Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم

Sunday, 11 December 2016

أقمار حلب تهزم قريش وأربابها...!

أقمار حلب تهزم قريش وأربابها

محمد صادق الحسيني
وأنا أشاهد عصابات القتل والإرهاب والحقد والدمار الشامل تتساقط كأحجار الدومينو أمام زحف رجال الله في حلب…

لو كنت أميركياً لكتبتُ: أنّ العالم بدأ ينهار أمام أعيننا ولا نملك القدرة على فعل شيء، انتهت اللعبة، باي باي أميركا…!

لو كنت «إسرائيلياً» لكتبتُ: أنّ حزب الله وإيران والأسد هزموني مجدّداً شرّ هزيمة…!

لو كنتُ تركياً أردوغانياً لكتبت: لقد تحوّلت أحلامي الامبراطورية إلى سراب…!

لو كنتُ سعودياً لكتبتُ: لقد هُزمت قريش من جديد على أسوار قلعة حلب…!

مع بدايات العام 2012 حصل اجتماع مهمّ جداً في «غرفة عمليات هاتاي» في تركيا حضره يومها كلٌّ من رئيس جهاز المخابرات الأميركية «سي أي آي» ورئيس جهاز المخابرات التركية ورئيس المخابرات السعودية ورئيس القسم الخارجي في المخابرات «الإسرائيلية» ورئيس جهاز المخابرات القطري وضابطان رفيعا المستوى من مركز عمليات الناتو قرّروا خلال اللقاء فصل حلب عن حضن الدولة السورية بأيّ ثمن كان وإعلانها إمارة مستقلة بمثابة مقدّمة لتفكيك الدولة السورية…!

كان هذا بمثابة قرار مخابراتي دولي بقيادة واشنطن هدفه إسقاط حكم الرئيس السوري المنتخَب وتدمير الدولة الوطنية السورية وتمزيقها الى دويلات…!

وهكذا تدفقت العصابات وقطاع الطرق والأموال والأسلحة والمستشارين باتجاه حلب وصار الجميع في الغرب وعند الأعراب يتحدّث عن ضرورة تغيير النظام في سورية وانّ الأسد راحل لا محالة وأنه غير قادر على الصمود والبقاء…!

يومها لم يكن أحد يتصوّر ولا للحظة واحدة أنّ ثمة من يملك في المقابل الرؤية الواضحة والبصيرة التامة والعزيمة والبأس والقرار لوقف حركة التاريخ بالتوقيت الأميركي مهما حصل…!

وأنه قادر بقدرة قادر أن يوقف عقارب الساعة الأميركية الإسرائيلية التي انطلقت في سورية، وأن يغيّر القدر لصالح دوران الساعة العربية الإيرانية الحزب اللهية المشتركة. نعم ودوران تاريخ ما قبل عصر الظهور، بل وحتى إن لزم الأمر تاريخ ما قبل يوم القيامة…!

وهكذا كان القرار في بيت قصر الشعب السوري، مع انطلاق المشهد الدمشقي الشهير، يوم اعتلى السيد حسن عبد الكريم نصرالله مع شقيقيه الرئيسين الإيراني محمود أحمدي نجاد والسوري بشار حافظ الأسد سدة رئاسة عصر ما بعد الزمن الأميركي المتقهقر على بوابات الشام وتخوم حلب وأسوار الجليل الأعلى…!

هي الساعة التي تدور اليوم في حلب تماماً، الساعة التي تُجبر دونالد ترامب على الإذعان والاعتراف والإقرار بفشل أميركا بجمهورييها وديمقراطييها في إسقاط الأسد أو التغلب على بأس السوريين وصمودهم وشجاعة حلفائهم وصبرهم الاستراتيجي!

عندما يقول ترامب بأنه سيغيّر من سياسة أميركا التي كانت تلهث وراء إسقاط الأنظمة، هو في الواقع لا يمنحنا منّة أو فرصة من فضله، ولا يعبّر عن خلاف له مع أوباما، بقدر ما هو يذعن صاغراً بأنّ سياسة إدارتَيْ بوش الابن في العراق كما باراك أوباما في سورية قد هزمتا أمام إرادة وبأس الجيش العربي السوري وحلفائه من حرس ثوري إيراني وفصائل المقاومة من رجال حزب الله وغيرهم من مقاومات ومعهم الحشد الشعبي العراقي وحلفائه من قوات مكافحة الإرهاب المحلية وبقايا جيش الشعب العراقي…!

إنّ معركة تحرير حلب وإعادتها كاملة إلى حضن الدولة السورية، والتي تقترب في هذه اللحظة من نهاياتها المقرّرة، تثبت للعالم أجمع بأنّ تحرير كلّ شبر من سورية أمر ممكن وأنه حاصل لا محالة، وأنه لم يعد حلماً بعيد المنال…!

فالذي يحرّر حلب بجغرافيتها الكبيرة جداً وموقعها الجيوسياسي والجيو استراتيجي الخاص قطعاً هو أقدر على تحرير إدلب والرقة ودير الزور ودرعا والقنيطرة…!

وهذا الأمر حاصل لا محالة وقد بات قريباً، وعلى العالم الذي كان ينتظر رحيل الأسد في الأعوام 2012 و13 و14، أن يَعدّ أسماء الذين سيرحلون مع أوباما وما بعد بعد أوباما…!

إنها تجربة مدرسة الوحي المتجدّدة في سيرة ومسار رجال الله وانتصارات البصائر على جهل أبي سفيان وأبي لهب عصرنا الحاضر…!

لقد أرادوها معركة إسقاط لأطراف محور المقاومة الواحد بعد الآخر، فكان الموعد مع مَنْ يغيّرون القدر ويعيدون كتابة التاريخ ويرسمون ميتافيزيقا جغرافية لم يعهدها ضباط سايكس بيكو، ولا ورثتهم الجدد…!

إنهم الأقمار شاطري – خوشنويس، همداني – أبو وهب، الحاج علاء، الحاج حمادة، ومعهم وإلى جانبهم عشرات الأقمار من بواسل الجيش العربي السوري وعشرات النجوم التي كلما كان يسقط نجم من سماء حلب بين أهله كانت الشهباء حلب تجدّد سماءها الناصع بنجوم جديدة أكثر لمعاناً…!

ونحن نتابع أخبار انتصاراتكم سادتي، أقول بلسان كلّ عربي لم يتسنّ له المشاركة معكم:

يا ليتنا كنا معكم سادتي فنفوز فوزاً عظيماً، طبتم وطابت الأرض التي حرّرتم…!

حلب تنتصر على أعدائها وتغيّر وجه العالم، لأنّ أوجه الذين دافعوا عنها كانت حزمة أنوار قلّ نظيرها في تاريخ تتابُع الأبدال وتواصُل الأجيال…!

بعدنا طيّبين قولوا الله.

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

UN Press Conference on Syria

Posted on December 10, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

From the video description:

Full Press Conference at the United Nations. Against propaganda and regime change, for peace and national sovereignty. 9 December 2016, the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations. Speakers: Dr. Bahman Azad, Member of the Coordinating Committee for the Hands Off Syria and Organization Secretary of US Peace Council, and Eva Bartlett, Independent Canadian Journalist.

The press conference comes just as the Obama administration waived prohibitions on the delivery of weapons to militant factions in Syria and as Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has announced the deployment of 200 additional US special forces to Syria, ostensibly for duty in Raqqa. (H/T Uprooted Palestinians )

The additional deployment will up the number of US troops in Syria to around 500.

An interesting analysis published at 21st Century Wire takes the view that Obama’s lifting of the prohibitions on arms deliveries to Syria will mean “unlimited arms” for terrorists operating there, including possibly anti-aircraft weaponry. Add that to the additional troops being deployed, who no doubt will provide training on the new weapons systems, and the stage could be set for a protracted war that could go on for years–that is if it doesn’t escalate into a broader conflict between the major super powers.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Forget Russia — The Real Threat to America comes from Israel and the Israel Lobby

How Russia is pilloried

while real news about Israel goes unreported

By Philip Giraldi

“We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.”— Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001

The drama surrounding allegations that the internet is awash with “fake news” is being promoted by the so-called mainstream media which certainly has a lot to answer for when it comes to producing material that does not pass the smell test.

Does the name Judith Miller ring any bells? And the squeaks of rage coming from the U.S. Congress over being lied to is also something to behold as the federal government has been acting in collusion with the media to dish up falsehoods designed to start wars since the time of the Spanish-American conflict in 1898, if not before.

The fake news saga is intended to discredit Donald Trump, whom the media hates mostly because they failed to understand either him or the Americans who voted for him in the recent election. You have to blame somebody when you are wrong so you invent “fake news” as the game changer that explains your failure to comprehend simple truths. To accomplish that, the clearly observable evidence that the media was piling on Donald Trump at every opportunity has somehow been deliberately morphed into a narrative that it is Trump who was attacking the media, suggesting that it was all self-defense on the part of the Rachel Maddows of this world, but anyone who viewed even a small portion of the farrago surely will have noted that it was the Republican candidate who was continuously coming under attack from both the right and left of the political-media spectrum.

There are also some secondary narratives being promoted, including a pervasive argument that Hillary Clinton was somehow the victim of the news reporting due specifically to fake stories emanating largely from Moscow in an attempt to not only influence the election but also to subvert America’s democratic institutions.

I have observed that if such a truly ridiculous objective were President Vladimir Putin’s desired goal he might as well relax. Our own Democratic and Republican duopoly has already been doing a fine job at subverting democracy by assiduously separating the American people from the elite Establishment that theoretically represents and serves them.

Another side of the mainstream media lament that has been relatively unexplored is what the media chooses not to report. At the present moment, it is practically obligatory to slam Russia and Putin at every opportunity even though Moscow is too militarily weak and poor to fancy itself a global adversary of the U.S. Instead of seeking a new Cold War, Washington should instead focus on working with Russia to make sure that disagreements over policies in relatively unimportant parts of the world do not escalate into nuclear exchanges.

Russian actions on its own doorstep in Eastern Europe do not in fact threaten the United States or any actual vital interest. Nor does Moscow threaten the U.S. through its intervention on behalf of the Syrian government in the Middle East. That Russia is described incessantly as a threat in those areas is largely a contrivance arranged by the media, the Democratic and Republican National Committees and by the White House. Candidate Donald Trump appeared to recognize that fact before he began listening to Michael Flynn, who has a rather different view. Hopefully the old Trump will prevail.

Blaming Russia, which has good reasons to be suspicious of Washington’s intentions, is particularly convenient for those many diverse inside the Beltway interests that require a significant enemy to keep the cash flowing out of the pockets of taxpayers and into the bank accounts of the useless grifters who inhabit K-Street and Capitol Hill. Neoconservatives are frequently described as ideologues, but the truth is that they are more interested in gaining increased access to money and power than they are in promulgating their own brand of global regime change.

There is, however, another country that has interfered in U.S. elections, has endangered Americans living or working overseas and has corrupted America’s legislative and executive branches. It has exploited that corruption to initiate legislation favorable to itself, has promoted unnecessary and unwinnable wars and has stolen American technology and military secrets. Its ready access to the mainstream media to spread its own propaganda provides it with cover for its actions and it accomplishes all that and more through the agency of a powerful and well-funded domestic lobby that oddly is not subject to the accountability afforded by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938 even though it manifestly works on behalf of a foreign government. That country is, of course, Israel.

And that assessment of Israel and what damage it does regarding what most Americans would regard as genuine national interests is most definitely not reported, revealing once again that what is not written is every bit as important as what is. I would note how what has recently happened right in front of us relating to Israel is apparently not considered fit to print and will never appear on any disapproving editorial page. Just this week the Senate unanimously passed an Anti-Semitism Awareness bill and also by a 99 to zero vote renewed and strengthened sanctions against Iran, which could wreck the one year old anti-nuclear weapon proliferation agreement with that country.

The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act is intended to give the Department of Education investigatory authority over “anti-Jewish incidents” on America’s college campuses. Such “incidents” are not limited to religious bigotry, with the examples cited in the bill’s text including criticism of Israel and claiming that the holocaust was “exaggerated.” It is a thinly disguised assault on the Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, which is non-violent, does not criticize Jews as a religion or ethnicity, and is actually supported by many Jewish Americans who are concerned about Israel’s apartheid regime.

The Anti-Semitism bill makes Jews and Jewish interests a legally protected class, immune from any criticism. “Free speech” means in practice that you can burn an American flag, sell pornography, attack Christianity in the vilest terms or castigate the government in Washington all you want but criticizing Israel is off limits if you want to avoid falling into the clutches of the legal system. The Act is a major step forward in effectively making any expressed opposition to Israeli actions a hate crime.

And it is similar to punitive legislation that has been enacted in twenty-two states as well as in Canada. It is strongly supported by the Israel Lobby, which quite likely drafted it, and is seeking to use legal challenges to delegitimize and eliminate any opposition to the policies of the state of Israel.

As the Act is clearly intended to restrict First Amendment rights if they are perceived as impacting on broadly defined Jewish sensitivities, it should be opposed on that basis alone, but it is very popular in Congress, which is de facto owned by the Israel Lobby. That the legislation is not being condemned or even discussed in the generally liberal media tells you everything you need to know about the amazing power of one particular unelected and unaccountable lobby in the U.S.

And there is always Iran to worry about.

If the United States can successfully avoid a war with Russia, a conflict with the Mullahs could have major consequences even if the all-powerful U.S. military successfully rolls over its Iranian counterpart in less than a week. Iran is physically and in terms of population much larger than Iraq and it has a strong national identity. An attack by Washington would produce a powerful reaction, unleashing terrorist resources and destabilizing an economically and politically important region of the world for years to come. Currently, the nuclear agreement with Iran provides some measure of stability and also pushes backwards any possible program by Tehran to build a weapon. Iran does not threaten the United States, so why walk away from the agreement as some of Trump’s advisors urge? Or violate the agreement’s terms as the U.S. Congress seems to be doing by extending and tightening the sanctions regime with its just passed Iran Sanctions Extension Act?

Look no further than the Israel Lobby. Hobbling Iran, a regional competitor, is a possible Israeli interest that should have nothing to do with the United States but yet again the United States government carries the water for the extreme right wing Netanyahu regime.

Israel for its part has welcomed the Trump election by building 500 new and completely illegal settler homes in what was once Arab East Jerusalem. Trump has surrounded himself with advocates for Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s expectation that he will have a free hand in dealing with those pesky Palestinians is probably correct. I would like to think that Donald Trump will unpleasantly surprise him based on actual American rather than Israeli interests but am not optimistic.

Indeed, deference to perceived Israeli interests enforced by the Israel Lobby and media permeates the entire American foreign policy and national security structure. Congressman Keith Ellison who is seeking to become Democratic National Committee Chairman is being called an anti-Semite for “implying U.S. policy in the region [the Middle East] favored Israel at the expense of Muslim-majority countries, remarks ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt described as ‘deeply disturbing and disqualifying.’” Donald Trump and his senior counselor Steve Bannon have also both been called anti-Semites and several other potential GOP appointees have been subjected to the media’s fidelity-to-Israel litmus test.

The recently nominated Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who can hardly be called a moderate when it comes to Iran, has also been labeled an anti-Semite by the usual players. Why? Because in 2013 he told Wolf Blitzer “So we’ve got to work on [peace talks] with a sense of urgency. I paid a military security price every day as a commander of CENTCOM because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel, and [because of this] moderate Arabs couldn’t be with us because they couldn’t publicly support those who don’t show respect for Arab Palestinians.”

Mattis continued, referring directly to Israeli apartheid: “I’ll tell you, the current situation is unsustainable … We’ve got to find a way to make work the two-state solution that both Democrat and Republican administrations have supported, and the chances are starting to ebb because of the settlements. For example, if I’m Jerusalem and I put 500 Jewish settlers to the east and there’s ten-thousand Arabs already there, and if we draw the border to include them, either [Israel] ceases to be a Jewish state or you say the Arabs don’t get to vote — apartheid. That didn’t work too well the last time I saw that practiced in a country.”

Mattis will no doubt be reminded of his remarks when he is up for Senate confirmation. A predecessor Chuck Hagel was mercilessly grilled by Senators over his reported comment that the “Jewish lobby” intimidates congressmen. But ironically nearly everyone who is not an Israel-firster who is involved in U.S. foreign and security policy knows that aggressive Israeli colonization of the Palestinian West Bank and its siege of Gaza contribute greatly to terrorism against the United States, since Washington is regularly blamed for enabling Netanyahu. When General David Petraeus said pretty much the same thing as Mattis back in 2010 he was forced to “explain” his comments, retract them and then grovel before he was eventually given a pass by the Lobby.

And there is considerable self-censorship related to the alleged sensitivity of “Jewish issues,” not only in the media. I recently attended a conference on the Iraq invasion of 2003 at which the role of Israel manifested through its controlled gaggle of American legislators and bureaucrats as a factor in going to war was not even mentioned. It was as if it would be impolite or, dare I say, anti-Semitic, to do so even though the Israeli role was hardly hidden.

Former Bush administration senior official Philip Zelikow has admitted that protecting Israel was the principal reason why the U.S. invaded Iraq and others have speculated that without the persistent neocons’ and Israel’s prodding Washington might not have gone to war at all. That is apparently what then Secretary of State Colin Powell also eventually came around to believe.

So let’s stop talking about what Russia is doing to the United States, which is relatively speaking very little, and start admitting that the lopsided and completely deferential relationship with Israel is the actual central problem in America’s foreign policy. Will the media do that? Not a chance. They would rather obsess about fake news and blame Putin.

Source

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Sergey Lavrov: “Terrorists Should Be Fought Until Their Full Elimination” in Syria

Source

By Alexander Mercouris,

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complains about misrepresentation of his words of the previous day; confirms that there is no ceasefire in Aleppo and that objective remains total elimination of Jihadi controlled pocket in the city.

Thursday 9th December 2016 saw the Jihadi fighters driven out of Sheikh Saeed, another key district in eastern Aleppo formerly under their control.

Loss of Sheikh Saeed – sometimes referred to as the ‘eastern gateway of Aleppo’ – not only confines the Jihadis in Aleppo to an ever smaller area (around 6 square kilometres), but tightens even further the noose around them, and distances them further from escape into the Aleppo countryside.

The other major event of 9th December 2016 was the mass evacuation, which has been arranged by the Russian Reconciliation Centre in Khmeimim air base, of thousands of civilians from eastern Aleppo.

This operation has been widely misunderstood or misrepresented as some sort of ‘ceasefire’, when on the contrary it is a further sign that the Jihadi pocket in eastern Aleppo is in its final hours.

The origins of this misunderstanding are certain words spoken off the cuff by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov following meetings he is having with Western officials – including US Secretary of State Kerry – in Hamburg. In order to clear up this misunderstanding I will first set out Lavrov’s exact words

Combat actions of the Syrian Army in eastern Aleppo are suspended today, as a yet another and the biggest one so far operation to evacuate the civilians willing to leave the place is underway there. There are some 8,000 people in the column. That’s a huge operation and the withdrawal route is five kilometres long.

These words imply no sort of ceasefire, unilateral or otherwise. What Lavrov was saying was that the Syrian army had temporarily scaled down its operations in order to allow the long column of 8,000 civilians who are being evacuated from eastern Aleppo to leave unhindered.

Lavrov’s irritation at the way his words yesterday were misunderstood or misrepresented has been made clear today in a clarification he has provided of what he said yesterday

I never said that military activities have been stopped completely. I just said that they were halted yesterday for a specific period of time in order to provide civilians with an opportunity to leave. After these humanitarian pauses, military operations will go on until eastern Aleppo is liberated from militants.

The background to all this is that the Russians and the Syrians have been trying to evacuate the civilians from eastern Aleppo to get them out of harm’s way for weeks. All their attempts to do so have up to now failed because Al-Qaeda has prevented the civilians from leaving. Indeed there are credible reports that on occasion Al-Qaeda has executed civilians who have tried to leave, and has violently broken up protests by civilians demonstrating against Al-Qaeda’s refusal to let them leave.

The reason Al-Qaeda has been preventing civilians from leaving eastern Aleppo is because it has wanted them there as human shields. Indeed the whole propaganda campaign Al-Qaeda has organised over the last few months – which has been enthusiastically supported by Western governments and by the Western media – has depended on keeping the civilians there so that they can act as human shields.

Moreover in preventing the civilians from leaving eastern Aleppo, Al-Qaeda has had the active help of the UN Secretariat and its humanitarian agencies, who have never made any issue of the fact that Al-Qaeda has been forcibly preventing the civilians from leaving eastern Aleppo, but who have on the contrary being colluding with Al-Qaeda’s propaganda campaign by repeatedly demanding ‘ceasefires’ and ‘humanitarian access’ to the civilians in eastern Aleppo.

Lavrov’s anger at the conduct of the UN Secretariat finally boiled over yesterday, when he unequivocally condemned the behaviour of its Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s chief representative in Syria, whom he accused of practising “sabotage”

The third direction is political process. It seems to me I’ve already strained my voice, calling on Staffan de Mistura to stop sabotaging political negotiations.

(bold italics added)

These are exceptionally strong words coming from a diplomat of Lavrov’s experience. They show how strong Russian anger at the conduct of the UN Secretariat in Syria has become. Whilst Lavrov’s words are concerned primarily with de Mistura’s mismanagement of the political negotiations, there is no doubt they also partly reflect Russian anger at the way the UN Secretariat has acted as Al-Qaeda’s propaganda ally during the siege of eastern Aleppo.

The fact that it has now become finally possible to evacuate the civilians from eastern Aleppo is a further sign that the Jihadis’ grip on eastern Aleppo and on the civilians there has finally been broken, and that is how yesterday’s events should be understood.

Once the civilians are evacuated – in the absence of any agreement for the Jihadis to withdraw from the city – the Syrian army will be in a better position to round up the remaining Jihadis since they will no longer have civilians behind whom they can hide. That is what Lavrov implied yesterday, and what he has confirmed today.

That the total destruction of the Jihadi presence in eastern Aleppo is the Russian objective was again made clear by Lavrov yesterday

Our strategy is very simple as it is based on a UNSC resolution which states that terrorists should be relentlessly fought until their full elimination.

(bold italics added)

The Russian Reconciliation Centre in Khmeimin air base has just issued a statement saying that 8,500 civilians have been evacuated from eastern Aleppo over the last 24 hours

Only in the past 24 hours, a total of 8,461 residents, including 2,934 children, left the areas that remain under the militant control, with the assistance of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the warring parties.

This suggests that the operation to evacuate the civilians from eastern Aleppo is now all but over. Barring an agreement to withdraw the Jihadis from Aleppo within the next few hours, fighting in the city will resume in full force shortly.

The original source of this article is The Duran

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New Tempest Erupts over ‘Russian Hacking’…plus a suggestion for Donald Trump

Posted on December 10, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

By Richard Edmondson

The Obama administration has ordered a full intelligence review into alleged efforts by Russian hackers to influence the outcome of the presidential election, with the president, according to media reports, requesting that a report on the matter to be completed before he leaves office on January 20.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz says he wants “to be clear” that this is not in any way an effort to undermine Trump’s legitimacy to hold office, only that there is a need to look at possible “malicious activity” carried out by the Russians.

“I think this is going to be a deep dive,” Schultz said, taking pains to clarify that the investigation will examine not only putative Russian manipulation of the most recent election, but also alleged tampering of the elections of 2012 and 2008.

I have a suggestion for Donald Trump. He probably won’t heed it, but I will offer it anyway: that immediately upon assuming office, he order the Office of Management and Budget to investigate how much tax money was squandered by the Obama administration in nearly six years of efforts to overthrow the government in Syria. Maybe Trump could order a ‘deep dive’ and ask the OMB to have the report completed within his first 60 days in office.

Many people, naturally, would see such a call as a retaliation for the investigation now being ordered by Obama–and certainly the media would report it that way–but the results of an investigation of this sort would be at least as beneficial, and probably a whole lot more interesting, than anything that might be turned up about Russians hacking into the computer systems of two thoroughly corrupt political parties.

We could find out, for instance, how much the US spent training and equipping Nour al-Din al-Zenki, the “moderate rebel” group which beheaded a 12-year-old Syrian child on video last July:

Yes, it would be nice if Trump were to order such an investigation…but I’m not going to hold my breath. In any event, we seem to be entering a new phase of anti-Russian propaganda in the media. The call for the intelligence review was made by an Obama administration official on Friday–the same day the Washington Post, in a report based almost solely on anonymous, unnamed “officials,” published allegations about a “secret CIA assessment” whose conclusion is that Russia sought to throw the election to Trump.

“The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter,” reports the Post.

Repeat: it wasn’t just a case of Russia trying to undermine faith in America’s wonderful, spectacular democracy where office is generally for sale to the highest bidder. No, it was Russia deliberately trying to put Trump into the White House, according to the Post–which is a short step away from accusing Trump of being a Russian agent.

There is also the claim that the Russians hacked into the files of both the Republican Party and the DNC, but that they (the Russians) deliberately sat on the material stolen from the Republicans, choosing instead only to release material embarrassing to the Democrats.

Could any of this be credible? Hard to say, but it seems the vote recount effort has fizzled out, and the new call for an investigation could be a “plan B” aimed either at getting Hillary in the White House or at least weakening Trump to the point where he will essentially be unable to govern or pursue his own independent foreign policy. That’s one way of looking at it anyway.

It also could be designed to create a schism within the Republican Party in the sense that many Republicans could end up finding themselves faced with the difficult choice of having to avow loyalty to their president or loyalty to America. As the Post puts it:

On the other hand, if Republicans downplay the issue, they risk giving a pass to an antagonistic foreign power whom significant majorities of Americans and members of Congress don’t trust and who, if the evidence is accurate, wields significant power to wage successful cyber warfare with the United States.

Two prominent Republicans in the Senate, Lindsey Graham and John McCain, have jumped on the bandwagon in support of a Senate probe into Russian hacking.

“I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia,” said Graham. “I think they’re one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage. I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price.”

It isn’t the US–a country that has been involved in one war or regime change after another for the last 25 years–that is “the most destabilizing influence on the world stage,” in Graham’s opinion; it is Russia.

Trump’s response has been to dismiss the allegations of Russian hacking, while also recalling lies of the past:

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.

How all this will play out remains to be seen, but it looks like the political divisions in America are widening rather than narrowing…and it also looks like the propaganda war against Russia will continue to be used to the advantage of one side–beyond the November election and on into the new administration.

If the Russians thought sanity would prevail after the transition of power in January, they’re probably in for a disappointment.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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President Assad: Crisis Solidified Social Fabric among Syrians

December 10, 2016

Syrian President Bashar Assad receiving the Arab Lawyers delegation

President Bashar al-Assad received on Saturday participants in the permanent office of the Arab Lawyers Union (ALU) meeting currently held in Damascus under the title ”The Rights of States in Confronting Terrorism”.

The meeting dealt with the important role of popular unions and associations, especially under the current conditions in the Arab region, with President al-Assad stressing that these organizations should play a fundamental and vital role in raising public awareness about the goings-on, without them waiting for governments to do so.

The President said the ALU has a significant role, as it comprises educated and politically-enlightened elites who can have a role in returning the Arab street to the concept of national belonging to confront Western schemes which seek to undermine the Arab social fabric by extremism.

The President added that the battle fought by the Syrian people is a “national battle par excellence,” because, he explained, one of the war’s goals was to strike the robust social fabric of the Syrian society.

Syria’s enemies have failed to achieve this, added the President, because the Syrian people have largely succeeded in preserving their unity and social fabric, and managed to emerge more united and fortified on that score, which is one of Syria’s key strengths.

The delegation members, for their part, said the current stage in the region is one of “intellectual struggle”, adding that the Arab nationalist thought must be disseminated to counteract an obscurantist ideology which seeks to invade Arab societies.

This, they said, is needed for incapacitating the project which aims at fragmenting the Arab region along sectarian and ethnic schisms.

The delegation members also stressed the necessity of launching a legal battle before international courts, in parallel with the military and political one fought by Syria, by filing lawsuits against terrorism backers in Syria, stressing their support for the Syrian people who are being targeted for embracing Arab causes and commitment to their country’s sovereignty and independent decision.

Source: SANA

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No Reconstruction in Gaza–But Be Careful, It Might Become ‘Anti-Semitic’ to Say So

Posted on December 9, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

The video above shows us what the people of Gaza are living through currently as the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016 makes its way through Congress. The bill, which passed the Senate on December 1, would codify into law a definition of anti-Semitism that includes attempts to “demonize” Israel or hold it to a “double standard.” By the way, the “caravans” referred to in the video are portable buildings made of metal–basically what we would refer to in the United States as “mobile homes,” although I gather that the caravans given to Palestinians in Gaza do not quite meet the same safety standards as the mobile homes sold in the US.

But of course, if you’re a college student and you’re planning on criticizing the Zionist state over any of this, beware that requiring of Israel “a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” could result in your school being denied federal funds should the new bill become law. If you’ve not read my article on the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, you can do so here.

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Sayyed Nasrallah Praises the Excellent Relation with Aoun: Aleppo’s New Victory To Impact All Region

Zeinab Essa

Hizbullah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered on Friday a televised speech in which he tackled the latest Lebanese developments, particularly the formation of the government.

Sayyed Nasrallah Praises the Excellent Relation with Aoun: Aleppo’s New Victory To Impact All Region

At the beginning of speech, Sayyed Nasrallah congratulated the Muslims and Christians on the holy occasions coming in December.

His Eminence warned that the Muslims and Christians in the region are facing challenges on the cultural and existential level. “These threats start from Palestine, where “Israel” continues to target sanctities among which is preventing the Azan [praying calls],” he stated.

In parallel, the Resistance Leader repeated that US and some Western countries have assisted and funded the takfiris throughout the past few years, and this was declared by US President-elect Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as being highlighted by Hillary Clinton’s emails.

On the same level, Sayyed Nasrallah hoped that the holy occasions will unite the people in the region in face of the takfiri threat

Commenting on the recent media fabrications concerning Hizbullah’s positions from the Lebanese internal files, he clarified that Hizbullah does not have so-called sources and the quoting of Hizbullah close sources is incorrect.

“Hizbullah does not have media, political or parliamentary sources or sources close to the party that speak to the press. Anything attributed to Hizbullah sources is unreliable,” he added, noting that Hizbullah also do not depend on so-called March 8 sources.

According to His Eminence, Hizbullah is not used to sending messages via friends or embassies. “We talk with others directly and we have the logic, credibility and courage to declare our positions in internal meetings and media,” he announced.

In parallel, Sayyed Nasrallah underscored that Hizbullah does not use this approach and this is to respond to what has been attributed to Hizbullah about alleged messages to the new presidential tenure.

He went on to say: “We have previously said that after the presidential elections, we will witness a lot of disturbances targeting the relationships and alliances.”

Sayyed Nasrallah further mentioned: “We’re on the same relationship with the President and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement and the rest of our friends in the movement. There is constant contact and we always meet. And the relationship is completely positive. Our relationship with President Aoun is excellent and we are on daily contact with President Aoun and with President of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil.”

“We might have different viewpoints over some issues and this is positive in discussing things and I stress that we do not need to send messages,” he added.Turning to the talks between the Free Patriotic Movement and Lebanese Forces, Sayyed Nasrallah announced that Hizbullah isn’t “busy with addressing the Lebanese Forces and its decisions. Our battle is outside Lebanon and isn’t concerned with local politics.”

He also revealed that when the dialogue between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces took place, Hizbullah was informed of it. “We did not have any negative response and this does not bother us. However, we said if this thing can lead to the election of General Michel Aoun for the presidency, we welcome it.”

Moreover, Sayyed Nasrallah underscored that some sides are spreading rumors that Hizbullah is exerting all its efforts on breaking the relationship between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces. “Some are trying to give the impression that Hizbullah is preoccupied with the issue of the Lebanese Force’s relation with the Free Patriotic Movement. This is not to underestimate the Lebanese Forces, which is an essential force, but everyone knows that we are busy somewhere else.”

Once again, he reiterated: “Our relation with President Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement is excellent and built on deep trust,” advising all sides not to try to stir discord between Hizbullah, AMAL and the Free Patriotic Movement.

“Some sides are seeking to create a battle between the bilateral Shiite [parties] and the [bilateral or tripartite] Christian alliance. But they are delusional. There’s no battle here,” Hizbullah Secretary General confirmed, warning that “delusional battles will only lead to delusional results.”

As His Eminence stressed that Hizbullah’s battle is outside Lebanon and isn’t concerned with local politics, he stated: “Our battle will draw the future of the region. Hizbullah’s major battle now is against Daesh because if the latter had gained control over Syria and Iraq a catastrophe would have emerged.”

Sayyed Nasrallah further said: “We have no problem with President Aoun’s relationship with the Gulf countries, we were actually happy with the Saudi delegate’s visit to President Aoun.”

Meanwhile, he also announced: “We do not put a veto on General Aoun’s visit to Saudi Arabia and no one should put a veto on the president’s visit to Syria and Iran. We have no problem with the Lebanese president’s visit to any country he wants, except for the enemy, which we all agree on.”

Referring to Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, His Eminence said: “It’s every group’s right to be represented with a main portfolio.”

“We in the Christian arena, as friends and allies, have the right to return the relationship between the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada back to the normal,” he stated.

Assuring the Lebanese people that all the political parties are concerned of forming a government and that no one seeks to obstruct that, Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized that we are in constant contact with House Speaker Nabih Berri.

“There are those who tried to show that Speaker Berri is disrupting the formation of the government and this is not true. There are also those who are trying to show that Hizbullah or minister Franjieh are disrupting the formation of the government and this is unfair.”

“There are a lot of titles regarding the government’s formation that were agreed on as the form of representation and the number of ministers. The vast majority of ministerial portfolios were represented and there is a problem over one or two portfolios and the representation of the forces.”

Meanwhile, he said: “It is enough that President Aoun has the one third plus one in the parliament,” cautioning that there are those who are spreading claims as if the country was on the brink of civil war.

“Those who are targeting the Presidency, confidence in Lebanon and the confidence of the Lebanese in the political future are those who are making mountains out of molehills and exaggerating titles,” Sayyed Nasrallah added.

Regarding the divisions between local parties on the country’s new electoral law, His Eminence called on rivals to separate the formation of the government from talks on the new vote law.

“The legislature body can meet and agree on a new vote law that meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people away from talks on the formation of the new government that isn’t for the Presidency and President Aoun already said that task of this government is to set an electoral law and to hold parliamentary elections,” he explained.

Sayyed Nasrallah further stressed the importance of dialogue on the Lebanese arena, “With dialogue we can help each other and solve all the issues.”

On the electoral law, His Eminence announced Hizbullah’s support for the adoption of a proportional system. “We back the calls for separating the issue of the electoral law from the cabinet formation process,” he said, noting that “the only law that can lead to building a State is one fully based on proportional representation and on turning Lebanon into a single electorate or several large electorates.”

Assuring that Hizbullah doesn’t use regional developments in the internal issues, Sayyed Nasrallah declared that his party will not use the victory in Aleppo for political gains.

In this context, he urged the Lebanese to set aside regional developments. “Our fate and choice if we are seeking to build a strong nation is to strengthen our coexistence and civil peace, to cooperate and engage in dialogue and to accept each.”

“Major developments are currently happening in the region, similar to the battles in Aleppo and the new victory that will impact all the battles in the region,” he said, noting that “we are at a decisive and important stage… but I will not tackle the developments in the region until things are clear and the scenery will talk about itself.

Moreover, His Eminence unveiled that the region has entered a new stage. “We’re not ashamed of its path… We are publicly present in more than one arena.”

Source: al-Ahed news

09-12-2016 | 23:03

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