This Day. Khaled al-Asaad

A martyr of modern science. Five years ago – on August 18th, 2015 – a prominent Arabic scientist, archeologist and researcher Khaled al-Asaad was executed by ISIS at the age of 83 years. Most of his life he devoted to researches of the ancient city of Palmyra (Syria). Due to his efforts, Palmyra became a UNESCO world heritage site. He also researched numbers of texts in the Aramaic language, translating them. He published 20 scientific works, mostly about results of archeological excavations and researches in Palmyra. For 40 years (1963-2003), he was the principal custodian of the Palmyra site. In 2003 he retired but continued to work there, publishing new researches. In 2015, prior to the capture of Palmyra by ISIS, the elderly scientist organized evacuation of the Palmyra museum, archeological artifacts and its antiquities. However, he himself was captured by ISIS. After weeks of tortures he didn’t reveal the location, where the evacuated antiquities were hidden. On August 18th, he was beheaded publicly on a square, being accused of participation in conferences with ‘infidels’.

– Dmytriy Kovalevich

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.

Germany: A permanent base in the Middle East

german-foreign-policy.com

BERLIN/BAGHDAD/AL AZRAQ (September 18) – Berlin is considering the establishment of a permanent Bundeswehr base in the Middle East, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said during her recent visits to Jordan and Iraq. German Armed Forces could be stationed at Jordan’s Al Azraq Airbase for an extended period in relative proximity to Iraq – similar to the US Persian Gulf bases.

Cold War provocations to justify aggression

Drum beats of war against Russia

Many commentators have torn to shreds the assertions of the British government that Sergei Skripal[1] and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by a nerve agent called Novichok, and that the Russian government was directly involved | WORKERS’ WEEKLY*

Trump’s task is to reverse the ‘roll out’ of Iran by challenging the JCPOA

By MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA 

Washington’s plan for regime change in Damascus has failed. Albeit it has not gone the way that the US and Israel have desired, it can be said using the geopolitical language of Israeli and US planners and strategists that Syria has been “rolled back.” This does not mean Syria will stay in this “rolled-back” state statically.

In Iraq, the federal government has come out victorious and pushed back the so-called “Islamic State” and demands have started for a withdrawal of US forces. In the Levant, the Palestinians have managed to form a national unity government that will change the equation of talks between the Palestinians and Israel whereas Hezbollah and its political partners in Lebanon are stronger than ever. While in Yemen, the Houthis or Ansarallah have been able to repel the Saudis.

The US and its allies are the ones in the bigger geopolitical picture that are being “rolled back” steadily. In this context, Washington is now turning to the strategic depth of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, the Houthi, and the Palestinians. That strategic depth is the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Turkish-ISIL oil trade: The role of Britain, Israel and the Kurdistan Regional Government (III)

Turkish officials were involved in illegal transport of oil from Iraq long before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS/IS/DAESH). Their illegal trade expanded to the Syrian Arab Republic with the intensification of the conflict in Syria. Turkey, however, is not the only player involved in the illegal oil trade in Syria and Iraq. The operations of the Anglo-Turkish company Genel Energy PLC, which works in Iraqi Kurdistan and Malta, illustrates the constellation of financial and energy sector interests involved | MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA

New US ambassador to Lebanon: I came to paralyze Hezbollah

By SABAH AYYOUB (Al-Akhbar Newspaper)

This Hezbollah soldier says that she paralyzed them indeed with laughter.

Elizabeth Richard, 65, seems interested to operate in Lebanon, where she commenced her missions last week. And she, according to the video introducing her at the US embassy, is “interested to get introduced to Lebanon’s natural and cultural heritage (in the video’s background, there are scenes showing the cedars, the Bay Rock and women stuffing vine leaves, edited in a bad and unrefined manner.)

The Middle East energy war heats up: Israeli-Turkish normalization, Turkey’s military base in Qatar

By MAHDI DARIOUS NAZEMROAYA*

This article was originally published by the Strategic Culture Foundation on December 30, 2015.

After shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M tactical bomber jet operating in Syrian airspace, in early December 2015 the Turkish government sent a heavily armed battalion to the Zilkan military base in Iraq. This move ignited tensions between Ankara and the Iraqi federal government, which renounced it as an act of Turkish aggression.

Within the contours of a resource and energy war, the Turkish military deployment was a move by the Turkish government to secure its illegal oil trade with the so-called Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS/IS/DAESH).

Turkish military base in the Persian Gulf

Weeks after the Turkish military deployment to Zilkan, the Russian military’s General Staff reported that it had tracked 11,755 oil tankers and trucks around the town of Zakho on both sides of the Iraqi-Turkish border on December 25, 2015. Despite the claims by the Kurdistan Regional Government that the oil tankers and trucks were the result of a long lineup created by the closure of the Iraqi-Turkish border due to Ankara’s military operations against the Kurds in southeast Turkey, the oil tankers and trucks were understood to be part of a re-channeled smuggling route for Syrian oil stolen by the ISIL.

The Turkish government has taken several steps to redirect its energy ties away from Russia and Iran. It is precisely in the context of securing energy reserves that Ahmet Demirok, the Turkish ambassador to Qatar, announced Ankara’s plans to open a military base in Qatar in the Persian Gulf region on December 16, 2015. In an interview with Reuters Ambassador Demirok said that the Turkish base was being set up in accordance with the security agreement signed between Ankara and Doha in 2014 and that the military base would help both Turkey and Qatar jointly “confront common threats” from certain countries, which Demirok declined to name.

The unnamed countries that Ambassador Demirok was implying could be none other than the duet of Iran and Russia. Moreover, Turkey’s announcement about the establishment of a Turkish military base in Qatar coincided with an announcement on the following day, December 17, by Salem Mubarak Al-Shafi, the Qatari ambassador to Turkey, that Doha was prepared to provide as much liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Turkey as it needed.

Israel and Turkey come together: Eastern Mediterranean natural gas

A day after Qatar’s Ambassador Salem Mubarak Al-Shafi announced that Doha would provide Turkey with as much LNG as it needed, on December 18, it was announced that Israel and Turkey had signed a framework agreement to export Israeli natural gas to Turkey. Although Turkish tensions with Russia, Iran, and Iraq could have hastened the natural gas deal between Ankara and Tel Aviv, the Israeli-Turkish framework agreement for energy trade had been quietly negotiated over for several months by the Israeli and Turkish government.

Analysts and journalists presented the natural gas agreement between Israel and Turkey as a part of a Turkish move to normalize its diplomatic and military ties with Israel as a means of counter-balancing Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and their regional partners. These views and claims, however, overlook the fact there have been clear signs that Israel and Turkey have maintained their cooperation, if not close allied relationship, in the economic and military sectors. Both the Turkish and Israeli militaries have even had synchronized movements and operations on the Syrian border.

While Israel has been re-exporting the smuggled oil that Turkey has been exporting from Syria and Iraq, Tel Aviv has tried to legitimize its appropriation of the Palestinian natural gas reserves off the cost of the Gaza Strip. In parallel, Tel Aviv has exerted its full influence to gain control of the Egyptian natural gas reserves north of the Nile Delta. This is while Israel has tried to lay claim to Lebanese maritime territory holding large deposits of natural gas and courted Cyprus for control of its Mediterranean natural gas reserves.

Contours of a broader energy war emerge

The agreements with Israel and Qatar are a part of a broader energy trade nexus that falls within the contours of an energy war predating recent Russo-Turkish tensions. In fact, both Ambassador Al-Shafi and Ambassador Demirok were only repeating information about deals that were reached between Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani during Erdogan’s visit to Qatar at the time of the Russian military’s press conference announcing his involvement in the ISIL’s oil smuggling. Furthermore, the spatial configuration of the Israeli, Turkish, and Qatar reflected the dimensions of the energy war taking place in the Middle East.

Turkey has done almost everything possible to stop an Iran-Iraq-Syria energy corridor bypassing Turkey from being created. The Turkish military deployment to the Mosul District in Iraq and the creation of a Turkish military base in Qatar are tied to the joint goals of Turkey and Qatar for creating a rival energy corridor running through Turkey to Europe from the Persian Gulf and Iraq. The public demands that Israel give Turkey “unrestricted” access to the Gaza Strip could also be tied to the Palestinian natural gas reserves off of Gaza’s coast.

Furthermore, for years both Israel and Turkey have worked to establish a Levantine energy corridor where Eastern Mediterranean natural gas would be mainly exported northwards towards Turkey and the European Union while oil would be mainly exported southwards towards Israel. The materialization of this corridor has been obstructed mainly by Syria. This is one of the reasons that the Turkish government has pushed for regime change in Damascus.

While there are claims that Turkey is acting independently of the US government, it is highly improbable that no coordination has taken place in regards to the joint US and Turkish objective of regime change in Damascus. The re-direction of Turkish energy trade falls in line with the US objective to cripple the Russian energy sector by obstructing energy trade between the Russian Federation and other international actors.

This article was originally posted by the Strategic Culture Foundation on December 30, 2015.

Copyright © Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Strategic Culture Foundation, 2016

 

Inside the Syrian air base that held out against ISIS for two years

The relief of Isis-besieged Kuweires air base last year after an astonishing two-year hold-out was a major symbolic blow against Isis in Syria. ROBERT FISK, the first Western journalist to visit the site, finds tales both of death and defiance 

Remains of dead ISIS fighters lie beside the wreckage of their suicide tank after they tried to crash through the wall of the Koyeress airbase                

(July 4) – The remains of the Isis fighters still lie on the desert floor outside the sand ramparts of the Kuweires air base in northern Syria. A skull, sockets staring at the sun; bones protruding from a military boot; and rotted torsos beneath a grey tarpaulin lie beside the colossal, burnt-out suicide tank they tried to drive through the earthen wall.

The Daesh Chronicles: The ‘we-told-you-so’ story

By GHASSAN KADI*

When the so-called “Arab Spring” took off, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, made a televised speech to Libyans warning them, and the world, of what would happen should the central government in Tripoli fall apart.

The Daesh Chronicles: The definition challenge

The war against ISIS | GHASSAN KADI* argues against self-serving dogma substituting as analysis, and for the renovation of Islam

Islam, real Islam, is a religion of piety, wisdom and peace, and Muslims, real Muslims are not terrorists. Even though all terrorists that have been caught involved in terrorism are “Muslims”, this does not give a blanket description of all Muslims as beings terrorists.

More on Canada’s participation in US-led war coalition

On April 1 in Washington, DC following his participation in a U.S. Nuclear Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada will be “investing” in the “Global Coalition Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).” The “Coalition,” which includes Canada is thus far an informal group of countries carrying out military actions in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere under the leadership of the U.S.[1]

Thousands of Germans protest against arms exports, military mission in Middle East

Turnout doubles for the Easter pacifist marches, whose numbers had been decreasing since the end of the Cold War | Juventud Rebelde

FRANKFORT (March 29)  — Nearly 20,000 people participated in the traditional Easter pacifist marches in Germany to demand an end to arms exports and military missions, which are mentioned as the cause of the massive flows of refugees in the world.

Ceasefire in Syria: A who’s who of the terrorist factions

As of February 27 a cessation of hostilities began in Syria. The agreement applies to the parties to the Syrian conflict that indicate their commitment to and acceptance of its terms. It does not however apply to “Daesh,” “Jabhat al-Nusra,” or “other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council,” which is part of the reason it is referred to as a cessation of hostilities rather than a ceasefire. The terms were submitted to the UN Security Council for approval by Russia and the U.S. in their capacity as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG).

Raqqa residents openly demonstrate support for Syrian army against ISIS

(March 6 ) – A large number of civilians rushed to Raqqa streets, the so-called capital of Islamic State, where they held a massive demonstration in support of the Syrian Armed Forces for their victories against the terrorist groups around the country, specially in the Eastern and Northeastern territories.

Syria: Robert Fisk reports from the front lines

A poster in Nubl featuring Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad and the Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah (Nelofer Pazira)

The following reports from the front lines of the war against Syria appeared online at the end of last month. Written by the veteran English journalist and author ROBERT FISK of the London Independent, they stand out from the media chorus orchestrating the disinformation of Obama and the Trudeau Liberals, who are claiming to support a “moderate opposition” in a “civil war” to justify their own intervention and warmongering against the Syrian Arab Republic and its allies. They are hysterically blaming the Syrian and Russian forces for “besieging” Aleppo, the economic and industrial heartland of Syria, and other Syrian cities and towns forcibly held hostage by terrorist forces cobbled together primarily by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan, instigated by the secret services of the United States, France, Britain, Qatar and others, including Canada. The Molotov cocktail of terrorist gangs is their creation. Under the cover of  “talks” and humanitarian gestures, they are frenziedly escalating the delivery of arms, deploying new forces for “training” and reorganizing their broken proxy forces.

Canadians are denied essential information about the real nature of this five-year-old conflict, which has caused so many lives. The number of Canadian journalists who have actually visited Syria during this period can be counted on one hand. I know of but five, three of whom are independent including this writer, and who travelled on the basis of their own resources. As a result, Canadians do not even know what they do not know.

This weblog is circulating the reports of Robert Fisk as part of our ongoing series of information updates to assist our readers as well as the anti-war forces to maintain their orientation against the massive disinformation coming from the monopoly media, including the CBC and CTV. In contrast, although Fisk refers to an elected secular government as “regime” and replicates some of the sectarian viewpoints characterizing the conflict as religious in nature, he brings out some features of the real forces in combat and portrays a “human face” and the resistance of the valiant people of Syria, their soldiers and allies against a barbarous aggression that as caused enormous tragedy.

The use of force to solve political issues and justify foreign intervention is unjustifiable. We reiterate our categorical opposition to a U.S. attack against Syria, or by any other country. Collusion by Canada under the pretext of “democracy,” “peacekeeping” and “saving refugees” is unacceptable and cannot be conciliated with. – TS (Note: Some photos have been added.)

The ‘untold story’ of devastating siege and resistance of the two villages of Nubbul and Zahraa 

Syrian volunteers aged 50 to 70 in the northern towns of Nubl and Zahra are fighting against forces opposing the Syrian government

Robert Fisk, talks about the suffering of the two liberated towns of Nubbul and Zahraa in Syria’s Aleppo besieged by Takfiri terrorists for about three years. Villages that remained loyal to the Syrian government have paid a steep price.

Boston Globe: The media is misleading the public on Syria

The role of the monopoly media to disinform

Finally, an American journalist blasts the US media coverage of Syria. “Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why.” STEPHEN KINZER* details features of how the monopoly media falsifies and negates the reality of the forces in combat in Syria, prettifies terrorists as “moderates” and “freedom fighters,” and portrays a war on Syria as a religious, sectarian or “civil war.”

Pentagon plans to build new military bases in Africa, Southwest Asia and the Middle East

Rumsfeld Redux: GloboCop reconfirmed. The Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz dream of securing bases all around Eurasia and oil-producing parts of sub-Saharan Africa appears well on the way to full realization. JIM LOBE

Word. Britain and France have neither the will nor vision to defeat terrorism: Bashar al-Assad

Photo courtesy of SANA

Full text of interview of President Bashar al-Assad of the Syrian Arab Republic by The Sunday Times. Britain and France, he states, have neither the will nor the vision on how to defeat terrorism. Their airstrikes against ISIS will yield no results, but will rather be illegal and harmful in that they will help in spreading terrorism. (Courtesy of SANA)

US, Canada and Britain are breaking international law in Syria

United Nations Security Council | Mike Segar / Reuters

By SHARMINE NARWANI*

rt.com – The war drums are getting louder in the aftermath of ISIS attacks in Paris, as Western countries gear up to launch further airstrikes in Syria. But obscured in the fine print of countless resolutions and media headlines is this: the West has no legal basis for military intervention. Their strikes are illegal.

The French President’s irrational proposal to legalize exceptional measures and violation of rights by rewriting the French Constitution

Ramifications of the State of Emergency and anti-terror measures in France

In France, the country that gave humanity the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the situation is unfolding as expected with broad attacks on civil liberties and rights following the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. French President François Hollande, in his November 16 address to a special joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate, declared that the French authorities cannot respond to terrorism within the rule of law. Since France is a country that abides by the rule of law, he said, the rule of law as embodied in the Constitution must be rewritten.

Erdogan, the Trojan horse of terror

By GHASSAN KADI*

(November 22) – Love him or hate him, Erdogan has been a survivor; a hero for some, and a stick in the mud that would not go away for many more others. He has thus far managed to dodge many serious decisive moments, the last of which was the recent parliamentary elections that he won with flying colours despite the predictions of many analysts, including myself, that he was destined to lose abysmally.

Russia’s Lavrov: US is not seriously fighting against the Islamic State

That the U.S. was not seriously fighting the Islamic State was obvious to any observer but it is now a public position stated by Russia and the U.S. will have to react to

Throughout the last week the Russian airforce updated its target list in Syria. Plans were prepared, units designated, ammunition was loaded.

Today President Putin announced that the destruction of a Russian airliner with 224 people on board over the Sinai peninsula had indeed been an Islamic State terror attack. Traces of explosives were found on parts of the debris.

The Russian mission in Syria is no longer just to help the Syrian government but is now a matter of Russian national self-defence. The Russian parliament was not shy in assigning guilt:

The love affair between ISIS and the Turkish JDP (AKP) government: the evidence

Two articles by TONY SEED and Sendika.Org News

The menace of ISIS grew in the Middle East with the overt and covert help of the ruling JDP (Justice Development Party) government in Turkey, a member of the US NATO military bloc and host of the current meeting of the G20 states, being held under the high ideals of the “war against terrorism”, and such members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Once again these facts have been wiped from the terrible story of the violent attacks in Paris.

John Pilger on ISIS: Only when we see the war criminals in our midst will the blood begin to dry

 By JOHN PILGER / johnpilger.com

In transmitting President Richard Nixon’s orders for a “massive” bombing of Cambodia in 1969, Henry Kissinger said, “Anything that flies on everything that moves”.  As Barack Obama ignites his seventh war against the Muslim world since he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the orchestrated hysteria and lies make one almost nostalgic for Kissinger’s murderous honesty.

The fallacy of Erdogan-style democracy

By GHASSAN KADI*

(November 4) – Erdogan’s AKP party has scored a monumental victory; not so much in terms of the lead in parliament though. As a matter of fact, it is a fairly narrow victory, but one that was least expected. What is monumental about it is the course that Turkey has set itself upon.

A victory for Erdogan perhaps, but for Turkey itself, the outcome of this election will probably take years and even decades until it becomes clear what the results truly meant for Turkey’s future and wellbeing.

The Paris Violence – Statement of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) categorically condemns the heinous crimes committed in Paris, France on the afternoon of November 13. We express our deepest sympathies with the families, friends and colleagues of the victims and call for sober-minded measures to be taken which do not turn the French and world’s people into targets of counterviolence. Measures which further deprive the people of their rights in the name of protecting the security of the French state are not an acceptable answer.

The reactionary violence displayed in Paris is directed against the working people who are not to blame for the instigation of state terrorism but are its victims. Attempts to protect the French state which deprive the people of their rights and, furthermore, target sections of the people for attack, are self-serving and create an even more dangerous situation.

CPC(M-L) calls on its members and supporters to take these events very seriously, remain calm and lead their peers to draw warranted conclusions. Who is behind these attacks? Are they an attempt to further murky the waters surrounding the U.S. striving to bring about regime change in Syria, which is now leading to a new round of violence, such as the targeting of a hospital in Afghanistan by the U.S. and to bombings such as what took place in Lebanon that targeted Hezbollah, and other similar activities?

All of it shows the anarchy and violence which has been unleashed by the U.S. striving for world domination in which the NATO bloc is doing its utmost to isolate Russia and not permit a political solution to problems which have emerged.

CPC(M-L) reiterates its opposition to the use of force to settle conflicts. We reiterate our opposition to the use of the state to suppress the rights of the people in the name of security. All of it shows that political solutions are not on the agenda of the U.S. and European powers, as well as Canada. Instead, civil wars and state terrorism are fomented to get an upper hand. It must not pass!

TO CONTACT CPC(M-L) Tel: (416) 253-4475 • Email: office@cpcml.ca • Website: www.cpcml.ca

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US stopped Syria air strikes while Nusra and ISIS prepared attack on government supply route

moonofalabama.org (October 30 ) – During the last days a large attack on the Syrian government supply line to Aleppo city was carried out by Jabhat al-Nusra (aka al-Qaeda in Syria) and the Islamic State seemingly in coordination with the U.S. military.

What Is ISIS?

MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA* on the murky origins and modus operandi behind the creation of Islamic State or ISIS

Ahead of a meeting scheduled between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama and their speeches to the United Nations General Assembly in late September, the Russian President branded Washington’s support for the insurgent forces in Syria as both illegal and ineffective in an interview with Charlie Rose for the U.S. CBS and PBS television networks. Aside from saying that U.S. support to the insurgents was a “provision of military support to illegal structures” that violates “the principles of modern international law and the United Nations Charter,” Putin pointed out that the militants being trained and armed by the U.S. were actually joining the so-called Islamic State.

Turkey: The predictable Erdoğan

By GHASAN KADI, Introduction by TONY SEED

Click to enlarge

The Turkish election was held in an atmosphere of violence and chaos on November 1st. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regained its parliamentary majority.