Inside Syrian Idlib

30 Nov 2021

Source: Al Mayadeen Net

Tim Anderson

For NATO, dismembering a country [Syria] is a second-best war aim, after the failure of complete ‘regime change’.

Idlib; where NATO-embedded media is exposed

The NATO-embedded media often speaks as though the HTS/Nusra/al-Qaeda held enclave in two-thirds of Idlib Province represents Syria and is a haven of ‘moderate rebels’. They also claim the enclave holds 4 million people, while the Syrian government says 1.3 million.

War propaganda themes have become dutifully reported ‘facts’: this is a ‘Syrian Civil War’ (even as Syria is occupied by NATO’s two largest armies plus Israel, plus thousands of foreign terrorists), the Syrian Government has repeatedly used ‘chemical weapons’ (i.e. WMDs, meriting NATO retaliation) and (for some unexplained reason: pure evil?) bombs its own schools and hospitals.

But there is another Idlib: that part liberated, at great cost, by Syria’s national army.

From August 2019 through to early 2020, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) liberated the south-eastern third of Idlib province, including the towns of Khan Shaykhoun, Maarat al-Numan, and Saraqeb. That opened the M5 highway for all traffic from the south to Aleppo, through Hama and SE Idlib.

The SAA looked for further advances, but the NATO powers demanded an end to Syrian operations, in defense of the al-Qaeda enclave. That real threat of intervention led Russia to engage in further talks with Turkey and to stall further advances. 

Yet this development demonstrated that Syria, with its allies, could have freed the country from all terrorism were it not for repeated interventions from the NATO-led war coalition, which prefers to dismember and maintain occupied enclaves: NW Idlib, the NE ‘autonomous’ zone, the US occupied al Tanf zone and the Israeli occupied Golan.

In November 2021, I visited Syrian Idlib, authorized by the Syrian Army, just as most western journalists are authorized by US troops when they enter its various war zones. In one day, we traveled to Khan Sheykhoun in the south through Maarat al-Numan, the second-largest provincial city, to the strategic crossroads town of Saraqeb.

Khan Sheykhoun is the only Idlib town I saw with a significant civilian population. Mayor Mohammad Iskandar told us that 600 to 700 families have returned, about 10% of the pre-war population. Now far from the frontline, the town is peaceful with some rebuilding and small markets.

Most of those displaced moved to Turkey or north Idlib and some to other parts of Syria. The mayor is in touch with many and says most want to return, but the armed groups (HTS/Nusra) demand large sums of money for them to leave.

We also spoke with Mr. Iyad Sukheta, who runs a small grocery store, a small farm, and used to drive a bus. Like the Mayor, Iyad has also remained in Khan Sheykhoun throughout the conflict. 

He says the ‘musalaheen’ (armed groups) took many prisoners and killed many local people, including his 17-year-old son. They wanted him to use his bus to drive people north, but he refused. 

Asked about the chemical weapons incident of April 2017, Iyad said that the prisoners were not sacrificed (as they had been in East Ghouta in 2013) but rather, after a Syrian airstrike, the armed groups attacked the local people directly with chemicals. Many were killed. 

Back in 2017, the armed groups blamed the SAA, using their own false flag massacre to incite President Trump (who had campaigned against the war) to make his first missile strike on Syria.

Maarat al-Numan is a much bigger town, with an ancient history and sitting on the frontline between Syrian forces and the Turkish-backed Nusra/HTS gangs. Even though the SAA has pushed its effective frontline forward three times in the past two years, there are no civilians here. The frontline, about 4km north, is constantly tested by the armed groups.

I visited Maarat’s museum with its famous Roman and Byzantine mosaics, which have been protected for several years with sandbags. As with many mosques, schools, and hospitals throughout Syria, the HTS/Nusra terrorists had used it as a military headquarters, digging tunnels under the Museum.

Jabal Zeitoun (Olive Mountain) is now at the center of the frontline, as it occupies the high ground from which the SAA’s 9th Division has placed a substantial vanguard of soldiers, tanks, arms, and surveillance equipment. Yet the actual Maarat frontline extends over many kilometers.

Nusra/HTS had built barricades around the town’s hospital and placed a small mosque inside. We saw evidence of supplies (medicines and cars) from Qatar, Germany, Sweden, and France. The typical pattern of the armed groups’ takeover of Syrian hospitals (for example in Aleppo) has been that they first rob all existing supplies.

Despite nominal support at the UN for the ‘territorial integrity’ of Syria, the NATO states had backed a breakaway Idlib enclave called ‘North Syria’. In much the same way, and contrary to international law, they still support an ‘Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria’. Dismembering a country is a second-best war aim, after the failure of complete ‘regime change’.

Further on up the road, the crossroads town of Saraqeb is also at the frontline, with Nusra/HTS making daily small arms attacks on, and occasional shelling of, SAA positions. They hide behind, and sometimes in front of, the many Turkish bases which are all across northern and central Idlib. The aim of these attacks, according to General J, has been to provoke retaliation which might spark direct conflict between Syrian and Turkish forces. 

Captain Y took us to the frontline, looking out on the road to Ariha, and with a Turkish base 1.7 kilometers ahead. They know these distances quite precisely and are ready to liberate their country from foreign occupation and NATO-backed terrorism when the time is right.

Syria could have eliminated terrorism and restored its territorial integrity long ago, were it not for the NATO-led war coalition which prefers to fragment and occupy segments of the country, all along its land borders. In this way, they provide safe haven for internationally-proscribed terrorist groups.

The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

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جعجع الضعيف المرتبك رغم التلميع المستمر: يكاد المريب يقول خذوني

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منذ مجزرة الطيونة وماكينة إعلامية عملاقة متعددة الجنسيات تشتغل لتظهير سمير جعجع كبطل لحماية المسيحيين مرة، وكمنتصر قدم له كلام السيد حسن نصرالله وما جرى في الطيونة هدية مجانية لزعامة المسيحيين والسنة، مرة أخرى، وكسياسي محترف يحترم الدولة ويتقن فنون السياسة والإعلام، ويشكل خط المواجهة الأول لصالح مشروع الدولة  مع حزب الله المتهم بمشروع الدويلة، حتى جاءت المقابلة التلفزيونية التي أطل عبرها جعجع متحدثاً بنفسه عن نفسه، كاشفاً حجم تهافت المنطق وضعف الحجة ورثاثة الموقف، ويظهر المسخ الميليشيوي الذي يعشعش في ثنايا كلماته وينبض بين حروفه، كما تظهر الخلفية الإجرامية التي تحول الاتهامات الموجهة إليه إلى مضبطة قابلة لصرف، فيصح فيه القول الذي تلعثم وهو يقوله، ربما لأنه يحاكي حالته، يكاد المريب يقول خذوني.

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خلاصة كلام جعجع تضعه في ثنائيات يستحيل جمعها في خطاب سياسي واحد، فما قدمه كاف لنسف خطابه الذي دأب على نثره كشظايا بوجه حزب الله طوال سنوات، مستفيداً من تقديمه من المحور المعادي لحزب الله بصفته القوة القيادية محلياً في هذا المحور ليرث كل التحريض الإعلامي وكل الشيطنة التي شارك بها كثيرون من سياسيين وتشكيلات مجتمع مدني ظهروا أمس مجرد عسكر في جيش يقوده سمير جعجع، لا مكان فيه للدولة ولا للقضاء، ولا يستقيم له نص متجانس قادر على الصمود أمام أي أسئلة جدية، وأمام أي تفكيك منطقي يفترض أن يتولاه من يحاوره، ولم تفلح في ستر هذه الفضيحة كل محاولات التجميل والماكياج التي منحت له من المحطة والبرنامج الذي استضافه، وما نفعت رقع الرتا في إظهار أكثر من خزق يتسرب منه التهافت ويظهر عبره الارتباك والضعف والتهافت، فسقط النص السياسي لأول السحرة المتقدمين في المشروع المعادي لحزب الله، بالضربة القاضية، من دون أن يتولاها أحد، لأنه تكفل بالنيابة عن كل الخصوم بتسديدها لنفسه.

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أول دخولو شمعة عطولو، ظهر جعجع في أول كلمة نبست بها شفتاه، على حقيقته الميليشيوية، وعدائه للدولة والقضاء، بنبرة ومضمون كلماته تعليقاً على استدعائه للمثول كمستمع إليه أمام القضاء، ففجأة صار القضاء محسوباً على حزب الله، وكل النص المعادي لحزب الله مبني على اتهامه بالتشكيك بالقضاء، وفيما تشكيك حزب الله نابع من مطالعة طويلة تراكمت عبر شهور من التجربة مع كل من المحققين فادي صوان وطارق بيطار، ولم تترجم مرة واحدة بالقول لأحد لا للمثول أمام القاضي بنية الاستماع، أو كشاهد، وقد تكرر التسهيل لعمل القضاة مراراً تحت عناوين مشابهة وصولاً لشيء مختلف جداً جداً جداً، هو ادعاء القاضي على وزراء ورئيس حكومة سابق ومدراء أجهزة أمنية من دون سواهم الذين يماثلونهم رتبة ودوراً تجاه ملف النترات، من دون أي مبرر، وتجاوز نص دستوري يحصر مثل هذه الملاحقة بالمجلس الأعلى لمحاكمة الرؤساء والوزراء من دون أي تفسير، مع الإصرار على استثناء القضاة من نص قانوني لا دستوري يقول بملاحقتهم أمام محكمة خاصة بالقضاة، هي أدنى مرتبة دستورياً من إلزامية نص حصر الملاحقة بحق الرؤساء والوزراء بالمجلس الأعلى، وصولاً للتعمية على أسماء القضاة وحجبها عن الإعلام الذي شكل منصة حضور مريب للقاضي، وليس لدى حزب الله اسم واحد من أسماء قياديه مطلوب للمثول أمام القضاء، وجاء الأهم من خلال رفض جعجع العلني والمباشر لمجرد الاستماع إليه، ليسقط كل نصه ونصوص أصحابه بدعوة الغير للمثول وقد وجهت لهم اتهامات وتقررت ملاحقتهم، ولم يعد ممكناً لجعجع وأصحابه الجمع بين النصين، مع القضاء ليلاحق الغير ويتهمهم من دون وحدة معايير وبمخالفة نص دستوري، وضد القضاء لمجرد أن وجه لكم دعوة استماع؟ فقولوا نعم واحدة للقضاء أو لا واحدة للقضاء؟ وحزب الله جاهز ليأخذ بوصفتكم بلا تعديل.

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ثاني الهنات غير الهينات، سقطة جعجع أمام الرئيس ميشال عون والتيار الوطني الحر، فكيف يستقيم القول بقضاء مستقل يدير تحقيق المرفأ، والتعيينات تمت وفقاً لجعجع برعاية رئيس الجمهورية والتيار، فكيف يستقيم ذلك مع اتهام الرئيس والتيار بتسليم الدولة لحزب الله، ومعركة حزب الله مع هؤلاء القضاة كما يصفها جعجع معركة وجود وحياة أو موت، وكيف يستقيم الجمع بين سيطرة حزب الله على الدولة، مع الحديث عن وصول حزب الله إلى طريق مسدود في المراجعة القضائية وثم في المراجعة السياسية، أي باللجوء إلى الحكومة، التي قيل من جعجع وأصحابه إنها حكومة حزب الله، فإذا كان حزب الله قد وصل إلى طريق مسدود في القضية التي يقول جعجع إنها مصيرية بالنسبة للحزب، فمتى يصرف حزب الله سيطرته على الدولة، فإما حزب الله غير مسيطر وهذا يفسر وصوله إلى طريق مسدود، وهذا يعني أن الرئيس عون والتيار الوطني الحر كان حليفاً لحزب الله يمارس استقلالية تامة ويختلف ولا يتبع ولا يطيع ولا يشتري وجوده في السلطة بالتبعية، وجعجع طبخ الرز بالبصل وأراد من الناس ألا تنتبه كي لا تسأل، لكن القبوات لا تخفي السماوات، فكيف إن كانت حبة صنع منها قبة؟

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ثالث الأثافي غير خاف، فجعجع ليس حليفاً للنصرة وداعش والإخوان المسلمين، ولا هو من قال عن غزوة الأشرفية عام 2006 إنها تظاهرة سلمية لحلفاء، وعلى رغم تكسير الكنائس وتدمير السيارات وواجهات الأبنية واقتحام المنازل، لم يخرج أي من مناصريه بطلقة سلاح صيد، وهي الغزوة التي فرضت على العماد عون يومها تقريب موعد الإعلان عن التفاهم مع حزب الله لطمأنة المسيحيين وفي الأشرفية وعين الرمانة، ولذلك اختار كنيسة مار مخايل ولاقى القبول من حزب الله، الذي يرى الكثير من بيئته أنه يبدو تابعاً للتيار يراضيه ويسايره ويلبيه في كل طلباته، ويلقى اعتراضاً ورفضاً وتمنعاً في الكثير مما يطلب بالمقابل، وتنكر جعجع لواقعة الأشرفية يحمل إضافة للتعمية على الحقيقة أحد أمرين، إما أنه أعطى أمراً في عين الرمانة لم يعطه في الأشرفية، أو أنه يتهم أهل الأشرفية بالتخاذل، علماً أنهم نفذوا تعليماته بالتروي، بينما لم يسمع منه أهل عين الرمانة، خصوصاً محازبيه فيها والآتين من خارجها إليها، دعوة كتلك للمسالمة، بل سمعوا منه الدعوة للاستعداد للمواجهة قبل ليلة، ومهما أنكر جعجع هو لا يستطيع إنكار أن رفضه لمشاركة حزب الله في سورية لم يكن مجرد رفض لخروج الحزب عبر الحدود بل لأنه كان كما جاهر مراراً بالرهان على الجماعات المسلحة في سورية، وصولاً للرهان على بقائها في جرود لبنان الشرقية، بصفتها حليفاً، كما قالت زيارات الوفود والحلفاء إلى عرسال والكلام المقال في حضرة الدم هناك، بينما الثابت بالمقابل أن من قالت هذه الجماعات دفاعاً عن قرى وبلدات المسيحيين والمسلمين في لبنان كله لا في البقاع فقط هو حزب الله، فماذا يقول جعجع في اعتبار غزوة الأشرفية حركة سلمية وتوصيف احتلال الجرود بتموضع الثوار من جهة، وتصنيف حزب الله بالعدو والدعوة لمواجهته، من جهة مقابلة، غير أن ستر الفضيحة صعب بل مستحيل؟

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هذا غيض من فيض، لحوار أسقط كل الهالة المصطنعة التي تشاركت في تلميع صورة جعجع عبرها وسائل إعلام لبنانية وعربية لأيام متصلة أملاً بتجميع حليب يصنع من لبنان يصلح لتلوين الحقائق وطمسها، فجاء وضرب قدر الحليب بقدمه وأسال الحليب على التراب، واللبنانيون لم يمر عليهم مشهد سياسي يختزن الضعف وينثر من حوله الهراء والكلام العبثي بلا سند، ويستخف بعقول الناس وذاكرتها، كما كانت إطلالة سمير جعجع، التي تصلح نموذجاً للتدريس الجامعي بالفشل المزدوج، تحت عنوان، عندما يسقط المحاور بالنقاط ويسقط الضيف بالضربة القاضية.

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المسيحية المشرقية تتعرض لآخر كمين في بيروت الشرقية .. ولكن لكل سمير .. حبيب

نُشرت بتاريخ 2021/10/17 

بواسطة 

naram.serjoonn

يقال ان تاريخ الحياة على الارض هو تاريخ للموت .. فعملية الانقراض والتلاشي أصابت 90% من مخلوقات الارض .. وأخشى ان هذه النبوءة ستنطبق على الوجود المسيحي المشرقي .. الذي يتآكل ويتلاشى .. ويبدو أن طلقة الرحمة ستنطلق من أيد مسيحية .. ولكن في نفس الوقت لن ينقذ المسيحية المشرقية الا يد مسيحية ..
أكتب هذه الكلمات وقلمي يرتعش .. وقلبي يرتجف من البرد .. وهاأنذا اكتب نبوءة كأنها الرؤيا ورؤيا كأنها النبوءة .. ونبوءتي ورؤياي تنظران الى الشرق الذي تغير كثيرا فصار فيه اليهود أكثر من المسيحيين في أقل من خمسين عاما .. وتمكن المشروع الصهيوني من اقتلاع المسيحية من الشرق باقتلاع مساميرها التي كانت مغروزة كالأوتاد في كل الشرق .. أتلفت حولي فلاأرى الا نزفا ديموغرافيا للمسيحيين المشرقيين .. وهذا النزيف المشرقي للمسيحيين ليس صدفة .. وليس بريئا .. وكأن هناك من يريد ان يقول ان الشرق هو اسلام صرف وان الغرب هو مسيحية طاغية .. وان الصراع بين الشرق والغرب هو صراع بين المسيحية والاسلام .. واسرائيل هي التي ستمثل بقايا المسيحية من خلال العهد القديم .. وان علاقة الشرق بالمسيحية ستقتصر على اسرائيل اليهودية ..

في القرن العشرين كان أكبر الخاسرين من الاحتكاك مع الاستعمار الغربي الاوروبي هو المسيحية المشرقية .. فانطاكية وكنيستها الحقت بتركيا .. وصار مسيحيو انطاكية معزولين كأقلية ضعيفة في بحر اسلامي تركي .. وظل الوجود المسيحي المعزول عن المسيحية المنتشرة في بلاد الشام يتقلص ويتأكل حتى انقرض الوجود المسيحي في انطاكية تقريبا وهو نتيجة طبيعية لعزل جيب انطاكية المسيحي وفصله عن الجسم المسيحي الطبيعي الكبير في بلاد الشام ..

والمشروع الفرانكفوني خلق دويلة لبنان الكبير وخصصها لتكون دولة مسيحية بأكثرية مسيحية .. ولكن هذا الكيان المسمى لبنان المسيحي سلخ مسيحيي لبنان عن مسيحيي سورية وفلسطين والعراق والاردن .. والحق مسيحيي لبنان بالمسيحية الاوروبية لأن هذا الكيان المسيحي الفرنسي التصميم صار يحس انه مهدد بمحيطه الاسلامي وأن لاسبيل للحفاظ عليه الا الحماية الاوربية .. وهذا جعل العلاقة مع محيطه العربي والاسلامي متوترة تسببت بحروب اهلية دخل المسيحييون فيها جميعها .. وخسروا شبابهم في حروب عبثية دينية تسببت في هجرة كثيرين منهم وتحول لبنان المسيحي الى محمية اوروبية متناحرة مع محيطها وتتوجس منه دوما ..

وعندما قام الغرب باجتياح العراق وأطلق مشروع الربيع العربي في سورية واعتنى بنمو داعش وجبهة النصرة وسمى جيش الاسلام وجيش الجولاني وأحرار الشام والسلطان مراد بأنها جيوش للاحرار والحرية .. فانه كان يدرك ان اول من سيدفع الثمن هو الوجود المسيحي في الشرق .. ومع ذلك فانه كان يغض الطرف عن العنف الذي يدفع بالمسيحيين للهجرة والفرار .. كما فعل الصهاينة في يهود العراق عندما فجروا الكنس والاحياء اليهودية لارغام اليهود العراقيين للفرار الى فلسطين المحتلة .. وبالفعل تلاشى المسيحيون من سهل نينوى ومن الجزيرة السورية وتبخر المسيحيون من بقاع كانت مسيحية منذ الفي سنة .. وعلمت من شخصيات مسيحية سورية وازنة ومحترمة جدا ان مسيحيي سورية نالهم من الاتقراض نصيب وأن أعدادهم تناقصت وأن هناك من كان يعمل على تهجيرهم وتسهيل هجرتهم بحجة حمايتهم .. وكأن الحماية تكون في اقتلاعهم ونشرهم في اوروبة وليس بتمكينهم من البقاء في أرضهم .. فقد دمر الغرب الجيش العراقي الذي كان الغطاء لجميع العراقيين المسيحيين والمسلمين لكن المسيحيين استهدفوا بالعنف السري بشكل خاص لارغامهم على الهرب ..

وكذلك أخرج الغرب بدعمه لما يسمى الثورة السورية الجيش والسلطة السورية من الجزيرة السورية ومن المناطق المسيحية .. بل ان الغرب كان يرى ان داعش وجبهة النصرة كانتا تتمددان في لبنان انطلاقا من الحدود السورية .. ومع هذا فقد فعل المستحيل لايقاف الجيش السوري وحزب الله ومنعه من مواجهة داعش والنصرة في لبنان .. رغم ان القاصي والداني كان يعرف ان هذه الموجة الارهابية الاسلامية كانت ستجتث المسيحيين اما بارهابهم وترويعهم او باطلاق الوصاية الدينية عليهم لاكراههم على الرحيل .. وصعب جدا ان يقنعني أحد ان الغرب لم ير هذا المصير وهذا الاتجاه .. فالغرب ليس ساذجا ليصدق ان الاسلاميين سيتركون المسيحيين يعيشون بأمان ..
لاشك ان الموجة الاسلامية قد قضمت كثيرا من الديموغرافية المسيحية وأبعدتها عن المشهد والخارطة الديموغرافية .. ولكن بقي المشهد الاخير الباقي فيمن بقي من مسيحيي الشرق الذين يتم دفعهم الى محرقة جديدة هذه المرة على يد مسيحي مجنون ومتطرف .. هو سمير جعجع .. الذي يتباهى أن لديه آلاف المقاتلين المتمرسين للدفاع عن المسيحية وبيروت الشرقية .. رغم ان هؤلاء المسلحين وقفوا يتفرجون على تقدم داعش والنصرة في لبنان وانتشارهم ولم يحركوا ساكنا لحماية اي مسيحي بل كان جهد جعحع هو الدفاع عن جبهة النصرة ..

الغريب أن جعجع يدرك ان اي معركة مع اي طرف في لبنان ستنتهي بسحقه تماما .. ولن تتدخل الدول الغربية لحمايته لأنه لن يكون أغلى من مسيحيي القدس وفلسطين والعراق وشرق سورية الذين رآهم الغرب بأم عينه يتفرقون وينكمشون وينقرضون .. ولم يحرك ساكنا ..

سمير جعجع يريد شيئا واحدا وهو ان يستدرج حزب الله الى معركة معه وان كانت خاسرة .. وان خسر سمير جعجع المعركة فان هذا سيحدث تعاطفا طبيعيا وانحيازا مسيحيا نحوه ويميل جزء من مسيحيي التيار العوني اليه .. وهذا سيشق المسيحيين أكثر ويفتح صراعا مسيحيا مسيحيا .. وان ظهر انه ينتصر فانه سيكون عامل جذب لعناصر مسيحية في المعسكر الاخر العوني ايضا لأن للانتصار جاذبية … كما حدث مع الاسلاميين الذين انتصروا في بداية معارك الربيع العربي والحرب السورية مما شجع كثيرين للالتحاق بهم للتمتع بالنصر والتعلق بالمجد الجديد ..

المهم ان المسيحيين يتم استدراجهم اما لحرب مسيحية مسيحية او لحرب مسيحية اسلامية او مسيحية شيعية .. ومهما كانت النتائج فانها ستكون كارثية على مسيحيي الشرق .. وسينتهي وجودهم الباقي والكثيف في لبنان مهما كانت نتيجة الصراع … لأن الحرب لن ترحم أحدا وستكون الهجرة أكثر سهولة على الشباب المسيحي .. لأن هذا الانخراط العنيف في الصراعات الداخلية المجانية لن تكون له الا نتائج سيئة على المسيحيين لأنهم سيجدون انفسهم في خضم معركة اهلية طويلة ستنتنزف اموالهم وشبابهم .. وسيجد كثيرون منهم باب الهجرة مفتوحا ومرحبا بهم .. وهذه الهجرة الكثيفة ستكون طلقة الرحمة على الوجود المسيحي في لبنان ..

ربما لايدرك مسيحيو الشرق ولبنان تحديدا اي فخ وكمين يساقون اليه في تهور سمير جعجع الذي يضع مسيحيي لبنان رغما عنهم في مواجهة حزب الله ومحور المقاومة الذي تحدى اميريكا نفسها وتحدى الغرب ولن يسمح لجعجع بأن ينال من حزب الله .. وسيكون سمير جعجع في منتهى السذاجة ان ظن ان اسرائيل ستدخل حربا من أجله .. بل سيكون منتهى طموح اسرائيل هو ان تشق التحالف بين ميشيل عون وحزب الله وان يريحها جعجع من دفع دم المواجهة مع حزب الله .. كما فعلت مع الشباب الاسلاميين الذين دفعوا دمهم وتركتهم اسرائيل يموتون نيابة عنها .. ولكن هذه الحرب ان اندلعت فانها ستعزل المسيحيين المشرقيين وتحولهم الى كيان موتور خائف على وجوده سينتهي بالتقلص والانكماش الطبيعي .. وان انتهى الوجود المسيحي القوي في لبنان فان هذا سيعني رسالة الى من بقي من مسيحيي الشرق بأن الشرق لم يعد لهم وعليهم أن يشدوا الرحيل .. لأن اية تغير في الانظمة السياسية واتجاهاتها وصراعاتها سيكونون مرغمين على الدخول في تحالفات لايرغبون بها وسيكونون فيها أقلية ضعيفة تجرفها الاهواء السياسية ..

للأسف ان تمنع حزب الله عن معاقبة سمير جعجع لادراكه بحساسية الوضع واللعبة التي تستهدف المسيحيين حلفاءه الرئيسيين في لبنان .. ستشجع سمير جعجع على ارتكاب المزيد من الحماقات والرعونات .. وربما لن يكون هناك من معادلة بأقل الخسائر الا ان تعود معادلة مسيحية قالت سابقا (لكل عميل حبيب .. ولكل بشير حبيب) .. وهي المعادلة التي ارساها البطل حبيب الشرتوني المسيحي الوطني اللبناني ابن البطل الشهيد أنطون سعادة ..

مثل البطل جول جمال المسيحي السوري الذي نفذ حكم الاعدام بالمدمرة الفرنسية (المسيحية) جان بار في بورسعيد .. فان حبيب الشرتوني كان مسيحيا لبنانيا نفذ حكم الاعدام بمسيحي لبناني خائن دفاعا عن اسم المسيحية المشرقية الوطنية .. وكان هذا العمل البطولي سببا في ان تستيقظ القوى المسيحية الوطنية اللبنانية وتأخذ المبادرة من المتهورين والمغامرين المسيحيين وتعيد مسيحيي لبنان الى قلب المشهد الوطني الذي صنع سقوط 17 أيار .. والذي صنع ظاهرة حزب الله الذي كان مدعوما ظهره بالوطنية المسيحية .. ولولاهم لكان انجازه ليس سهلا في تحرير الجنوب والحاق الهزيمة باسرائيل عام 2005 ..

عمل حبيب الشرتوني كان رسالة فهمها الجميع .. وبطولة وفرت الكثير من دماء المسيحيين واللبنانيين .. فهل يفعلها شباب لبنان المسيحي .. ويخرج لنا بطلا يوفر علينا عناء معاقبة سمير جعجع .. ويطلق معادلة: (لكل سمير حبيب) .. وثقوا تماما ان هذه المعادلة ستوقظ المجانين في القوات اللبنانية من هذيانهم وأحلامهم .. وطيشهم .. وتعيد الكثيرين منهم الى صوابهم ورشدهم الذي تتلاعب به مكاتب الدعاية الاسرائيلية التي تنشر مشاهد عنف باسم القوات اللبنانية كمن يوجه دعوة للجهاد المسيحي المقدس ..

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Documents Expose Lafarge’s Funding of ISIS in Syria

 Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen

According to documents obtained by Anadolu Agency, French company Lafarge funded ISIS and other terrorist organizations – and the French intelligence services enabled and benefited from it.

Documents revealed by Anadolu Agency expose French company Lafarge’s connection to ISIS and French intelligence. 

Lafarge, a French cement company that has stretched its tentacles in war-ridden areas like Syria and Iraq, has been reported to have funded ISIS with 13 million euros.

The backstory is that ISIS terrorists allowed Lafarge to carry out manufacturing in the facility they seized in northern Syria in exchange for 13 million euros.

Newly discovered documents, revealed by Anadolu Agency, reveal that Lafarge not only briefed French intelligence about its support and financing of ISIS and other terror organizations, but it also provided the French government with news and information about northern Syria. The French government, with said information, enabled coordination with ISIS. 

The French company faces a series of lawsuits involving violations of the embargo on Syria, threatening the lives of their employees, and financing ISIS. The French Supreme court said Tuesday that the company should face an investigation on a charge of complicity in crimes in Syria. 

A discussion on the relationship between Lafarge and ISIS was carried out in 2018 – an intelligence officer, code-named AM 02, appeared in court and gave a statement. According to the court transcript, the intelligence officer admitted that Lafarge was his source of information in Syria and that the French secret services took advantage of the cement factory in Syria. He also admitted that Lafarge provided cement to armed groups in Syria between 2012 and 2014, including ISIS and the Nusra Front.

However, despite all this, the French intelligence did not warn the company that this was a criminal act – there has been no sign of condemnation for the sponsor of terrorism. 

Over 30 meetings were carried out between Lafarge and the French domestic, foreign, and military intelligence services between 2013 and 2014 alone.

According to a report by US consultant Baker McKenzie, some $500,000 was paid out to ISIS; the rest of the $5.6 million was distributed among other militants between 2012 and 2014. Conducted in a form of bribery, the money was paid so that factory production would continue uninterrupted.

With the cement provided to ISIS, the terrorist group built shelters and tunnels; on the other side, Lafarge used false contracts to buy fuel from them.

Lafarge was investigated on charges of “complicity in crimes against humanity.” However, it denied said charges. Nonetheless, eight company executives were charged with financing terrorism and cooperating in crimes against humanity.

Charges regarding “complicity in crimes against humanity,” pressed in June 2018, were dropped in November 2019.

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Hezbollah Heavy Sacrifices Led Lebanon to Defeat Takfiri Terrorists in 2017: Videos

 September 1, 2021

On the fourth anniversary of the Second Liberation, Hezbollah stands on the peak of victory over the terrorist groups, led by ISIL and Nusra Front, after fierce clashes and heavy sacrifices made in the northeastern barrens.

Hezbollah operated against the terrorist groups on both the Lebanese and Syrian sides of the border and dealt heavy blows to their sites. The Lebanese Army later joined the battle waged the Resistance and the Syrian military simultaneously.

Hezbollah forces detected the sites where the terrorists used to prepare booby-trapped cars and send them to attack various Lebanese areas.

The Resistance fighters made heavy sacrifices and confronted harsh conditions during the battle, fiercely clashing with the terrorists.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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Sayyed Nasrallah: Third Iranian Ship to Be Loaded with Fuel, Dispatched to Lebanon

August 27, 2021

Marwa Haidar

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah announced on Friday that a third Iranian ship will be loaded with fuel and dispatched to Lebanon.

In a televised speech via Al-Manar, Sayyed Nasrallah said that due to the fuel shortage in the country a deal was reached with Iran to send a third ship to Lebanon.

Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking on the fourth anniversary of Second Liberation, when territories in eastern Lebanon were liberated by Hezbollah and Lebanese Army from ISIL and other Takfiri terrorist groups.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the victory during the Second Liberation was part of the universal war on Syria.

His eminence hailed sacrifices by the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Army, pointing to the battles which the Syrian Army were taking part in from the Syrian side.

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the latest developments in Afghanistan is a defeat to the United States, calling on the people of the region not to bet on the US occupation.

The Hezbollah S.G. also slammed the delay in government formation, calling on the Lebanese officials to meet the people’s demands.

Sayyed Nasrallah voiced rejection to a decision in which a subpoena was issued for caretaker PM Hassan Diab, describing it as politicized.

Second Liberation

Talking about the occasion, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the Second Liberation took place thanks to the Resistance weapons and to sacrifices by Hezbollah fighters, Lebanese Army and Syrian Army.

“We insist to mark this occasion in order to take lessons from the dangerous experience and challenges our country was passing through.”

“What happened in the barrens in Bekaa years ago was part of the universal war waged against Syria, and part of a great scheme in the region.”

Sayyed Nasrallah said Lebanon was targeted by the ISIL scheme, stressing that the battle against the Takfiri group was joint on two fronts: The Lebanese and the Syrian.

His eminence said that both ISIL and Nusr Front had the same ideology, pointing to the backing which such groups were offered by several international powers.

“ISIL was made by the US. Donald Trump repeatedly said that the group was created by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.”

“The Resistance had intervened in the battle in Bekaa barrens after the Lebanese state abandoned its responsibility to liberate its territory.”

In this context, Sayyed Nasrallah lashed out at the US, noting that Washington was pressuring the Lebanese Government to prevent the Lebanese Army from taking part in the battle against Takfiri groups.

“The Second Liberation was part of the victory against ISIL and terror across the region.”

Sayyed Nasrallah underlined importance of the trilogy of Resistance, Army and People.

“As we say to the Israelis, we say to the Takfiris: ‘If you repeat (the crime) We shall repeat (the punishment)’.”

Afghanistan

Stressing that the US scheme in the region is being defeated, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the latest developments in Afghanistan prove that all pretexts used by the US are deceiving and aim at occupation and expanding influence.

“What we witness today in Afghanistan is a pure defeat. It’s also a moral failure when the US and UK troops leave the Afghans who help them while take their police dogs, cats and alcoholic drinks.”

“The US administration had transferred ISIL membered to Afghanistan in a bid to destabilize Asian neighbors and Russia.”

Blockade on Lebanon?

Sayyed Nasrallah, meanwhile, hit back at those who deny that the US has been imposing a blockade on Lebanon.

“Yes Lebanon has been blockaded by the US for years. The US has been preventing several states from investing in Lebanon or even offering aids to Lebanon.”

“When the US issued the so-called Caesar Act it was not targeting Syria only, but also Lebanon. When the US ambassador says that the US will allow the entry of the Egyptian gas via Syria, then she is acknowledging that her country has been blocking such projects in the last three years.”

“If Lebanon really concerns the US then it shall give it waiver to import the Iranian fuel.”

In this context, Sayyed Nasrallah announced that the third Iranian ship will be loaded with fuel and dispatched to Lebanon.

“We have agreed with our brothers in Iran to load the third ship with fuel and dispatch it.”

Gov’t Formation, Subpoena for Diab

Sayyed Nasrallah slammed delay in government formation, citing the urgent need to deal with the sufferings of the Lebanese people.

“Neither the blood of Tleil explosion victims, nor Lebanese people’s sufferings had prompted the Lebanese officials to fasten the formation of the new government.”

Commenting on the decision in which a subpoena was issued for caretaker PM Hassan Diab, Sayyed Nasrallah described the move as politicized voicing rejection to the decision taken by the judge Tarek Bitar who is investigating the Beirut Port investigation.

Imam Moussa Al-Sadr Abduction Anniversary

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the abduction of Imam Sayyed Moussa Al-Sadr is a painful incident “as it posed an aggression on Lebanon, its people and Resistance.”

“The abduction of Imam Sayyed Moussa Sadr was a scheme against the Resistance and the project of liberating Palestine.”

“We vow that we will keep going on the path of Imam Sayyed Moussa Al-Sadr.”

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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Why the West Funds Terrorism

Cynthia Chung is a lecturer, writer and co-founder and editor of the Rising Tide Foundation (Montreal, Canada).

Cynthia Chung

August 15, 202

It is clear that the declared “enemy” in this “War on Terror,” is not what we were led to believe, and increasingly, it is beginning to look like the enemy may in fact be, anyone who resists this global agenda.

“I believe in a cruel God who made me in his image and who in fury I name.”

– Iago, in Verdi’s Opera Othello

On June 22, 2021, Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva published an expose titled “US fuels Syrian war with new arms supplies to Al Qaeda terrorists,” showing documents obtained by the US Federal Contracts Registry, revealing that the US Army Contracting Command, ACC Picatinny Arsenal,  has contracted eight American companies to procure Category 1 End User Certificate weapons from 2020-2025.

According to Gaytandzhieva, the Pentagon is buying $2.8 billion worth of weapons for conflict zones around the world. Most of the weapons are destined for Syria. After all, the Idlib Province in Syria (which is presently entirely controlled by Al Qaeda) has been recognised as one of the most strategic locations in the Middle East.

There are even a number of propaganda videos by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham HTS (formerly known as Al Nusra Front, which is Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria), showing them using American TOW anti-tank missiles.

A US-made TOW missile system seized by Syrian troops during their offensive in Urum al-Kubra in the de-escalation zone of Idlib. The province is under the control of the terrorist group HTS. (Telegram)

Propaganda footage published by Ibba news agency, linked to the terrorist organisation HTS, shows HTS militants being trained to operate American BGM-71 TOW weapon systems, Kornet and Konkurs anti-tank systems in the Syrian province of Idlib (Telegram @new_militarycolumnist)

Abu Mohammad al-Julani is the commander of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), the Al Qaeda in Syria, and has been listed under the US State Department as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” And yet there is ample evidence that the US has been arming Al Qaeda in Syria all along.

In addition, there is the strange April 2, 2021, PBS fluff piece on Abu Mohammad al-Julani with a fashion make-over, appearing to prepare the American public for his running for public office. Why would a government-funded American broadcasting company do such a thing?

Above picture: Abu Mohammad al-Julani in natural habitat.

Abu Mohammad al-Julani in PBS habitat.

Eight American companies have been contracted to procure non-US standard weapons from 2020 to 2025 through the US Army Contracting Command (ACC) Picatinny Arsenal. The weapons are not American made and thus cannot be used by American soldiers, however, according to the Pentagon solicitation W15QKN-19-R-0049 “Non-standard Weapons, Parts and Accessories”, the weapons will be used in “theaters of conflict”.

The weapons are described as Category 1 End User Certificate, these are issued by the US to third parties other than governments, which means militia or terrorist groups.

Source: dilyana.bg

According to Gaytandzhieva’s report, the weapon descriptions of these non-US standard weapons indicate that they originate from Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania, (see her report for a detailed run through).

Details on End User Certificates. Source: W15QKN19R0049, US Army Contracting Command (ACC) Picatinny Arsenal

What this means is that Eastern European weapons are going to be flooded into “theaters of conflict” and once released “into the wild” will be very difficult to trace where the source came from, say the United States. Eastern European weapons are analogous to Soviet weapons that are being used by the Syrian army. This will also make it difficult to determine the source in acts of terrorism, since the equipment used by both sides will be virtually indiscernible.

However, as already noted above, for sophisticated equipment such as the American-made TOW anti-tank weapon systems, these are still being supplied by the good ‘ol US of A directly.

Of course, for anyone who has been paying attention to the situation in Syria, this is no surprise.

It should be obvious that the American, European and Turkish arms supplying of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups is meant as a stubborn continuation of Brzezinski’s Arc of Crisis, which he coined in 1977 as President Carter’s National Security Adviser, and which led to the formation of the Nationalities Working Group (NWG) the following year. The Arc of Crisis concept was and is designed to foment ethnic tensions through encouraging religious fanaticism and terrorism in the Muslim communities of the Middle East which could then offshoot into Central Asia. It was believed that such Islamic fanaticism would direct its wrath against the Soviet Union, sparking Islamic anarchy within the Muslim community of the USSR itself. This was thought to be the “soft underbelly” of the Soviet Union.

However, 54 years later, the west is still in a Cold War with Russia and  terrorist cells have now spread across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and even within western countries who thought perhaps they were too far removed from these “theater of conflicts” to be burnt by the fires they started.

Yet strangely, this rather disastrous foreign policy has not been recognised for the absolute lunacy and general mayhem that it emboldens but rather, the disaster has been used as the very justification for why western countries, who cannot even employ the majority of their populace or offer proper healthcare, needed to enter and spend billions of dollars on the forever “War on Terror,” to which these governments are presently arming the other side to combat!

It is not the Assad government who has proven to be a threat to “western democracy,” but rather it is the very terrorism that the west has created and is backing that has caused the most destruction to western people’s lives at home.

These acts of terrorism are then used to justify why the civil rights of a country’s populace need to be “temporarily” revoked, such as the 20 year old and still going strong Patriot Act, to which we can expect further add-ons in addressing “domestic terrorism.”

It is clear that the declared “enemy” in this “War on Terror,” is not what we were led to believe, and increasingly, it is beginning to look like the enemy may in fact be, anyone who resists this global agenda.

Made in London Mullahs

In a previous paper, I went through the origins of the Muslim Brotherhood as being essentially a British funded and backed creation, which dates back to intellectual founder of the Salafiyya movement, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani back in 1869.

Al-Afghani’s student Muhammad Abduh would receive direct and full support of the representatives of her Majesty’s imperial force and was given positions of high station and influence in British occupied Cairo. Abduh would work closely and openly with Lord Cromer (aka Evelyn Baring), London’s Egyptian proconsul, and scion of the enormously powerful banking clan (Barings Bank) under the city of London, in establishing the base for the Salafiyya movement. (1)

After London defeated ‘Urabi’s revolt against the British consortium in Egypt, which lasted from 1879 to 1882, Baring returned to Egypt in 1883 as a British agent and consul general, and served as the virtual ruler of the country until 1907.

British support continued with Hassan al-Banna (a follower of al-Afghani) who in 1928 officially founded the Muslim Brotherhood which would be linked with the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia, which also has a history of British funding.

Banna’s Muslim Brotherhood, which was created in Egypt, would receive a grant from England’s Suez Canal Company. (2) It is no coincidence that the Muslim Brotherhood would be run-out of Egypt by President Gamal Abdel Nasser, only after he managed to nationalise the Suez Canal and successfully call an end to Britain’s occupancy of Egypt in 1956.

And thus it was clear that the British military occupancy of the Suez Canal was quite literally being used as a terrorist hub in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, for more on this refer to my paper.

Thanks to the Sykes-Picot affair, British dominance was not only found in Egypt but also, most notably, Saudi Arabia. As a result of the British orchestrated Sykes Picot, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the British India Office favourite, was proclaimed King of Hejaz and Najd in 1926, leading to the founding of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

From the 1920s on, the new Saudi state merged its Wahhabi orthodoxy with the Salafiyya movement, now organized into the Muslim Brotherhood and has taken form as the modern militant Islamic extremism we are supposedly fighting today.

Who Really Runs the Middle East?

Islamic banking [that is the banking system dominated presently by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States] was born in Egypt and financed by Saudi Arabia and then spread to the far corners of the Muslim world. Eventually the Islamic banking movement became a vehicle not only for exporting political Islam but for sponsoring violence. However, Islamic banking did not get off the ground on its own, as Ibrahim Warde (a renowned scholar of international finance) explains in his book “Islamic Finance in the Global Economy,” Islamic banking:

“…operates more out of London, Geneva, or the Bahamas than it does out of Jeddah, Karachi or Cairo…Ideologically, both liberalism and economic Islam were driven by their common opposition to socialism and economic dirigisme…Even Islamic Republics have on occasion openly embraced neo-liberalism…In Sudan, between 1992 and the end of 1993, Economics Minister Abdul Rahim Hamdi – a disciple of Milton Friedman and incidentally a former Islamic banker in London – did not hesitate to implement the harshest free-market remedies dictated by the International Monetary Fund. He said he was committed to transforming the heretofore statist economy ‘according to free-market rules, because this is how an Islamic economy should function.’  ” [emphasis added]

However, perhaps the best case study to this phenomenon is the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

BCCI was an international bank founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani financier. The bank was registered in Luxembourg with head offices in Karachi and London. A decade after opening, BCCI had over 400 branches in 78 countries in excess of $20 billion USD, making it the seventh largest private bank in the world.

In the 1980s investigations into BCCI led to the discovery of its involvement in massive money laundering and other financial crimes, and that the BCCI had illegally and secretly gained the control of a major American bank, First American, according to Robert Morgenthau (Manhattan DA) who had been investigating the bank for over two years.

BCCI was also to be found guilty for illegally buying another American bank, the Independence Bank of Los Angeles, using a Saudi businessman Ghaith Paraon as the puppet owner. The American depositors lost most of their money when BCCI was forced to foreclose since it was essentially operating a Ponzi scheme to fund illegal activity of all sorts.

Investigators in the United States and the UK determined that BCCI had been “set up deliberately to avoid centralized regulatory review, and operated extensively in bank secrecy jurisdictions. Its affairs were extraordinarily complex. Its officers were sophisticated international bankers whose apparent objective was to keep their affairs secret, to commit fraud on a massive scale, and to avoid detection.”(3)

This is an incredibly sophisticated operation, and interestingly, uses the very same methods that the City of London has been using for centuries and presently operates to a diabolical perfection today. There is no way that a solo Pakistani financier, even if he was financed by the Sheik of Abu Dhabi, could rise in less than a decade , operating on the turf of ancient banking channels that go back several centuries, to rise to become the seventh largest bank in the netherworld of finance without a little help from the big boys.

Ibrahim Warde writes:

“At the international level, the major Islamic banking groups, rather than trying to establish a global Islamic network that would rival the global banking system, are keen on remaining embedded within that system. Indeed, in its transnational operations, Islamic banking operates more out of London, Geneva or the Bahamas, than it does out of Jeddah, Karachi or Cairo. As for the Islamic Development Bank (IBD), its statutes provide for coordination and collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organizations.” (4) [emphasis added]

On July 29^th, 1991, a Manhattan grand jury indicted BCCI on twelve accounts of fraud, money laundering and larceny. Morgenthau has described BCCI as “the largest bank fraud in world financial history.”

So what does this all mean? It means that the so-called terrorists we are supposed to be fighting in this “War on Terror” are essentially working for the orchestrators that justify said narrative.

What it means is that the sin cities steeped in crime, dope, sex-trafficking (including children), arms-trafficking and terrorist groups, are all being funded by the same centralised system of finance, located in the London-Geneva-Bahamas (which is an offshoot of the City of London) triangle.

And it isn’t just Islamic banks that are involved in funding this kind of netherworld activity. It is being done by banks that continue to have an incredibly large role to play in more “respectable” global finance such as HSBC.

Yes, HSBC is still bizarrely considered reputable despite several very embarrassing lost lawsuits, however, the biggest to date occurred in 2012 when allegations were made against HSBC for allowing terrorists to move money around the financial system  and for which it had to pay a record $1.9 billion, with no form of regulated control on the bank afterwards but rather an agreement with the DOJ that the bank itself would install a 5 year independent monitor. (For more on this refer to my paper.)

HSBC managed to avoid being criminally prosecuted, a move that could have stopped the bank from operating in the US.

Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general at the time, stated:

“HSBC is being held accountable for stunning failures of oversight – and worse…that led the bank to permit narcotics traffickers and others to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through HSBC subsidiaries and to facilitate hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries.”

And just as Africa is being looted twice over with capital flight that amounts to 5x their foreign debt, which then returns to City of London offshore nether regions, only to ask for loans to pay off this debt at exorbitant interest rates by the very same grouping who stole the money…So the “privileged” western world is starting to feel a similar brunt.

While western countries are increasingly unable to provide a proper standard of living, with mass unemployment, lack of healthcare, increased crime and suicide rates, and increased overdoses and homelessness, and pretty much everything you would expect to rise during a Dark Age straight out of a Goya painting, these “first-world” governments are applying further austerity measures on the people, even after prolonged lockdowns, while openly pumping billions of dollars into wars that not only fund the destruction of entire nations, but funds the global drug, arms and sex-trafficking trade. All of this dirty money then circles back into the London-Geneva fondi, benefitting a select class that has existed and thrived for centuries on this sort of backdrop.

In this system, you do not own your money and you do not get to decide what your money is used for. Unknowingly, we are all tied to it, we all labour for it, and if so decided for us, we may even die for it.

Iago’s Prophecy

“From the very vileness of a germ or an atom, vile I was born. I am a wretch because I am a man, and I feel within me the primeval slime. Yes! This is my creed! …I think and do by destiny’s decree. I believe the just man to be a mocking actor in face and heart; that all his being is a lie: tear, kiss, glance, sacrifice and honour. And I believe man the sport of evil fate from the germ of the cradle to the worm of the grave. After all this mockery then comes Death. And then? …Death is nothingness…”

–        Iago, in Verdi’s Opera Othello

For those who are not familiar with Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.” Iago is a Venetian, and though he most certainly would have called himself a “Christian,” as we see with his above monologue, his interpretation is rather more akin to that of the Devil.

Venice, was the center of world intelligence at the time, and the direct descendant of the Roman Empire. Venice was an enemy of Florence (the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance) and is the reason why Machiavelli wrote ‘The Prince,’ which was meant as a guidebook to the prince of Florence in understanding Venetian techniques so that he could defeat them.

Iago dislikes Othello and wants to remove him from his position as general. Not only this, but he wants to see Othello destroyed. However, in order to destroy Othello, Iago does not use physical force or confront him directly but rather, from the shadows, plays the fears and insecurities of Othello against himself.

Through this strategy, Othello becomes increasingly distrustful of those who he should keep close and is drawn ever closer to his destructor Iago, thinking him his only true confidante. Finally, Othello turns against his beloved wife and trusted friend Cassio and is driven mad by Iago’s relentless poisoned whisperings in his ear. In the end, Othello in a blind fury suffocates his faithful wife Desdemona in their bedroom chamber.

Incredibly controversial at the time of its first performance, it remains so today. What is the lesson we are to take from Shakespeare? Was Shakespeare making the point that Othello simply acted what was in his nature the entire time, as that of a Berber/Arab Muslim man, nothing more than a savage? Was it only a matter of time before Othello would have committed such atrocities against his beloved and his good friend, and that Iago merely inflamed what was already within him?

Othello is a tragedy, because Othello the man did not recognise that he was caught in the middle of someone else’s orchestration.  He allowed himself to be the plaything of another and to execute actions that were not his own conceptualisation. Othello is guilty of his crimes, but it is Iago who is by far the most formidable and terrible monster in the play. It is Iago who manipulates behind the scenes, and it is an Iago that goes undetected and unchecked by most, allowed to continue his atrocities without ever facing any justice until his death, when he will finally be confronted by the eternal.

As Schiller stated in his Ghost Seer about the Venetian technique, one will only be freed by masked tyranny’s terrible grip when one can comprehend what is the nature of true villainy, that is, the orchestrator of evil and not just a mere hand of evil. Only then will such a villain be unmasked to us, otherwise we will forever be pitted against the other, just a plaything for a higher will than our own.

Thus, let us not be fully distracted by the mayhem on center front stage…but rather, let us take a look at who is standing behind that curtain.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

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