Monday, April 16, 2012

#Syria A German-owned freighter loaded with weapons from Iran was stopped on Friday

Jeff Treesh2:14 PM  -    -  Public
Iranian arms ship to Syria intercepted »
From Der Spiegel on Saturday: A German-owned freighter loaded with weapons from Iran was stopped on Friday near the Syrian port of Tartus in the Mediterranean Sea, SPIEGEL has learned. A few days p......
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Inad Hamadani1:53 PM  -    -  Public
Until now, world capitals have only squabbled over the issue, or dodged it. Kofi Annan, the main architect of the plan on behalf of the United Nations said starkly this week as the deadline neared, "I think the plan is very much alive, and if you want to take it off the table, what would you replace it with?" In some ways, the Annan plan needs to fail — which appears most likely — to persuade Russia and China not to wield their veto on Syria resolutions as they have twice previously, diplomats and analysts said. China is basically considered to be following Russia's lead. "They have been pushing and pushing and pushing for Annan and for mild action at the council, and it didn't work," said a United Nations Security Council diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity under his ministry's guidelines. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/world/middleeast/kofi-annan-seeks-iranian-help-with-syria-cease-fire.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=syria%20kofi%20anan&st=cse IN the wake of the recent Friends of Syria conference, the United States and Middle Eastern powers that include Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are stepping up aid to armed resistance groups in Syria. Under American leadership, the conference pledged $100 million to provide salary payments to rebel fighters. Whatever the humanitarian intentions, this strategy, along with discussions of "safe zones" and "nonlethal aid," is misguided at best, and counterproductive at worst. For all the talk about safeguarding civilians, the proposals are far more likely to escalate violence than to reduce civilian casualties. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/opinion/to-stop-the-killing-deal-with-assad.html?scp=5&sq=syria%20assad&st=cse According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, they have been able to confirm the deaths of 13: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1690626&l=c5f5665092&id=217848338242310 Reuters, citing no sources for most of their article and misquoting sources for the rest, NPR's Andy Carvin, who pays attention to the stories he reports, posts this video of a "muted" protest in Douma, which Reuters might be interested to know is just outside the capital, Damascus: https://twitter.com/#!/acarvin/status/190856148314890240
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Craig Bourne1:44 PM  -    -  Public
Imperialist War on Syria is a War to Shift Power Balance and Dominate the Region! »
By Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary-General of the African Socialist International. Western imperialism is at war against Syria because Bashar al-Assad’s regime is not part of the axis of countries do...