The US of A(rms)

The United States dominates the global arms trade in a historic fashion and nowhere is that domination more complete than in the Middle East | WILLIAM D. HARTUNG

Infrastructure of US bases in the Middle East | David Vine

The United States has the dubious distinction of being the world’s leading arms dealer. It dominates the global trade in a historic fashion and nowhere is that domination more complete than in the endlessly war-torn Middle East. There, believe it or not, the U.S. controls nearly half the arms market. From Yemen to Libya to Egypt, sales by this country and its allies are playing a significant role in fuelling some of the world’s most devastating conflicts. But Donald Trump, even before he was felled by Covid-19 and sent to Walter Reed Medical Center, could not have cared less, as long as he thought such trafficking in the tools of death and destruction would help his political prospects.

The ominous jihadis war: From Tripoli to Tripoli

GHASSAN KADI on a potentially huge situation brewing in Libya that barely makes the news

The ‘War on Syria’ is far from being over, and it will continue until all foreign forces illegally present on Syrian soil retreat; either willingly, or defeated.

And even though the American presence in Syria has no clear and realistic political purpose other than wreaking havoc and making it hard for Russia to help reach a decisive victory, in a twist of fate, the focus of the Russo-American conflict in the region may soon move away from Syria.

Netflix’s Mossad propaganda

Hailed in the Globe and Mail for “startling work” by an actor! Pushing back against the distortions and fabrications in “The Spy,” a new series based on the supposedly true story of Israeli spy Eli Cohen and his exploits in Syria. Cohen was a failed spy who was not able to secure access to the government or the military of Syria but who sent Syrian newspapers to Israel and ran what appeared to be a brothel in Damascus | As`ad AbuKhalil

Netflix “The Spy” trailer – hardly credible.

For too long, Israeli propaganda has gotten away with tall tales about the story of failed spy Eli Cohen. 

Cohen was inserted into Syria in 1961 (under a false name) and was discovered and hanged by Syrian military intelligence in 1965.  In another context, this story would have been deemed a disaster for the intelligence agency which recruited this spy. Instead, Israel has managed to spin and fabricate a large volume of lies about Cohen’s ostensible exploits.

The Nazi who became an Israeli assassin (II)

Otto Skorzeny, SS-Obersturmbannführer– a leading fascist and intelligence chief given impunity by NATO

Skorzeny, the “liberator” of Benito Mussolini, saluting at a mass Nazi rally in Berlin, Germany, 3 October 1943 | Irish Mirror

Commentary on The Nazi who became an Israeli assassin (I) by Tony Seed

The Zionist article “The Nazi who became an Israeli assassin (I)” is one more article gleefully justifying assassinations – a state policy of Israel euphemistically called “extrajudicial execution” and a crime against humanity – and celebrating the fabled Mossad. Notice the humanitarian considerations and moral angst around the decision to recruit the known Nazi war criminal Otto Skorzeny. What they do not mention is why Simon Wiesenthal listed him as a war criminal and refused Israel’s requests to delist him. Inflating the once-vaunted role of Israeli intelligence, the Haaretz article represents his activity in Egypt, which they deem admirable, as being exclusively on behalf of the Mossad and conceals the known CIA links of both the Mossad and Skorzeny. The author’s accusations that Egypt was “planning a new Holocaust” are completely unsubstantiated and typical Zionist slander against the Arabic peoples to rationalize a war crime.

Nevertheless, the author’s rendition does reveal an organized conspiracy at the highest level of the Israeli state; Skorzeny was brought to Israel and met the head of the Mossad, Isser Harel. The commission of assassinations is not denied but is particularly emphasized. The only thing that remains incomprehensible is the reasoning which does not recognise as criminal assassinations and the reasons not to declare the Mossad organisation criminal. Such articles blinker the war in the Middle East, emphasizing operations and tactics over grand strategy, occupation of Historic Palestine and politics, and the pragmatism of the Israeli Zionists over principles, morality and international law.

The Nazi who became an Israeli assassin (I)

Otto Skorzeny, one of the Mossad’s most valuable assets, was a former lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s favourites. In 2016 The Forward and Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman presented a peculiar Zionist rendition celebrating assassinations in Haaretz.

The Nazi who became an Israeli assassin (I) – a commentary by Tony Seed.

Skorzeny, the “liberator” of Benito Mussolini, saluting at a mass Nazi rally in Berlin, Germany, 3 October 1943 | Irish Mirror

(March 27, 2016) – On September 11, 1962, a German scientist vanished. The basic facts were simple: Heinz Krug had been at his office, and he never came home.

The only other salient detail known to police in Munich was that Krug commuted to Cairo frequently. He was one of dozens of Nazi rocket experts who had been hired by Egypt to develop advanced weapons for that country.

HaBoker, a now defunct Israeli newspaper, surprisingly claimed to have the explanation: The Egyptians kidnapped Krug to prevent him from doing business with Israel.

But that somewhat clumsy leak was an attempt by Israel to divert investigators from digging too deeply into the case — not that they ever would have found the 49-year-old scientist.

A Balfour curse

Demonstration in Damascus, Syria against Balfour’s visit to the region in 1925.

Balfour. The name is synonymous with the declaration that helped create the state of Israel and with it the untold agony and suffering of a people who to this day – more than 50 years on – have yet to recover from one of history’s worst political and moral injustices. On a journey by ship and train in 1925 to Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Balfour was met by protests and demonstrations which shook streets and capitals. From the pages of the Egyptian periodical Al-Ahram, Dr Yunan Labib Rizk* takes an in-depth look at the man and a trip that made headlines.

Week five of Russia’s intervention in Syria: The Russians dig in

(November 8) – Whether this tragedy was directly linked to the war in Syria or not, there is no doubt that the downing of Kogalymavia Flight 9268 was the main event of the past week. Since I have covered this issue elsewhere, I shall not return to it in detail again here.

Syrian foreign minister: our diplomatic priorities are to ensure resilience, secure more arms, and defend sovereignty

For your information, we are publishing an interview with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem from Lebanon’s esteemed al-Akhbar newspaper, which was published on Thursday. He reveals among other things that Damascus has asked Moscow to accelerate the delivery process of S-300 PMU-2 surface-to-air, anti-aircraft missiles, which would have significantly improved Syria’s integrated air defence network, citing concerns over a possible US offensive. Jane’s reported in August that the contract was being scrapped by Russia.

Many of the parties to the so-called anti-ISIL coalition from Canada to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have been among the major supporters of the US-NATO war employing terrorists to topple the Syrian government since 2011. They are now carrying out air strikes inside Syria, including against important Syrian energy infrastructure. Mr Muallem refutes the disinformation in the Western media of Syrian collaboration with this US coalition and affirms a sovereign policy and tactical approach.

Khaled Meshaal’s interview about Israel’s war on Gaza

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during an interview in Doha, Nov. 29, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)

We reproduce Khaled Meshaal’s exclusive interview with Prof. Adnan Abu Amer of Al-Monitor. Meshaal is head of the Hamas Political Bureau and he explains Hamas’ position vis-à-vis the current Israeli onslaught on Gaza and his organization’s position about the ceasefire and the broader situation. “Any initiative that doesn’t stop the aggression and end the siege on Gaza would not be acceptable to our people. That’s why the Egyptian initiative was rejected.”

War crimes in the name of self-defence; unsustainable Israeli position

Mass demonstration on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, on July 12, 2014

TML Weekly Information Project* (July 19) –  The Zionist state of Israel has started a ground invasion of occupied Palestinian territory with as many as 60,000 troops amassed at the Gaza border. This ground invasion is taking place in a desperate attempt to smash Palestinian resistance after their failure to smash it through a brutal two-week long campaign of daily aerial bombings, destruction of homes and mosques, a centre for the disabled and other civilian infrastructure, including water treatment facilities leaving many with no potable water. By the time the ground invasion started, more than 240 people had been killed and more than 1,700 injured, many of them women and children and, according to the United Nations, 80 per cent of them civilians.

Ceasefire scam

[Pepe Escobar] Western corporate media is hysterically peddling a ceasefire in Gaza proposed by Egypt. I have definitely confirmed the text was concocted by Phantom of the Opera Tony Blair, former (failed) Quartet Middle East envoy, and then shown to Sisi and co. NO Palestinian – not to mention anyone from Hamas – was consulted; no wonder they rejected it. The fact that Israelis instantly accepted it spells out everything one needs to know about the scam. 

The Suez Crisis of 1956: Canada the peacemaker – A myth

“CANADA THE PEACEMAKER” is a myth fostered and nurtured by the Canadian government, bourgeois politicians, the mass media, educational institutions, and international agencies in order to camouflage Canada’s participation and assistance in imperialist aggression, intervention and subversion and its participation in the imperialist war preparations of the two superpowers. The myth mainly originates from the glorification of the reactionary activities of the former Canadian Minister for External Affairs, Lester Pearson, during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Pearson is credited with bringing about the cessation of hostilities between Israel, France and Britain, on the one hand, and Egypt, on the other hand, through the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), which he proposed to the United Nations General Assembly on November 4, 1956. Consequently, he was awarded the Nobel. Peace Prize in 1957 – the first Canadian to win such an award – and was elected Prime Minister of Canada.