Like the United States, Turkey is a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Article 5 of the NATO charter obliges all members to come to the aid of any other member under attack. For the second day running, Turkey has received artillery barrages fired by Syrian government forces.
Continue readingTag: Syria
Cowichan Conversations: An Incoherent Message From Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger Few could argue that the UN couldn’t be improved. They often are tangled up in their own structures that seem to handcuff them when facing real problems such as the the current mess in Syria, but Canada has just been humiliated and downgraded once again by the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001?
What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001? W2 Media Cafe and Siraat invite you to a public forum on Monday, September 10, 2012, looking at Canada’s racist legacy, as we mark 11 years after the events of September 11, 2001. 7pm at 111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. Invited Panellists: Kat
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Faking Syrian War Images To Manipulate The Western Public
The demonization of genocidal dictators like Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad is standard practice in the western media’s coverage of developing-world crises. In the photo-shopped imaged below, The Krone (Die Kronen Zeitung), Austria’s biggest newspaper, shows how to manipulate the Syrian uprising for a gullible western public. In its July 28
Continue readingMorsi’s brave initiative
Egypt and Iran have barely been on speaking terms for some time. An Egyptian leader hasn’t visited Tehran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. But new president Mohamed Morsi intends to change that. This week he is attending the Non-Aligned Movement summit hosted by Iran. Apparently, Morsi’s visit will be
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Syria: US backs significant increase in the civil war
Sometimes you have to read between the lines to understand who is doing what in the world. But at other times, the media provides more than hints. President Obama is being reported as having signed a ‘finding’, which allows US intelligence agencies to provide ‘covert’ aid to the rebels in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Will Israel Take Out Assad?
It sounds like a bad dream until you factor in two things. One, Assad has announced he has WMDs, chemical and biological, at his disposal and he’s prepared to use them to thwart potential foreign intervenion. Two, Assad’s days are probably numbered and it’s possible those WMDs could fall right
Continue readingRedBedHead: The Syrian Endgame: Bye Bye Bashar?
Who won’t celebrate the (probably nasty) end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria? This is a regime that has suppressed pretty much all forms of internal dissent and democratic participation and ruled with an iron fist for the better part of the last 40 years. There are no independent trade
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: WikiLeaks Begins Publishing The “Syria Files”
At a press conference held today, 5 July 2012, at the Frontline Club in London, WikiLeaks spokesperson Sarah Harrison announced that over the coming months, WikiLeaks will release a database of over two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012.
Continue readingThings Are Good: WikiLeaks Releases Syria Files
WikiLeaks continues to bring the world information that would otherwise be hidden from the masses, this time it’s millions of emails and documents from Syria. The Syria Files have been given to some media organizations to filter through (much like the last large release of documents from WikiLeaks). This new
Continue readingArt Threat: Portraits of WWII Veterans From All Sides – Jonathan Alpeyrie shares 210 diverse veteran faces
The aged faces of men of many nations look into Jonathan Alpeyrie’s lens for his collection of 210 photographic portraits of men who fought in WWII. The goal behind his project, World War II Veterans, on display until May 12, 2012 at Anastasia Photo in New York City, was to
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Dear Asma al-Assad,
As first lady of Syria, do you approve of your country’s continual shelling of the city of Homs, your father’s hometown? If so, I don’t understand why.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Michael Ignatieff on Syria
The former Liberal leader and professor has a thoughtful article analyzing the situation in Syria with an interesting solution to the problem of Bashar al-Assad’s demonic destruction of his people. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Courage of the Few, The Cowardice of the Many
This story of how a Syrian refugee risked his life to post and smuggle video of atrocities to the West should make us all feel just a bit ashamed as so many of us seem to treat our democracy so lightly. Recommend this Post
Continue readingCensorship @ Huffington Post re. Syria?
“[T]he turmoil in the Middle East this past year has morphed into a battleground for much larger interests – economic, political, financial – and the players see this as an existential fight; the final showdown, so to speak. The battle for narratives is the frontline of this war, and it
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Hamas Flips, Turns on Assad, Backs Revolt
The Palestinian Islamic movement, Hamas, has had a long relationship with Syrian president Bashar al Assad. That’s now over. Hamas has switched sides and now supports the Syrian revolt to overthrow Assad. Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad’s army, largely led by fellow members of
Continue readingSyria and the reluctant alliance between al-Qaeda and the West
Al-Qaeda and Western nations agreeing on a policy of critical importance may seem strange, yet such is the case with Syria. Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of al-Qaeda, has publicly thrown his organization’s support behind the Syrian opposition. Al-Zawahiri called on Muslim fighters from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to go to
Continue readingRedBedHead: Arab Dictatorships Want To Kill Syrian Revolution
The first thing that has to be said is that the Syrian people are bravely resisting and suffering under – first and foremost – the brutal Syrian regime. But the second thing that must be added is that they are suffering a second misery, which is to be the pawns
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Russia, China Veto SC Resolution on Syria
Steve Harper’s latest moral mood swing is all about China. He can’t wait to get supertankers full of Athabasca bitumen sailing the vast Pacific to waiting refineries in the People’s Republic. Well, today Steve’s new BFF joined with Russia to take Syria off the hook at the UN Security Council.
Continue readingRedBedHead: Every Revolution Has Its Road
I was reading about the terrible, terrible tragedy in Egypt last night and today – 74 dead at a soccer match – and the ensuing mass protests and national explosion of anger. And I was struck by how the battle is unfolding in Egypt, the way that the military dictatorship
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