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

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

    Monday, June 24, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

    Monday, June 24, 2013   No comments

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

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

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






 

Turkey's prime minister has brushed off criticism by human rights groups and some European countries, insisting police officers have displayed "legendary heroism" in quelling weeks of anti-government protests.

Addressing police academy graduates at a ceremony in Ankara Monday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was protesters – not police – that were violent, and praised the security forces for showing restraint.

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

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

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2.5 million people attended Gezi protests across Turkey: Interior Ministry

2.5 million people attended Gezi protests across Turkey: Interior Ministry

    Sunday, June 23, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

 

 read news story 1; and news story 2

 

   

Islamic voices against Erdoğan

Islamic voices against Erdoğan

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Saturday, June 22, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

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

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

    Friday, June 21, 2013   No comments

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

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

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

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

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

    Thursday, June 20, 2013   No comments

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


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