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Updated: 17 hours 45 min ago

Webster Tarpley: "Iran can survive economic sanctions"

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 11:42
“Economic sanctions are a game that two can play,” Webster Tarpley told RT. Iran decided not to wait until July 1, when the EU oil embargo comes into effect, instead imposing its own “boycott on the offending powers, starting with the two biggest imperialist bullies on the schoolyard.” Britain and France "are now so weak that they can only act together,” he said. “They are a kind of an imperialist bicycle built for two. So they get slammed first.” Back from a lengthy visit to Iran, Tarpley saw (...) - 04. News in Brief /

The regime options : pluraliste Constitution and hunting to the extremists

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 05:06
Arab affairs The Gulf escalation fever When the Syrian state signed the cooperation protocol with the Arab League, it set a course for its acceptance of a transitional plan that would ensure a comprehensive solution to the crisis through specific and practical steps stipulated by the protocol. What brings this issue back on the table is the fierce campaign being led by the Gulf Cooperation Council states that are controlling the League and moving between New York, Cairo, Tunis and Paris (...) - Orient Tendencies / ,

The regime options : pluraliste Constitution and hunting to the extremists

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 05:06
Arab affairs. The Gulf escalation fever. When the Syrian state signed the cooperation protocol with the Arab League, it set a course for its acceptance of a transitional plan that would ensure a comprehensive solution to the crisis through specific and practical steps stipulated by the protocol. What brings this issue back on the table is the fierce campaign being led by the Gulf Cooperation Council states that are controlling the League and moving between New York, Cairo, Tunis and Paris (...) - Orient Tendencies / ,

Morocco: Prison without parole for violating "sanctity" of Mohammed VI

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 20:00
Walid Bahomane, an 18-year-old Moroccan, was arrested on 24 January 2012, then tried and sentenced on 16 February by the Rabat Court of First Instance to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams (1,000 euros), for "violating the sanctity of Mohammed VI" on Facebook. His crime was to publish on his page a cartoon ​​by a Burkinabese designer: His Majesty the King Mohammed the Sixth, Commander of the Faithful, seen through a key hole (see illustration). The title "Commander of the (...) - 04. News in Brief /

Israel's Levant Basin—a new geopolitical curse? Part 1

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 16:52
A recent major oil and gas find is bound to change dramatically the geopolitical equation in the Eastern Mediterranean region and beyond. To start with, it has sent Israel from rags to riches in terms of energy independence and security. However, Lebanon contends that part of the gas field lies within its territorial waters, and Washington happens to agree. Engdahl explores the implications of this key development, which have already rippled into the U.S. electoral scene, with Netanyahu (...) - 01. Focus / , , , ,

Washington admits Bashar al-Assad's ouster not on the cards

Fri, 02/17/2012 - 13:04
After hearing the terrifying report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN General Assembly condemned the repression in Syria by 137 votes in favor, 12 against and 17 abstentions. After Homs and Hama, the Syrian Army has taken back Deraa. The survivors of the Wahhabi Legion have regrouped in the north. It is to soon to tell whether they will flee to Turkey or launch a final battle in Idlib. The Director of US Intelligence, James Clapper, has attributed the attacks in Damascus (...) - Syria Press Review /

Policy of targeted killings in Damascus

Fri, 02/17/2012 - 12:49
Sheikh Mohammed Ahmad Sadeq, Imam of the Anas Bin Malek mosque in the al-Midane neighborhood of Damascus, was shot dead by an armed terrorist group on Thursday, February 16. In a recent sermon, the Sunni cleric condemned calls by the opposition to sabotage Syria. He had urged the Ulama of Damascus to sit around the same table to issue a statement appealing for an end violence, regardless of the source. Sheikh Sadeq, who held a doctorate in Islamic law, was married and had four children, (...) - 04. News in Brief / , ,

Free "Syrian" Army stronghold equipped with Milan missiles

Thu, 02/16/2012 - 22:36
The Battle of Homs was particularly deadly for the belligerents on both sides, as well as for civilians. During the first three days, the Syrian Arab Army was warded off by the rebels that blocked all entry points to their neighborhood. They destroyed all approaching armored vehicles using Milan missiles. Ultimately, the Syrian Arab Army had to resort to multiple rocket launchers to bombard the Milan firing posts, at the risk of causing heavy civilian casualties. Each Milan shooting (...) - 04. News in Brief /

Syria indicted before UN General Assembly

Thu, 02/16/2012 - 15:55
The United Nations General Assembly, presided by Qatar, held a special session on the Syrian situation. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, South African lawyer Navi Pillay, presented a chilling report on the abuses attributed to the al-Assad administration, with particular emphasis on rape (when she chaired the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Ms Pillay had developed a case law equating "mass rape" to a "genocide"). She deduced that the discord at the Security Council (...) - Syria Press Review /

Foreign instructors leave, Al Qaeda arrives

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 16:39
The new Western discourse coincides with the withdrawal of many foreign instructors, as witnessed in the field, and with the statements of Ayman al-Zawahari (the Egyptian leader of Al-Qaeda since the official demise of Osama bin Laden) announcing the arrival of his fighters. In fact, Al-Qaeda is already on the ground inside Syria, where the Libyan Abdel Hakim Belhaj (the organization's number-two man) has been seen supervising the "Free" Syrian Army. This charade is intended to cloak NATO's (...) - Syria Press Review /

Egypt and Syria

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 13:30
Arab Affairs Egypt and Syria What happened in Egypt was definitely a revolution, but what is currently happening in Egypt is definitely not part of the revolution's course. Until this moment, it is not yet clear why the army rushed to proclaim its known position regarding its assumption to power, while the time has not yet come for the exposure of the roles played by Qatar and Turkey in the deal which was later on revealed between the command of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Egypt (...) - Orient Tendencies / , , ,

Qatar buys General al-Dhabi's resignation

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 00:26
Sudanese General al-Dhabi, considered until recently as the Darfur peace negotiator, has been targeted by an international smear campaign after the first daily reports by the Arab League monitors started to show that his Mission would not endorse the Atlanticist version of events in Syria. However, Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi remained steadfast in the face of persistent pressure and, at the end of one month's investigation, issued a summary report indicating that the Syrian security (...) - 04. News in Brief / ,

Many Americans gave up hope last year – 2012 will be worse

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 23:23
Joseph Stiglitz comments on the recent woes of the U.S. economy, which came as a rude awakening for the apostles of the "American dream." It is thanks to the special status of the dollar that Washington still enjoys an authority disproportionate to its objective economic capacities. So far, the U.S. military managed to deter any challenge to this privileged status. Nevertheless their position is eroding, both morally and militarily, in the face of emerging powers. Accordingly, the double (...) - 06. Controversies / ,

End of game in the Middle East

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 21:42
Although the armed clashes are not completely over in the beleaguered district of Homs and that the Syrian and Lebanese authorities have yet to inform public opinion of their recent actions, Thierry Meyssan appeared Monday night on the leading Russian television channel to make an initial assessment of the operations, providing first-hand information which he is sharing with the readers of Voltaire Network. For eleven months, the Western powers and the Gulf States have lead a campaign to (...) - 01. Focus / , ,

End of game in the Middle East

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 21:42
Although the armed clashes are not completely over in the beleaguered district of Homs and that the Syrian and Lebanese authorities have yet to inform public opinion of their recent actions, Thierry Meyssan appeared Monday night on the leading Russian television channel to make an initial assessment of the operations, providing first-hand information which he is sharing with the readers of Voltaire Network. For eleven months, the Western powers and the Gulf States have lead a campaign to (...) - 01. Focus / , ,

Syria's Uprising in Context

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 18:22
In this analytical overview, Canadian pundit Stephen Gowans puts his finger on a fundamental aspect which informs on Washington's real regime change ambitions in Syria. Political dictatorship in Syria is over. However, what does subsist is a state committed to independent, self-directed economic development...hardly the free-enterprise model in line with the interests of overseas banks, investors and corporations. Since the beginning of the unrest in Syria, “the government has said that (...) - 06. Controversies /

US war games in South East Asia

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 18:20
"Cobra Gold 2012 " is on track. More than 13 000 soldiers, including troops from the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan are currently participating in war games in Thailand. The 10-day exercise takes place every year, but since it was started in 1982, this is the most important. Indeed, South Korea joined the endeavor by contributing, in particular, its amphibious landing vehicles. The troops followed a series of training drills simulating (...) - 04. News in Brief / , , , ,

Iran's Historic Anniversary

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 17:17
Mesmerized by the multitudinous celebrations marking the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Stephen Lendman observes that if the United States has never witnessed anything similar, it is because people who have nothing to celebrate "simply don't get out and do it." Against a backdrop of US interference in Iran's internal affairs, the author wonders whether gaining control of its entirely government-owned central bank may be one of the major factors driving Washington's military (...) - 06. Controversies /

Al-Qaeda strikes in Aleppo

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 13:01
In reporting the Aleppo attacks, the international press has consecrated four times less space than usual. This can be interpreted in two ways: Either the public is getting weary of the rampant Iraqization of Syria or the press is baffled by the responsibility claims. The attacks of Aleppo were in fact first claimed by a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, then condemned by another. Simultaneously, an American intelligence report attributed them to Al-Qaeda, a claim confirmed in a statement (...) - Syria Press Review /

Syria 2011-2012, a rematch of Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 01:49
Syria has been slated for regime change since at least 2002, when it was included in the "Axis of Evil" by the Bush Administration. In this context, Nazemroaya maintains that toppling the government in Damascus was the key objective of Israel's ill-fated blitz on Lebanon in 2006. In geo-political terms, what Israel failed to achieve then is currently being attempted by NATO and the GCC through a low-intensity proxy war inside Syria itself. Syria has been on the Pentagon's drawing board for (...) - 06. Controversies /