Protests in Syria

[High_Gravity]

"President Barack Obama has warned that the use or movement of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would be a “red line” that could trigger an American intervention." (The Telegraph. 20.08.12)



Translation from politico talk onto human language:

Assad is an absolute bastard! He clearly understands that the White House mulatto, desperate to "rule the world" for another 4 years, can't really start his campaign having under-democratised Syria with still alive "dictator" on his hands! That would mean giving Romney 3, maybe even 4% of votes of those who love a "strong hand", -- and that is unacceptable.

By now, Obama should be humanly bombing Iranians into freedom, instead he is stuck with Syria!

Assad knows it, but what does he do?! He inconsiderately beats up "freedom fighters" (and they are not cheap!) and spreads them thinly over the terrain; he shamelessly prevents mass betrayal in his inner circle; and in a meanest possible way creates such an arrse-ache for Turkey that it can not concentrate on the invasion!

Such antics can not be ignored. Chemical weapons must come out to play -- what other choice did Assad leave for Obama? By the start of November Americans have to be imbued with pride for their brave and reliable leader (much more reliable and brave than Romney!) -- a victorious tamer of dictators!

What a huge crock of shit, you have your tongue shoved so far up Assads ass you can taste what he had for breakfast last weekend.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syrian army batters parts of Damascus, 47 killed

AMMAN/ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian army shells crashed into southern Damascus on Wednesday and helicopters fired rockets and machineguns during an assault to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the capital 17 months into a popular uprising, opposition activists said.

The army has used tanks and helicopter gunships this week in an offensive around Damascus that has coincided with the departure of U.N. military observers after a failed mission to stop the bloodshed and nudge Syria toward a peaceful transition.

The United Nations estimates that 18,000 people have been killed in what has become a civil war after a violent state response to peaceful street protests generated an armed rebellion in the pivotal Arab country.

Anti-Assad activists said at least 47 people had been killed in Damascus in what they called the heaviest bombardment this month. "The whole of Damascus is shaking with the sound of shelling," said a woman in Kfar Souseh, one of several districts hit during the military offensive to root out rebel fighters.

At least 22 people were killed in Kfar Souseh and 25 in the nearby district of Nahr Eisha, activists said. One of the dead was named as Mohammad Saeed al Odeh, a journalist employed at a state-run newspaper who was sympathetic to the anti-Assad revolt. Activists said he had been executed in Nahr Eisha.

"There are 22 tanks in Kfar Souseh now and behind each one there are at least 30 soldiers. They are raiding houses and executing men," an opposition activist in Kfar Souseh, who gave his name only as Bassam, told Reuters by Skype.

More than 250 people, including 171 civilians, were killed across Syria on Tuesday, mostly around Damascus, Aleppo and the southern city of Deraa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition monitoring group.

Activists in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya said Assad's forces had killed 86 people there since Monday, half of them by execution. It was not possible to verify that report.

There was no immediate government account of the latest fighting. But state television broadcast footage of weapons it said had been seized from rebels in Mouadamiya, which was one of the first districts to join the uprising.

Syrian army batters parts of Damascus, 47 killed - Yahoo! News

 

[mememe]

"Syrian army batters parts of Damascus, 47 killed"

Is a crock of shite that has no barring on reality. Western media is doing its usual -- lie.

 

[High_Gravity]

"Syrian army batters parts of Damascus, 47 killed"

Is a crock of shite that has no barring on reality. Western media is doing its usual -- lie.

 

[mememe]

"The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), a terrorist group that has been largely inactive for the past decades, has threatened Turkey with unspecified measures over its Syria policy.
“Any military adventurism or any direct or indirect violation of the security and the social cohesion of the Armenian community of Syria on the part of Turkey will be met by similar counter-measures,” the group said in a statement on Monday..."

Armenian terrorist group threatens Turkey over Syria

 

[mememe]

There we go...

Aparently, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation answered Obama's threat of direct intervention into Syria, by pointing out that if the United States will see it fit to start a military intervention in Syria, Russia reserves the right to oppose American intervention directly in the conflict region and on any other territory of the possible contact between the armed forces, fleets, as well as the geopolitical field in general.

 

[Katzndogz]

Russia and China both told obama to shut up and sit in the corner so he did. obama may not like it, but in this instance America isn't a player.

 

[mememe]

Russia and China both told obama to shut up and sit in the corner so he did. obama may not like it, but in this instance America isn't a player.

It's not the end of the day.

Iran must be destroyed; but it will be near-impossible to do without destroying Syria first.

All in all, Assad already messed up US/UK plans; but "leading democracies" can not bin their plans just because of some stubborn statesman who doesn't want to roll over and die.

 

[ekrem]

There we go...

Aparently, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation answered Obama's threat of direct intervention into Syria, by pointing out that if the United States will see it fit to start a military intervention in Syria, Russia reserves the right to oppose American intervention directly in the conflict region and on any other territory of the possible contact between the armed forces, fleets, as well as the geopolitical field in general.

There are limitations which result from geographical distance.
The Russians can do something to Georgia (share borders), but they can do shit over Syria.
Russia doesn't have the military and logistics to "intervene directly" in Syria.

 

[ekrem]

"The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), a terrorist group that has been largely inactive for the past decades, has threatened Turkey with unspecified measures over its Syria policy.
“Any military adventurism or any direct or indirect violation of the security and the social cohesion of the Armenian community of Syria on the part of Turkey will be met by similar counter-measures,” the group said in a statement on Monday..."

Armenian terrorist group threatens Turkey over Syria

They won't be so dumb to pursue this adventure.
The Turk is very good at neutralizing Armenian-Terrorists.

 

[Trajan]

Russia and China both told obama to shut up and sit in the corner so he did. obama may not like it, but in this instance America isn't a player.

sure we are, if Israel is a player we are, except obama won't back them. we will pay for this down the road, bet on it.

 

[Trajan]

There we go...

Aparently, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation answered Obama's threat of direct intervention into Syria, by pointing out that if the United States will see it fit to start a military intervention in Syria, Russia reserves the right to oppose American intervention directly in the conflict region and on any other territory of the possible contact between the armed forces, fleets, as well as the geopolitical field in general.

There are limitations which result from geographical distance.
The Russians can do something to Georgia (share borders), but they can do shit over Syria.
Russia doesn't have the military and logistics to "intervene directly" in Syria.

that much is true but obama has already promised Putin "something" after the election, it depends on if putin thinks he will win and if obama will keep his word if he does. so Putin sits, watches and keeps the angst ratcheted up.

 

[ekrem]

that much is true but obama has already promised Putin "something" after the election, it depends on if putin thinks he will win and if obama will keep his word if he does. so Putin sits, watches and keeps the angst ratcheted up.

But the world doesn't operate anymore on the basis of US-"Russian" relations, especially not in the Syrian situation.
The USA doesn't control the developments in Syria. USA can gain influence in the Syrian situation by increasing its involvement there, but I doubt that the USA would have that much influence that the USA can enforce over the Syrians what "Obama promised to Russia". I also doubt, that "Obama promised Russia" anything specifically over Syria at all.

 

[mememe]

There we go...

Aparently, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation answered Obama's threat of direct intervention into Syria, by pointing out that if the United States will see it fit to start a military intervention in Syria, Russia reserves the right to oppose American intervention directly in the conflict region and on any other territory of the possible contact between the armed forces, fleets, as well as the geopolitical field in general.

There are limitations which result from geographical distance.
The Russians can do something to Georgia (share borders), but they can do shit over Syria.
Russia doesn't have the military and logistics to "intervene directly" in Syria.

???

And Russia, and China are already in Syrian waters...

 

[mememe]

"The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), a terrorist group that has been largely inactive for the past decades, has threatened Turkey with unspecified measures over its Syria policy.
“Any military adventurism or any direct or indirect violation of the security and the social cohesion of the Armenian community of Syria on the part of Turkey will be met by similar counter-measures,” the group said in a statement on Monday..."

Armenian terrorist group threatens Turkey over Syria

They won't be so dumb to pursue this adventure.
The Turk is very good at neutralizing Armenian-Terrorists.

The only reason ASALA paused its activities (and, unlike Kurds who will be happy with setting up their "Kurdistan", ASALA is aiming at destroying Turkey completely) is Assad. Assad father, and now -- son made it a pre-condition to existence of Armenian communities in Syria that ASALA will stop its activities.

Of course, they did not stop growing the next generations of Armenians on the ideas of ASALA, and training them discretely enough not to put Syrian government in a difficult situation... but if Assad will go, Kurds will become the least of Turkish problems...

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Helicopter Crash: Military Aircraft Catches Fire, Plummets To The Ground During Damascus Clashes

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian military helicopter caught fire and crashed Monday after it was apparently hit during fighting between government forces and rebels in the capital Damascus, an activist group said.

State-run media confirmed the crash in Damascus but gave no details. A video posted on the Internet showed the chopper engulfed in flames shortly before it hit the ground. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

Syria's state-run media also reported that authorities on Monday released more than 200 people detained for their participation in street protests. It said those freed were never involved in acts of violence.

Authorities have issued similar pardons in the past, a practice apparently designed to isolate the rebels and create the image of a compassionate regime.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported the chopper crash, said there was intense fighting between troops backed by helicopter gunships and rebels in the western Damascus neighborhood of Jobar. State media said the chopper crashed in al-Qaboun district, which is close to Jobar.

With its forces stretched thin by fighting on multiple fronts, President Bashar Assad's regime has been increasingly using air power against the rebels — both helicopters and warplanes. The military has for more than a month been fighting major battles against rebels in Damascus and its suburbs while engaged in what appears to be a stalemated fight in the north against rebels for control of Aleppo, the nation's largest city and commercial capital.

The rebels are not known to have any answer to the regime's warplanes except anti-aircraft guns that they mostly use as an anti-personnel weapon. Last month, rebels claimed to have shot down a Russian-made MiG fighter, but the government blamed the crash on a technical malfunction.

The Syrian conflict began 17 months ago with mostly peaceful protests demanding that Assad step down, but it has since morphed into a civil war. Rights activists say at least 20,000 people have so far been killed.

Monday's fighting in Damascus followed mounting evidence of a spate of killings by government forces in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Activists over the weekend reported government forces going on a killing spree after they seized Daraya from rebels Thursday. Reports of the death toll ranged from more than 300 to as many as 600.

It was impossible to independently verify the death tolls because of severe restrictions on media coverage of the conflict.

Video footage posted on the Internet by activists showed rows of bodies, many of them men with gunshot wounds to their heads.

Syria Helicopter Crash: Military Aircraft Catches Fire, Plummets To The Ground During Damascus Clashes (VIDEO)

 

[High_Gravity]

Syrian artists fight Assad regime with satire

(CNN) -- With horrors emerging from Syria's civil war with numbing regularity, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that the uprising has not been waged only with guns.

A creative and resolutely non-violent form of opposition to Bashar al-Assad's regime has taken hold in Syria, as the country's artists respond to the crisis with newfound boldness and purpose, despite the clear dangers in doing so.

"Since the uprising, the artists have broken through the wall of fear in Syria and are thinking in another way," said Syrian journalist Aram Tahhan, one of the curators of an exhibition on Syria's creative dissent -- Culture in Defiance -- currently on display in Amsterdam.

"The uprising has changed the artists' thinking about the task of art in society, how they can do something useful for society," said Tahhan. "They have rewritten everything."

Since the uprising, the artists have broken through the wall of fear in Syria

Syrian journalist Aram Tahhan, one of the curators of "Culture in Defiance"With works spanning from painting to song to cartoons, puppet theater to graffiti to plays, the exhibition traces the way that Syrian artists have used a range of creative techniques within traditional and new media to create political, populist art that that both brooks "the red line" of dissent and engages the public in unprecedented ways.

The regime is well aware of the power of visual images and art to mobilize public opinion, says Tahhan. After all, the uprising began when schoolchildren in Daraa were arrested for painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school last year.

"From the beginning the regime has known it's dangerous to use the image, to use art," said Tahhan. "The camera is the equal of any weapon from the point of view of the regime."

A dangerous calling

All of which has made producing political art dangerous, sometimes mortally so. Ibrahim Qashoush, a fireman and part-time poet from Hama, wrote popular anti-Assad songs that were sung demonstrations, most notably a number called "Time to Leave."

Last July, his body was found dumped in a river with his throat cut out, vocal cords removed. A pen-and-ink portrait of the mutilated singer by artist Khalil Younes is featured in the exhibition, while Qashoush's song is played in a section the curators call the "Revolutionary Hit Parade."

The regime's brutality has struck more established artists as well.

The distinguished political cartoonist Ali Ferzat had his first piece published in a newspaper when he was 12, produced a daily editorial cartoon for the official newspaper throughout the 1970s, and had direct contact with Bashar al-Assad throughout the early days of his presidency.

Syrian artists fight Assad regime with satire - CNN.com

 

[mememe]

Syrian artists fight Assad regime with satire.

Yeah! Pussy Riot number two!

West is becoming pathetic in its desire to portray few misfits on US grants as "a voice of ... (insert the next target country)...

 

[High_Gravity]

Syrian artists fight Assad regime with satire.

Yeah! Pussy Riot number two!

West is becoming pathetic in its desire to portray few misfits on US grants as "a voice of ... (insert the next target country)...

You are such a fucking hack, you must be recieving a paycheck from the Assad regime to come on here and post all this bullshit.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syrian Army Drops Leaflets over Damascus

(BEIRUT) — Syrian military helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets over Damascus and its suburbs Tuesday, urging rebels to hand over their weapons or face “inevitable death” as part of a widening and deadly offensive to recapture areas near the capital that have fallen into rebel hands.

The leaflets appear to be part of the regime’s psychological warfare against the rebels, but are highly unlikely to have any effect on fighters intent on toppling President Bashar Assad’s regime. Human rights groups say more than 20,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt against Assad began in March 2011.

The head of the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, criticized U.S. officials for saying it was premature to speak about a provisional Syrian government.

Abdelbaset Sieda, speaking in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, said the opposition is making “serious” preparations and consultations to announce a transitional government, but admitted it is not imminent.

On Monday, French President Francoise Hollande called on the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government, saying France would recognize it. But Hollande’s statement, believed to be the first of its kind, was quickly shot down by U.S. officials who said it was premature to speak about a provisional government when Syria’s fractured opposition hasn’t even agreed yet on a transition plan.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, cited persistent disagreements among the Syrian National Council and rival opposition groups, and between Syrian opposition figures campaigning outside the country and rebels fighting the Assad regime on the front line.

“We’re nowhere near that yet,” one U.S. official said.

Sieda said the U.S. comments show the international community was not ready not ready” to take decisive decisions when it comes to Syria.

“It seems to me as if the international community is not prepared to take decisive decisions and blames the Syrian opposition for its own shortcomings,” Sieda said.

“Yes there are differences within the Syrian opposition and this is normal in any country, but as long as we are agreed on a common vision, these differences can be overcome,” he added.

“The international international community must make a move before it’s too late.”

Syria’s opposition has been plagued by divisions and infighting since the start of the uprising last year, and forming a transitional government is fraught with difficulties.

In addition to the SNC, several other opposition groups are known to be making similar plans, including a new opposition alliance headed by veteran opposition figure Haitham Maleh.

Sieda said his group has been contacting other opposition figures and the Free Syrian Army rebels to consult over a transitional government, but admits they have not started discussing names yet.

For more than a month, the military has been fighting major battles against rebels in the outskirts of Damascus and its suburbs while engaged in what appears to be a stalemated fight in the north against rebels for control of Aleppo, the nation’s largest city and commercial capital.

The government recently has intensified its offensive to recapture rebellious districts on the capital’s periphery, and hundreds of people have been killed in several days of shelling and clashes in the affected areas. Over the weekend evidence mounted of mass killings by regime forces in the Damascus suburb of Daraya after it was stormed by troops.

Some of the leaflets dropped Tuesday, which were signed by the armed forces and the army’s general command, read: “The Syrian army is determined to cleanse every inch in Syria and you have only two choices: Abandon your weapons … or face inevitable death.”

Read more: Syrian Army Drops Leaflets over Damascus | World | TIME.com