Saturday 10 December 2011

Aggression is closing on Syria


Saturday, Dec 10, 2011
By Ghali Hassan



"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." Frederic Bastiat, French thinker (1801-1850).
The U.S. and its allies are preparing for aggression against Syria as part of the U.S.-Israel destabilisation agenda in the region. The pretext is, as usual, the “protection of civilians” and installing of Western-style “democracy”. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The aim is to topple the current Syrian government and replace it with a puppet government subservient to U.S.-Israel Zionist interests.
It should be noted that because of Syria’s support for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance to Israel’s terror and Syria’s ties with Iran, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is deemed a ”threat” to U.S. and Israel interests. Hence, a Syrian regime subservient to U.S.-Israel dictates is vital to isolate Iran. It ignores Israel’s Zionist expansion.
The ongoing foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs is a reminder of the recent criminal foreign interference in Libya, which began with the imposition of a “no-fly” zone over Libya that was an illegal military invasion of Libya. Media reports show that the U.S. and Israel have hired Saudi and Lebanese elements to foment unrest in Syria, and to create a rift between the government and the Syrian people based on sectarian divisions.
The demonization campaign by the U.S. and its allies to delegitimize the Syrian government is similar to the demonization campaign that was carried out in Libya. On 25 November 2011, the Arab League – a collection of illegitimate despots controlled by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil fiefdoms – suspended Syria’s membership in the League and called for economic and diplomatic sanctions against the nation of Syria. Like Libya, the suspension of Syria from the Arab league provides the U.S. and its allies with a fig-leaf to attack Syria and wage war against another Muslim nation.
The Arab League has a long history of betrayal and has become irrelevant. “It is Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that have helped hijack the League. The GCC is comprised of the Arabian Gulf petro-sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. None of these countries are model states, let alone democracies. Their U.S.-installed leaders have betrayed the Palestinians, helped attack Iraq, support Israel against Lebanon, demolished Libya, and now they conspire against Syria and its regional allies”. He added “[The Arab League] has been hijacked and serves Washington and its NATO allies instead of any genuinely Arab interests”. Like the GCC, the Arab league is a tool of U.S. imperialism. Its shameful act against Syria (a reprise of its shameful act against Libya) is an act of war against another Arab nation.
The most shameful of all of this is the role of the U.S.-backed Arab despots led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. It is ironic that these despots are motivated by concern for human rights and democracy in Syria. Decades of repression, embezzlement of the peoples’ wealth and resources by these despotic regimes led to high levels of inequality and corruption. Despite their wealth, they remain backwards, indulging in Western decadence and turning away from Islam as a way of life. They espouse and practise an extremist (Islamic) view that is destroying Islam as a great religion. They are unelected, illegitimate rulers and do not tolerate any opposition to their tyrannical rule.
Saudi Arabia, of course, is the world’s most repressive regime. It is also the U.S.’s closest ally. It is an absolute monarchy which sees freedom and human rights as a threat to its corrupt ruling class. Ordinary Saudi women are excluded from employment, which is very high (40%) among young men and women. Saudi Arabia’s so-called “anti-terror” law criminalises dissent as “terrorist crimes” and allows for long detention of people without charge. Dissent in Saudi Arabia is dealt with brutally. On 21 November 2011, Saudi troops opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, killing four demonstrators and injuring more. Saudi rulers don’t tolerate dissent in their neighbouring countries.
In March 2011, Saudi forces invaded Bahrain and brutally crushed pro-democracy protesters. The invasion was encouraged and supported by the U.S. administration. The recent report by the King of Bahrain’s appointed commission, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), was an orchestrated whitewash designed to enforce the rule of the despotic monarchy. Nevertheless the report found “systematic abuses of human rights” during the government attacks on pro-democracy protests. The 500-page report outlines various abuses committed by King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa’s despotic regime. According to the report, detainees – including medical staff whose only crimes were to treat injured protesters – were tortured and sexually abused. The report was immediately buried by Western media before it saw daylight.
Step by step, the Libyan model is being implemented in Syria. On 28 November, the UN – the right arm of U.S. imperialism – accused Syrian forces of "crimes against humanity" in their defence of the Syrian nation against Western-sponsored armed gangs and terrorists. The so-called ‘UN Human Rights Council’ report is entirely based on lies fabricated by expatriates in London, Paris and Washington. While the report accuses the government of “committed atrocities”, the report has completely omitted the death and torture of thousands of Syrians, including soldiers and police, by the armed gangs. The report’s main purpose is to demonise the Syrian government and justify Western armed aggression. The report was immediately disseminated by Western propaganda organs, including the BBC, CNN, Fox News, Al-Jazeera and the print media led by the Murdoch Press.
The report was a carbon copy of the UN reports on Iraq and Libya before they were invaded and destroyed by the U.S.-NATO militaries. The same pack of lies that were used to justify U.S barbaric aggression against Iraq has been recycled against Syria. The report is a prelude to a U.S.-NATO aggression against Syria. Where was the UN Human Rights Council when the U.S. perpetrated genocide in Iraq? It is evident that the UN is playing the role of a facilitator of Western-perpetrated war crimes. Disinformation is important and effective in manipulating public opinion and creating an atmosphere of war.
While the UN is busy manipulating world public opinion on behalf of U.S.-NATO armies, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Qatari despot, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, pledged to support (i.e., shipment of arms and money) the Syrian “opposition groups” in an attempt to shore up “democracy”. Of course, David Cameron’s and the Qatari despot’s love for democracy is evident in their violent destruction of Libya. Today, Libya is a mirror image of Iraq, looted, ruined and mired in violence. Tens of thousands of Libyans (and Africans) have been murdered, thousands are languishing in torturous prisons and a third of the population is displaced.
Still blood-thirsty, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the creation of a secure “humanitarian zone” to protect civilians similar to the Libyan “humanitarian zone” where thousands of innocent civilians were murdered by U.S.-NATO armies. The pretext of “human rights” to justify war of aggression has been around since the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Germany. The German Nazis used the pretexts of “protecting civilians” to justify military invasions and violence. Indeed, since the early 1990s, the world has witnessing the rise and rise of Anglo-American fascism invading and terrorising defenceless nations and leaving them in complete ruin on the pretext of “protecting civilians”.
According to the Turkish daily newspaper, Milliyet (28 November 2011): “France sent its military training forces to Turkey and Lebanon to coach the so-called Free [Syrian] Army — a group of defectors operating out of Turkey and Lebanon — in an effort to wage war against Syria”. Foreign mercenaries have been pouring through the border with Lebanon. As mentioned earlier, they are armed and financed by the CIA, Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
It is important to remember that the armed insurrection against the Syrian government – financed and armed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan – has been confined to smaller cities and towns along the borders with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. (For more, see my Target Syria). The overwhelming majority of Syrians support President Bashar al-Assad, particularly in major population centres, such as Damascus, Latakia and Aleppo. Recent pro-government demonstrations in these major cities have attracted millions of al-Assad supporters.
Meanwhile, Turkey is exploiting the violence to serve Turkey’s and NATO imperialist interests. Turkey has been promoting the creation of “a buffer zone” in Syria to train and arm the so-called “Syrian resistance” to the Syrian government. In its flagrant interference in Syrian domestic affairs, Turkey has sponsored several conferences aimed at building an opposition to the Syrian government and Turkey was instrumental in creating the so-called Syrian National Council (SNC), a fractious coalition of expatriates and armed extremists. Their leaders have already indicated that they will cut Syria’s ties with Iran and with the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements once they are in a position of “power” in Syria. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the SCN spokesman, Burhan Ghalioun, “was forced (and there is no other explanation for it) to come clean about the nature of the payback required of the Syrian opposition by its U.S., Turkish, Gulf, and European supporters”, observed Ibrahim al-Amin, editor-in-chief of al-Akhbar news. Large quantities of weapons have been smuggled into Syria from Turkey to foment civil war in the country. Turkey is even contemplating an invasion of Syria if Ankara receives the green light from Washington. Turkey is not interfering in Syria’s internal affairs because “White Turks” suddenly began to care about human rights and democracy in the Arab World, Turkey’s interference is self-serving and on behalf of U.S.-Israel Zionist interests.
Turkey pretends to be an even-handed “mediator” in the region, a “bridge” between the West and Muslim nations. In reality, White Turks are subservient to Western imperialism and have been performing the role of an imperialist proxy since the rise of Kamal Ataturk. While Turkey prides itself of being a Muslim nation, Turkey espouses a Western-oriented “Calvinist Islam”, which clearly conflicts with Islamic principles. Turkey’s decades-long relationship with the Zionist state of Israel and Turkey’s participation in U.S.-NATO (Turkey is a NATO member) wars against Muslim nations are anti-Islam. Indeed, many ordinary Turks have condemned Turkey’s role in the U.S.-NATO destruction of Libya and the mass murder of Libyan civilians. Furthermore, Turkey’s decision to allow the U.S.-NATO to deploy a nuclear missile “shield” on its soil that is directly aimed at Iran and other Muslim nations is an outright hypocrisy and a betrayal of Islam.
Turkey’s recent posturing as a champion of Palestine is opportunistic rhetoric designed for domestic and regional consumption. If White Turks really care about human rights, they will end Turkey’s cooperation with Israel and impose economic sanctions against the Zionist state. White Turks should be concerned about human rights in their own backyard. The Arabs should and must reject Turkey’s new role as a gendarme on behalf of imperialism and Zionism.
U.S. interference in the affairs of sovereign nations, including Arab nations, is well-documented. The U.S. is the greatest enemy of democracy, human rights, and international law. Regarding democracy, the U.S. ruling class prefers what Hillary Clinton called: “The kind of democracy that we want to see”. The kind of democracy in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran under the torturer Shah Reza Behlavi, Egypt under the tyrannical Mubarak, and Chile under the fascist regime of Augusto Pinochet. In fact, it would be very difficult to name a single murderous dictator that was not (put in power) financed and armed by the U.S. and its allies. The U.S. has long love affairs with murderous dictators and fascists.
Furthermore, U.S. agencies and think-tanks, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), George Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and many more are directly involved in financing opposition groups in the Arab world and beyond. The New York Times (14 April 2011) revealed, “a number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the [Middle east], including the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen, received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a non-profit human rights organization based in Washington”. In Syria, NED is directly involved in financing the armed insurrection in Syria through its partner, the Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies, an anti-Syrian government organisation. In the case of Egypt, the U.S. supported the Mubarak regime to the end. Once Mubarak was ousted, the U.S. switched sides and has begun promoting divisions and sectarianism. At the same time, the U.S. continues to work with its faithful client, the Egyptian Army to manipulate the “revolution” to serve U.S.-Israel Zionist interests. However, if regime change cannot be achieved through what is so-called “colour revolution” and economic sanctions, the U.S. uses military intervention (illegal aggression) to achieve its goal. It happened in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and it is closing on Syria.
Finally, Syria is not a perfect country. Like in every country, Syria has internal oppositions of several parties. They are against violence and foreign interference in their country’s affairs. The Syrian people want real reforms – economic and political reforms – that serve their interests. The Syrian people have suffered greatly in the last decade. As a result of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and more than 2 million Iraqi refugees, the Syrian economy has stagnated and living conditions have deteriorated. The Syrian people don’t want U.S.-sponsored regime change. An opinion poll conducted in March 2009 revealed that more than two-thirds of the Syrian population viewed the U.S. unfavourably. The decision to change the current Syrian government and political system remains in the hands of the Syrian people.
With powerful forces gathered against them, the Syrian people are facing violent aggression to destroy and plunder their nation. There is no excuse to remain on the sideline, complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The struggle to uphold international law and oppose aggression must continue.
 Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst living in Australia.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Santa-Jeff Feltman Delivers his Annual Yuletide Gifts to Lebanon


Franklin Lamb
South Beirut
Edited by Alex


Over the past few years, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman has sledded into Lebanon bearing gifts during the Yuletide season more regularly than Santa Clause. Yet, as happened yesterday, he somehow manages to finish his gift giving and lift off to continue his rounds as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
No sooner had I arrived back in Lebanon than I heard the news that he was on his way—again to deliver holiday tidings to Lebanese officials.

I began thinking that one useful gift he could deliver to me personally would be to sign off on plans for this year’s US Embassy Christmas Party and invite, well, moi. The US Embassy Christmas Party is a fun and festive event from which Jeffrey banned this observer during part of his 2004-8 tenure as US Ambassador . Telling his then vice-consul in 2007, “Lamb can celebrate Christmas with those elements he associates with, plus he can’t carry a tune and he messes up, my favorite (Christmas) Carol, (ed: which just like mine happens to be: “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem!”). So now each year I must sing along with Bing Crosby via a real spotty Internet connection, since Lebanon ranks 183rd out of 203 countries, just behind Afghanistan and Sudan, in the worlds ranking as slowest internet.
Someone who knows Jeff fairly well, told this observer that ever since the former Saad Hariri March 14th government, still commonly referred to as “Feltmans Government,” in some Lebanese neighborhoods including mine, was ousted and forced into opposition last year, Feltman has been in a bit of a snit regarding Lebanon.
His mood was not helped much the other day when, as his bad luck would have it, the day before he arrived from Jordan, his arch nemesis, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah shocked Washington and Tel Aviv, while thrilling Resistance supporters in Lebanon and around the region, by appearing in person at this year’s Rayah Field Ashoura gathering, near my apartment and commemorating the 7th Century martyrdom at Karbala of Ibn Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).


Plus the US Assistant Secretary learned he would not be granted a meeting with Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman as payback for Feltman snubbing Sulieman and his wife Wafaa during his recent visit to Washington. Feltman’s refusal to meet with Lebanon’s President was explained as being punishment for Sulieman being suspected of being too close to Hezbollah politically.
In fairness to Feltman, he did make a point of telling the media that the US is interested in Sleiman’s view of the region’s developments. He added that he thinks Sleiman has a good point of view regarding the situation in Syria, and how best to protect Lebanon and he would welcome a chance to sit with Lebanon’s President. Sleiman didn’t bite and refused to meet with Jeff, whose snub in Washington also hurt the feelings of Sleiman’s gracious wife Wafaa who according to Serail gossip not only bought two new outfits for anticipated social events but reportedly ended up at one point having to settle for carry-out Chinese food from DC’s China town and got indigestion. And it was all Jeff’s fault.
In reality, Feltman is visiting Beirut to put new conditions on the Lebanese government after Lebanon paid its share of funds to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. His visit comes following months of criticism by Washington over Lebanon’s failure to agree on a plan to fund a U.N.-backed tribunal probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and repeated warnings to Lebanon about adhering to sanctions on neighboring Syria.
Feltman said in an interview published on 12/6/11 that Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s decision to transfer Lebanon’s share of funds to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is in the interest of Lebanon. In fact, Feltman, like the March 14th team, was not at all happy with Lebanon transferring the STL funding but was hoping that Lebanon’s government would not send the $ 32,000,000, being its 49% share of the STL budget, and that the government would be forced to resign.
 A view Feltman partially shared with Hezbollah but for different reasons.
Feltman’s pals at the US Treasury Department planned to grab and squeeze Lebanon where it hurts most… sanctions on Lebanon’s banking system which is currently making a financial killing given banking ramifications of the crisis in Syria. Lebanon has traditionally been a refuge for Syrian money laundering. Today, the US is threatening Lebanese banks, and has sent Treasury officials to Beirut with instructions for Lebanese banks to scrutinize Syrian accounts like never before.
Just last month, Feltman threatened Prime Minister Miqati with Chapter 7 Security Council sanctions on Lebanon if it had failed to fund the STL. Feltman reportedly carried a list of those sanctions in his jacket pocket much like Philip Habib used to do when the Reagan administration made fake promises to the PLO, some of which Arafat fell for, to get the Palestinian forces to leave Beirut in the summer of 1982.
It seems that every Christmas season has its bleak aspects for most of us including for a self-clamed optimistic like Assistant Secretary Feltman. As recently as Halloween he was predicting major bad times for Hezbollah because as the claimed organizer of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), he reportedly was quite confident that “the Terrorist government of Hezbollah will collapse over the STL funding issue” and Feltman’s March 14th team would be back running things.

So faced with that disappointment, since Hezbollah is still very much the main pillar of the Lebanese government, what was Feltman to do? He could do what he always does and that is the make the boring rounds of the same Lebanese officials with US Ambassador Connelly in tow. He saw Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who genuinely likes Jeffrey and organized a lunch for him, and Parliament Speaker, Nabi Berri. 

Both were outed early this year by wilkileaks as being quite comfortable with Jeff’s view of the political situation in Lebanon and both having raised eyebrows earlier this year by seemingly dissing Hezbollah and appearing to root for Israel during its 2006 aggression.

Jumblatt admitted wilkileaks was accurate in the cables it leaked while Berri denied the truth of the cables concerning him. This year, both Jumblatt and Berri were reportedly quite shy about revealing some of their personal views to Feltman as they worried that their confidential statements may appear in print if wilkileaks somehow manages to stay in business.To further fill in his schedule this year, Jeffrey held a news conference and again announced that the US favored the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon and was opposed to any outside interference. Many yawned at that statement.

Then he promised to support the Lebanese army. More yawns again since Lebanon has heard all this so many times before with zero results and as one fellow wrote the Beirut Daily Star, “ the US call keep their 1960 model M-16’s and Huey rusting tanks! We don’t want them.” 
 Finally Jeff presented the gift that he must have thought Lebanon would really like this season. He announced that the US would help Lebanon protect its borders from foreign intervention. But every school kid here knows the US does not mean protection from Israel but only from Syria so the Lebanese reaction was once again less than appreciative
.
Jeff’s Lebanese hosts, again this year, were far too polite, as was the local media, to ask the Assistant Secretary about his 2008 Christmas gift to Lebanon when he promised former Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, that he would personally see to it that Israel returns Sheba Farms and Ghajar village to Lebanon by Christmas 2008. Lebanon is still waiting to receive that promised holiday gift.Feltman, seemingly exasperated, returned to the “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization!”bromide in an attempt to connect with the Lebanese public. “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that participated in the elections,” Feltman told the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on 12/6/11. “But when they dislike the status quo, they impose their will through force and violence.”
Surely, Assistant secretary Feltman knows better than to beat the dead horse claim that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. He must be aware that the State Department relies on Section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 for their definition of “terrorism” and listing those who qualify as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
According to the US State Department, terrorism is the “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents”.
The listed organization must engage in terrorist activity, as defined in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(3)(B)), or terrorism, as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. § 2656f(d)(2)). And retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
The organization’s terrorist activity or terrorism must also threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States. Admittedly the US Government has had difficulty coordinating its various branches in creating a single definition given that a 1998 Army Report counted 109 different definitions of terrorism.
Feltman understands the current definition and that the US government’s definition is unique to subnational groups whereas Hezbollah is not a subnational group within the US government definition but rather is part of the Lebanese government. Furthermore, both the party and the Lebanese Cabinet claim that its militia is part of Lebanon’s national defense.
Several examinations, of which Feltman is presumably aware, within and outside US government agencies, have virtually all found that accusations by the US Treasury and the State Department against Hezbollah were not supported by US law or by the facts as uncovered.
A few examples:
 The October 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks was found not to have been done by Hezbollah according to a CIA investigation by agent Robert Baer. The same, according to Baer, with the US Embassy bombing of April 17, 1983.
The 1992 blowing up of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina was found not to have been done by Hezbollah. With respect to the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires the CIA found only“very weak evidence.”
With respect to the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in 1985 and the killing of a U.S. Navy Diver, over two decades ago, even before Hezbollah was fully formed, the CIA has pointed the finger at Islamic Jihad, not Hezbollah.
No probative evidence has been uncovered that Hezbollah, rather than various militia groups throughout Beirut and Lebanon, as Hezbollah claims, carried out the kidnappings of Western hostages in the 1980’s.
Some have used the term “kidnapping” to describe Hezbollah’s capture of Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006. This is a misuse of the term kidnapping. Even Israeli Defense Minister Ehub Barak has denied that this capture of enemy combatants was terrorism.
Concerning accusations that Hezbollah was involved in the training Iraqi Shi'a Militants since 2004 in constructing IED's, used for allegedly attacking US and Coalition forces in Iraq, there has never been proof presented that the militias involved were even classified as terrorist organizations. Rather they were legitimately involved in repelling foreign military occupiers who not only are not non-combatants but who were slaughtering the civilian population of Iraq. Moreover, Hezbollah has denied the allegations. Even if there was some involvement by Hezbollah trained individuals, yet unproven, this does not prove that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization except by proxy through its assistance of other groups accused of terrorism. This rationale would result in classifying the entire Lebanese government as a state sponsor of terrorism, in the same category as Iran, Venezuela, and Syria, since Hezbollah is a legal member, indeed a pillar, of Lebanon’s government.
In failing to dampen holiday spirits much in Lebanon this year as he makes his rounds by relying on the outdated idea that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and that the sky is falling, Jeffrey Feltman gets stuck in a chimney so to speak. We’ll have to be patient to learn what Yuletide presents the Assistant Secretary brings Lebanon next year.



Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.comHe is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon.
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Reminder: Wikileaks: Jumblatt: "The tribunal is a psychological tool to rally the Sunni masses; how else can it be done?"

Via FLC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIRUT 000060

12. (S) The Saudis had come through with a USD 10 million cash injection to Jumblatt himself three months ago, he told us openly. Jumblatt, who employs a legion of retainers and security personnel and is obligated by his quasi-feudal position in Druze society not only to spread cash around but to outdo the patronage of his Druze rivals, had nearly run out of money in mid-late 2006. The new Saudi money, he said, would last him for "a couple of years only." (Comment: The revelation that Jumblatt had just received a cash lifeline might explain a number of observations about his recent behavior. Not only had he seemed calmer and more confident in the last few months but bolder, assailing Hizballah in public with allegations of involvement in Rafiq Hariri's assassination and the attempt on Marwan Hamadeh's life.
Jumblatt told us in earlier meetings that Rafiq Hariri used to give him about $3 million a year to keep Druse loyalty on his side. End Comment.) Jumblatt said that he would visit Saudi Arabia following the Prime Minister's next visit.  
13. (SBU) Jumblatt is concerned about low birth rates among Druze (whose religion severely restricts intermarriage with other faiths) and their migration to other parts of Lebanon, and noted that the Chouf's "theoretical" population is 150,000 but that its current population is closer to 30,000.
In an attempt to reverse the trend, Jumblatt launched, in conjunction with the new Sheikh al-Akl (whom Jumblatt installed over the objections of March 8 Druze) a program to assist Druze families having more than one child, a program made possible by his new Saudi financing.  
14. (C) Jumblatt hailed as a "good trend" the denunciation of Hamas by Muslim Brotherhood parliamentarians in Egypt for Hamas' ties to Iran. The Brotherhood in Jordan had made a similar statement, he said,... 
15. (C) Nevertheless the specter of a Sunni-Shia conflict in Lebanon is exerting a moderating influence in the current crisis. Not only do the various Lebanese sides fear a return to civil war, but Syrian Sunnis could threaten the Damascus regime in such a case. At present, those Sunnis cannot act as long as Arab states do nothing to help them, he added.
The only leader concerned with their fate is King Abdullah, while by contrast, Algeria, Libya and Morocco are supporting Asad....  
18. (C) Jumblatt told us that Charles Rizk was prepared to make important compromises to establish the tribunal, including dropping Article 3, which makes superiors culpable for the acts of their subordinates. Jumblatt wondered out loud "can we drop the tribunal?" -- for a moment, he seemed to seriously consider it -- and concluded "no, we cannot!
The tribunal is a psychological tool to rally the Sunni masses; how else can it be done?" Asked for suggestions as to what the international community can do to help, Jumblatt shrugged and said simply, "There has not been enough pressure on Syria."

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Information on CIA’s Work in Lebanon, Published for First Time by Hezbollah

Local Editor
Hezbollah published for the first time Friday information about the CIA intelligencers in Lebanon, their targets and goals, their methods of working, and their names and fake names.

In one of the reports published Friday night on Al-Manar TV, Hezbollah revealed the current CIA chief in Lebanon is US intelligence officer, Daniel Patrick Mcfeely, and reported the names of some officers who were assigned with particular tasks in Lebanon.
Hezbollah published for the first time Friday information about the
CIA intelligencers in Lebanon, their targets and goals,
their methods of working, and their names and fake names.
The Reports also included information on the about the US-Israeli cooperation in this field, as well as the corruption in the CIA’s financial system.

The battle between the resistance in Lebanon and the CIA, and the latest accomplishments of the resistance in this field: Here

Who are the current and former chiefs of the CIA in Lebanon? How much officers work in this station? What are their names? Information revealed by the resistance for the first time: Here

How are the spies controlled? How are they operated? How does the CIA Administration deal with them? More information from Hezbollah: Here

Report on the financial corruption in the CIA: Here

What are the goals and targets of the CIA in Lebanon? Information in the following report: Here
Source: Website Team

Critical Health Issues in Gaza



Since locked down and isolated by Israel, Gaza's experienced systemic crisis. Its health system especially was gravely harmed.

Many services and life-saving treatments aren't available. Accessing it elsewhere is uncertain and tenuous. Treating chronic illnesses is jeopardized by inadequate medicines and proper equipment.

Regular Israel incursions and air attacks exacerbate bad conditions. So do deficient fuel and electricity supplies, as well as unsafe drinking water and other health hazards.

Conditions are getting worse, not better. In September Physicians for Human Rights/Israel (PHR/I) said:

"Israel glaringly violate(s) the rights of Palestinians to health, each time in a different manner." It said the right to health "extends to (its) underlying determinants, (including) food and nutrition, housing, access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, safe and healthy working conditions, and a healthy environment."

By imposing draconian impediments, Palestinians, especially Gazans, lack proper health services. As a result, lives are lost and human suffering aggravated.

"As these lines are being written, we are witnessing a grave crisis in the Gaza health system." Its Ministry of Health reports dozens of medications in short supply or exhausted. Moreover, 123 types of medical equipment are unavailable. Dozens of others need replacing.

Israel's Gaza policy is "humanitarian minimum." Often it's non-existent. Gaza lurches from one crisis to another. Duct tape solutions won't solve it.

Absent change, "it is difficult to anticipate an end to the daily suffering of the sick and infirm individuals residing in these territories," especially besieged Gazans.

As an occupying power, Israel bears full responsibility. Nonetheless, it willfully and systematically breaches its international law obligations. As a result, Gazans suffer horrifically, especially on accessing healthcare when it's most needed.

On December 4, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) expressed concern over medical shortages in Gaza's hospitals, saying:

Critical shortages of medicines affect healthcare. Repercussions are potentially catastrophic, "especially (for) patients and those suffering chronic diseases...."

According to Ministry of Health Director General of Pharmacy Dr. Muneer al-Bursh, health facilities and warehouses exhausted 120 essential medicines and 140 medical goods.

In 2011, Ramallah's Ministry of Health supplied only 20% of Gaza's medicinal needs. Shortages of goods like Blood Line used in dialyses threatens the lives of 400 patients currently.

Moreover, medicines for cancer, anesthesia, immune system inhibiters for kidney transplant patients (received abroad), and hemophilia have run out entirely.

At the same time, Ramallah Minister of Health director Dr. Fathi Abu Mughli said West Bank hospitals have adequate supplies. In fact, he claimed they're better stocked than in other regional countries, except when warehouse deliveries are delayed by Israeli imposed policies. Even so, alternative drugs and treatment are available.

Mahmoud Abbas and other PA officials haven't addressed the problem. As a result, dozens of lives are endangered, especially after the Ministry of Health decreased transferring critically ill patients for treatment "under the claim of rationalizing medical transfers from" Gaza.

On November 2, Ramallah's Ministry of Health decreased transfers to Israeli and other hospitals. At issue was cost, it was claimed. When possible, accessing treatment in Israel is preferable because of proximity compared to Egypt and Jordan.

Cancer patients are especially at risk. Treatment isn't available in Gaza. Often it's lacking in West Bank and East Jerusalem hospitals. As a result, "(t)wo children died as they urgently needed advanced medical treatment, but the Ministry of Health transferred them to hospitals that cannot treat their diseases."

On November 4, Mohammed Azzam Sahwil died from growth retardation and muscle atrophy. In serious condition, he was admitted to Gaza's al-Nasser Hospital's intensive care unit.

The Ministry of Health officials knew his situation. On October 25, Form No. 1 to receive medical treatment abroad was obtained. On November 2, financial coverage was gotten for treatment at Jerusalem's al-Maqassed Hospital. He was refused admittance for lack of ability to treat him.

The Ministry of Health was informed but didn't act. As a result, he died at Gaza's al-Nasser Hospital. Less than a month later, his sister, Hiba Azzam Sahwil, also succumbed from the same illness.

She also got permission for treatment abroad and financial coverage at Jerusalem's al-Maqassad Hospital. An appointment was arranged for December 13. However, she'd already deteriorated too much to help. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Health was asked to immediately transfer her to Israel's Ekhilov Hospital. It refused. On December 1, she died.

A third sibling suffers from the same disease, Ayat Azzam. She also got permission for outside treatment and financial coverage. Ramallah's Health Ministry was urged to save her. On December 1, admittance to Israel's Ekhilov Hospital was gotten.

PCHR is following her case to help. It also wrote West Bank Director General of Medical Insurance Nizar Masalma, "demanding (he) allow 24 patients who suffer from serious chronic diseases continue to receive treatment in advanced medical facilities." So far, he hasn't responded.

A Final Comment

The Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA) headlined, "Official Warns of Israel Ethnic Cleansing Policy in (East) Jerusalem," saying:

PLO Jerusalem affairs head Ahmed Qurei warned of "Israel's quiet ethnic cleansing and displacement policy against" East Jerusalem Palestinians.

Home demolitions are responsible in East Jerusalem's Old City, as well as in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and other Palestinian neighborhoods. He stressed that Israel plans Judaizing all Jerusalem, one home demolition at a time.

Meanwhile, UNWRA (UN Relief and Works Agency) spokesman Chris Gunness said 2011 Israeli home demolitions doubled last year's total.

Its research found 990 Palestinians, including 507 children, were displaced. About 515 West Bank and East Jerusalem structures were demolished. Gunness called losing a home in normal times "highly destabilizing, but in the context of occupation and annexation it often becomes lastly traumatic, especially for children."

"The United Nations calls on the Israeli authorities to abide by their obligations under international law, of which these displacements and demolitions are a clear violation."

"Call(ing) on" has no impact. Only policy measures with teeth can help. For decades, they've been sorely lacking. As a result, Israel literally gets away with crimes of war and against humanity, including ethnically cleansing Palestinians from all land it wants for Jewish only development.

Instead of acting responsibly for justice, world leaders support Israel's worst policies. Palestinians pay dearly, especially Gazans suffocating needlessly under siege.

Moreover, according to former IDF head General (ret.) Yoav Galant, military action is needed to root out Gaza's "terror infrastructure." In other words, he urges mass murder.

In addition, Haaretz said Netanyahu cares only about power and "giving in to cronyism and vested interests."

Like America, Israel's decaying from within. Both countries use militarism, conflict and violence to solve problems. Popular needs go begging.

Palestinians and Israeli Arabs suffer horrifically. So do deprived and persecuted Americans. Both countries are global bullies. They're rogue state partners in intimidation, state terror, and torment.

Their leaders are moral cowards. Calling them democracies is ludicrous and offensive. Nations that live by the sword, die by it.

Israel and America aren't exceptions. Nor are others that learned painful lessons the hard way.

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

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Finally 'Islamists' you can talk to... 'discreetly' at first!

Via FLC

THE election results in Egypt are an Islamist “hurricane”, “deluge” or “tsunami”, according to Israeli newspaper headlines. The defence minister, Ehud Barak, called them “very worrisome”... Before the Camp David peace accords were signed 33 years ago, Israel’s front with Egypt was its most menacing—and it could become so again. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch, Hamas, which, to Israel’s chagrin, still rules the Gaza Strip between Israel and Egypt, hopes that better relations with a new Islamist-oriented Egyptian government will bolster it.



Farther south, Egypt’s Sinai peninsula is becoming a lawless no-man’s-land, with Bedouin and Islamist militants at large... Even if Egypt’s Islamists refrain from scrapping the peace treaty, Israel fears they will seek to amend the clauses that provide for Sinai’s demilitarisation...
(BUT...)Calming pragmatic statements by Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Cairo hint at an accommodation. Muhammad Salem Awa, a leading Brother, condemned the attack on Israel’s embassy. The Brothers’ election manifesto says that Egypt’s international agreements must be upheld, presumably including those with Israel. The Brothers’ desire for good relations with the West and for tourism to revive will make a confrontation less likely.
In a sign of things to come, Rachid Ghannouchi, head of Nahda, the Tunisian Islamists who are close to the Brotherhood, recently met Israelis discreetly in Washington. He said that Tunisia’s constitution would not ban further contact. “The new political Islam is more realistic,” says Israel’s outgoing ambassador to Egypt, Yitzhak Levanon, who wants to engage.


For decades Israel’s security people ran policy with Egypt. But as generals lose power across the region, Israel’s politicians, including religious ones, may try their hand. “Men of religion understand each other better,” says the religious-affairs minister, Yaakov Margov of Shas, one of two Orthodox parties in Israel’s ruling coalition. “I am ready to meet the Brotherhood any time, any place,” he says. His party leader, Eli Yishai, once even offered to meet Hamas, until others in Israel’s then government reined him in."
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

And the bull keeps piling up!

Via FLC


'Welcome!'
From the people who own the Jerusalem Post , all this to say: 'Safest place for a people deserving NATO-Deliverance is a NATO-Liberated place!'
"... "Up to 4,000 Syrian families have sought refuge in Libya in the last weeks, and the numbers are increasing every day" said Dr Mohammed Jammal, a Syrian community leader in the city. "The buses arrive full and go back empty. There used to be two a week, but now there are two a day."... The journey is a gruelling four and half days of travel, crossing first into Jordan, across the Suez Canal, through Egypt, and then down the long road to Benghazi.But refugees say this was preferable to staying in neighbouring countries where they still felt unsafe. Many of the escaping families are opponents to the reign of President Bashar al-Assad, and fear persecution in Lebanon, whose government remains an ally of the Syrian regime, or even Turkey and Jordan by infiltrating Syrian intelligence officials...."

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian