This is not a manifesto

One reader told me that I write so much and she has not the time to read long blog posts. Most of my texts have between one thousand and two thousand words, some have up to six thousand words. For readers, who are used to twitter messages with a limit of 140 roman characters, it is for sure challenging if not impossible to get through such long texts.

I will in future write short posts in between. Like this one:

Reportedly the visitors of this blog get differing impressions about the author (me).
I’m considered to be:

An arrogant and presumptuous cynic.
A strange and dangerous alien monster.
A socialist, trotskyist, determinist, nihilist, atheist, pacifist
(I’m all of that btw.)
A compassionate human being who feels empathy for fellow creatures and who tries to help.

For those who are in a hurry and don’t have time to read older texts and who nevertheless want to make up their mind about this blog, here are a few essential excerpts from an old post:

Every person shall live her or his life in the most efficient way using the least possible amount of energy and resources and causing the least possible harm to fellow creatures and to nature in general.

Everybody shall have the chance to develop her or his full potential and to contribute to the wellbeing of her or his fellow creatures.

We have to stop reproducing until the world population has stabilized at a sustainable level of four to six billion.

(This is from my blog text You want to save the world?)

A few short recommendations for the hurried reader:

If your are brave:
Tell the truth, be a whistleblower. Lift the veil, reveal, expose.
Be careful, remain anonymous, don’t tell even your best friend.
You don’t want to end like Chelsea Manning?

And if you are even more brave:
Block, hinder, obstruct, sabotage.
Study computer science, mathematics, programming.
Reverse engineer Stuxnet.

Now the hard part:
Stop watching TV, stop viewing any products of corporate media and the Hollywood dream machine.
Avoid or at least ignore advertising. Use add-blockers.
Don’t multitask.

And the very hard part:
Stop buying, stop shopping, stop consuming.
Slow down! Drop out of the rat race, live at your own pace.
Don’t use credit cards, avoid banks, insurances, and other financial institutions.
Use public services and non profit organizations, shun corporate businesses.
Even better: Join or create small networks to make the big networks irrelevant.
Become independent, self-reliant, self-sufficient.

If you are able to apply the proposed lifestyle changes, use the gained time for meditation and for acquiring additional skills.
Become a dissident, become a teacher, become a prophet!
Don’t forget: Life is a journey without return and every day that is gone, is gone forever.
Spend your days wisely!

The Hurried Reader

Why have you come here,
reader?
You have torn
this book open
and you dig frantically in its pages 
searching for
who knows what treasure
hidden in the sand
Do you want to cry
or to laugh
Do you have no one else
to talk to
Is your life
that empty?
Then close this book quickly
Keep it away from the alarm clock
and the medicine cabinet
Let it ripen
in the sunlight of desire
on the branch of beautiful silence

Don’t let Kobane be slaughtered

Wassim Ibrahim  As-Safir

The Syrian Kurds are currently facing a life-or-death battle against IS (Islamic State). Their city, Kobane (Ayn al-Arab, Kobani), faces another IS massacre, unless a change is brought about, according to Salih Muslim, leader of the PYD (Democratic Union Party). Muslim has been shocked by the international silence concerning the plight of Kurds in Syria.

In an interview with As-Safir, he expressed concern that IS is free to use its heavy weapons to besiege their city, which is already encircled by Turkey. In his opinion, it’s ironic that IS besieges them thanks to US weapons, while the latter is leading an international coalition against IS, without aiming to lift the blockade. These doubts culminated with Turkey’s quest to establish a buffer zone that will be fought by the PYD, believing it to be an occupation.

In a press conference at the European Parliament on September 24, Muslim made a distress call. The experienced Syrian politician did not get nervous. He remained calm and logical, even though he was witnessing the doom of his hometown.

The besieged Kurds were supposed to take a deep relaxing breath with the international coalition’s airstrikes. The PYD has welcomed them, but has questioned why IS forces besieging Kobane have not been bombed. The PYD has openly offered to be a backup force for the operations against the international jihadist enemy, since hard work is underway to find parallel ground forces, yet there has been no response to the offer.

Muslim said, “We have issued a statement in which we have clearly welcomed the international coalition and its operations. We have said that we are on the ground and IS is slaughtering us. We certainly want to cooperate with the [coalition] to avoid being slaughtered, but it did not respond yet. I think some parties do not want us to be seen on the forefront, which will happen in case of a collaboration with the coalition. There is Turkey and other countries as well.”

The intensification of the blockade on Kobane has raised questions on the capabilities of the Kurdish forces, both the PYD and the YPG (People’s Protection Units), particularly since talks circulated that they were repelling IS during the battle of Sinjar in Iraq.

Muslim corrected this story and introduced the reasons that resulted in the current blockade. He said, “The PYD did not go to Sinjar, but rather the YPG did, and is still there. The deterioration that is taking place in Kobani is not due to the lack of fighters or shortages of defenders. All of our people are present with their forces to protect themselves. There is a deterioration because they [IS] are besieging the city from three sides. The weapons IS has are sophisticated; they are using US Abrams tanks and Humvees. As for the weapons the youth have, they are not enough. In fact, there are no adequat weapons. They have light machine guns and RPGs, which are not effective against US armored vehicles. We are expecting a potential massacre at any moment. But we will fight to the end.”

Muslim expressed his doubts about the jihadist fighter’s sources of power. He explained that the IS weapons are partially derived from the FSA (Free Syrian Army) brigades that joined the group, and partially from the recent fall of the military airport of Tabaqa. Yet he insisted that the most powerful weapons came via a “suspicious” way. First, those weapons obtained by IS from the FSA warehouses near the Turkish border crossings were “given to the group, and were not the result of the attacks, as was said. ”Second, the heavier weapons came from Mosul.”

He stressed that there is no logic that can explain “how six brigades of the Iraqi army left all of their weapons to IS and made no effort to defend themselves.”

Furthermore, the group was allowed to move its heavy weapons — which have been monitored by US radars at all times — for dozens of kilometers to encircle Kobane. The coalition’s air raids “are welcomed,” but they came “a week late,” before IS completely surrounded the city. The targets of the bombardment were 15 to 20 kilometers short of the forces besieging Kobane.

In light of this reality, Muslim explained that there is one thing that can make a difference. He said, “We have our own forces. What makes the difference is the quality of weapons. When we receive anti-tank weapons that can damage the Abrams tanks and Humvees that were brought from Mosul, only then we will not have a problem, and will we be able to defend ourselves. IS is besieging us on three sides, as Turkey is closing the border on the fourth side. Weapons can pass via Turkey, or it can offer weapons to our people who are fighting on other sides. [Weapons] are delivered to us because our fighters who came to our rescue from the eastern side are also facing the same heavy weapons.”

Ayn al-Arab is the head of a triangle whose base is composed of Aleppo and Raqqa. Its location, which isolates it from the dense Kurdish tide toward the east in Qamishli and Hasakah, has led it to hamper the ambitions of IS.

The city touches the Turkish border, and it is home to families who are divided on both sides. Its population counts almost half a million people, from the city and its villages, of whom about 200,000 have been displaced.

As Muslim talked about the reality of the battle, As-Safir asked him a question currently raised by many people about the role of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), whose fighters have been mobilized to support the peshmerga fighters in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Muslim — the deputy general coordinator of the opposition’s National Coordination Body — showed reservations in this regard, as his party has long been deemed a brother to the PKK.

He found the question intrusive, and stressed that the Kurds of the entire region, including Iran, are flocking to repel the invasion of IS.

“Some of our young people came from the north and the south, among other places. We welcome all those who want to defend us. But it is not about whether the PKK sent forces or did not. What is the motive of those coming from all over the world, even from Tora Bora? And then they tell us to ask about the identity of those coming to support us. Every Kurd is flocking to defend us. There are Iranian Kurds who have joined the ranks of young people in the PYD,” he said.

All issues intertwine in the stormy scene of the region: The rescue of Kurdistan and the silence on the siege of Kobane, the constantly inflamed sensitivities with Turkey, the international coalition and who should be thanked or rebuked. When Muslim was wrapping up his conference at the European Parliament, European officials were being questioned on highly relevant issues.

Several speakers pointed to the PKK role in supporting the peshmerga forces, arguing that hats must be taken off to their performance against IS. Thus, European officials were asked why the party is still on the European list of terrorist organizations. One of the officials revealed that the PKK forces are fighting more than the peshmerga in both Syria and Iraq, but he pointed out that Turkey wants it to stay on the blacklist. He added that the reason is the peace process between Ankara and the PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

Turkey asked the European supporters of the process to “keep the party on the list so that it does not have a substitute for peace. Once they reach a result, we will remove it from the list,” a European official said.

The Turkish sensitivities are clear, according to Muslim. Asked about the buffer zone, which Ankara seeks to set up in the north of Syria, he said, “We believe that the buffer zone, under the management of Turkey, is an occupation of our territory. We do not know why they decided to set it up now. Had it been under international protection, we would have said that it was an extension (of the international alliance), but having it under the protection of Turkey means that they are imposing a certain something on us and that it is a Turkish occupation, which we will fight.”

Muslim does not know what lies in store for his encircled city. He has been traveling around Europe for a year and a half, and for the past few weeks has warned that Kobane faces the same fate as Sinjar.

Asked about his interpretation of this international selectivity, he said that the goal is to eliminate the Kurdish administration “model” in the north of Syria. He said that no one wants Syria or the Middle East to follow this model, and added that “the example we are giving changes the whole equation. Who wants an official Syriac language in Syria? The Assyrians are an inherent component of the fabric of the region. In Jazeera canton (Kurdish administration area) they are being granted their rights. Where are the rights of Assyrians in Turkey and Iran? They have nothing. But when the Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens, and Arabs all want to live together and believe in democracy, then this changes the equation in the Middle East as a whole and leaves no room for looting, as is currently the case. Some want petroleum, some have other interests to follow and others want companies based on a certain balance, and when they have desires, they make poor people fight.”

As Muslim got ready to leave and grabbed his small leather bag that looked like an accessory pocket, we asked him a final question about the relationship with the Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani. This relationship has always been marked by sensitivity and volatility. He responded, with cautiousness aimed at avoiding negativity, “There is some kind of convergence that we hope to build on. There are good intentions, but nothing has happened on the ground. God willing something will happen.”

Israel’s No-Fly Zone

On September 23 a Syrian Sukhoi SU-24 wanted to bomb Jabhat al-Nusra positions in the Golan heights, but was shot down by Israel with a Patriot missile. The pilots could eject safely. Israel claimed that the plane violated its air space, but the crash site was far away inside Syria near the town of Kanaker, which is halfway between Golan’s demarcation line and Damascus.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the aircraft approached Israeli territory in a “threatening manner” and then crossed the border. Ram Shmueli, a former air force brigadier general who had been briefed on the incident, said the jet was believed to be on a mission to attack rebel forces but the IDF felt it had to shoot it down in order not to risk a possible attack on Israeli targets.

By deploying the Patriot system on Golan Israel has practically established a no-fly zone next to the Golan, which allows jihadist fighters to move freely from Jordan to Syria and Southern Lebanon and infiltrate Syria from the south.

Jordan hosts several military training centers (for instance in Russeifeh) where CIA operatives along with Israeli, Jordanian, British, and French instructors train rebels for combat and in the use of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. There is also a control room in Amman, where rebel operations are planned.

Jabhat al-Nusra has for a long time tried to establish a corridor on Golan and use it to transfer fighters and military equipment from Jordan to Syria and South Lebanon. This corridor is absolutely necessary to revitalize the southern front and to break the siege on Ghouta in eastern Damascus through the south.

The battle began on August 27 for control of the demolished Syrian part of Quneitra city. Israeli forces opened several entrances through the border fence with heavy artillery shelling when rebels first launched their attacks.  The Israelis also shelled the headquarters of the Syrian army’s 90th Brigade.

In recent weeks the jihadists have captured most of the territory along the demarcation line, including the main border crossing at Quneitra.

Israel has allowed the jihadists to move freely on the Israeli site and aided them with massive artillery strikes on Syrian positions (Tel Abu al-Nada and Tall Abu al-Faras for instance), which it always justified as a retaliation against alleged Syrian artillery shells landing on the Israeli occupied site of Golan.

Israel has also provided logistic help and intelligence about Syrian positions to the rebels. It has treated wounded rebel fighters in Israeli hospitals and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even visited an IDF field hospital to speak with wounded rebels.

Israeli troops and staff have left the Quneitra checkpoint 2 kilometers away from the ceasefire line, leaving the area completely under control of Jabhat al-Nusra.

UN peacekeepers have also left the demarcation line and the jihadists have occupied the UN buildings as their own headquarters. Syrian UN envoy Bashar Jaafari: “The terrorists are now using United Nations cars, which hold the emblem of the United Nations forces in the Golan. They are using the uniform of the UNDOF, the weapons of UNDOF, the positions of UNDOR to shell on the Syrian army as well as on the civilians in villages.”

The UN Security Council blamed the increased fighting on the Golan for endangering the peacekeepers and forcing the UN to move hundreds of peacekeepers to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The Security Council said the fighting posed a risk to a disengagement agreement that has helped prevent Israel and Syria from going to war since October 1973.

Blah, blah, blah… Why were the UN peacekeepers there in the first place and why didn’t they resist the Islamic militants?

Israel has bombed Syrian government and military installations at least 6 times in the last 24 months, including army training facilities, weapons depots, military headquarters, and artillery batteries near Quneitra.

In January and March last year Israel struck weapons depots (rockets for Hezbollah), in July and October last year Israeli warplanes hit a military base near Latakia. In January an Israeli air raid targeted a scientific research center. In February Israeli fighter jets struck a weapons convoy along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

In March IDF forces on Golan hit the school and mosque of al-Hamidiyeh with missiles and machine guns and fired tank shells towards al-Hurriyeh. IDF soldiers killed two Hezbollah fighters, they said were suspected of attempting to plant a bomb on the security fence along the demarcation line.

Syria is fair game. US warplanes bomb in the north, Israeli planes in the south. Violent criminals are trained openly in Jordan and Turkey, Islamic fighters and weapons move in freely from Turkey, Jordan, and Israel.

The UN Charter and international law are meaningless, Nobel Peace Price laureate Barack Obama can give a speech full of preposterous lies and outright mockery to the General Assembly without being heckled and booed off the stage. The press comments this speech with absurd and ridiculous platitudes. 

And the brainwashed population blankly stares at the TV, computer, smartphone screens, obeying, voting, shopping, understanding nothing.

This is war, in a few words

Can there be anything worse than the organized mass murder which war is? Maybe an out of control ebola pandemic could be worse. Maybe the complete collapse of the most vital biological systems (Oceans, forests) could be worse.

The imperial forces are edging closer to a bombing campaign against Syria. Turkish President Erdogan called for a security zone along the Syrian border (on the Syrian side of course), which would have to be accompanied by a no-fly zone. In Ankara there is also talk of sending Turkish ground forces into Syria to restore order, perhaps in the form of hot-pursuit operations, perhaps on a longer scale.

The bandits of IS (Islamic State) are advancing one the Kurdish town of Kobane (Kobani, Ain al-Arab), causing 140,000 Kurds to flee. Kobane’s plight has not attracted much attention, because the Kurdish YPD/YPG (People’s Protection Units) are affiliated with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Western governments.

According to press reports 40 Kurdish militia were killed in the past five days by IS, many of them when a suicide bomber drove into the western outskirts of the town in a vehicle disguised to look as though it was carrying humanitarian aid.

Turkey had closed the border for Kurdish refugees, but now reluctantly lets them in, making life as miserable as possible for them. Turkish security units repeatedly fired tear gas canisters at refugees. The refugees are not welcome, a sharp difference to the IS terrorists, which still get preferential treatment and can pass the border back and forth as they please. MIT (the Turkish spy agency) guided truck convoys with supply for IS are still spotted.

Cemil Bayik, the PKK’s top military commander in the field, told that Turkish soldiers had advance knowledge of the coming IS offensive against Kobane and he asserted: “By emptying Kobane and provoking a mass exodus of people, Turkey can then claim before the international community that its own security is at stake and set about establishing a buffer zone.”

Adem Uzun, a leading member of the Kurdistan National Congress,  said that Turkey had been helping IS militants in their attacks against Syrian Kurds.

IS forces have surrounded Turkeys tomb of Suleyman Shah, but don’t touch it, which is remarkable, considering IS’s proclivity to demolish shrines and mausoleums considered heretical in its fundamentalist form of Islam.

The US has launched a few airstrikes against IS positions around Kobane, carefully metered to avert accusations of complicity while in reality not impeding the IS offensive. IS has amassed fighters and armor around Kobane and bombing them would really have an impact.

It is apparently not the goal of the US air strikes to have a severe impact on IS.

In the Ukraine the ceasefire between the Ukranian army plus “punitive battalions” against separatists in Donbass is 70 percent holding, according to Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. According to the OSCE observers shelling has been reduced by two-thirds. Shelling of Donetsk residential areas with mortars and rocket systems continues.

A one-third war can be tough still.

Ukrainian forces are encircled in several cauldrons and try to break out. It is getting colder and the fighters on both sides face adverse weather.

The separatists are held on a short leach by Russia and their calls for independence and for a nationalization of the industries, which are now owned by oligarchs (Akhmetov, Taruta) have not found sympathetic ears.

One of the most generous supporters of the separatists is Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.

The Maidan activists initially also called for action against the oligarchs and for independence from outside influences. Now they fight against the people who would be their logical allies.

This is the magic of propaganda, also called “media spin,” (brainwashing, indoctrination, mind control).

Ukrainian media is in lockstep with the oligarchs, which is not surprising, because all media companies are in the oligarchs possession. No censorship needed.

The generals who opposed a deployment of Ukrainian soldiers against compatriots are all dismissed now. The  soldiers are not dismissed, but they can desert, and they do.

Deserters are the true heroes of war!

Chelsea Manning is a hero. http://couragetoresist.org/ 

Conscientious objectors like Ben Salmon, Franz Jaegerstaetter, William White, Muhammed Ali, Kyle Wesolowski, are heroes of war.

Peace activists are heroes of war.

James Keir Hardie, Martin Niemoeller, Mahatma Gandhi, Bertrand Russell, Sophie Scholl, Thich Naht Hanh.

Mary Anne Grady-Flores, Michael Walli, Sister Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed, Bonnie Urfer, Father Daniel Berrigan.

Writers, who publish anti-war novels or poetry are heroes of war:

Ernest Hemmingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, Erich Maria Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front, Joseph Heller: Catch-22, Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace, Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth, Jaroslav Hasek: The Good Soldier Svejk, Harold Pinter: War.

Rick Rozoff not only keeps track of NATO’s war preparations but also posts a steady stream of excerpts from famous anti-war novels on his websitehttp://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/

http://catsnotwar.blogspot.com/

http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/

And many other anti-war bloggers and independent journalists which I cannot name here all are heroes of war.

Musicians, who write ant-war songs are heroes of war.

Brothers In Arms by Mark Knopfler.

One Tin Soldier (The Ballad of Billy Jack) by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter.

That inspiring anti-war songs like Masters of War, Blowing in the Wind, A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall, With God on Our Side, were composed by Israel supporter Robert Zimmermann (Bob Dylan), doesn’t make them worthless, but Dylan is not a hero.

I’m also not a hero, I’m just a humble blogger, but in the time when I worked as a musician I wrote a few anti-war song lyrics, two of them may fit here:

Brick Wall Song  MATO 03/01/2003

8000 young stuntmen
Will stumble more often
Approaching the brick wall
Which will be their last call
This wall has no bypass
And so they will die fast
As dreams turn to dust
And present to past

8000 young widows
Are tapping with their toes
The chorals sound nice
As they are sung twice
The brass band is playing
The preacher is praying
The church bells are ringing
Sweet angels are singing

The dues are all paid now
The memories fade now
The lawsuits are settled
The big fights are battled
A new generation
Will seek recreation
Give in to temptation
And fight for the nation

This is war, in a few words  MATO 10/09/2014

Frightened by the noise of loud explosions
Tortured by the weirdest of emotions
Inconceivable and grisly notions
It is war, the deadliest of commotions

Innervated by anticipation
Stimulated by morbid elation
Edging closer to annihilation
Marching right towards obliteration

Cheering bloodstained killers benediction
War and honor are no contradiction
Slaughtering was sometimes an addiction
Armageddon long ago a fiction

Violence and warriors adulation
Decimation means natures salvation
Justice will come by elimination
Peace achieved by mens eradication

Report from Damascus

Franklin Lamb  Intifada Palestine

Changes are underway in Damascus’s suburban neighborhoods. In some of these neighborhoods there are few families’ left — only fighters. But in others, residents are trickling back in (or in some cases never even left) despite the danger. Here in these areas, those who have chosen the armed opposition route fall are grouped roughly in the following percentiles: 70 percent FSA, 25 percent al-Nursa, and, as of now, relatively few, IS (Islamic State).

During meetings with young men from the Barzeh neighborhood, an area maybe five blocks by eight blocks, this observer learned of approximately 700 FSA fighters in the neighborhood, and 110 from al-Nusra, compared with only 7 or 8 IS fighters. The latter do not appear very active in community matters, but reportedly keep their eyes peeled watching what the other militia are up to. Even so, IS still recruits and sends applicants to other locations for military training, this while promising that within two months the Islamic State will attack central Damascus.

At the same time, desertions among the rebels are reportedly on the upswing in these areas, and some of the FSA and al-Nusra fighters are splitting off to join IS. It seems that some of these young militia members — pretty much like youngsters everywhere — simply want to play for a “winning team” or in the “big leagues,” and IS is still a strong magnet for “tryouts.” Al-Nusra and IS fighters both claim they are eager to fight Hezbollah — and Western forces — who they believe will show up sooner or later. And many of them exhibit an attitude similar to that of a European jihadist who recently remarked to this observer, “Let’s get it on. And the world will itself judge who are the best fighters, we who believe in Allah or the kuffers (disbelievers).”

Another disturbing attitude, all too frequently expressed in Damascene neighborhoods, is the desire of many of these young men, many of them from “good” families, to sacrifice themselves and become martyrs to their various causes. Residents report that some of the most promising students — majoring in subjects like medicine, law, engineering, computer science, business, and other professions — are disaffected and see no future for themselves. And while many are deeply religious, a surprising number appear not to be.

Overwhelmingly the rebels come from areas where outsiders are few. This observer’s friend of more than three years, whose name I withhold for his security, has lived most of his life in Barzeh and knows many of the militia guys. He reports that currently there are only two foreign fighters in Barzeh, one from Algeria and the other from Saudi Arabia. And he expressed shock to me that a friend of his from childhood — who joined al-Nusra 18 months ago and had since become one of its local leaders — had suddenly disappeared. A few days later, my friend got a “what’s up” message from Turkey and learned that his friend had shaved his beard, changed his style of clothing, and left Barzeh without telling anyone. Now he reports that he wears shorts and swims during the day on the Turkish coast and no longer has any desire to fight anyone.

Many among al-Nusra and other rebel groups, it seems, are trying to leave Syria and go somewhere, anywhere, that might offer them a positive future of some sort — because they see the war in Syria as being a long one. And in this respect they are no different from the war-weary, exhausted, traumatized Syrian population in general. With very few jobs and nearly ten million displaced from their homes — and with some 3 million living as refugees in neighboring countries — what one finds here on the one hand is a growing desire to get out, to establish, sadly, a new life elsewhere, in a land other than the one they most love. Yet on the other hand, significant numbers of fairly hard-core al-Nusra fighters, as noted above, are quitting that militia in order to join the winning team — IS. It is a combination of social factors pointing to what the Iranians have already made note of: that Obama’s strategy of trying to fight IS and the Syrian government at the same time is probably doomed to failure.

Some Syrian analysts, whose views this observer credits, identify two trends that appear to be developing in Syrian neighborhoods controlled by violent militia. One is the growing resistance by the local population to being intimidated and abused by the occupying gunmen — while another is the role the Syrian government is playing in engaging in dialog, usually privately, with the rebels, and offering what some locals here refer to as “contracts.” These are proposals of ceasefires of varying scope in order to help give some hope and help to the increasingly besieged population.

Also, neighborhood attitudes toward militia in areas around Damascus are dramatically changing. This observer was informed by fighters from Barzeh that as recently as 12-18 months ago, maybe 80 percent of the citizens supported the FSA, while some backed al-Nusra or other groups. Today militia support is estimated at less than 40 percent — and dwindling. Even those who still back the armed gangs are weaker in their support and no longer respect the militia or defer to them as before. Increasingly neighborhood residents are confronting the rebels on neighborhood streets via “citizen committees.” They are showing up at rebel checkpoints or headquarters to complain or demand respect and an end to arbitrary street “justice.” Reasons for this include abhorrence of brutality, exhaustion, disillusionment, as well as demonstrable efforts by the Syrian government to increase and maintain services while trying to make important and long overdue changes. Even many rebels are said to credit the government for its willingness to be flexible and to make “contracts” with them to improve the lives of the besieged population.

For example, when families return to their homes after having fled, nearly all find that their flats have been broken into and personal property stolen, and they sometimes discover some of their stolen items being sold in neighborhood “jihadist souks.” According to one resident of Barzeh, computers and plasma TV’s are among the most commonly stolen property. By contrast, “neighborhood watch” citizen groups seek the return of stolen goods and demand that the militias stop the thievery.

Also people are increasingly calling for a return to Syrian secularism, and they may actually be making some progress on this point. Unlike IS, al-Nursa does not insist that people attend a mosque for prayers — while the FSA is relatively secular. Al-Nusra does require that women wear hijabs in neighborhoods under its control, and the first two times a woman is caught without one she is issued a warning. The third time she risks a public whipping. This observer was told that many younger women, despite the risks, will remove their head scarves the moment they cross out of rebel-held areas, sometimes in plain view of those manning the checkpoints, leaving the neighborhood at this point, traveling to downtown Damascus for work or other purposes. It’s not dissimilar actually to what one finds among many Iranian women, particularly students at Tehran University, who openly admit, often with grins, to giving the local “morality police” a hard time when demands — for instance to adjust their headscarves so as to reduce the amount of hair visible — are made by roving “purists.”

As for the Free Syrian Army, now dubbed by some in the Obama Administration as the “National Coalition’s — kind of a National Guard” — it is viewed by many here as corrupt, manned to a large extent by lowlifes and thieves. The “Free Syrian Army,” as one pithy adage has it, is neither free, nor Syrian, nor an army. And at least in Barzeh, at any rate, it is also viewed as being for sale to the highest bidder. Moreover, the residents here, though increasingly vocal about jihadist militias, seem to hold actually more respect for al-Nusra, despite its Islamist extremism, than for the Western-backed FSA.

Late word just received by this observer from his friend, the aforementioned son of Barzeh: yesterday he, too, snuck across the Syrian-Turkey border in search of a new life — somewhere until peace returns to his beloved Syria.

The painful loss of an illusion

Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich

We loved America. I remember, we did. When we were teens, growing up in the early 90s; most of my friends the same age did not even question their attitude toward Western civilization. It was great, how could it be otherwise?

Unlike our grandfathers and even fathers, we did not mind that the USSR was falling apart, we did not view it as a disaster, as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.” For us it was the beginning of a long journey. Finally, we would break out beyond the Soviet shell into the big world — limitless and cool. Finally, we would overcome our sensory deprivation. We were born, maybe not in the right place, but certainly at the right time — or so we thought. It’s hard to believe now, but even the Orthodox Church coming out from under communist supervision was for us the same thing as the triumph of Western liberal values. The celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia and the first concert of the Scorpions in Moscow with their “Winds of Change” — was, for us, all part of the same thing.

The war in Iraq and even the breakup of Yugoslavia mostly escaped our attention, somehow. And it was not just that we were young and carefree. I, for example, was already trained in the international department of “Komsomolskaya Pravda.” I was monitoring the English Reuters feed that was full of Izetbegovic, Karadzic, and Mladic, but somehow did not take all these events seriously. It was somewhere far away, it was not in our area. And, of course, the war in the Balkans did not fit within any kind of anti-Western storyline for me. Croats killed Serbs, Bosnians killed Serbs, the Serbs killed both of those — why blame America?

In 1990 we voted for “Yabloko” democrats, went to the White House barricades on the side of democratic forces, watched the newborn CHANNEL and listened to the echo of Moscow radio. Our first journalistic articles always mentioned the “civilized world” and we firmly believed that it was really civilized. By the mid-1990s, the first Euro-skeptics started to appear in our ranks, but they were more in the category of devil’s advocates. I myself shared a dorm room with Pete the communist and Arseniy the monarchist. My friends from other rooms would see me off each evening with words of regret: “Bye, go back to your madhouse.”

The first serious blow to our pro-Western orientation in life was Kosovo. It was a shock; our rose-colored glasses were shattered into pieces. The bombing of Belgrade was, for my generation, what the 9/11 attacks were for Americans. My world views turned 180 degrees as did the plane of then Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was over the Atlantic Ocean on the way from Ireland to the United States when he learned about the start of the American aggression — and gave the command to return to Russia.

In those days there was no mass state propaganda. The smart liberal hosts on NTV kept explaining that dropping bombs on a large European city is a bit much, of course, but Milosevic is the greatest bastard in recent history, so he deserves it, no big deal. Their “Dolls” satirical show portrayed the events as a good quarrel in a communal apartment, where a drunken neighbor torments “Miss Kosovo” and no one in the house can help, except for her lover with a powerful torso and the face of Bill Clinton. We looked, but no longer believed. It was no longer funny. We already understood that Yugoslavia was a demonstration of what could happen to us in the relatively near future.

Second Iraq, Afghanistan, the final separation of Kosovo, “Arab Spring”, Libya, Syria — all of this was surprising, but no longer earth-shattering. Illusions were lost: It had become more or less clear to us what the West was about. But despite that, after all, we all live on the same planet… The myth of “evil America, kind Europe” was still around; fears induced by Kosovo gradually subsided. The compromise went something like this: Yes, to be best friends with these guys is impossible, but we do have to work together. After all, who else is there to work with?

The parade of “color revolutions” seemed to be petty mischief until the last. But EuroMaidan and the subsequent fierce civil war made it clear: “The democratic process” — devoid of any rules and procedures and launched in enemy territory — is not a geopolitical toy, but a real weapon of mass destruction. It is the only type of weapon, which can be used against a nuclear-armed state. Everything is very simple: When you push the button and send a nuclear missile across the ocean, you’ll certainly get an identical one in return. But when you launch a chain reaction of chaos in enemy territory, you are not to blame. Aggression? What aggression?! This is a natural democratic process! This is the eternal desire of people for freedom!

We see the blood and war crimes, the bodies of women and children, an entire country sliding back into the 1940s — and the Western world, which we loved so much, assures us that none of this is happening. The culture which brought us Jim Morrison, Mark Knopfler, and the Beatles, does not see it. The descendants of Woodstock, and the participants themselves; the aged hippies who sang, “All you need is love” so many times, do not see it. Even the thoughtful Germans of the post-war generation of baby boomers, who tried so hard to do penance for the sins of their fathers, do not see it.

It was a shock stronger than Kosovo. For me and for many thousands of middle-aged Russians, who came into the world with the American dream in our heads, the myth of the “civilized world” collapsed completely. The horror is deafening. There is no more “civilized world.” And it’s not just the shattering of youthful ideals, but a very serious danger. Mankind has lost its values, turned into a mob of predators, and a huge war is simply a question of time.

Twenty years ago, we were not defeated. We surrendered. We did not lose militarily, but culturally. We really just wanted to be like them. Rock-n-roll did more than all the nuclear warheads. Hollywood was stronger than the threats and ultimatums. The roar of Harley-Davidsons during the Cold War was louder than the roar of jet fighters and bombers.

America, you are such a fool! All you had to do was wait twenty years — and we would have been forever yours. Twenty years of consumerism — and our politicians themselves would have handed over our nuclear weapons; even shaking your hands in gratitude for taking them away. What a blessing that you turned out to be such a fool, America!

You do not even know us! We shouted these words, among others, toward the Kremlin just two years ago. Since then, thanks to you, America, the number of those who want to go out into squares has fallen dramatically. You talk nonsense about us, think nonsense about us; and as a result, make mistake after mistake. You were a cool country once, America. Your moral superiority rose over Europe after WWI and was reinforced after WWII.

Yes, you had Hiroshima, Vietnam, KKK and a closet full of other skeletons, like any empire. But for a time all that crap did not reach the critical mass that turns wine into vinegar. You showed the world how to live for the sake of creativity and artistic freedom. You made places into economic wonderlands: Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. But you’ve changed a lot since then. It’s been a while since you wrote any songs sung round the world. You’ve squandered your main asset — moral superiority. And that asset has one very nasty property: It can not be restored.

You are starting to slowly die, America. And if you think I’m gloating — you’re wrong. A great change of epochs is always accompanied by a lot of blood, and I do not like blood. We, the people who have been through the sunset of our empire, could even explain what you are doing wrong. But we will not. Guess for yourself.

The bombing of Syria has begun

The USA has launched airstrikes against targets in Syria with the help of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan. 14 strikes have been confirmed by the Pentagon but the operation is ongoing and news sources speak of 40 to 60 strikes.

Tomahawk cruise missiles (launched from a US Navy ship in the Red Sea), fighter jets, and bomber aircrafts were used, including armed Predator and Reaper drones, B-1 bombers, and stealth F-22 Raptors.

The air strikes targeted buildings, weapons depots, and checkpoints of IS (Islamic State) in and around Raqqa. IS had evacuated buildings, redeployed its heavy weaponry, and moved fighters’ families out of the city in appreciation of the strikes.

Near Idlib in the northwest of Syria, installations of Khorasan were hit by at least 8 missiles or bombs. Khorasan is described as a network of seasoned al-Qaida veterans and has its origins in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There are unconfirmed reports that Jabhat al-Nusra was also targeted.

About enemies of enemies

The Syrian government was willing to cooperate in coordinating strikes on IS, but US officials rejected any possibility of such cooperation. Syria warned, that strikes on Syrian soil without Damascus’ consent will be considered an act of aggression.

Syria’s air defenses are formidable, but they are mostly configured on Syria’s western coast, far from the areas targeted by the US air force. Until now there is no indication that US and allied planes were under attack from Syrian air defense. US President Obama has stressed repeatedly, that an attack against US airplanes would be a “casus belli.”

The bombing of Syria comes without explicit congressional authorization, Obama has asserted that the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force against al-Qaida provides him with sufficient legal authority.

The Syrian foreign ministry told, that the US informed its UN envoy before launching the strikes (the USA denied that). Minister Walid al-Moallem said, that he has received a letter from US Secretary of State John Kerry via the Iraqi Foreign Minister about the attacks.

This is of course not the same as asking for permission and planning a joint operation. The air raids in Syria are a breach of international law and a blatant act of aggression. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged the USA to respect Syria’s sovereignty, and stated “the necessity to strictly comply with the United Nations statute, norms of international law and unconditional respect of Syrian sovereignty.”

Russian President Putin spoke with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. saying that air strikes on IS bases inside Syria “should not be carried out without the agreement of the government of Syria.”

The USA has repeatedly rejected offers from Iran and Syria to cooperate in the fight against IS.

An ingenious plan

This is how the USA plans to sneak back in and revive last year’s failed plan for a bombing campaign that only Vladimir Putin’s intervention could avert. 12 months after failing to secure another WMD narrative laying blame on the Syrian government for a heinous gas attack, which bore all the hallmarks of Islamic terrorism, the US military machine has done the impossible and found a new backdoor into Syria.

Obama stated: “I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria as well as Iraq.”

Yet the USA was never threatened by IS (or ISIL), it just took the chance to weaken Iraq and start bombing Syria. The fragmentation of Syria and the unclear front lines make it inevitable that US airplanes will fly over territory that is under control of the Syrian government and that these airplanes will come near to positions of the SAA (Syrian Arab army).

It will be very tempting for US pilots to bomb these positions. The US will also for sure not miss the opportunity to test Syria’s air defense systems and generate extensive target lists, eventually using the cover of the IS campaign to hit key Syrian military targets.

The deception will most likely be carried out under a complete media blackout, with no mainstream media channels reporting “wrong targets” or “mistakes.” Attacks against Syrian positions will not exist for the Western public, and only the Syrian and Lebanese news agencies will report the incidents.

There have been almost 200 US air strikes in Iraq since August 7. Iraq’s Hezbollah Battalions complain that US warplanes have intentionally bombarded the positions of the Iraqi army and of Shiite volunteer forces in the Northern Babil province on the pretext of targeting IS strongholds.

“The intentional bombing of armed forces and popular forces shows wicked intentions of the US and the international cover-up of this attempt on the pretext of fighting ISIL,” a speaker from Iraq’s Hezbollah Battalions told the Arabic-language Al-Moslah news website.

“Had the United States been honest in its claims, it would have targeted the ISIL positions in Jorf Al-Sakhar, Fallujah, and other regions identified by us instead of striking the Army and popular forces in Al-Awisat in Northern Babil last Wednesday,” the speaker said.

It could have been easy (and honest)

If the real objective was to eliminate IS, Washington would sit down with both Syria and Iraq to form a joint strategy for destroying the Islamic terror brigades. IS could be wiped out in a few weeks by a combined effort, but it will not happen because the USA is playing a wicket game. The US administration is in reality not committed to demolish IS, but only interested in regime change in Syria.

Obama stated: “In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its people; a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. Instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once and for all.”

How is arming and training rebels in a foreign country and fueling a civil war equivalent with pursuing a political solution?

Short attention span and failing memory (Publics Alzheimer’s)

In 2011 the preposterous claims of air raids against peaceful demonstrators and mass rapes by viagra enhanced Libyan soldiers led to UN Security Council resolution 1973, authorizing a no-fly zone. But the no-fly zone was instantly used as the pretext to launch a devastating bombing campaign, which killed 40,000 Libyans, destroyed crucial infrastructure, and contaminated many areas with Depleted Uranium ammunition.

Of course, Libya is now a beacon of democracy, stability, and peace, so the 40,000 Libyans didn’t die in vain.

The 600,000 Iraqis didn’t die in vain either, because life in Iraq, especially for women, has so much improved since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The 200,000 Syrians will also not have died in vain….

IS is a creation of the West. This was pointed out in earlier blog posts.
http://mato48.com/2014/08/25/is-the-trojan-horse-of-us-intervention/
http://mato48.com/2014/08/04/is-the-pinnacle-of-us-middle-east-strategy/

IS has links with Mossad, CIA, Saudi intelligence, and is supported by Turkey, Israel, USA, and the Gulf monarchies. 

This is not a fringe conspiracy theory, Bahaa al-Araji, Iraqi deputy prime minister, said that in a speech at a demonstration in Bagdad, and most of the thousands of participants in this demonstration agreed.

IS serves as a lure for violent criminals and psychopaths from around the world, drawing them together in one area. The leadership of IS can gather information from these recruits about their associates or organizations in various countries. Effectively, after doing any dirty work assigned to them, the recruits are being set up to be killed, either by US air strikes or by the opponents they face in their deployments. Few in IS know who the undercover agents are and who the fools are (the fools who’s destiny is to be used up and finally be trashed like toilet paper).

This amounts to a giant-scale police entrapment scheme (as it is so popular at the FBI) with the ultimate goal of toppling Bashar al-Assad while disposing at the same time a collection of unwanted people.

Very sophisticated!

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new Caliph, was imprisoned in US camp Bucca and thought to have been killed several times. In various stages of this life an impersonator could have been easily inserted. Al-Baghdadi is described as enigmatic and elusive, he is said to wear a mask or a veil most times and only a few chosen leaders of his inner circle are allowed to meet him face to face. According to some sources, al-Baghdadi is actually a former Jewish actor named Elliot Shimon, who was trained by Mossad.

SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities Intelligence Group), provided consulting services to the FBI and received financial support from the US government. Mercenary contractor Blackwater hailed SITE as “an invaluable resource.”

According to its website, SITE “constantly monitors the Internet and traditional media for material and propaganda released by jihadist groups and their supporters.” SITE is the intermediary between Al-Qaeda’s supposed media arm, As-Sahab, and mainstream media. Also most IS videos, including the ones showing the beheadings of US hostages, were distributed by SITE.

SITE has in fact become the public relations arm of IS.

A coalition against or for IS?

The mysterious reappearance of 49 (so called) “hostages” from the Turkish consulate in Mosul are the latest indicator of the barely covered special relation of Turkey with IS. The “hostages” were moved on the night of Sept. 19 to 20 from Mosul to Raqqa and from there to Turkey’s Akcakale crossing, where Turkish officials took care of them.

Western media cited experts who estimate that IS earns between one and two million US$ a day from oil smuggling via Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq’s Kurdistan region. EU Ambassador to Iraq Jana Hybas-kova confirmed that European countries have purchased crude oil from IS (the EU voted to ease an oil embargo on Syria to allow oil to be sold on international markets from the IS controlled oil fields).

IS has laid pipes from villages near the Turkish border at Hatay. Similar pipes exist also at the Turkish border regions of Kilis, Urfa, and Gaziantep.

Authorities in the Kurdish region of Iraq are also turning a blind eye to IS oil smuggling. When IS began selling oil from the northern province of Salahuddin, the Kurdish peshmerga forces stopped the tankers first, but later allowed tankers to pass. This oil is refined in the Iraqi Kurdish region before being pumped through a new pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey, where it is loaded on tankers and shipped to Israel or the USA.

Fighters from Europe, Russia, Asian countries and Chechnya are traveling in large numbers both to Syria and Iraq, crossing Turkish territory. At least 1,000 Turkish nationals are helping the foreign fighters sneak into Syria and Iraq to join IS. MIT (Turkeys National Intelligence Organization) is  involved. None of this can happen without MIT’s knowledge.

The Birgun newspaper published pictures of a hospital in Antep, near the Syrian border, claiming that at least 700 IS fighter have been treated there. IS commanders Abu al-Waleed al-Libi and Muhammet Ali R., and  IS fighter Ammar Alo were treated at Mehmet Akif İnan State Hospital.

Turkeys exports to IS controlled Syrian areas increased by 57 percent from 574 million US$ to 903 million US$ in the first half of the year. The Syrian town of Azez, opposite Turkey’s Kilis, fell into the hands of Islamic militants in September 2013. Turkey’s exports through this crossing increased by 79 percent since then. Turkish exports to IS include vehicles and spare parts, clothing, durable foodstuffs, electronic items such as cell phones and chemical products.

Looting of historical artifacts has become IS’s main source of revenue. The militants oversee the excavation sites and impose a 20 percent tax on the traffickers who send the excavated objects via Turkey to Western markets. Archaeological sites like the ancient city of Apamea in Syria, which figures on the World Heritage List, have been ravaged and resemble molehills. The antiquity trafficking IS controls is estimated to be worth one billion US$. Main centers for the illicit trade are Urfa and Kilis on the Turkish/Syrian border.

When Iraqi troops stormed the university in Tikrit, they found IS weapons depots originating from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Special training for IS and associates

The USA plans to train a new force of Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon estimates that it will take eight months for the first units to be ready. Congress agreed to provide 500 million US$ for this operation, which aims to build an army of 5,000 fighters.

The US government keeps track of rebels receiving assistance either through “handwritten receipts provided by rebel commanders in the field,” or through the reports of its allies. US and NATO guns and equipment have moved from FSA hands to IS hands, and US special forces have knowingly or unknowingly trained and armed future IS terrorists in Jordan. 

Since 2011 CIA operatives along with Israeli, Jordanian, British, and French instructors train FSA rebels on the Jordanian-Syrian border with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. The FSA rebels receiving this elite training most times go straight to IS. IS commander Abu Yusaf confirmed: “Many of the FSA people who the West has trained are actually joining us.” Pentagon officials estimate that more than 50 percent of the FSA is comprised of Islamic extremists.

All this will not change with the new efforts of establishing another rebel army.

Despite sometimes at odds on the Syrian battlefields, the FSA, Jabhat al-Nusra, and IS have entered a tenuous allegiance of convenience to fight Assad-aligned forces in the badlands surrounding Arsal (at the Syria-Lebanon border)/

“We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in … Qalamoun,” said Bassel Idriss, the commander of an FSA-aligned rebel brigade. “We have reached a point where we have to collaborate with anyone against unfairness and injustice,” confirmed Abu Khaled, another FSA commander who lives in Arsal.”