Friday, March 25, 2011
Al-Jazeera Video: Live update from Syria's Daraa city
"Protesters calling for freedom gathered in capital Damascus and other areas around Syria as security forces ordered journalists to leave a southern city where a brutal weeklong siege on demonstrations killed dozens of people.
Al Jazeera's special correspondent, reporting from among the pro-reform demonstrators in the southern city of Daraa, 100 kilometres south of Damascus, said: "No one here is calling for a regime change".
"No one here is chanting slogans against the president Bashar al-Assad. The people here say they want freedom, they want reforms."
Visit the Al Jazeera website for more on our special coverage of the unrest in Syria."
Mission Creep
Marwan Bishara examines the politics of NATO's intervention in Libya.
"Why the opposition regarding NATO taking charge of the Libya operation?
In short, non-Western international powers distrust the Western military alliance.
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and South Africa within IBSA's southern democracies (India, Brazil and South Africa) have all voiced concerns and outright objections.
They reckon that Western powers are exploiting Arab and international support for the international no-fly zone to expand the alliance's role and mission in the future beyond its core mission of defending Europe.
They specifically oppose the notion of NATO becoming de facto the UN Security Council enforcer.....
And what about the confusion or opposition within NATO?
In the absence of imminent danger against the alliance's territories, one should not expect its 28 democracies with different national priorities to agree on the specifics of NATO's military intervention in a foreign country.
This is especially the case when its two European nuclear powers, France and the UK, pull ahead and expect the rest to follow in their stead and cheer.....
What does all this mean to Libya?
After six days of bombing, the Gaddafi forces have been seriously hampered, but the balance of power on the ground is yet to be reversed.
Meanwhile, the Libyan revolutionaries continue to fight bravely despite the superiority of the regime's firepower. Their high spirits and readiness to sacrifice continues to make up for their military inferiority.
As highly paid mercenaries and well armed militias confront highly motivated rebels ready to sacrifice all including their lives, history tells us the latter is bound to win, if not sooner, then later. Remember, while armed militias fight out of loyalty to a despotic leader, patriots sacrifice for their country and its freedom. Arming the latter could reverse the balance of power in no time and perhaps ending the Gaddafi regime.
Concerns that Libya could descend into civil war or become dependent client state are legitimate in light of the Western military intervention.
But it's up to the Libyans to reject any such notion of dependency in the future, and for the new democracies flourishing around them to support their collective rights for free self determination from neo- colonial influence. Unlike dictatorships, democracies tend to be less prone to clientalism.
No 'I-owe-you's have gone out and no receipts or down payments have been issued to Western powers thus far by the Transtional National Council that we know of, and it could and should remain that way.
As the Libyans go to Addis Ababa at the invitation of the African Union that has long voiced its concerns of Western intervention, political or diplomatic efforts should concentrate on ending the Libyan suffering sooner rather than later.
The end game hasn't change. Gaddafi must go. Not because Obama said it, rather because as the Arab revolution puts it, "the people want to bring down the regime"."
"Why the opposition regarding NATO taking charge of the Libya operation?
In short, non-Western international powers distrust the Western military alliance.
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and South Africa within IBSA's southern democracies (India, Brazil and South Africa) have all voiced concerns and outright objections.
They reckon that Western powers are exploiting Arab and international support for the international no-fly zone to expand the alliance's role and mission in the future beyond its core mission of defending Europe.
They specifically oppose the notion of NATO becoming de facto the UN Security Council enforcer.....
And what about the confusion or opposition within NATO?
In the absence of imminent danger against the alliance's territories, one should not expect its 28 democracies with different national priorities to agree on the specifics of NATO's military intervention in a foreign country.
This is especially the case when its two European nuclear powers, France and the UK, pull ahead and expect the rest to follow in their stead and cheer.....
What does all this mean to Libya?
After six days of bombing, the Gaddafi forces have been seriously hampered, but the balance of power on the ground is yet to be reversed.
Meanwhile, the Libyan revolutionaries continue to fight bravely despite the superiority of the regime's firepower. Their high spirits and readiness to sacrifice continues to make up for their military inferiority.
As highly paid mercenaries and well armed militias confront highly motivated rebels ready to sacrifice all including their lives, history tells us the latter is bound to win, if not sooner, then later. Remember, while armed militias fight out of loyalty to a despotic leader, patriots sacrifice for their country and its freedom. Arming the latter could reverse the balance of power in no time and perhaps ending the Gaddafi regime.
Concerns that Libya could descend into civil war or become dependent client state are legitimate in light of the Western military intervention.
But it's up to the Libyans to reject any such notion of dependency in the future, and for the new democracies flourishing around them to support their collective rights for free self determination from neo- colonial influence. Unlike dictatorships, democracies tend to be less prone to clientalism.
No 'I-owe-you's have gone out and no receipts or down payments have been issued to Western powers thus far by the Transtional National Council that we know of, and it could and should remain that way.
As the Libyans go to Addis Ababa at the invitation of the African Union that has long voiced its concerns of Western intervention, political or diplomatic efforts should concentrate on ending the Libyan suffering sooner rather than later.
The end game hasn't change. Gaddafi must go. Not because Obama said it, rather because as the Arab revolution puts it, "the people want to bring down the regime"."
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Virginity Checks Are Army's Latest Weapon
By Cam McGrath
"CAIRO, Mar 24, 2011 (IPS) - Fresh-faced Salwa El-Hosseiny had joined protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square when a plainclothes officer grabbed her and dragged her to army officers stationed in a nearby museum.
The veiled 20-year-old claims she was beaten, electrocuted and verbally abused, then sent with nearly twenty other female detainees to a military prison on the outskirts of Cairo. It was there that the army, which has ruled Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, allegedly unleashed its latest weapon to curb dissent -- sexual humiliation.
"I was taken to a military prison along with other girls and we were placed in a room with two doors and a window," El-Hosseiny recounted during a press conference last week. "We begged the female guard to close the doors but she refused. We were ordered to remove all our clothes and were searched while cameras filmed us is order to fabricate evidence of prostitution."
El-Hosseiny, and other women detained at the prison, testified that a man claiming to be a doctor performed "virginity checks" on the unmarried girls in the group, threatening that those who failed the test would be charged with prostitution.
"The (female) prison guard stripped us and was beating us with hoses," said one detainee, who identified herself as an unmarried 29-year-old social worker. "The guard said 'girls will be examined, women won't.' I was examined for my virginity by a man wearing a white coat and a female prison guard."....."
"CAIRO, Mar 24, 2011 (IPS) - Fresh-faced Salwa El-Hosseiny had joined protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square when a plainclothes officer grabbed her and dragged her to army officers stationed in a nearby museum.
The veiled 20-year-old claims she was beaten, electrocuted and verbally abused, then sent with nearly twenty other female detainees to a military prison on the outskirts of Cairo. It was there that the army, which has ruled Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, allegedly unleashed its latest weapon to curb dissent -- sexual humiliation.
"I was taken to a military prison along with other girls and we were placed in a room with two doors and a window," El-Hosseiny recounted during a press conference last week. "We begged the female guard to close the doors but she refused. We were ordered to remove all our clothes and were searched while cameras filmed us is order to fabricate evidence of prostitution."
El-Hosseiny, and other women detained at the prison, testified that a man claiming to be a doctor performed "virginity checks" on the unmarried girls in the group, threatening that those who failed the test would be charged with prostitution.
"The (female) prison guard stripped us and was beating us with hoses," said one detainee, who identified herself as an unmarried 29-year-old social worker. "The guard said 'girls will be examined, women won't.' I was examined for my virginity by a man wearing a white coat and a female prison guard."....."
Thousands chant "freedom" despite Assad reform offer
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
DERAA, Syria Thu Mar 24, 2011
"(Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public pledge to look into granting Syrians greater freedom on Thursday as anger mounted following attacks by security forces on protesters that left at least 37 dead.
Despite the promise and the offer of large public pay rises, thousands of Syrians turned out to chant "freedom, revolution" in the center of the southern city of Deraa, the focal point of protests against 48 years of Baath Party rule.
"The Syrian people do not bow," they also chanted around the main Omari mosque, shortly after security forces evacuated the building which they stormed on Wednesday.
Syrian opposition figures said the promises did not meet the aspirations of the people and were similar to those repeated at regular Baath Party conferences, where committees would be formed to study reforms that then never saw the light of day.
"The leadership is trying to absorb the rage of the streets. We want to see reform on the ground," said a Deraa protester.
A hospital official said at least 37 people had been killed in Deraa on Wednesday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators inspired by uprisings across the Arab world that have shaken authoritarian leaders.
While an aide said Assad would study a possible end to 48 years of emergency rule, a human rights group said a leading pro-democracy activist, Mazen Darwish, had been arrested.
Announcing promises for reform in a manner that would have seemed almost unimaginable three months ago in Syria, Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a news conference the president had not himself ordered his forces to fire on protesters [A typical cowardly behavior of.....A Rabbit!]......"
DERAA, Syria Thu Mar 24, 2011
"(Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public pledge to look into granting Syrians greater freedom on Thursday as anger mounted following attacks by security forces on protesters that left at least 37 dead.
Despite the promise and the offer of large public pay rises, thousands of Syrians turned out to chant "freedom, revolution" in the center of the southern city of Deraa, the focal point of protests against 48 years of Baath Party rule.
"The Syrian people do not bow," they also chanted around the main Omari mosque, shortly after security forces evacuated the building which they stormed on Wednesday.
Syrian opposition figures said the promises did not meet the aspirations of the people and were similar to those repeated at regular Baath Party conferences, where committees would be formed to study reforms that then never saw the light of day.
"The leadership is trying to absorb the rage of the streets. We want to see reform on the ground," said a Deraa protester.
A hospital official said at least 37 people had been killed in Deraa on Wednesday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators inspired by uprisings across the Arab world that have shaken authoritarian leaders.
While an aide said Assad would study a possible end to 48 years of emergency rule, a human rights group said a leading pro-democracy activist, Mazen Darwish, had been arrested.
Announcing promises for reform in a manner that would have seemed almost unimaginable three months ago in Syria, Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a news conference the president had not himself ordered his forces to fire on protesters [A typical cowardly behavior of.....A Rabbit!]......"
Syria: Security Forces Kill Dozens of Protesters
Many Activists and Protesters Arrested
March 24, 2011
"(London) - Syria's security forces should immediately stop using live ammunition against protesters in the southern town of Daraa, where the death toll has risen considerably in the last 48 hours, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also immediately release all those detained for protesting peacefully or expressing their opinions.
A Syrian human rights group has released a list of 36 dead in Daraa and its surrounding areas since protests began on March 18, 2011, while an official in the main Daraa hospital told Reuters on March 24 that the hospital had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters.
March 24, 2011
"(London) - Syria's security forces should immediately stop using live ammunition against protesters in the southern town of Daraa, where the death toll has risen considerably in the last 48 hours, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also immediately release all those detained for protesting peacefully or expressing their opinions.
A Syrian human rights group has released a list of 36 dead in Daraa and its surrounding areas since protests began on March 18, 2011, while an official in the main Daraa hospital told Reuters on March 24 that the hospital had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters.
"Syria's security forces are showing the same cruel disregard for protesters' lives as their counterparts in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "President Bashar al-Asad's talk about reforms doesn't mean anything when his security forces are mowing down people who want to talk about them."
At around 1:30 a.m. on March 23, Syrian security forces using teargas canisters and live bullets stormed the al-Omari mosque in Daraa, where protesters had gathered since March 18, two Daraa residents told Human Rights Watch. One resident, who was about 25 meters from the mosque at the time, said he saw corpses on the street. The phone conversation was interrupted by repeated gunfire.
A Syrian activist who has been closely monitoring the situation and speaking to Daraa residents by phone told Human Rights Watch, "It sounded like a war zone on the other end. I am really worried about a massacre."
At around 1:30 a.m. on March 23, Syrian security forces using teargas canisters and live bullets stormed the al-Omari mosque in Daraa, where protesters had gathered since March 18, two Daraa residents told Human Rights Watch. One resident, who was about 25 meters from the mosque at the time, said he saw corpses on the street. The phone conversation was interrupted by repeated gunfire.
A Syrian activist who has been closely monitoring the situation and speaking to Daraa residents by phone told Human Rights Watch, "It sounded like a war zone on the other end. I am really worried about a massacre."
Two Syrian human rights activists said that seven protesters were killed that night, including a child, Ibtisam al-Musalema......."
Al-Jazeera Video: Syria update
"Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, has promised to consider reforms after a week of violent protests in the southern city of Daraa.
But that has not stopped the protesters who have called for countrywide demonstrations on Friday.
Thousands of people were on the streets on Thursday to mourn people they say were shot during the government's crackdown.
There are reports that Assad will speak to his nation within the next few hours to try to calm the situation.
Here's more from Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from the capital, Damascus."
Al-Jazeera Video: Fight for Ajdabiya continues
"Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are said to have taken up key positions around the opposition-held city of Ajdabiya.
The eastern city has been fought over now for more than two weeks.
Many people have fled and others are hiding indoors.
Al Jazeera's James Bays reports on the desperate conditions for people who have chosen to stay."
Welcome to the new NATO quagmire
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"The decision for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to run the show on Libya is a copy of the International Security and Assistance Force arrangement in Afghanistan. Libya is now an official victim of the endless war club and since it is on the ground in Central Asia, NATO is about to enter the era of the double quagmire....
NATO will be in charge of enforcing the no-fly zone and the arms embargo. Sooner rather than later NATO will decide that's not enough - that more air strikes on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces are essential. Turkey has not signed up for that kind of action - and has already said it won't.
When the NATO secretary general, Danish right-winger Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says something like, "we must think how NATO can assist North African countries in their transition to democracy", Turkey better have an exit strategy, or at least a good explanation to the Muslim world when a deadly quagmire sets in. Otherwise, from a bridge between East and West, it will be reduced to a bridge to hell. "
Asia Times
"The decision for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to run the show on Libya is a copy of the International Security and Assistance Force arrangement in Afghanistan. Libya is now an official victim of the endless war club and since it is on the ground in Central Asia, NATO is about to enter the era of the double quagmire....
NATO will be in charge of enforcing the no-fly zone and the arms embargo. Sooner rather than later NATO will decide that's not enough - that more air strikes on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces are essential. Turkey has not signed up for that kind of action - and has already said it won't.
When the NATO secretary general, Danish right-winger Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says something like, "we must think how NATO can assist North African countries in their transition to democracy", Turkey better have an exit strategy, or at least a good explanation to the Muslim world when a deadly quagmire sets in. Otherwise, from a bridge between East and West, it will be reduced to a bridge to hell. "
Public Transport workers declare a free union
GOOD NEWS
From Hossam El-Hamalawy
"Thursday was a fantastic day ya shabab! I attended the launching of a new independent union in Egypt, by the BRAVE public transport workers, whose strikes were central to the overthrow of Mubarak. This was followed by another declaration of another free union, by the Manshiyet el-Bakri Hospital workers.
Many of the workers present in the event also signed to join the Democratic Labor Party. More free unions are coming soon, mark my word. The strategy adopted by the radical left is giving full support for the strike wave, pushing strongly in the direction of forming a unified labor party that represents the political interests of the working class in the ongoing revolution and, in parallel efforts, building a new federation of independent trade unions.
This revolution is hardly finished, and we have to work 25 hours a day to liaise between strike leaders and organizers of social protests across the country. We need to create national coordinating mechanisms. The spontaneity of the current strikes is not enough to achieve victory. We need structures, formed by the workers themselves, that will link the different industrial centers together, and reach out to the civil servants and students. Only then we can talk of overthrowing the military dictatorship."
From Hossam El-Hamalawy
"Thursday was a fantastic day ya shabab! I attended the launching of a new independent union in Egypt, by the BRAVE public transport workers, whose strikes were central to the overthrow of Mubarak. This was followed by another declaration of another free union, by the Manshiyet el-Bakri Hospital workers.
Many of the workers present in the event also signed to join the Democratic Labor Party. More free unions are coming soon, mark my word. The strategy adopted by the radical left is giving full support for the strike wave, pushing strongly in the direction of forming a unified labor party that represents the political interests of the working class in the ongoing revolution and, in parallel efforts, building a new federation of independent trade unions.
This revolution is hardly finished, and we have to work 25 hours a day to liaise between strike leaders and organizers of social protests across the country. We need to create national coordinating mechanisms. The spontaneity of the current strikes is not enough to achieve victory. We need structures, formed by the workers themselves, that will link the different industrial centers together, and reach out to the civil servants and students. Only then we can talk of overthrowing the military dictatorship."
Kickbacks between Libya and the west have helped Gaddafi cling to power
All Gaddafi's rapprochement with the west has achieved is to give him the resources to tighten his grip on the Libyan people
Alexander Chancellor
(Guardian Columnist)
The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011
"Colonel Gaddafi is nothing if not a caring father. He does everything he can for his boys, arranging, for example, that they grow hugely rich from corrupt dealings with foreign companies. Extracts from leaked state department documents published in the New York Times provide the evidence for this. Emanating from WikiLeaks, they include one state department cable which in 2009 came to the pithy conclusion: "Libya is a kleptocracy in which the regime – either the al-Qadhafi family itself or its close political allies – has a direct stake in anything worth buying, selling or owning." (The cable used the department's spelling of Gaddafi.) Other cables revealed it sometimes demands billion-dollar "signing bonuses" for contracts with western oil companies. A Canadian company, Petro-Canada, was reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail not only to have paid one such bonus but also to have sponsored an exhibition of the dreadful paintings of Saif Gaddafi and to have been involved, through a middleman, in getting him to take part in a pheasant shoot on Princess Anne's Gloucestershire estate.
This bonanza of kickbacks and corrupt deals, in which western companies greedy for Libyan oil participated, got under way when the US reopened trade with Libya in 2004, the year Tony Blair paid his famous visit to the colonel in his desert retreat and kissed him on his hairy cheeks. Their embrace seems even more nauseating now, for it marked the beginning of a period in which the Gaddafi regime began to accumulate the wealth with which it may yet frustrate the purposes of the US, France and Britain.
According to the New York Times, US officials believe this wealth includes tens of billions of dollars in cash that the colonel is using to pay soldiers, mercenaries and supporters in his struggle for survival...... All that his rapprochement with the west has achieved is to give Gaddafi the resources with which to tighten his tyrannical grip on the Libyan people and give him a chance of clinging on to power against the odds......"
Alexander Chancellor
(Guardian Columnist)
The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011
"Colonel Gaddafi is nothing if not a caring father. He does everything he can for his boys, arranging, for example, that they grow hugely rich from corrupt dealings with foreign companies. Extracts from leaked state department documents published in the New York Times provide the evidence for this. Emanating from WikiLeaks, they include one state department cable which in 2009 came to the pithy conclusion: "Libya is a kleptocracy in which the regime – either the al-Qadhafi family itself or its close political allies – has a direct stake in anything worth buying, selling or owning." (The cable used the department's spelling of Gaddafi.) Other cables revealed it sometimes demands billion-dollar "signing bonuses" for contracts with western oil companies. A Canadian company, Petro-Canada, was reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail not only to have paid one such bonus but also to have sponsored an exhibition of the dreadful paintings of Saif Gaddafi and to have been involved, through a middleman, in getting him to take part in a pheasant shoot on Princess Anne's Gloucestershire estate.
This bonanza of kickbacks and corrupt deals, in which western companies greedy for Libyan oil participated, got under way when the US reopened trade with Libya in 2004, the year Tony Blair paid his famous visit to the colonel in his desert retreat and kissed him on his hairy cheeks. Their embrace seems even more nauseating now, for it marked the beginning of a period in which the Gaddafi regime began to accumulate the wealth with which it may yet frustrate the purposes of the US, France and Britain.
According to the New York Times, US officials believe this wealth includes tens of billions of dollars in cash that the colonel is using to pay soldiers, mercenaries and supporters in his struggle for survival...... All that his rapprochement with the west has achieved is to give Gaddafi the resources with which to tighten his tyrannical grip on the Libyan people and give him a chance of clinging on to power against the odds......"
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Syrian people outraged over government shootings in Daraa
Human rights groups say that more than 100 people may have been killed when troops opened fire on a mosque
Katherine Marsh in Damascus
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011
"Syria's government pledged to consider protesters' "legitimate demands" after thousands took to the streets for the funerals of nine people killed by the military.
Rights activists described Wednesday's shootings in the southern city of Daraa as a massacre, claiming that more than 100 people may have been killed when troops fired on a mosque in the early hours and throughout the day.
With protests called for after Friday prayers, Buthaina Shaaban, adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, announced that the government would consider ending Syria's emergency law and revise legislation for political parties and the media. Similar reform pledges have been announced in the past, and are unlikely to satisfy protesters....."
Katherine Marsh in Damascus
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011
"Syria's government pledged to consider protesters' "legitimate demands" after thousands took to the streets for the funerals of nine people killed by the military.
Rights activists described Wednesday's shootings in the southern city of Daraa as a massacre, claiming that more than 100 people may have been killed when troops fired on a mosque in the early hours and throughout the day.
With protests called for after Friday prayers, Buthaina Shaaban, adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, announced that the government would consider ending Syria's emergency law and revise legislation for political parties and the media. Similar reform pledges have been announced in the past, and are unlikely to satisfy protesters....."
Supporting the children of Omar Mukhtar
Western intervention in Libya marks a difficult moment in Arab history as empowerment is overwhelmed by helplessness.
A GOOD PIECE
By Lamis Andoni
"Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, must go. But it is critical that his downfall come at the hands of the Libyan people rather than as a result of Western military intervention in the country.
Western intervention in the country conjures up images of the destruction of Iraq and revives memories of the region's colonial past. Furthermore, it tarnishes the spirit of the revolutions spreading across the Arab world, for these are aimed not only at removing dictators but at establishing free Arab governments. And free Arab governments cannot be imposed through Western interference.
No government is free if at its very inception it depends upon external powers – powers that, in the Libyan case, have their eye on the country's oil wealth and are motivated by geopolitical interests.
It is true that Western military intervention in the country was brought about by Gaddafi's murderous crackdown on his own people. But it is also the result of the Arab world's failure to protect the people of the region from ruthless dictators and self-serving authoritarian rulers.
Furthermore, the bombing we have witnessed is a manifestation of the weakness of the UN – a body that has allowed the interests of major powers to define the nature and agenda of the current intervention.
The Libyan people needed and continue to need protection. But the current state of the UN permits countries like the US, France, Britain and Italy to cynically use "the mandate to protect" in order to preserve and expand their own interests.....
The danger posed to the Libyan people has opened the door to Western intervention and reinstated a sense of helplessness for the Arab people just when they had begun to feel empowered to take control of their own destiny.....
Arabs must be prepared to support the children of Omar Mukhtar - not only in overthrowing a dictator but in ensuring they do not pay the price for Western intervention. Libya must not be turned into another failing state or succumb to a new form of colonialism. To ensure this, Arab revolutions elsewhere must continue and succeed."
A GOOD PIECE
By Lamis Andoni
"Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, must go. But it is critical that his downfall come at the hands of the Libyan people rather than as a result of Western military intervention in the country.
Western intervention in the country conjures up images of the destruction of Iraq and revives memories of the region's colonial past. Furthermore, it tarnishes the spirit of the revolutions spreading across the Arab world, for these are aimed not only at removing dictators but at establishing free Arab governments. And free Arab governments cannot be imposed through Western interference.
No government is free if at its very inception it depends upon external powers – powers that, in the Libyan case, have their eye on the country's oil wealth and are motivated by geopolitical interests.
It is true that Western military intervention in the country was brought about by Gaddafi's murderous crackdown on his own people. But it is also the result of the Arab world's failure to protect the people of the region from ruthless dictators and self-serving authoritarian rulers.
Furthermore, the bombing we have witnessed is a manifestation of the weakness of the UN – a body that has allowed the interests of major powers to define the nature and agenda of the current intervention.
The Libyan people needed and continue to need protection. But the current state of the UN permits countries like the US, France, Britain and Italy to cynically use "the mandate to protect" in order to preserve and expand their own interests.....
The danger posed to the Libyan people has opened the door to Western intervention and reinstated a sense of helplessness for the Arab people just when they had begun to feel empowered to take control of their own destiny.....
Arabs must be prepared to support the children of Omar Mukhtar - not only in overthrowing a dictator but in ensuring they do not pay the price for Western intervention. Libya must not be turned into another failing state or succumb to a new form of colonialism. To ensure this, Arab revolutions elsewhere must continue and succeed."
وعود سورية بالإصلاح وغليان بدرعا
LIARS AND MASS MURDERERS!
"قالت بثينة شعبان مستشارة الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد إن سوريا اتخذت قرارات هامة، من بينها دراسة إنهاء العمل بقانون الطوارئ بشكل عاجل، بينما شيع أهالي درعا قتلاهم وسط هتافات تطالب بالثأر لهم والحرية لسوريا. ويتزامن ذلك مع دعوة وجهها ناشطون إلى تنظيم مظاهرات في كل أنحاء سوريا يوم غد في إطار ما سموه "جمعة الكرامة".
وقالت شعبان في مؤتمر صحفي في دمشق إن القيادة القطرية لحزب البعث اجتمعت برئاسة الرئيس بشار الأسد وقررت وضع آليات جديدة لمحاربة الفساد وإنهاء الطوارئ ودراسة إصدار قانون ينظم عمل الأحزاب السياسية وقانون جديد للإعلام
.....
....."
"قالت بثينة شعبان مستشارة الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد إن سوريا اتخذت قرارات هامة، من بينها دراسة إنهاء العمل بقانون الطوارئ بشكل عاجل، بينما شيع أهالي درعا قتلاهم وسط هتافات تطالب بالثأر لهم والحرية لسوريا. ويتزامن ذلك مع دعوة وجهها ناشطون إلى تنظيم مظاهرات في كل أنحاء سوريا يوم غد في إطار ما سموه "جمعة الكرامة".
وقالت شعبان في مؤتمر صحفي في دمشق إن القيادة القطرية لحزب البعث اجتمعت برئاسة الرئيس بشار الأسد وقررت وضع آليات جديدة لمحاربة الفساد وإنهاء الطوارئ ودراسة إصدار قانون ينظم عمل الأحزاب السياسية وقانون جديد للإعلام
.....
....."
Protests prompt Syria to pledge reforms.
DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES; THE RABBIT HAS BEEN MAKING EMPTY PROMISES FOR 11 YEARS!
Al-Jazeera Video: Empire - The Brotherhood
A GOOD PROGRAM, WORTH WATCHING
"After decades in the political wilderness, the Muslim Brotherhood became an integral part of the popular upheavals that swept through the Arab world - and while they may not have initiated the recent revolution in Egypt, the overthrow of Mubarak's regime leaves a power vacuum that the Brotherhood are now well-positioned to fill. How will the Muslim Brotherhood reconcile their ideology with democracy?"
"After decades in the political wilderness, the Muslim Brotherhood became an integral part of the popular upheavals that swept through the Arab world - and while they may not have initiated the recent revolution in Egypt, the overthrow of Mubarak's regime leaves a power vacuum that the Brotherhood are now well-positioned to fill. How will the Muslim Brotherhood reconcile their ideology with democracy?"
Real News Video: Qatar, Al Jazeera and the Middle East
Gilbert Achcar: From Al Jazeera to US Central Command, Qatar conducts a complex foreign policy
Real News Video with Transcript: US Defends Bahrain Dictatorship
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