Taking Outsize Role in Syria, Qatar Funnels Arms to Rebels

Taking Outsize Role in Syria, Qatar Funnels Arms to Rebels

    Sunday, June 30, 2013   No comments

WASHINGTON — As an intermittent supply of arms to the Syrian opposition gathered momentum last year, the Obama administration repeatedly implored its Arab allies to keep one type of powerful weapon out of the rebels’ hands: heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles.

The missiles, American officials warned, could one day be used by terrorist groups, some of them affiliated with Al Qaeda, to shoot down civilian aircraft.



But one country ignored this admonition: Qatar, the tiny, oil- and gas-rich emirate that has made itself the indispensable nation to rebel forces battling calcified Arab governments and that has been shipping arms to the Syrian rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

Egypt's Mohamed Morsi remains defiant as fears of civil war grow

Egypt's Mohamed Morsi remains defiant as fears of civil war grow

    Sunday, June 30, 2013   No comments

In exclusive interview with the Guardian, Morsi defiantly rejects call for elections, setting stage for trial of strength on the streets

The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has vowed there will be no second revolution in Egypt, as thousands planned to gather outside his presidential palace calling for his removal after a year in power.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Morsi rejected opposition calls for early presidential elections and said he would not tolerate any deviation from constitutional order. He said his early resignation would undermine the legitimacy of his successors, creating a recipe for unending chaos.

"If we changed someone in office who [was elected] according to constitutional legitimacy – well, there will be people opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later they will ask him to step down," Morsi said.

"There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy. There can be demonstrations and people expressing their opinions. But what's critical in all this is the adoption and application of the constitution. This is the critical point."

At least seven people have been killed and over 600 injured in clashes between Morsi's Islamist allies and their secular opposition over the past few days.

With tensions set to rise on Sunday, Morsi's defiant stance sets the stage for a trial of strength that will be played out on the streets of Cairo in front of his official residence. Once gathered, the opposition have vowed not to leave it until he resigns.

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Turkish security forces fire on protesters in Diyarbakir

Turkish security forces fire on protesters in Diyarbakir

    Saturday, June 29, 2013   No comments

One person was killed in south-east Turkey as security forces fired shots to disperse hundreds of people protesting against the expansion of an army outpost, according to local officials.
Nine people were also wounded, two of them seriously, according to a statement from the governor's office in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

The army opened fire after the crowd of around 300 torched construction tents and marched on the construction site, hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces, said Diyarbakir governor Cahit Kirac.

The incident shattered a lull in the volatile region, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has waged a bloody campaign for autonomy for nearly three decades, leaving 45,000 people dead.

The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the West, reached a ceasefire agreement with Ankara in March. Its fighters are still withdrawing into northern Iraq in line with that deal.

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Brzezinski: Saudi Arabia, Qatar produced the crisis in Syria

Brzezinski: Saudi Arabia, Qatar produced the crisis in Syria

    Saturday, June 29, 2013   No comments

Brzezinski: I can’t engage either in psychoanalysis or any kind of historical revisionism. He obviously has a difficult problem on his hands, and there is a mysterious aspect to all of this. Just consider the timing. In late 2011 there are outbreaks in Syria produced by a drought and abetted by two well-known autocracies in the Middle East: Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He all of a sudden announces that Assad has to go—without, apparently, any real preparation for making that happen. Then in the spring of 2012, the election year here, the CIA under General Petraeus, according to The New York Times of March 24th of this year, a very revealing article, mounts a large-scale effort to assist the Qataris and the Saudis and link them somehow with the Turks in that effort. Was this a strategic position? Why did we all of a sudden decide that Syria had to be destabilized and its government overthrown? Had it ever been explained to the American people? Then in the latter part of 2012, especially after the elections, the tide of conflict turns somewhat against the rebels. And it becomes clear that not all of those rebels are all that “democratic.” And so the whole policy begins to be reconsidered. I think these things need to be clarified so that one can have a more insightful understanding of what exactly U.S. policy was aiming at.

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Police crush protesters, block Ankara gathering

Police crush protesters, block Ankara gathering

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

The Dikmen district of Ankara was scene of yet another harsh police intervention on June 27, with the police not allowing crowds to gather and intervening as early as 10 p.m., using pressurized water and tear gas without warning.

For the past couple of days, Dikmen has played host to confrontations between police and protesters, but the police intervention usually comes around midnight after protesters build barricades in the late hours of the evening. On this particular occasion, the police intervened in advance, after street lights were turned off around 9:30 p.m.

The police used pressurized water and tear gas against people on side streets, without any warning, while a number of protesters were taken into custody. The intervention was particularly intense due to the presence of four Scorpion (Akrep in Turkish) jeeps and three Mass Incident Intervention Vehicles (TOMA). Both Scorpions and TOMAs are armored riot control vehicles, while the former are also used for taking individuals into custody.

Of the 19 people taken into custody during the protests, 13 were arrested, later on to be jailed, Anadolu Agency reported on June 28.

Those held under custody due to a public prosecutor’s demand were interrogated throughout the night from Article 10 of Anti-Terror Law (TMK). Judge Abdullah Bahçeci issued the ruling on the case.

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Azerbaijan Stirred, Not Shaken by Turkish Protests

Azerbaijan Stirred, Not Shaken by Turkish Protests

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

Seen from Azerbaijan, the mass protests in Turkey have evoked particularly strong feelings, and have promptied some to wonder whether the same kind of thing might be possible in their own country.

There are obvious parallels – the two countries are bound together by old cultural and linguistic ties, and more recently a political alliance. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is seen as increasingly autocratic by his opponents, while Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev looks set to stay in power indefinitely.

For young Azerbaijanis opposed to Aliyev, events in Istanbul have inspired feelings of excitement and envy. Previously, they observed the protest movements in Iran in 2009, in Russia in 2011, and in Georgia last year, and wondered whether something similar was possible in Azerbaijan .

“Since there is no opportunity for political activity, any political event in a neighbouring country excites Azerbaijanis,” Arastan Orujlu, head of the East-West Research Centre in Baku, said.

The impact of the Turkish demonstrations has been more immediate, partly because of the cultural kinship and partly because of this autumn’s presidential election in Azerbaijan, in which opposition groups hope to put up more of a challenge than before.

Facebook users in Azerbaijan shared news stories, photos and videos of the protests, which began over plans to redevelop the Gezi Park but expanded to include concerns about freedom of expression and the trend towards Islamicisation.

There are many Azerbaijanis living in Istanbul for work or study, and some of them went to the protests to add their own messages on banners saying, “Baku is with you, Gezi”, and “Aliyev, it’s your turn now”.


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Turkish Power Struggle: Brotherly Love Begins to Fray in Ankara

Turkish Power Struggle: Brotherly Love Begins to Fray in Ankara

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and President Gül have long been political allies. But ongoing protests in the country have caused their relationship to fray and the ensuing power struggle could spell the end of the AKP.

The two men came from different backgrounds, but shared a belief in Allah and a common goal: power. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gül, now respectively prime minister and president of Turkey, have worked together since the 1990s and their alliance has helped political Islam attain more power than ever before.

The current protests in Turkey, though, are threatening to break that alliance apart. Elements of Turkish society have risen up against their government and called on Prime Minister Erdogan to resign. Yet even as protesters and police clash in the streets, another power struggle is taking place in Ankara. President Gül is increasingly seeking to distance himself from his former political ally.

Erdogan and Gül are different in both background and character. Erdogan worked hard to get where he is today. As a child, he sold sesame rings in Istanbul's port neighborhood of Kasmpasa. He was also an avid soccer player, earning himself the nickname "Imam Beckenbauer." Although he managed to attend university and later became Istanbul's mayor, Erdogan was never able to conceal his simpler origins -- nor did he want to. He is moody, temperamental and unrestrained, qualities that may well be his undoing in the current crisis.

Gül, on the other hand, comes across as being diplomatic and moderate. Unlike Erdogan, he speaks English. Gül's parents were relatively well-to-do, sending their son to study economics in Istanbul and London. Gül worked as a manager for an Islamic bank in Saudi Arabia before being elected to Turkish parliament in the 1990s as part of the Islamist Refah movement.

At the time, the country was run by the military, a legacy from the days of Mustafa Kemal, known as Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey. The country was secular, militaristic and authoritarian. At the time, Gül promised: "The secular system has failed. We want to change it definitively."

Erdogan, too, was involved in the Refah movement. He and Gül had little in common on a personal level, but were aware they would only succeed in their power struggle against the secular establishment if they worked together.

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Turkish PM Erdoğan’s Gaza trip to take place in ‘shortest and most correct time’

Turkish PM Erdoğan’s Gaza trip to take place in ‘shortest and most correct time’

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Gaza is on the agenda, but no date has yet been set, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said today.

“No speculation should be made about the date,” Davutoğlu said at a joint press conference with visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, expressing his wish that the “visit to Palestine takes place in the shortest and most correct time.”

During his visit to Washington in May, Erdoğan said that he would "probably" visit Gaza in June, a visit that would include the West Bank. “Gaza is ready. We cannot ready ourselves because of other incidents, but we could make a surprise at any time,” Erdoğan said on June 25 in Ankara.


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Turkish minister warns that companies uncooperative on cyber crime will receive ‘Ottoman slap’

Turkish minister warns that companies uncooperative on cyber crime will receive ‘Ottoman slap’

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım has warned that authorities which do not cooperate with the government over cyber crimes will receive an “Ottoman slap” in response.

“The Turkish Republic doesn't recognize those who don’t recognize it,” Yıldırım said. “79 million [people] will hit them with an 'Ottoman slap.'”

The minister gave his message during a speech at a media conference, following the negative response of social media websites with regard to sharing data about posts made during the recent Gezi Park protests.

Yıldırım said the government was comfortable with the free use of the Internet, but added that using it as a tool for violence and crime was "unacceptable."

"They shouldn't behave swaggeringly, feeling as if millions of users stand on their side," he said, strongly hinting at micro blogging site Twitter.


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Iranian leader: West's Stubbornness Blocks Settlement of Iran's N. Issue

Iranian leader: West's Stubbornness Blocks Settlement of Iran's N. Issue

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

"As I said on the first day of the New Iranian Year (March 21), a number of countries which comprise the opposition front against Iran and falsely call themselves as the international community stubbornly don’t want the (Iranian) nuclear issue to be solved. But if they leave their stubbornness, Iran's nuclear issue will be solved easily and swiftly," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a number of Iranian Judiciary officials in Tehran on Wednesday.

"Iran's nuclear issue has many times neared the moment of settlement, but Americans have raised new excuses then," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to a written document signed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the settlement of the problems whcih existed in Iran's nuclear issue, and said, "Therefore, Iran's nuclear case should have been closed, but Americans raised new issues right away since they see the nuclear issue a proper point for threatening and pressuring Iran."

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Egypt braced for rival mass demonstrations

Egypt braced for rival mass demonstrations

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

President Mohammed Morsi's supporters are to hold "open-ended" rallies - two days ahead of opposition protests calling for the president to resign.

Meanwhile, one person died and a number of others were injured in clashes in northern Egypt late on Thursday.

Mr Morsi said divisions threatened to "paralyse" Egypt, in a speech on Wednesday to mark a year in office.

Troops have been deployed in the capital Cairo and other cities.

Mr Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, became Egypt's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair.

His first year as president has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.

The president also used his televised speech late on Wednesday to warn the media not to abuse free speech.

Within hours ripples from the speech could be felt across Egyptian media.

A talk show on the al-Fareen TV channel ended abruptly on Thursday night when the presenter learned he was to be arrested. Host and owner Tawfiq Okasha is accused of spreading false information, and the channel has ceased broadcasting.

Another prominent presenter resigned on air on state-run television in protest at what he called government interference in the editorial content of his programme.

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U.S Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright under investigation for allegedly leaking information about cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

U.S Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright under investigation for allegedly leaking information about cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
Legal sources tell NBC News that the former second ranking officer in the U.S. military is now the target of a Justice Department investigation into a politically sensitive leak of classified information about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
According to legal sources, Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received a target letter informing him that he’s under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named Stuxnet on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Gen. Cartwright, 63, becomes the latest individual targeted over alleged leaks by the Obama administration, which has already prosecuted or charged eight individuals under the Espionage Act.

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Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Entering UK

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Entering UK

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

Two prominent US bloggers have been banned from entering the UK, the Home Office has said.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America.

They were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed.

A government spokesman said individuals whose presence "is not conducive to the public good" could be excluded by the home secretary.

He added: "We condemn all those whose behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form."

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Former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim: Jabhat al-Nusra is led by a CIA operative

Former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim: Jabhat al-Nusra is led by a CIA operative

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

The revelation is shocking, even for the CIA given the recent history of their modus operandi and even after we take into consideration the way the USA and its FUKUS Axis friends have behaved over the last few decades: there is a link between the al-Qaeda terrorists fighting in Syria and the USA's CIA. Worse, the link between al-Qaeda and the CIA.

The allegation is made by the former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim, who has spoken out on a video, claiming that the principal force fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, the one with strong links to al-Qaeda, is led by a CIA operative, Mohammed al-Jawlani.

Firstly, Sheikh Nabil Naiim should know. After all, he was the historic leader of the Islamist Jihadist movement in Egypt, he was leader of the Safwa al-Qaeda training camp; he met Osama bin Laden and he fought with al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Sudan. He was involved in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and was imprisoned for a failed assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak. After the Mubarak government was ousted, Naiim renounced violence and is now setting the record straight, saying which of his former colleagues in violence and terrorism are on the CIA payroll.

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Morsi: I have made mistakes

Morsi: I have made mistakes

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, used a televised address on Wednesday to admit to making mistakes in his first year in office. But the president also widened the divide between his Islamist supporters and Egypt's secular opposition during his speech, blaming unspecified "enemies of Egypt" for sabotaging the democratic system and warning that the polarised state of the country's politics threatened to plunge it into chaos.

Morsi pledged to introduce "radical and quick" reforms in state institutions, admitting some of his goals had not been achieved.

"Today, I present an audit of my first year, with full transparency, along with a roadmap. Some things were achieved and others not," he said. "I have made mistakes on a number of issues."

Yet in a meandering speech that lasted more than two and a half hours, Morsi refused to offer serious concessions to the opposition – and pointedly praised the army, whom many opposition members hope will facilitate a transition of power in the coming weeks.

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The U.S. Wants Snowden. Why Won't The World Cooperate?

The U.S. Wants Snowden. Why Won't The World Cooperate?

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

China appeared perfectly happy to let Edward Snowden slip away despite a U.S. request for his

Why is it proving so difficult for a superpower to get a bit of international cooperation over Snowden? He has acknowledged leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programs, and has been charged with espionage and other offenses.

President Obama recently met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in hopes of setting a positive tone for what is widely regarded as the single most important international relationship.

And the Obama administration has often touted its "reset" with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, though there's been plenty of ongoing friction.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, columnist Bret Stephens sees the Snowden episode as part of a broader decline in American influence.

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arrest. Russia appears to enjoy thumbing its nose at Washington as Snowden cools his heels at a Moscow airport. Ecuador is toying with the notion of granting him asylum.

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president, hours before Mohamed Mursi was to address the nation.

With Egypt gripped by fears of a showdown between Islamists and their opponents, security sources said 90 people wounded in the city of Mansoura after hundreds of men were involved in rock-throwing street skirmishes. Witnesses heard gunfire and state television showed a man in hospital with birdshot wounds.

Similar outbursts of violence, often prompted by one side or the other staging rallies, have hit towns across the country in recent days. At least two men died last weekend. The opposition plans mass protests this weekend, calling for Mursi to resign.

He shows no sign of doing that and is expected to blame the deadlock that has aggravated an economic crisis on resistance from those loyal to his ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

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How did China, Russia, Cuba, and Ecuador become the champions of political freedom?

How did China, Russia, Cuba, and Ecuador become the champions of political freedom?

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

It may be years before the full cost of Edward Snowden’s intelligence leaks can be measured. But his disclosures about top-secret surveillance programs have already come at a price for the U.S. government: America’s foes have been handed an immensely powerful tool for portraying Washington as a hypocritical proponent of democratic values that it doesn’t abide by at home.

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When China and Russia become protectors of activists, the West’s double is highlighted

When China and Russia become protectors of activists, the West’s double is highlighted

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

How does the case of Edward Snowden stand in comparison to those of Chen Guangcheng, Boris Berezovsky, and Andrei Borodin?

Russia and China are more than resisting pressure from the U.S. for their role in harboring Edward Snowden, Chinese and Russian leaders might use it to limit the West’s support of activists in the two countries. Consider the following official statements and editorials to get a sense of the reversal of roles and the declining U.S. credibility when it comes to foreign policy.

As The Arab Spring Fades And The Turkish Model Collapses, Can Islam Foster Prosperity?

As The Arab Spring Fades And The Turkish Model Collapses, Can Islam Foster Prosperity?

    Tuesday, June 25, 2013   No comments

There’s nothing wrong with hope, but it should always be balanced with a little truth. But the optimism which has been hanging over so much of the discussion about the middle east and central Asia, has been a bit long on hope and short on truth.

The Arab Spring has more than lived down to the predictions of critics (like me: link here), but no one had any long-term reputation invested in that. However, the much vaunted ‘Turkish Model, is another thing altogether. It is has long been the great multicultural hope for mankind, an Islamic modern democracy. Investors were told to get on board before losing a great chance. The rest of the equatorial world was told to behold the new world of Islamic modernity. The recent ordeal of oppression and uprising more impression, must come as a crushing disappointment. That could have been avoided by simply consulting history.

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Turkey's Alevi community doubtful of government initiatives

Turkey's Alevi community doubtful of government initiatives

    Tuesday, June 25, 2013   No comments

The government is working on a new plan to broaden the rights of Alevis, members of the second-largest Islamic sect in the country, but these fresh attempts have received a suspicious reaction from the community.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has asked for a study and report on the issue, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ revealed in a televised interview over the weekend, adding that a broad range of negotiations would follow after the new steps.

Bozdağ’s remarks came days before the anniversary of the July 1-2 killings of 35 people in an arson attack in 1993 led by a mob at a hotel where many Alevi intellectuals and artists who had come to Sivas for a conference were staying. On June 23, thousands gathered in Istanbul’s Anatolian district of Kadıköy to mark the day.

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The West should intervene in Syria for many reasons. One is to stem the rise of Persian power

The West should intervene in Syria for many reasons. One is to stem the rise of Persian power

    Tuesday, June 25, 2013   No comments

The growing risk of a nuclear Iran is one reason why the West should intervene decisively in Syria not just by arming the rebels, but also by establishing a no-fly zone. That would deprive Mr Assad of his most effective weapon—bombs dropped from planes—and allow the rebels to establish military bases inside Syria. This newspaper has argued many times for doing so on humanitarian grounds; but Iran’s growing clout is another reason to intervene, for it is not in the West’s interest that a state that sponsors terrorism and rejects Israel’s right to exist should become the regional hegemon.

The West still has the economic and military clout to influence events in the region, and an interest in doing so. When Persian power is on the rise, it is not the time to back away from the Middle East.

read more from the article... , or read a sample from Readers' Comment below:

Lebanese army storms Islamist mosque as Syria crisis spreads

Lebanese army storms Islamist mosque as Syria crisis spreads

    Monday, June 24, 2013   No comments

 Lebanese soldiers stormed a complex holding gunmen loyal to a radical Islamist cleric in the city of Sidon on Monday and arrested dozens of his supporters, security sources said, in a second day of clashes fuelled by neighboring Syria's civil war.

The fighting is the deadliest outbreak in Lebanon since Syria's two-year conflict began. The army said 12 soldiers were killed in the southern Mediterranean port city, while security sources gave a higher army toll of 18 dead and 128 wounded.

A medic told Reuters that 22 bodies had been pulled from the mosque complex but he expected the final death count to be higher. He said 94 wounded had been treated by the Red Cross.

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State secrets: Kerry’s department downplays Iran’s role in Latin America; likely to anger Congress

State secrets: Kerry’s department downplays Iran’s role in Latin America; likely to anger Congress

    Monday, June 24, 2013   No comments

Iran is not supporting active terrorist cells in the Western Hemisphere, according to a State Department report set to be released this week that is likely to ignite a major battle with Capitol Hill.
Although the number of Iranian officials operating in Latin America has increased in recent years, Tehran has far less influence and activities than some congressional Republicans have suggested, sources familiar with the report said.
The analysis found no reliable information pointing to imminent Iranian-backed terrorist plots in the Western Hemisphere, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of the report and because it had not yet been sent to Congress.
The State Department declined to comment on the document, which is expected to be delivered to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Edward R. Royce, California Republican, at the end of this week.
The findings are likely to baffle lawmakers who pushed legislation that mandated the State Department to produce the report, along with a strategy for countering “Iran’s growing hostile presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere.”

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Video shows Turkish police badly beating Gezi protesters for minutes in Antalya

Video shows Turkish police badly beating Gezi protesters for minutes in Antalya

    Monday, June 24, 2013   No comments

A group of young people who were hiding in a parking lot in the southern province of Antalya after a police intervention in a protest were badly beaten, according to camera footage obtained by lawyers.

The young people hid in a parking lot owned by the municipality in central Antalya before being caught there by a group of policemen with batons, on June 2, the video showed. The policemen then badly beat the young people, especially two males, for a few minutes.

Other instances of police brutality used against peaceful protesters in Turkey:

Depths of Syria's War: “You see, they have always been traitors”

Depths of Syria's War: “You see, they have always been traitors”

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

The ambush was a simple affair, compared to some of the complex and brutal operations devised in Syria’s civil war. But in a society whose divisions are historic, even if they have only now exploded like a leaky petrol tanker, the circumstances were unusual.
The target was a Sunni Muslim man married to a Shia woman, an intermarriage that is more dangerous nowadays. He was also an ammunition supplier to the Free Syrian Army, while his brother was killed serving in the regime’s Popular Committees - a Shabiha, or criminal ghost, in the insulting vernacular of the revolution.
The husband, Emad Juma Yusef, was picking up his wife and their children from her parents’ home, and he drove straight into the trap.
“She was waiting for me, but some of them were hiding in the grass,” he said. “They shot at me through the doors of the car. One bullet came right through the windscreen. They were trying to kill me.”
He was unscathed - his wife, hit in the foot by a stray bullet, was the only casualty. But he was seized and carted off to the local prison.

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French President Francois Hollande: "moderate rebels must take territory held by radical Islamists"

French President Francois Hollande: "moderate rebels must take territory held by radical Islamists"

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

French President Francois Hollande, whose country has been at the forefront of Western efforts to re-organize and back the opposition, said moderate rebels must take territory held by radical Islamists whose involvement in the conflict, he said, gives Bashar al-Assad a pretext for more violence.

"The opposition needs to win back control of these areas ... ‮‮‮they have fallen into the hands of extremists," Hollande told a news conference in the Doha a day after the Friends of Syria met in the Qatari capital.

"If it seems that extremist groups are present and tomorrow they could be the beneficiaries of a chaotic situation, it will be Bashar al-Assad who will seize on this pretext to continue the massacre," Hollande said.

In Damascus, the Ahrar al-Sham and the Islamist Tawhid al-Asima brigades detonated a car bomb in an area known as Mezze 86, inhabited by members of Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has controlled Syria since the 1960s. Two people were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Rebels also attacked two security compounds in Damascus, killing at least five people, sources in the capital said.

In regional repercussions of the increasingly sectarian Syrian conflict, four Lebanese soldiers were killed in clashes with followers of a Sunni Islamist cleric who is a critic of the role of Hezbollah - the Shi'ite Lebanese group - in giving military support to Assad.

Sources in the city said the fighting broke out when a follower of Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir was arrested at an army roadblock in Sidon, 40 km (28 miles) south of Beirut.

The clashes were followed by fighting between Hezbollah members based in the mostly Sunni city and Assir's followers in which automatic weapons and shoulder fired rockets were used, the sources said.

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2.5 million people attended Gezi protests across Turkey: Interior Ministry

2.5 million people attended Gezi protests across Turkey: Interior Ministry

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

Some 2.5 million protestors hit the streets across Turkey since the unrest began on May 31 over the attempt to demolish Istanbul's Gezi Park.

Only in two cities did people not attend protests while 79 cities witnessed big protests, the Interior Ministry’s record of protests said according to daily Milliyet’s report.

A large majority of the protests were staged in Istanbul and Ankara, according to the report, while Bayburt and Bingöl did not witness any protests.

Some 4,900 protesters were detained and 4000 people were injured including 600 riot police.

After the violent clashes slowed down, “standing man” civil disobedience protests increased in the country and everyday some 50 people stood silently in their cities’ centres.

The damage toll, on the other hand, showed that 58 public buildings and 337 private businesses were damaged while 240 police vehicles, 214 private cars, 90 municipality buses and 45 ambulances were left unusable.

Some 68 city cams, known as MOBESE, were also broken.

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Who are the “Friends of Syria”? And what is their strategy for ending the Syrian crisis?

Who are the “Friends of Syria”? And what is their strategy for ending the Syrian crisis?

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

With the start of the Syrian uprising, a group of countries organized themselves under the name “Friends of Syria.” When they met for the first time in Tunisia in February 2012, over 70 countries attended. This weekend, the group met again in Doha, Qatar. Only 11 countries attended: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Egypt, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. Apparently, the smaller the group, the more desperate they become.

Before concluding their meeting, they “authorized” each country to supply the rebels with arms as they see fit. Apparently, the United Stated administration was present not to commit to providing weapons, but to insist that all weapons must be channeled through the leader of the FSA, Salim Idris.

So far, the friends of Syria have contributed very little to actually help the Syrian people. The Gulf states took no refugees at all but they are all eager to send more weapons. Clearly, the name "Friends of Syria" does not match their commitments, they ought to refer to themselves as the "Friends of the Syrian Opposition" to be be factually accurate so that they can be taken seriously.

 

 read news story 1; and news story 2

 

   

Islamic voices against Erdoğan

Islamic voices against Erdoğan

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

About a week ago, another voice came from a more prominent and mainstream Islamic circle: “The Labor and Justice Platform.” At a meeting in the offices of Mazlumder, a leading Islamic Human Rights Organization, the members of the platform announced a declaration which condemned the “state arrogance” that the AKP government has shown against the protestors in Gezi Park. They argued:

“Ignoring Gezi Park protestors’ demands, and subsequently labeling them as ‘plunderers,’ reflects the arrogance of a political power that mistakes itself to be the country’s landlord. Ravaging of the environment, cars and stores were triggered by the rough treatment of the police, whenever police violence stopped, protests took a peaceful turn.”

The text went on reminding the persecution and humiliation that Turkey’s pious Muslims went through in the late 90’s, during the “post-modern coup” era, but argued that a similar process was taking place right now against the secular camp:

“We, as Muslims, have not forgotten how media abused the whole country, and sullied the innocent 15 years ago. Today, conservative and mainstream media are using the same language to terrorize a certain part of the population – what has changed then? Did we forget what police forces have done to our kids? Why should police be rightful in persecuting others who are not like us? Is justice not a divine command that has to be kept alive against every form of hatred?”

The signatories of this text include some two dozen prominent Islamic public intellectuals such as Ali Bulaç, Cihan Aktaş or Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu --- quite respected names in Islamic circles. They, probably, represent a larger segment among religious conservatives who might not be openly challenging Erdoğan but who probably find his growingly tough attitude not terribly helpful.
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Nadia Umm Fuad watched her son being shot by Islamist rebels in Syria after the 14-year-old referred to the Prophet Mohammed as he joked with a customer at his coffee stall in Aleppo

Nadia Umm Fuad watched her son being shot by Islamist rebels in Syria after the 14-year-old referred to the Prophet Mohammed as he joked with a customer at his coffee stall in Aleppo

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

Nadia Umm Fuad: 'I saw rebels execute my boy for no more than a joke’

Nadia Umm Fuad watched her son being shot by Islamist rebels in Syria after the 14-year-old referred to the Prophet Mohammed as he joked with a customer at his coffee stall in Aleppo. 

Mohammed Katta's mother witnessed the execution of her son in three stages.
She was upstairs at home when she first heard the shouting. The people of the neighbourhood were yelling that "they have brought back the kid", so she rushed out of her apartment.
"I went out on my balcony," Nadia Umm Fuad said. "I said to his father, they are going to shoot your son! Come! Come! Come! I was on the stairs when I heard the first shot. I was at the door when I heard the second shot.
"I saw the third shot. I was shouting, 'That's haram, forbidden! Stop! Stop! You are killing a child.' But they just gave me a dirty look and got into their car. As they went, they drove over my son's arm, as he lay there dying."
Mohammed was 14 when he was killed, earlier this month, prompting international condemnation. He has become a symbol of the fears many Syrians have for the future of a country where jihadists are vying with the regime for control.

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Erdogan and the Protests: Turkey's Stubborn Man on the Bosphorus

Erdogan and the Protests: Turkey's Stubborn Man on the Bosphorus

    Friday, June 21, 2013   No comments

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the way to becoming the most successful leader of his country since Atatürk. But he has reacted to recent protests as a tone-deaf despot. It is a tragedy for him and his country.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often sought out influential opponents. First there was the secular elite that tried to thwart his bid to become mayor of Istanbul. Then there were the courts in Ankara, which tried to ban his conservative Muslim Justice and Development Party (AKP). Finally, there were the generals, who had been in control since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the country, and whose power he broke.

After 10 years as prime minister of Turkey, Erdogan had so much power that, in the end, only one person could stop him: Erdogan himself.
Journalist Fiachra Gibbans aptly described Erdogan's political career in the Guardian recently as a "Shakespearean tragedy." The prime minister, who defied attempted coups and survived a court challenge, is now in trouble because of a few hundred trees in a city park. He is becoming the victim of his own hubris.

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Saudi Arabia supplied heavy weapons to Syrian rebels; major weapons shipment comprised rockets and other arms from the former Yugoslavia, paid for by Qatar

Saudi Arabia supplied heavy weapons to Syrian rebels; major weapons shipment comprised rockets and other arms from the former Yugoslavia, paid for by Qatar

    Thursday, June 20, 2013   No comments

The First new heavy weapons have arrived on Syria’s front lines following President Barack Obama’s decision to put Western military might behind the official opposition, rebels have told The Daily Telegraph.
Rebel sources said Russian-made “Konkurs” anti-tank missiles had been supplied by America’s key Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia. They have already been used to destructive effect and may have held up a promised regime assault on Aleppo.
A handful of the missiles were already in use and in high demand after opposition forces looted them from captured regime bases.
More have now arrived, confirming reports that the White House has lifted an unofficial embargo on its Gulf allies sending heavy weapons to the rebels.
Last week, the White House said it would send military support to Syria’s opposition after concluding that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime had used chemical agents against them.
Unlike rocket-propelled grenades, the Konkurs – Contest in English – can penetrate the regime’s most advanced tanks, Russian-made T72s


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Taliban offer to swap American hostage for Guantanamo Bay inmates

Taliban offer to swap American hostage for Guantanamo Bay inmates

    Thursday, June 20, 2013   No comments

The Taliban have laid out one of their key demands, saying they would free a captured American soldier in exchange for five prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

The offer – which proved one of the sticking points during earlier talks which were shelved last year – follows the opening of a Taliban political office in the Qatari capital Doha and continuing uncertainty about whether President Hamid Karzai would give his blessing to negotiations.

American diplomats have been desperately trying to placate the furious Afghan leader, incensed that the Taliban were allowed to raise their flag in Qatar.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, from Idaho, disappeared from his base in south-eastern Afghanistan in June 2009.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press news agency from his Doha office, Shaheen Suhail, Taliban spokesman, said on Thursday that Bergdahl “is, as far as I know, in good condition.”
He added that the prisoner exchange was the first item on the Taliban’s agenda and could be used to build trust with the US.


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Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç threatened resign both from his post as deputy prime minister and from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç threatened resign both from his post as deputy prime minister and from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)

    Thursday, June 20, 2013   No comments

President Abdullah Gül intervened to persuade Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç not to resign from his post following a dispute between Arınç and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during last week's Cabinet meeting, the Taraf daily reported on Thursday.
The dispute, according to the daily, arose when Erdoğan told Arınç that he found Arınç's remarks on the Gezi Park demonstrations wrong. Following this, Arınç reportedly left the Cabinet meeting, saying that he would resign both from his post as deputy prime minister and from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

When Arınç could not be convinced to return by other ministers, Gül reportedly stepped in to convince Arınç not to resign.

Unlike Erdoğan, Arınç, who became acting prime minister when Erdoğan went on a five-day visit abroad earlier this month, adopted a more reconciliatory tone regarding the Gezi Park demonstrators who took to the streets in protest of government plans to demolish Gezi Park in central İstanbul's Taksim Square.

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Duran Adam (Standing Man), non-violent protest adapts and innovates in Turkey

Duran Adam (Standing Man), non-violent protest adapts and innovates in Turkey

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

One man stood silently for more than six hours Monday night in Istanbul's Taksim Square, defying police who broke up anti-government protests weekend with tear gas and water cannon and drawing Hundreds of others to his act of civil protest.  Soon, hundreds of demonstrators stood still for hours in squares on main streets in several cities, mimicking a lone protester who started the trend on Istanbul’s Taksim Square and has been dubbed the “standing man.”

Britain’s Supreme Court has lifted sanctions against Iran’s Mellat Bank describing them "irrational" and "disproportionate".

Britain’s Supreme Court has lifted sanctions against Iran’s Mellat Bank describing them "irrational" and "disproportionate".

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

The UK's highest court ruled that the government was wrong to have imposed sanctions on an Iranian bank in 2009 over alleged links to Iran's nuclear programme.
The Supreme Court decision on Wednesday mirrored a January ruling by the European Union's General Court, which overturned sanctions imposed in 2010, and could result in the bank suing Britain for damages.
In a majority judgment, Supreme Court Judge Jonathan Sumption said that the British government had been "arbitrary", "irrational" and "disproportionate" to single out Bank Mellat, Iran's largest private bank, for sanctions.
Bank Mellat has long denied allegations against its activities and argued that it had not been consulted before sanctions were imposed.

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Palestinian refugees suffer as Syria crisis drags on

Palestinian refugees suffer as Syria crisis drags on

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

The issue of Palestinian refugees has been a constant issue in politics of the Middle-East for 65 years. It’s a core issue of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Earlier, we spoke to Richard Wright, the Director of the UN Relief and Works Agency Representative Office in New York. He told us the Palestinian refugees’ situation in Syria is getting worse due to the continuing crisis in the country.

The regime digs in: President Bashar Assad and his forces have won a new lease of life

The regime digs in: President Bashar Assad and his forces have won a new lease of life

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

“YA GHALI,” says a driver greeting the soldier manning a checkpoint of concrete blocks painted with the Syrian flag and plastered with pictures of Bashar Assad in regime-controlled central Damascus. This salutation was never in use in the capital before the war but is now standard at checkpoints. “Ghali”, or precious, is used in the coastal homeland of the Alawites, the sect from which Mr Assad hails. It is a sign both that the president is in control here and that, for all its talk of a state for all of Syria’s communities, his regime has been largely reduced to a sectarian militia, though the most powerful in the country.

This may be a harbinger of the future. The balance of power between the regime and the rebels has ebbed and flowed during the 27-month conflict, but the government’s recapture of the town of Qusayr from the rebels on June 5th has reinforced a feeling that Mr Assad has recently won the advantage. Rebels still control swathes of the north and east of the country and continue to clash with the regime in the countryside around the main population hubs of the west: Damascus, Homs and Hama. But nearly all the city centres are tightly in Mr Assad’s grip. In his determination to assert control, he has shown willing, if need be, to reduce rebellious towns to rubble.


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Hamas leaders meet with Erdoğan in Ankara

Hamas leaders meet with Erdoğan in Ankara

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas political bureau chief, and Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, discussed the current issues related to Palestine, including the Middle East peace process, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
Erdoğan and the Hamas leaders met late on Tuesday. Sources from the Prime Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, speaking to Today's Zaman before the meeting, said that the agenda of the meeting would be the Middle East peace process and internal issues related to Palestine.

Meanwhile, sources from the Palestinian Embassy in Ankara told Today's Zaman that they were not informed by either Ankara or Hamas about the visit beforehand.

The visit by the Hamas leaders came amid Erdoğan's long-discussed plans to visit Gaza. The sources said that Erdoğan's planned visit would also be among the issues discussed at the meeting, also stating that the Hamas leaders' visit was upon their own request.

Erdoğan's announcement of his long-speculated visit this year came right after a US-brokered normalization process between Turkey and Israel in March. His visit was first declared to take place in April but was later postponed following Erdoğan's trip to Washington, D.C., in mid-May. The rescheduling was said to be at the US's request over concerns that the visit to Gaza could backtrack the rather positive process of normalization between Turkey and Israel.

However, a new date for the visit has not yet been specified, even though there is no official declaration of a cancellation of the visit.


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Where the anti-Assad coalition went wrong

Where the anti-Assad coalition went wrong

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

We don’t know what will come out of Geneva II, the US and Russian backed conference for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. But it is forcing rhetorical and diplomatic conversions upon those taking the road to Damascus.

In mid-May the Arab League made a surprising declaration. Two months after handing Syria’s seat at Doha to the opposition, League Chief Nabil el-‘Arabi explained that Syria’s seat was in fact vacant, that the opposition was in Doha at the invitation of Qatar, and that having failed to form a government, it was barred from attending League meetings.

Then Turkey. Erdogan’s fiery anti-Assad rhetoric, even accusing the Syrian regime of the Reyhanli attacks, gave way to reports rebels were arrested with Sarin gas in Turkey. In a country ranked low on press freedom, the absence of neither government confirmation nor refutation speaks volumes. Before the sarin story broke, the usually tight-lipped FM Davutoglu treated journalists to a session of bizarre intimate confessions on how he formed his judgement on Syria and Assad, as if he were coming to terms with the past, before the next leap of faith.

In Arabia, there was no soul searching. Patrons of the now discredited Syrian National Coalition turned. Qatar, smarting from its failure to engineer and broadcast Assad’s fall over its very own private TV channel, ceded its place to Saudi Arabia. The change of guard was reflected in the changing composition of the SNC, not easy as the SNC agrees only on one thing: wrestling power from Assad, and nothing else.


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Special Report: Syria's Islamists seize control as moderates dither

Special Report: Syria's Islamists seize control as moderates dither

    Wednesday, June 19, 2013   No comments

As the Syrian civil war got under way, a former electrician who calls himself Sheikh Omar built up a brigade of rebel fighters. In two years of struggle against President Bashar al-Assad, they came to number 2,000 men, he said, here in the northern city of Aleppo. Then, virtually overnight, they collapsed.

Omar's group, Ghurabaa al-Sham, wasn't defeated by the government. It was dismantled by a rival band of revolutionaries - hardline Islamists.

The Islamists moved against them at the beginning of May. After three days of sporadic clashes Omar's more moderate fighters, accused by the Islamists of looting, caved in and dispersed, according to local residents. Omar said the end came swiftly.

The Islamists confiscated the brigade's weapons, ammunition and cars, Omar said. "They considered this war loot. Maybe they think we are competitors," he said. "We have no idea about their goals. What we have built in two years disappeared in a single day."

The group was effectively marginalized in the struggle to overthrow Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Around 100 fighters are all that remain of his force, Omar said.

It's a pattern repeated elsewhere in the country. During a 10-day journey through rebel-held territory in Syria, Reuters journalists found that radical Islamist units are sidelining more moderate groups that do not share the Islamists' goal of establishing a supreme religious leadership in the country.

The moderates, often underfunded, fragmented and chaotic, appear no match for Islamist units, which include fighters from organizations designated "terrorist" by the United States.

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Russia’s sole support for Syria casts a pall over G-8

Russia’s sole support for Syria casts a pall over G-8

    Tuesday, June 18, 2013   No comments

From the moment the Group of Eight summit began, the dividing lines on how to intervene in the Syrian civil war became clear: The U.S. and its European allies on one side, Russia on the other.
Tensions with Russia have gotten the meeting off to a rocky start. Deep disagreements on the conflict have all but guaranteed that the G-8 will not produce a unanimous decision at the resort in Northern Ireland on how, or even whether, to assist rebel forces in their fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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While the West deliberates, Saudi Arabia sends anti-aircraft missiles to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria

While the West deliberates, Saudi Arabia sends anti-aircraft missiles to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria

    Tuesday, June 18, 2013   No comments

Opposition fighters in Syria, preparing for a major onslaught by government forces in their northern strongholds around Aleppo, have been equipped for the first time with shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, it has emerged.

While Western powers deliberate over whether or not to arm certain rebel groups, Saudi Arabia has sent the weapons, which various rebel groups have long stated is their most needed piece of equipment in fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The Saudis have also sent anti-tank missiles, as those opposed to Assad’s regime grow ever more concerned about the increasing influence of fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, who have recently poured across the border in support of the Syrian government.

The fact that rebel groups now have anti-aircraft missiles – which was revealed by the Reuters news agency – means that they can now pose a threat to Assad’s air force for the first time. Military jets have largely been able to fire on rebel positions without the threat of being shot down, something that has played a significant role in the regular army being able to hold positions it might otherwise have lost to opposition fighters.

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Iran and the West

Iran and the West

    Tuesday, June 18, 2013   No comments

Myths, falsehoods and misrepresentations about Iran

Chapter seven of ‘A Dangerous Delusion: why the west is wrong about nuclear Iran’ by Peter Oborne and David Morrison, takes up the basic facts in the public domain regarding Iranian possession and planning for nuclear weapons which mainstream media ignore, and asks why they do this.

At this point it may be helpful to state the basic facts about Iran’s nuclear activities:

• Iran has no nuclear weapons.

• Since 2007, US intelligence has held the opinion that Iran hasn’t got a programme to develop nuclear weapons and has regularly stated this opinion in public to the US Congress.

• The IAEA does not assert that Iran has an ongoing nuclear weapons programme.

• Iran does have uranium-enrichment facilities. But as a party to the NPT, Iran has a right to engage in uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. Other parties to the NPT, for example, Argentina and Brazil, do so. Iran is not in breach of any of its obligations under the NPT.

• As required by the NPT, Iran’s enrichment facilities are open to inspection by the IAEA, as are its other nuclear facilities. Over many years, the IAEA has verified that no nuclear material has been diverted from these facilities for possible military purposes. Iran is enriching uranium up to 5% U-235, which is appropriate for fuelling nuclear power reactors for generating electricity, and up to 20% U-235, which is required for fuelling the Tehran Research Reactor.

• While Iran’s nuclear facilities are open to IAEA inspection, those of Israel and India (allies of the United States) are almost entirely closed to the IAEA. Yet Iran, which has no nuclear weapons, is the object of ferocious economic sanctions and threats of military action. By contrast, Israel (with perhaps as many as 400 nuclear bombs, and the capacity to deliver them anywhere in the Middle East) is the object of more than $3 billion a year of US military aid.

These are basic facts about Iran’s nuclear activities, facts that are (if you search for them) in the public domain. Yet the mainstream media in Britain rarely mentions any of them. As a result, almost all of its reporting is misleading, and some of it completely false.


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'Standing man' inspires Turkish protesters amid raids

'Standing man' inspires Turkish protesters amid raids

    Tuesday, June 18, 2013   No comments

A Turkish man has staged an eight-hour silent vigil on Istanbul's Taksim Square, as police raided homes and arrested dozens in a clampdown on three weeks of violent anti-government unrest.

Erdem Gunduz said he wanted to take a stand against police stopping demonstrations near the square, Dogan news agency reported.
He stood silently, facing the Ataturk Cultural Centre which was draped in Turkish flags and a portrait of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, from 6 pm (1500 GMT) yesterday. By 2 am (2300 GMT), when the police moved in, about 300 people had joined him. Ten people, who refused to be moved on by police, were detained.
Mr Gunduz, swiftly dubbed "standing man" on social media in Turkey, inspired hundreds of others to conduct similar protests elsewhere in Istanbul as well as in the capital Ankara and the city of Izmir on the Aegean coast.

The silent protests were in stark contrast to demonstrations at the weekend, which saw some of the fiercest clashes so far when police fired teargas and water cannon to clear thousands from Taksim Square.
What began in May as a protest by environmentalists upset over plans to build on a park adjoining Taksim has grown into a movement against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, presenting the greatest public challenge to his 10-year leadership.

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