wednesday, the IMF declared Ukraine’s Russian debt as official and sovereign, no restructuring justified.

Kiev also halted debt repayments owed Russian banks. “The government is imposing a moratorium on the $507 million debt payment to Russian banks of two Ukrainian companies Yuzhnoe and Ukravtodor. From today all payments are suspended,” Yatsenyuk blustered.

Yesterday, Ukraine’s finance ministry headed by US transplant Natalya Yaresko, a shady figure with a disreputable background, ludicrously said Kiev “remains committed to negotiating in good faith.”

Russia offered $1 billion annual repayment terms of what it’s owed for the next three years – instead of all at once as originally stipulated. It wasn’t accepted.

Putin instructed his Finance Ministry to file a lawsuit for repayment if Kiev doesn’t fulfill its financial obligation within 10 days of the December 20 deadline.

Russia bought $3 billion worth of Ukrainian bonds from the democratically elected Yanukovich government. Putschists running the regime intend to default – with full US support and encouragement.

Economist Michael Hudson explained the IMF changed its rules for Ukraine. Earlier this month, “it made a radical decision to dismantle the condition that had integrated the global financial system for the past half century,” he explained.

Nations in financial arrears to others can’t qualify for an agency loan. Ukrainian fascists are getting special treatment afforded no other countries. For sure, US dirty hands are involved.

“(T)he IMF joined the New Cold War,” said Hudson – potentially heading toward turning red hot. The agency agreed to loan money to a financial deadbeat, changing its longstanding rules – Kiev unable or unwilling to honor its debt obligations.

Illegitimate oligarch president Petro Poroshenko wants IMF funding “to step up his nation’s civil war with the Russian-speaking population in” Southeastern Donbass, Hudson explained.

The US-controlled IMF is in bed with Europe’s most extremist regime – run by fascist kleptocrats, stealing the nation blind for their own self-enrichment, waging war on their own people, wanting only to live free under democratic governance.

Hudson quoted Kiev saying it “only enforce(s) debts owed in US dollars to US allies” – Washington’s latest scheme to punish nations not subservient to its dollar hegemony.

Russia, China and other countries are increasingly freeing themselves from this bondage. According to Hudson:

“The mirror-image response would be for the new Asian Development Bank to announce that countries that joined the ruble-yuan area did not have to pay US dollar or euro-denominated debts. That is implicitly where the IMF’s break is leading.”

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

posted by Steve Lendman @ 8:11 AM 

Turkey Dumping Refugees It Was Bribed to Accept

 

Turkey Dumping Refugees It Was Bribed to Accept

by Stephen Lendman

Turkey is a valued NATO member, a close US ally – a fascist police led by the Erdogan crime family, directly involved in Obama’s regional wars of aggression.

It was caught red-handed smuggling heavy and other weapons to ISIS and other terrorists in Syria along with supplying them with deadly sarin and other toxic agents to kill civilians, then wrongfully blame incidents on Assad.

Last month, the EU bribed Turkey with 3 billion euros and promised help to join the bloc in return for accepting refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries its member states don’t want.

EU leaders called the deal a key way to stem the tide of asylum-seekers. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it marked a new beginning in Ankara/Brussels relations.

Given Turkey’s horrific human rights record and unsavory history, especially under Erdogan, distrust remains high.

Agreement terms call for Ankara to increase Aegean Sea patrols in areas bordering Greece and Bulgaria, crack down on human smuggling gangs, and accept refugees turned away by EU countries.

European Council President Donald Tusk said EU officials will closely monitor Turkey’s implementation of terms reached. Davutoglu wouldn’t guarantee a slowdown in the human flood seeking safe havens in Europe, Germany the most favored destination.

Turkey is the main crossing point for Syrian and other regional refugees. It’s a short distance by sea to Greece. This year, well over 700,000 asylum seekers arrived in EU countries from Turkey, according to the International Organization of Migration.

A new Amnesty International (AI) report titled “Europe’s Gatekeeper” accuses Turkey of arresting, beating, painfully shackling and otherwise abusing refugees in isolated detention centers, many then deported back to war-torn Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere, their homeland countries.

AI said EU nations are “in danger of being complicit in serious human rights violations against refugees and asylum-seekers.”

They’re rounded up in large numbers, bused over 1,000km to desolate locations best described as concentration camps, grossly mistreated and held incommunicado – many then forcibly deported back from where they came.

According to AI’s Europe and Central Asia director John Dalhuisen, “(w)e have documented the arbitrary detention of some of the most vulnerable people on Turkish soil.” 

“Pressuring refugees and asylum-seekers to return to countries like Syria and Iraq is not only unconscionable, but it’s also in direct breach of international law.”

“By engaging Turkey as a gatekeeper for Europe in the refugee crisis, the EU is in danger of ignoring and now encouraging serious human rights violations. EU-Turkey migration-related cooperation should cease until such violations are investigated and ended.”

Turkey hosts the world’s largest refugee population, including about 2.2 million Syrians and 230,000 desperate people from other regional countries.

Until last September, treatment didn’t include brutalizing lawless detentions and forced deportations. Terms of the EU deal require Turkey to treat refugees humanely.

Instead, its funds are used to brutalize and expel vulnerable people deserving much better. All refugees AI representatives interviewed said they were forcibly detained, taken to Turkey’s western provinces, including Edirne and Mugla, before transported to desolate southern or eastern outposts.

They’re forcibly detained for weeks and denied outside contacts, including with lawyers and family members. Their only means of communication is through concealed cell phones.

Cases of horrific treatment included a 40-year-old Syrian man, isolated for seven days, his hands and feet painfully shackled.

“When they put a chain over your hands and legs, you feel like a slave, like you are not a human being,” he said. For many, this type horrific treatment is followed by pressure to sign a document in Turkish refugees don’t understand, then forced deportation.

Detainees said the only way they can leave detention is agreeing to return home. A three-year-old child’s fingerprints were used as evidence of his consent.

AI said it’s unknown how many refugees are being forcibly deported, but it believes it’s many, including to Afghanistan.

According to Dalhuisen, “(t)here is a total lack of transparency surrounding these cases and the real number of arbitrary detentions and unlawful deportations carried out by the Turkish authorities is unknown.” 

“This new practice must be investigated immediately to protect all refugees and asylum-seekers in Turkey.” 

So far, EU officials have done nothing to intervene responsibly. They’re complicit with Turkey and Washington – their wars causing the human flood in the first place.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

Obama’s Demagogic Double Talk on Countering Terrorism

 

Obama’s Demagogic Double Talk on Countering Terrorism

by Stephen Lendman

On Thursday, Putin and Obama spoke on major world issues. What a difference between them! 

Russia’s leader held his highly anticipated annual Moscow marathon Q & A with reporters – an exercise in candor and straightforwardness like all his remarks. 

It’s why a record number of Russian and foreign journalists came to hear him. His preeminence on the world stage is indisputable – making Obama look buffoon-like in comparison.

The US president disgraces the office he holds. He’s a war criminal multiple times over, a serial liar, a moral coward, his policies polar opposite his duplicitous rhetoric.

He addressed a National Counterterrorism Center briefing in the White House Situation Room, saying “(a)s president and commander-in-chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people.”

They’ve never been less safe since the republic’s founding. US policies under both parties feature endless wars of aggression, neoliberal harshness impoverishing growing millions, responsible for a protracted Main Street Depression, and horrific police state violations of fundamental human and civil rights.

America was never beautiful. Now it’s unfit and unsafe to live in – a third world country for most of its citizens, a sham democracy, waging permanent wars on humanity at home and abroad.

Obama continued hyping phantom terrorist threats, focusing on the state-sponsored Paris and San Bernardino false flags.

He lied claiming since 9/11 (the mother of all false flags), “we’ve taken extraordinary steps to strengthen our homeland security – our borders, our ports, our airports, our aviation security, including enhanced watch lists and screening.”

Post-9/11, America was transformed into a police state. Obama continued what George Bush began with perhaps much more on the way.

Things are fast heading for full-blown tyranny, rendering remaining constitutional protections null and void, perhaps under martial law, despite nothing warranting extreme measures – convincing people they’re safer  without freedoms earlier generations cherished.

They’re disappearing in plain sight. The only terrorism Americans need fear is state-sponsored. Alleged plots Obama claimed were foiled or prevented were entirely fabricated – innocent victims wrongfully imprisoned.

“(T)he mission to protect our homeland (continues) on three main fronts,” Obama blustered.

“First, we’re…hitting ISIL harder than ever in Syria and Iraq. We are taking out their leaders. Our partners on the ground are fighting to push ISIL back, and ISIL has been losing territory.”

Fact: As explained many previous times, ISIS and other terrorist groups are US creations, used as imperial foot soldiers, supported to wage war where they’re deployed – notably in Syria and Iraq.

Fact: US military forces killed no terrorist leaders, unless perhaps by mistake.

Fact: America’s so-called “partners on the ground” include ISIS, Al Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups. Syrian forces are the only ones combating this scourge along with vital Russian air power.

“Second, we continue to do everything in our power to prevent terrorists from getting into the United States,” Obama trumpeted.

Fact: There is no evidence of a single, independently verifiable terrorist attack on US soil in at least the last generation or two, perhaps never.

Fact: Potential terrorists invading America are phantoms. They don’t exist. The risk of any US citizen or resident being harmed by a terrorist attack is virtually zero. An uninformed, indifferent public is easy to convince otherwise.

Additional security measures Obama said are being implemented violate constitutional protections – on top of all the post-9/11 harm already done.

“Third, we’re stepping up our efforts to prevent (terrorist) attacks here at home,” according to Obama. Why when no threats exist!

Freedom in America is on a fast-track toward disappearing altogether. A nation waging permanent wars against invented enemies for fabricated reasons threatens humanity’s survival – given the power of today’s super-weapons.

America’s rage for unchallenged dominance risks ending life on earth.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

posted by Steve Lendman @ 2:55 AM 

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Putin’s Annual Tour de Force Press Conference

 

During the Great Depression and WW II, Franklin Roosevelt gave 30 evening radio addresses, known as fireside chats – the first time a US president communicated directly with ordinary Americans, discussing major issues of the time.

His high popularity derived from his communication skills, along with vital New Deal social programs fast disappearing today.

In December 1987, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev went out of his way to mingle briefly with ordinary Americans in Washington – after morning Soviet embassy business, including with Vice President GHW Bush.

En route to the White House to meet with Ronald Reagan, his motorcade stopped. He startled onlookers by exiting his car and began pressing the flesh. One woman marveled, saying: “The guy is a PR genius.” 

Today he’s an aging former world leader with important geopolitical thoughts when expressing them publicly.

Perhaps no other world leader currently communicates more effectively with the Russian and foreign press through unscripted annual marathon Q & A sessions than Vladimir Putin – an eagerly anticipated event because of his candor, straight talk, no double talk, demagoguery and deception like Obama.

He skipped his usual opening statement, jumped right into taking and answering questions in his customary straightforward way.

He welcomed Donald Trump’s recent statement, urging cooperative relations with Russia. He doesn’t rule out the possibility of a Saudi/US conspiracy to lower the oil price to hurt the economies of Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

“(T)hey’re might be a struggle of traditional producers of crude oil and shale oil,” he said. “The main thing for us is the overall level of prices, but if the low price is kept for too long, the companies will stop investing in new deposits.”

He urged unity among nations to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups. He called Turkey’s downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syrian airspace “an enemy act…Would it not have been easier just to pick up the phone,” he stressed.

He minced no words, saying “(t)here is a problem with the Turkish leadership,” pointing fingers at Erdogan, a tinpot despot.

“This was a stab in the back,” he said. “On an inter-state level, I do not see the prospect for improving relations.” Turkey constantly violated Syrian airspace before. “Let them try now,” Putin said. Russian aircraft and S-400 defense systems control Syrian skies.

He rejected US-led international calls to oust Assad, stressing Syrians alone have the right to decide who’ll “govern them and under what standards and rules.”

He intends to keep combating terrorism in Syria as long as Russian airpower is needed.

He declined to comment on the US presidential campaign, saying only “(w)hoever (is elected), we are ready and we want to develop our relations with the United States. We are going to work with any president the American people vote for.”

A record 1,390 journalists attended Putin’s 11th annual tour de force marathon. Last year’s yearend session took place against the backdrop of conflict in Ukraine and souring East/West relations.

This year it’s Syria and combating the scourge of terrorism. The event lasted slightly over three hours, answering numerous questions from dozens of Russian and foreign journalists.

Despite economic hard times, early November polling data showed his approval rating at an all-time 89.9% high – double what Obama scored in a recent December poll.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

US Phony War on ISIS Continues

 

US policy continues supporting the scourge it claims to oppose – directly aiding ISIS and other takfiri terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq, now getting a foothold in Libya and Central Asia.

Obama’s claims otherwise are a Big Lie. Since America supported Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan (today’s Taliban) against Soviet Russia, it spent countless billions of dollars recruiting, training, arming, funding and directing terrorist elements, used as proxy imperial foot soldiers where they’re deployed.

Ignore high-minded administration and Pentagon rhetoric. Nothing suggests US policy changed – nothing interfering with its longterm goal.

It wants all independent governments replaced with US-controlled vassal states – especially Russia, China and Iran, no matter the cost in human lives and misery.

Supportive major media maintain the grand deception, suppressing rogue state policies demanding daily headlines and calls for responsible officials to be prosecuted for high crimes too grave to ignore.

Instead, they air video footage of Russia’s anti-terrorism campaign, pretending strikes were carried out by US warplanes – where conducted, strictly avoiding ISIS and other takfiri targets unlike Moscow’s commitment to destroy them.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Moscow invited foreign journalists to view its Latakia, Syria operations firsthand.

“I have to stress that no-one has ever heard of the reporters’ press-tours to the (US-led) anti-ISIS coalition’s bases…(I)nternational TV channels are often using of the footage of Russian airstrikes to illustrate the airstrikes by the anti-ISIS coalition,” Konashenkov explained.

He politely stopped short of accusing them of willfully deceiving their viewers. Last month, the US Public Broadcasting News Hour used Russian aerial strike footage, claiming they were US airstrikes, deliberately lying to viewers.

Pentagon claims about destroying ISIS targets, including trucks carrying stolen oil, are willful deception. No evidence supports them – in contrast with Russia, having photographic evidence of every strike, displaying it publicly.

US cable, broadcast and European television channels operate the same way – maintaining the fiction of US-led war on ISIS, instead of reporting accurately on what’s ongoing.

At the same time, they regurgitate state-sponsored lies, maliciously claiming precision Russian airstrikes against ISIS and other terrorist groups are indiscriminate, killing civilians and phantom “moderates.”

Konashenkov minced no words saying “(t)oday we are the only (military) in the world that has showed how we have hit terrorist targets with specified precision weapons from Russian planes and ships (surface and subsurface).”

The claimed US-led war on ISIS is pure fiction. No evidence supports Pentagon and administration reports. Syrian and Iraqi infrastructure and government targets alone are being struck – supporting, not opposing ISIS.

US intelligence knows their precise locations, including its media operations spreading online propaganda. In over a year of US-led regional airstrikes, not a single media operation was bombed – on the phony pretext of avoiding civilian casualties.

US-led NATO notoriously bombed Belgrade media in 1999, Iraqi media in 1991 and 2003, Libya media in 2011 – along with residential communities and other nonmilitary targets wherever America wages war, inflicting enormous numbers of civilian casualties, disgracefully called “collateral damage.”

US wars since the beginning of the republic killed countless tens of millions of noncombatants – a horrific record of a ruthless rogue state, disdainful of human lives, public welfare and safety.

ISIS-run media operate in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Their locations are well-known, easy to destroy with targeted airstrikes, largely eliminating their propaganda war.

Their operations disseminate radical Islamic ideology worldwide, attracting new recruits. They should be prime targets to eliminate. 

They continue operating with US support, aiding its foot soldier allies, doing nothing to combat their scourge.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

Don’t miss it!

Another Anti-ISIS UN Resolution

 

Anti-ISIS lip service has been around a long time. Until Russia intervened in Syria against its forces and other terrorist groups on September 30, these elements made steady gains. 

Rhetorical Western and regional opposition did nothing to stop their advances. Resolutions declaring UN Member States’ unity in combating ISIS are one thing – commitment entirely another.

Russia alone among major powers is combating its scourge. America, Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Australia, Gulf States and other so-called US coalition partners support what they pretend to oppose.

Security Council resolutions changed nothing on the ground in Syria and Iraq. In August 2014, SC members unanimously adopted Res. 2170 – binding under the UN Charter’s Chapter VII, permitting members to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression” and to take military and nonmilitary action to “restore international peace and security.”

The resolution targeted ISIS, Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups.

In February 2015, SC members unanimously adopted Res. 2199 (binding under Chapter VII) to prevent ISIS and other terrorist groups from profiting from trade in oil, antiquities, hostages and other illicit sources of income.

In November 2015, SC members unanimously passed Res. 2249, calling on all Member States “to take all necessary measures” to defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups – “to redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by ISIL also known as Da’esh as well as ANF, and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the United Nations Security Council.”

On Thursday, Security Council members are scheduled to adopt the first joint US/Russian drafted resolution on combating ISIS. Its purpose is “to circle (the organization) as a separate, most vital terrorist threat.”

It stresses cutting off its funding sources. America heads the SC in December. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will chair the meeting – to be attended by finance ministers of some of the other SC members. Vitaly Churkin will represent Russia.

He said the resolution is binding under Chapter VII, as well as including “several brand new aspects.” Earlier SC resolutions “referred to (ISIS) as one of Al Qaeda’s divisions.”

“Now, the sanctions list is rebranded. The document offers expanded criteria of listing, which makes it possible to impose limitations on any individuals or corporates smudged by relations with” ISIS.

A key objective is “enforcement of the regime to reveal and stop illegal financing of (ISIS) and groups related to it by means of trade of oil, artifacts and other illegal sources.”

“The countries did have respective obligations well before this, but, unfortunately, those obligations have been observed not by all and not always.” 

Henceforth, UN monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms “will be focused clearly on eradication of those developments.”

What’s occurring on the ground and legally binding are world’s apart. Washington, rogue NATO partners, Israel, regional and other allies say one thing and do another.

SC resolutions and other legally binding measures change nothing on the ground. As long as Washington and partnered nations support ISIS and other terrorist groups, Russia alone with Syria, Iraq, Iran and Hezbollah forces will continue combating this scourge alone. 

Moscow is under no illusion otherwise, hard as it keeps trying to enlist other nations to unite responsibly against a universal threat – unable to exist without outside support.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine:

US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

Trump: Unstoppable Republican Aspirant?

 

The latest Monmouth University poll has him way out in front with 41% support – besting his closest rival, Senator Ted Cruz, at 14%, by nearly three-to-one margin.

Most other Republican candidates scored in the low single digits, including party favorite Jeb Bush at 3%. According to Monmouth director Patrick Murray, “(i)t has become abundantly clear that Trump is giving his supporters exactly what they want, even if what he says causes the GOP leadership and many Republican voters to cringe” – including his Islamophobic rants, wanting Muslim immigrants banned from entering America.

Hillary Clinton remains virtually uncontested so far for the Democrat party nomination – besting Bernie Sanders by a 59% – 26% margin, better than two to one.

Demagogic self-promotion, bombast, bravado and arrogance apparently work to Trump’s advantage. Why ordinary Americans would support a billionaire unconcerned about their welfare is hard to explain.

Hillary Clinton is a war goddess, Trump a US warlord. More on this below. He dismisses Ronald Reagan’s so-called 11th Commandment about “not speak(ing) ill of any fellow Republican.”

Last August on ABC’s This Week, he blasted Jeb Bush, saying: “We need a person (in the White House) with a lot of smarts, a lot of cunning, and a lot of energy. And Jeb doesn’t have that.”

On the same program, he denigrated Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (now out of the race), calling his state “really in trouble.”

On December 13, he attacked Ted Cruz, saying he acts like “a little bit of a maniac” in the Senate. He doesn’t have “the right temperament (or) right judgment” to be president.

During Tuesday’s Republican debate, he bashed Bush again, saying “(w)ith (his) attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you.”

He may hyperventilate his way to the White House, complete with an endless war agenda. He’s unabashedly pro-war, pro-monied interests, anti-populist and against what matters most to ordinary Americans.

Dirty business as usual will continue on his watch. He favors expanding America’s bloated military budget. He wants US boots on the ground in Middle East war theaters and all-out support for Israel’s killing machine.

On Fox News days earlier, he said Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy as Secretary of State caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

“You look at what she did with Libya, what she did with Syria. Look at Egypt, what happened with Egypt, a total mess,” Trump ranted.

“We don’t back any of our allies…She was truly, if not the, one of the worst Secretaries of State in the history of the country. She talks about me being dangerous. She’s killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity.”

“She was secretary of state. Obama was president…Look at what happened. The Middle East is a total disaster under her. She traveled back and forth, but look at all the problems.” 

“Look at, as an example, Iraq. Total disaster. They didn’t get us in, but they got us out badly. We spend $2 trillion, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over…”

He ignored America’s bipartisan responsibility for millions of lost lives post-9/11 alone – through endless wars, related violence, diseases, starvation and overall deprivation.

Trump supports more of the same – all-out Middle East war on the pretext of combating ISIS. Last month, he said he’d “bomb those suckers. That’s right. I’d blow up the pipes. I’d blow up the refineries, every single inch. There would be nothing left.”

Trump is part of the problem, not the solution. All US administrations support endless imperial wars for unchallenged global dominance.

Each one in recent decades exceeded the worst of their predecessors, notably post-9/11. 

No Jack Kennedy exists when most needed – a warrior turned peacemaker in office, assassinated for wanting US troops out of Vietnam, abolishing nuclear weapons and rapprochement with Soviet Russia, among other reasons.

Whoever succeeds Obama may exceed his dubious record as America’s most reckless warrior president.

He continues waging endless direct and proxy imperial wars in multiple theaters, risking direct confrontation with Russia, the horrific possibility of nuclear war assuring no winners.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Chavismo Against GM Seed Contamination

 

Chavismo Against GM Seed Contamination

Genetically modified (GM) foods and ingredients are hazardous to human health. In America alone, virtually all processed foods contain them. Consumers don’t know what they’re eating because Congress prohibited labeling. 

The danger is clear and unequivocal. Independent studies show serious potential health problems are linked to their consumption.

They never should have been approved in the first place. They should be banned straightaway, their sales prohibited henceforth.

Instead, US and other consumers are part of an unregulated mass human experiment, the results unknown so far. When available, it’ll be too late to reverse the enormous damage done.

Science has no way to reverse contamination of over two-thirds of arable US farmland, its crops unsafe to eat.

Last year, Russia banned GMOs, urged more organic food production. China banned GMO corn. Dozens of countries require labeling.

In Venezuela, Monsanto and other Ag giants tried circumventing Hugo Chavez’s GM seed ban. A proposed 2013 seed law introduced by a ruling PSUV party member was criticized for allowing back door entry. More on this below.

A revised law entirely banned GM seeds. Chavez prevented the planting of 500,000 acres of Monsanto’s GM corn seeds alone. Venezuelan farmers overwhelming oppose all GM crops.

Article 27 of Venezuela’s Constitution states the following:

“It is the right and duty of each generation to protect and maintain the environment for its own benefit and that of the world of the future.” 

“Everyone has the right, individually and collectively, to enjoy a safe, healthful and ecologically balanced life and environment.” 

“The State shall protect the environment, biological and genetic diversity, ecological processes, national parks and natural monuments, and other areas of particular ecological importance.” 

“The genome of a living being shall not be patentable, and the field shall be regulated by the law relating to the principles of bioethics.” 

“It is a fundamental duty of the State, with the active participation of society, to ensure that the populace develops in a pollution-free environment in which air, water, soil, coasts, climate, the ozone layer and living species receive special protection, in accordance with law.”

At the same time, GM seeds weren’t specifically banned, nor the consumption of GM crops. In June 2013, PSUV National Assembly member Jose Urena introduced new seed legislation, banning transgenic crops – stating none may be used “without the corresponding certification of biological harmlessness issued by the National Seed Institute” – a glaring loophole. 

Unequivocal prohibition is needed, no exceptions allowed. GMOs are too hazardous to human health to permit – in Venezuela or anywhere else.

On June 4, 2015, the Presidential Council on Communes, representing communal councils nationwide, comprised of citizen and government members, approved new seed legislation – for submission to National Assembly members for debate.

It was approved, affirming state authorities will promote sustainable, safe to human health, agriculture. It rejects production, distribution, sale and importation of GM seeds – henceforth banned in Venezuela.

A national seed institution will be created to audit and control seed supply and use – to identify, prevent and punish GM seed violators. 

Peasant seed is protected, the result of natural cross-breeding, long part of Venezuelan culture. Post-December 6 elections, won by opposition party members, everything is uncertain going forward.

Chavismo faces its greatest challenge. Chavistas intend going all-out to protect hard-won gains, too vital to lose – including safe food to eat, free from GM contamination.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

 

posted by Steve Lendman @ 9:47 AM 

Author of these posts, Stephen Lendman