[LAAMN] Videos- Palestinian Refugee Camp in Syria-A Farewell to Damascus & As the US Steps Back, France and Saudi Arabia Step Up in Support of Insurgency

[Cort Greene]

 Mai Skaf is a well know actress, a Christian, secularist and pro
revolution. She had raised lots of donations for Palestinian and Lebanese
refugees before the revolution and was a arrested several times for her
political views. She left Syria in June.
*Cort*

A Farewell to Damascus
http://pulsemedia.org/2013/10/13/a-farewell-to-damascus/

October 13, 2013 § Leave a
Comment

Actress Mai Skaf describes the nature of Syrian society and the assumptions
of the Assad regime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph0MxVRdXxU



Syria Video Analysis: As the US Steps Back, France and Saudi Arabia Step Up
in Support of Insurgency

http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-video-analysis-us-steps-back-france-saudi-arabia-step-support-insurgency/
*
*

*A four-minute analysis outlining how Washington’s retreat from support for
Syria’s insurgency is far from the end of the story — France, Saudi Arabia,
and Turkey are all stepping up their backing of the opposition, with the
Saudis ramping up arms supplies to the insurgents:*

*Video:*

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUcPah-BWk#t=226*

Updates

SUMMARY: The past week has been the story of the race between two
offensives in southern Syria. The regime is attempting to take over suburbs
south and southwest of Damascus, thus opening the highway to Daraa Province
and the border with Jordan to resupply its troops, before insurgents can
seize more territory in the province, including in Daraa city.

On Saturday, as Syrian warplanes attacked insurgent positions in Daraa city
—* including the Palestinian refugee camp, the adjacent Al Mahata
neighborhood, *and Daraa Al Balad — there was a new, possibility
significant development.

The Shaam News Network reported that insurgents in Al Mahata are using
anti-aircraft weapons to target regime forces.

If the report is true, it could reflect a major escalation of arms supplies
to opposition fighters — probably backed by Saudi Arabia and assisted by
the insurgents’ recent takeover of the Daraa-Ramtha crossing on the
Jordanian border.

Footage of the anti-aircraft weapons has yet to emerge; however, video
testifies to a fresh supply of rocket launchers to the insurgents.
--
Latest Updates, Most Recent FirstFatwa Allows Those Trapped In Damascus
Yarmouk Camp To Eat Cats, Dogs, Donkeys

There are reports, including this by Orient News and here by
LBCI,
of a fatwa allowing people trapped by regime sieges in the Yarmouk
Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus to eat the flesh of cats,
dogs and mules during siege conditions..

The announcement comes as the humanitarian situation in the camp becomes
increasingly desperate, with famine setting in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBika1QLEs8


*Demonstration in Yarmouk after the fatwa:*

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--4VUQP4RdQ*

*
*

*
*



[image: Syria Spotlight: Civilians Evacuated From Moadamiyyat Ash Sham,
Daraya]

Published on October 13th, 2013 | *by Joanna Paraszczuk*
0
Syria Spotlight: Civilians Evacuated From Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, Daraya

*Video: Civilians evacuated from Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, Daraya on Sunday*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjTk_bwFwFk*
*


On Sunday, the Syrian Red Crescent announced that it had succeeded in
evacuating hundreds of civilians — most of them women and children — from
the West Ghouta towns of Moadamiyyat Ash Sham and Daraya.
Syrian Red Crescent @SYRedCrescent 

#URGENT 
@SYRedCrescentmanage to evacuate
around 1500 civilians mostly women & children from
#Moadamia 
#Syriato shelters in
#Damascus 


The humanitarian situation in Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, one of the towns hit by
the August 21 chemical weapons attacks, has grown increasingly desperate.
The town has been under a regime-imposed siege since November 2012 and has
been subject to daily regime air strikes, tank shelling and artillery
bombardment. Regime ground forces aided by Hezbollah fighters are pushing
insurgents on the town’s northern front line in an attempt to invade the
town.

Civilians inside Moadamiyyat Ash Sham told EA last
week
that
they feared a mass killing by regime forces, should pro-Assad fighters
succeed in entering the town.

With food

[LAAMN] Mexico- 16-10 “Marxismo o anarquismo: ¿Qué hacer?” Círculo Marxista Universitario: CU

[Cort Greene]

[image: La Izquierda Socialista]
Publicado en *La Izquierda Socialista* (http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org
)

Inicio  > Círculo Marxista
Universitario: CU
--
Círculo Marxista Universitario: CU
Inicia: 16/10/2013 13:00

Los invitamos al Círculo Marxista Universitario en Ciudad Universitaria el
próximo miércoles 16 de octubre a la 1:00 p.m. en el Anfiteatro Alfredo
Barreda de la Facultad de Ciencias. El tema a discutir es “Marxismo o
anarquismo: ¿Qué hacer?” Un análisis más amplio de los métodos  históricos
de lucha en los diferentes procesos.

Te recomendamos leer:

Anarquismo y Comunismo
 [1] de  Evgueni Preobrazhenski

El Marxismo y el Anarquismo 
 [2] de Alan Woods

Buenaventura Durruti y la Revolución
Española
 [3] de Rubén Rivera

Marx Vs. Bakunin  [4] Alan
Woods
















--
*URL de Origen:* http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/3084

*Enlaces:*
[1] http://centromarx.org/images/stories/PDF/anarquismo.pdf
[2] http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/2734
[3] http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/3080
[4] http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/1366

[LAAMN] Venezuela: A familiar recipe for destabilization

[Cort Greene]

http://lo-de-alla.org/2013/10/venezuela-a-familiar-recipe-for-destabilization/#more-4391

Venezuela: A familiar recipe for
destabilization

[Translation of an article from *El Clarín* of Santiago, Chile, for October
6, 2013. See original
here
and
related articles
here
 and here
.]

By Frida Modak

There has been a change in the past few months in the Venezuelan
opposition’s strategy. They no longer stress the supposed electoral fraud,
as they did right after the presidential elections.

As far as is known, no change has been announced resulting from the reviews
electoral authorities have made, so we should wonder what has brought about
this new attitude and when.

And if we look for an answer, we find that this new attitude coincides with
the trip defeated candidate Enrique Capriles made to Chile, where he met
with the leaders of some political parties for whom he has a certain
affinity.

Not much information has been released about it and the visitor was not
received by President Sebastián Piñera because it was considered
inappropriate, since Chile has relations with the government presided over
by Nicolás Maduro.

So the meeting between them was informal in nature and consisted of a
dinner to which both were invited. Reports on Capriles’ stay in the South
American country were not very complete; nevertheless previous events
indicate that it was not a simple excursion.

*Coincidences*

When Capriles arrived in Chile, there was already a shortage of basic
essential goods, just as occurred in Chile when the administration of
President Salvador Allende had been in office for two years and
parliamentary elections were approaching.

The parties of the Right and the Christian democrats had made a pact with a
view not only of winning those elections but of electing a combined total
of 65 percent of the members of parliament and of being able to remove
President Allende from office.

>From that perspective, the shortage of everything, from milk, eggs, meat,
baby food, including baby bottles, oil, sugar, cigarettes and even toilet
paper, became an electoral weapon, or at least that is how they perceived
it.

A replay of these events in Venezuela is therefore not surprising. It
becomes obvious that all this is connected, although those who aspired to
removing President Allende suffered a great disappointment: they did not
elect 65 percent of the members of parliament.

The fundamental reason was that, with the voluntary participation of the
teachers, who at that time were on vacation, and of the radio stations,
newspapers and journalists, a campaign was launched to demonstrate that
these goods were not in scarce supply but were hidden away and sold at very
high prices to the wealthier sectors.

A similar situation is being seen in Venezuela, but according to opinion
polls released in the past few weeks, this does not seem to weaken public
support for the government headed by Nicolás Maduro.

It is registered as having 43 percent support, which is similar to the
results of the presidential election, so the accent is now being placed on
another aspect, the availability of currency.

*The dollars*

The Venezuelan opposition’s anti-government activity seems to be centered
now on leaving the country without currency and here we find another
similarity with what happened in Chile when Salvador Allende won the
presidential election of 1970.

Once the campaign of fear against the Allende candidacy had failed, the
presidential election was to spill over into the parliament, where it was
necessary to choose from the two largest majorities, as the constitution
requires.

The Christian democrats were governing but their candidate had won only
third place and within that party there was a sector favoring an accord
with *Allendismo,* which was not to the liking of the governing team or of
the United States.

Then an unusual event took place: the minister of the treasury delivered a
speech to the country which generated a new campaign of fear, this time
over the possibility that currency would not be available in the future.

This resulted in sectors that had the resources to do so planning costly
trips abroad with the object of obtaining the greatest quantity of dollars
possible, because there was currency control established by the previous
Christian democrat administration.

This control was necessary because the same business community that
supported the conservative government had carried out a series of financial
maneuvers that left the government they were a part of without currency.
The speech by Andrés Saldívar, minister of the treasury in 

[LAAMN] Saudi Cleric Confirms That Being a Woman in Saudi Arabia Sucks, Big Time

[Cort Greene]

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/14541/saudi-cleric-confirms-that-being-a-woman-in-saudi-
Saudi Cleric Confirms That Being a Woman in Saudi Arabia Sucks, Big
Time

Oct 10 2013by Maya Mikdashi
[image: Listen to this page using
ReadSpeaker]
[image: [The Mufti of Saudi Arabia Smells Something Funny While Issuing
Important Fatwas]][The Mufti of Saudi Arabia Smells Something Funny While
Issuing Important Fatwas]

While all Saudis live under a hyper
capitalist
,sectarian  and brutal
authoritarian 
regime,
a Saudi cleric has issued a fatwa making it official that being a woman in
Saudi Arabia sucks extra bad. This fatwa comes after some confusion
surrounding the physiological effects of driving.

Last month a Saudi cleric issued a
fatwawarning
that driving effects the hips and pelvis of women, and thus their
reproductive efficacy. After (some) men began worrying about the effects of
driving on their testicles, the cleric clarified that driving is only
harmful to ovaries and the female pelvis and the strange, magical and
dangerous stuff contained within— just as the potentially catastrophic
effects of traveling alone and of public and willful displays of hair seem
to confine themselves to the section of the Saudi population that has
vaginas. The cleric did urge Saudi women to cheer up, however, because it
could always be worse—at least they are not foreign female domestic
labor
in
Saudi Arabia.

When asked about these fatwas after a meeting between King Abdullah bin
Abdulaziz and President
BarackObama,
both king and president loudly condemned the regime of gender terror that
currently rules Iran, where women are exposed to the deleterious effects of
driving, voting, working, and holding public office.

*[This fatwa may not apply to female members of the Saudi royal family,
particularly when they are in Paris, New York City, or London, spending the
very hard earned, sweat soaked money of the Al-Saud.]*

*
*

[LAAMN] Correa Declares Himself Enemy of Abortion Even to Save a Woman’s Life

[Cort Greene]

Correa Declares Himself Enemy of Abortion Even to Save a Woman’s Life

Posted By *Circles Robinson* On October 11, 2013 @ 12:48 pm In *
leftcol1,World* | *1
Comment
*

[image: rafael Correa
radioanugulo]
[1]HAVANA TIMES — The possibility of decriminalizing abortion in Ecuador,
an issue under discussion today in the National Assembly, could result in
the resignation of President Rafael Correa.

The president questioned the attitude of his ruling party representatives
that have adopted positions favorable to the non-punishment of abortion.

Correa said he does not approve of such a reform and that “if you follow
this betrayal and disloyalty, and tomorrow we see something very
unfortunate happening in the coalition (Alianza País), I will submit my
resignation.”

In an interview with Channel Oromar of the coastal province of Manabi,
Correa expressed his discontent with the approach of his alliances’
deputies and said: “The disloyalty and betrayal of supposed friends has
cost me much more than the successes of the enemy.”.

The president stated that the Ecuadorian Constitution proclaims its defense
of life from the moment of conception and that the National Development
Plan “for which the Ecuadorian people voted” does not include the
decriminalization of abortion.

He therefore reiterated that if the “very disloyal” lawmakers legalize
abortion, “I will immediately present my resignation. To defend life I’m
willing to give this [the presidency] up and history will know how to judge
me.”

The Ecuadorian legislature began the final debate Wednesday on a new
Integral Penal Code, which modernizes the conception and penalties for
offenses. It incorporates the accumulation of convictions and includes
offenses such as feminicide, among other topics.

In the discussion on punishable abortion, which ends today, governing
alliance lawmakers supported the possibility of decriminalizing abortion
when the life of a pregnant woman is in danger.

The Assembly is in permanent session for the purpose of approving the new
Criminal Code, likely to conclude on Sunday.

--
1 Comment (Open  |
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--

Article printed from Havana Times.org: *http://www.havanatimes.org*

URL to article: *http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99378*

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: *
http://cdn.havanatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/rafael-Correa-radioanugulo.jpg
*

[LAAMN] Snatch and Render from Libya

[Cort Greene]

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/14537/snatch-and-render-from-libya
Snatch and Render from
Libya

Oct 09 2013by Vijay Prashad
[image: Listen to this page using
ReadSpeaker]
[image: [Still image taken from footage from an RAF Tornado GR4, showing
the aircraft using Brimstone Missiles to destroy a Main Battle Tank in
Libya during Operation Ellamy in 2011. Image from Wikimedia Commons.]][Still
image taken from footage from an RAF Tornado GR4, showing the aircraft
using Brimstone Missiles to destroy a Main Battle Tank in Libya during
Operation Ellamy in 2011. Image from Wikimedia Commons.]

In 2004, the British government brokered the transfer of militants of the
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) from their “undisclosed locations” in
the War on Terror to the Qaddafi regime. “This was the least we could do
for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have
built over the years,” wrote Sir Mark Allen, head of Britain’s MI6 to
Qaddafi’s aide Moussa Koussa on 18 March 2004. The specific matter here was
the “safe arrival of Abu Abdallah Sadiq,” the *nom de plume* of Abdul Hakim
Belhadj, former emir of LIFG. When Belhadj and his wife arrived in Libya
through a MI6-CIA operation, Moussa Koussa chillingly greeted Belhadj,
“I’ve been waiting for you.” Belhadj was subsequently tortured and
brutalized. All this is documented in the Human Rights Watch report from 6
September 2012, *Delivered Into Enemy Hands: US-Led Abuse and Rendition of
Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya*.

On Saturday, 5 October 2013, some US agents (either Libyans or Americans)
went into the upscale neighbourhood of Tripoli called Noufleen and snatched
Nazih Abdul-Hamed al Ruqai (whose alias is Anas al Libi). He was put on a
boat and taken to a US war ship in the Mediterranean. The US indicated that
al Ruqai would be taken to New York where he will face a 2000 indictment
for the 1998 US embassy bombings in east Africa. Al Ruqai is on that
indictment with dozens of others, including, at the top of the list the now
dead Osama bin Laden. The US and Libya do not have an extradition treaty.
Nevertheless, the normal procedure is for a government to ask another
government to turn over a suspect or a criminal who is shielded by the
latter’s territory. It appears that no such request for al Ruqai had been
made by the US, and nor did the US inform Libya about the operation. No
wonder then that the Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan called the snatch
raid on al Ruqai a case of “kidnapping.”

Almost ten years ago, when Qaddafi ruled Libya the US and UK turned over
several high-value LIFG targets who had been designated “unlawful enemy
combatants” and so faced “extraordinary rendition” to US “black sites”
before going to Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. Now, in a Libya ruled by a
government who owes its existence to the US-NATO bombardment of 2011, the
US enters Libya unlawfully to snatch a Libyan citizen so that he, in US
eyes an “unlawful enemy combatant,” can be taken onto a US ship and then
transported to New York. Despite the confusion, the two stories are linked:
they show a pattern of disregard for international law by the US and the UK
and the sovereignty of other states, including its allies.

*Transitional Justice in Libya *

Since its formation in March 2012, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)
has tried to establish the rule of law as the normal course for the new
government. This has been a daunting task. Not only had the forty-two year
old Qaddafi regime left a very poor record of human rights and legal norms,
the war of 2011 had itself been conducted with little care for the human
rights rhetoric that motivated it. Retribution by the rebel militias
against the pro-Qaddafi forces and imputed populations loyal to Qaddafi,
such as the residents of the town of Tawerga, put a stain on the new Libya.
The UN urged the National Transitional Council to enact a decree that would
lay the “Foundation for National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice.”
The last phrase, transitional justice, comes from a UN Secretary General
report of 2004 which defines the phrase as “the full range of processes and
mechanisms associated with a society’s attempts to come to terms with a
legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve
justice and achieve reconciliation.” After immense effort by the UNSMIL and
the new Libyan government, the General National Congress passed a
transitional justice law on 22 September 2013. The law included provisions
on fact-finding, reparations for victims and accountability for past
crimes. It is a comprehensive approach that would have gone a long way to
establish the sovereignty and integrity of the 

[LAAMN] Santos to send 50,000 troops after FARC-‘Showing up to talks is not the same as negotiating’: Farmers warn Colombia govt

[Cort Greene]

http://colombiareports.co/santos-send-5-troops-farc/

Oct 10, 2013
Santos to send 50,000 troops after FARCposted by Daniel Freeman
[image: Santos to send 50,000 troops after
FARC]

(Photo: Ejercito Colombiano)
[image: Share Button] 


Colombia ’s President Juan Manuel
Santos has
ordered the command of his armed forces to “neutralize” commanders of rebel
group FARC and to reinforce their offensive in the southeastern parts of
the country, according to local media.

“Today we are taking an important step in the whole reorganization of our
forces in order to be more effective, and to be stronger in our mission to
provide security and peace for all Colombians,” said the President at a
military base on Wednesday afternoon.

Santos ordered his Southeast Joint Command – consisting of 50,000 troops
across several divisions of Colombia’s armed forces – to capture or kill
the FARC commanders known as “Carlos Antonio Lozada,” “Romana,” “Fabian
Ramirez,” “El Paisa,” and “Joaquin
Gomez.”
 Furthermore, the Joint Command is tasked with suppressing the Southern and
Eastern blocs of the FARC.

The President announced on twitter that Colombia had activated their troops
and that he was proud of the joint efforts for the security of Colombians.


Juan Manuel Santos✔ @JuanManSantos

Activamos el Comando Conjunto Sur Oriente Número 3 en Larandia, Caquetá.
Orgullosos de sumar esfuerzos por la seguridad de los colombianos.


This announcement comes after Santos reported supposed FARC plans to attack
military and symbolic sites in the country. There are also reports that the
FARC will try to infiltrate social protests to fuel conflict.

*MORE*: FARC to attack Colombia’s ‘symbolic sites’:
Santos

Peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC have been running
since November 2012. So far the two parties have only made an agreement on
land reform, the first point on the five-point agenda.
Sources

   - Presidente Activa Comando Conjunto Para Ir Tras Los Bloques Sexto Y
   Oriental De Las Farc  (CM&)
   - Colombia To Renew Military Offensive Against Farc Rebels

   (Bernama)
   - Palabras Del Presidente Juan Manuel Santos Durante La Activación Del
   Comando Conjunto Sur Oriente Número
3
(Oficina
   de la Presidencia)




-

http://colombiareports.co/tensions-rise-agriculture-sector-negotiations-show-little-progress/
Oct 11, 2013
‘Showing up to talks is not the same as negotiating’: Farmers warn Colombia
govtposted by Steven Cohen 
[image: ‘Showing up to talks is not the same as negotiating’: Farmers warn
Colombia 
govt]
[image: Share Button] 

[LAAMN] Malala’s ordeal by Lal Khan

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/malalas-ordeal.htm

Malala’s ordeal 
Written by Lal KhanFriday, 11 October 2013
[image: Print] [image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

October 9th marked one year since the serene valley of Swat was suddenly
overcome with pain and anguish at the bestial attack on Malala Yousafzai
and other schoolgirls in the van taking them home as it rounded at an army
checkpoint in the midst of a fundamentalist insurgency.

[image: Malala Yousafzai]Malala YousafzaiMalala was shot at close range in
the head and in addition two other girls were similarly shot suffering
serious injuries. Miraculously Malala survived this fatal attack but was
left severely injured. It was a heinous crime that demands the severest
condemnation and contempt on the part of every sane human being.

She was fortunate enough to have immediate help available and was initially
lifted to a neurosurgery unit in a Peshawar hospital and then flown on to
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Britain. Recounting those harrowing
16 days totally on her own, lying in a hospital bed far away from her home
and her parents in her book to be published in Britain, she says that she
cried for the first time when her parents finally managed to arrive in
Birmingham and visited her. She expressed her sentiments of the moment, “It
was as if all the weight had been lifted from my heart. I felt that
everything would be fine now.”

This undoubtedly provided a welcome respite to Malala but the conditions
for young women and girls have continued to deteriorate and their
repression in this tragic region goes on unabated. They are being subjected
to regular brutalities, harassment and trauma on a daily basis. Hers was a
gruesome tragedy inflicted on a fifteen year old girl who had braved these
Islamic bigots who have wrought hell in Swat and are spilling blood and
terror in an orgy of religious frenzy.

These forces of dark reaction are a reflection of the social malaise that
has set in society as a result of the social economic decay and stagnation
afflicting human existence. Contrary to the generalised propaganda and
perception spread by the media in the West, these Islamic obscurantist
vigilantes and their masters of political Islam do not have the mass
support that is attributed to them.

However, these dark forces have a significant presence in the various
Pakistani state institutions. It is the black money that nourishes the
state institutions and they in turn provide sponsorship and financial
assistance to these dark forces. This black capital dominates the country’s
economy, politics and the state. However these forces are bent upon
imposing “Islamic” ideology onto society in every area of public and
private life. It is another form of neo-fascism that in reality is the
distilled essence of the rottenness of Pakistani capitalist system.
Exploiting the present general demoralisation and inertia amongst the
masses, this reactionary state and its institutions are fomenting
divisions, whether it is Sunni versus Shia or Muslim versus
Christian/Qadiani, and in the process are aggressively promoting the
official imposition of religion, from the syllabi in the education system
to the social and cultural norms of society. This phenomenon also indicates
the reactionary and retrogressive character of Pakistan’s ruling classes,
who nurture religious prejudices, to drive a wedge into the class unity of
the toilers.

Malala’s attack has had unprecedented media coverage. However, the
corporate media has been very cautious to paint a picture according to the
interests and the strategies of the ruling elites nationally and more so
internationally.

There is a stark and conscious concealment of the background of Malala,
ensuring that it does not in any way contravene the story that the bosses’
media have been trying to tailor the case in accord with the policy needs
of imperialism. One of the most revered and veteran Indian journalists
Javed Naqvi pointed this out in one of Pakistan’s largest English language
newspapers.

On 25th October 2012 he wrote:

“There is evidence of a Marxist underpinning that runs the risk of being
overlooked in the teenaged girl’s ideological shaping. A picture in which
she is seen with a poster of Lenin and Trotsky should indicate her
proximity to some of the most ideologically groomed bunch of men and women
in Swat. They are members of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT),
which condemns religious extremism and imperialism equally. We have been
told of Malala’s blogs and interviews with global news groups, but her
involvement with the Marxists of Swat (of all the places) tends to be
ignored. Malala Yousafzai attended its National Marxist Youth School in
Swat in July this year.”

The so-called free media conveniently suppressed this

[LAAMN] Syria Analysis: Critiquing HRW’s Report that “Opposition Forces Indiscriminately Killed Civilians”

[Cort Greene]

http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-spotlight-isis-jaish-al-muhajireen-wal-ansar-executed-kidnapped-civilians-latakia-hrw-say/


Syria [image:
Syria Analysis: Critiquing HRW’s Report that “Opposition Forces
Indiscriminately Killed Civilians”]

Published on October 11th, 2013 | *by Joanna Paraszczuk*
1
Syria Analysis: Critiquing HRW’s Report that “Opposition Forces
Indiscriminately Killed Civilians”

A report  by Human Rights Watch
on Friday accuses five Islamist factions of executing and kidnapping
civilians during an August offensive against Alawite villages in the
Latakia countryside. The report makes a general accusation of complicity by
all 20 groups, including the Supreme Military Council and brigades of the
Free Syrian Army, in the offensive — even though it acknowledges that most
of them were probably not in the villages where the killings took place.

However, examination of the report — while supporting its general claim of
the deaths and abduction of unarmed civilians — raises questions about its
attribution of responsibility and its sources.
The Report
video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10D0-wiJ8A

HRW says that the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash Sham, the Chechen-led Jaish
al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and Suqour al-Izz
were present in the villages during clashes on August 4, the day that most
of the abuses took place.

HRW writes, “The local commanders of Ahrar al-Sham, Islamic State of Iraq
and Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra, Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, and Suquor al-Izz
who led the operation may bear responsibility for the killings, hostage
taking, and other abuses described in this report. The senior leaders of
these groups may also bear responsibility for these abuses.”

HRW also note that a group of women and children taken hostage by Jaish
fighters are still missing, “In a number of cases, on August 4 opposition
forces killed adult male villagers and held their female relatives and
children hostage. According to opposition sources, they are still holding
over 200 civilian hostages at this writing. Several residents from Latakia
countryside told Human Rights Watch that they saw their relatives in the
background of a video published on YouTube on September 7 in which
civilians from the area being held hostage by Abu Suhaib, the Libyan local
leader of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, are shown.”

The original video to which HRW refers has since been removed from YouTube,
including a Russian-subtitled version that was widely distributed among
Russian-language pro-jihad sites. The footage is preserved because it was
copied and included in other reports, including this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPe7tu_3dpE


Weaknesses of the Report

While HRW document in detail the killings and hostage-takings that took
place, the report fails to determine definitively which particular groups
or factions within these groups were responsible for killing civilians.

Specifically, the report fails to distinguish between attacks carried out
by ISIS/ Jaish and the offensive carried out by Free Syrian Army brigades,
instead using the blanket term “armed opposition groups” to refer to those
responsible for the killings. The report conflates the FSA’s “Operation to
Liberate the Coast” with the offensives by Islamist factions — even though
the Islamist factions operated independently rather than in conjunction
with the FSA.

The HRW report takes information and eyewitness testimony from local
residents in the villages to document the circumstances of civilian deaths.
However, the report is problematic because it relies heavily on information
from a regime Military Intelligence officer, as well as regime military
personnel, the police, National Defense Force members, and regime media
outlets.

In contrast, HRW do not appear to have obtained responses or information
from the Supreme Military Council to ascertain the movement of FSA brigades
in relation to the Islamist groups accused of perpetrating the mass
killings of civilians.

There are notable differences between regime accounts of one of the attacks
and that of an opposition activist who was present in Barouda village at
the time (it is also unclear why an Alawite, pro-regime stronghold village
would have an opposition activist present). The opposition activist claimed
that a suicide bomber started the attack, while regime soldiers claimed two
defected soldiers began it.

The report rightly documents the destruction of an Alawite religious site
by Suquor al-Izz — the group posted a video on YouTube of the destruction
of an Alawite maqam — but does not establish whether Suquor al-Izz were
responsible for civilian killings as well.

The report goes on to document the execution by Jabhat al-Nusra of Sheikh
Bader Ghazzal, the head of Barouda village and a relative of the prominent
Alawite figure Fadl Ghazzal, an advisor to late Syrian p

[LAAMN] Hezbollah “execution” video sparks online outrage & Sex, media, and jihad

[Cort Greene]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/hezbollah-execution-video-sparks-online-outrage

Hezbollah “execution” video
sparks online outrage

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RWhLQ_o5s88

A gory online video that appears to show Hezbollah fighters executing
gravely wounded Syrian rebels has sparked outrage and threatens to worsen
sectarian tensions in Lebanon.



The video shows armed men in fatigues, at least one wearing the yellow arm
band sported by the Lebanese Shiite movement, dragging several bloodied men
out of a van and shooting them dead.



The men speak in the Lebanese dialect of Arabic, and at the end of the
video one man calls them over, saying: "One moment, one moment. We are
doing our duty, not avenging ourselves."



The others call out: "For the sake of God, for the sake of God."



The one minute, 40 second video's authenticity could not be confirmed, and
it was unclear when or where it might have been shot.



Hezbollah declined to comment on it.



Al-Arabiya television said it may have been filmed during the battle for
Al-Qusayr, a strategic Syrian town near the Lebanese border that Syrian
troops recaptured from rebels with the help of Hezbollah earlier this year.



If confirmed, the video could stoke sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where
political factions are bitterly split between support for the Sunni-led
insurgency and President Bashar al-Assad's regime, a close ally of Shiite
Iran and Hezbollah.



Fighting has periodically broken out in Lebanon since the start of the
Syrian uprising in March 2011 and recent bombings and rocket attacks have
raised the specter of a return to the 1975-1990 civil war.



Lebanese media largely steered clear of the video, either because they were
unable to confirm it or for fear of worsening tensions.



But the video triggered outrage on Twitter, with many observers comparing
Hezbollah to radical Sunni rebel groups that have carried out past
atrocities.



"Between the Sunni Salafi jihadists and the Shiite fundamentalist
jihadists, we really have to watch our backs," wrote Mustafa Fahas on
Facebook.



On Twitter at least one user compared the video to the infamous clip of a
Syrian rebel eating the organs of a dead Alawite, a member of the Shiite
offshoot sect to which Assad also belongs.



"Horrific and disgusting," Lebanese editor Angie Nassar wrote in a Twitter
post linking to the video.



Hezbollah -- which has always presented itself as Lebanon's first line of
defense against Israel -- has come under intense criticism for its decision
to enter the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Assad regime.



It has said it joined the battle to protect Lebanon from extreme Islamists
among the ranks of the Syrian rebels.



Syria has long been a key part of the supply line between Iran and
Hezbollah, whose military power dwarfs that of the Lebanese state and which
fought Israel to a bloody stalemate in 2006.





Sex, media, and jihadWith news reports about sex jihad, truth is secondary
[image: Giulio Rosati painting]

It’s always exciting to talk about sex. Combined with Islamism, sex could
become the most discussed and read about topic in the media. That’s why *Jihad
Al Nikah* (sex jihad) has become the obsession of everyone writing or
working on Syria. It is an exotic topic for Western media outlets and
audiences alike. Meanwhile, Arab media uses it to indulge the viewers in
suppressed fantasies.



Truth is secondary here. It doesn’t matter anymore if *Jihad al Nikah* is
an actual phenomenon. Either way, it takes over everything else that
matters. The same can be said about all the other shocking information
coming from Syria, including the savagery of beheadings, the heart-eating
man, the burning of churches, and the barbarism of the rebellion.



These realities, although factual and truthful, are often exaggerated. They
also overwhelm everything else about Syria and the revolution. They take
over all other layers and make genuine calls for freedom and reform
insignificant. Al-Qaeda may be a sexy topic, but sex jihad is even more so.



The regime’s obsession with sex and rape has always been a political and
cultural tool used for oppression. It did not start with the revolution.
Assad’s prisons were the sights of horrible sexual abuse and torture of
prisoners, both men and women, for many years.



But the Syrian regime knows how to play this game quite well, much better
than the opposition at least. From extremism to minorities, Assad knows how
to play his cards. He has presented his regime to the international
community as the sole protector of the Christians in Syria, highlighting
al-Qaeda burning churches and its attacks on Christian villages. Of course,
ISIS’s sectarian rhetoric makes Assad’s task an easy one, but that does not
mean that the rebels seek to eliminate the Christian presence in Syria.



The Syrian regime’s thugs
raped
and

[LAAMN] Live streaming - today - Alan Woods will debate Orlando Figes on the Russian Revolution.

[Cort Greene]

In USA  viewing
at 2:00 pm Eastern
1;00 PM CENTRAL
   NOON MOUNTAIN
 11:00 am West Coast

Current time  London
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=136


At 7pm today Alan Woods will debate Orlando Figes on the Russian
Revolution. Watch live here: https://bambuser.com/node/4120457
via
@MarxistStudent 

The Russian revolution - Triumph or tragedy?
niklas.albinsvensson 

A very special joint meeting of the London Marxist societies, hosted by the
University of London Union (ULU) Marxist society. Alan Woods, author of
“Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution” will debate Orlando Figes, author of
“The Russian Revolution: A People’s Tragedy”, on the true nature of the
Russian Revolution, what it meant for the people of Russia and the class
struggle internationally.


https://bambuser.com/node/4120457

[LAAMN] Colombia: Rumors- peace process could be delayed or abandoned & export of security stratergy

[Cort Greene]

Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Colombia defense minister looking to export security strategy and arms to
Central America



Last week Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón
traveled
to
seven different Central American and Caribbean countries to discuss
security cooperation: Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica,
the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago.

In every country Pinzón visited he discussed deals with the host
governments to increase defense cooperation with Colombia. These deals
included selling the countries arms and equipment, as well as having their
security forces trained by Colombian police officers and military personnel
to fight drug trafficking.

Colombian newspaper El
Tiempo
covered
Pinzón’s trip, focusing on this expansion of the Colombian security model
into Central America. According to the newspaper, the trip had three
focuses:
Advising on the implementation of Colombian models for the police, the
Armed Forces and defense sector sales;
Security cooperation so that [Colombian] national companies invest more in
[Central America]
Gaining support for the government’s decision regarding the maritime
dispute with Nicaragua.

*There were several other key points to highlight from the article:*

*Security reform and cooperation*
Colombia advises police reform in Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican
Republic, but has agreements to reproduce a national model against drug
trafficking all over Central America, from Mexico to Panama.
Colombia hopes [that cooperation], for example from the various police
reforms in the region, will allow for shared protocols against crime.
According to Pinzón:

“We need to be in solidarity with these countries that are facing problems
similar to the ones we face. To the extent that this interrupts
trafficking, it interrupts criminality and reduces the flow of resources
that come to finance violence and terrorism in Colombia, so we all win.”

This idea has become popular in the region. Honduran Minister of Security
Arturo Corrales said,

“The idea is that Honduras will join a concert of friends that will widen
the spectrum against common enemies, and from the South to the North, and
will construct a bridge free of narcotrafficking and organized crime. For
this, we need Colombia.”

David Muguia Payes, the Salvadoran Defense Minister, also supported the
partnership, saying: “The Colombian experience is useful for us in the
head-on attack against criminals.” The Dominican Republic and Jamaica also
recognize Colombia as their primary ally in the fight against
narcotrafficking.
Pinzón also told the paper that it was a mistake for some Central American
countries to have reduced the sizes of their militaries after signing peace
accords, saying that this “opened up spaces for organized crime.”
On the issue of the country’s maritime territorial dispute with Nicaragua,
Pinzón said: “I found a lot of understanding for Colombia’s position to not
implement The Hague’s [November 2012] ruling.”

*Business interests:*

Colombian companies from various industries have invested all over Central
America. As El Tiempo noted, Colombia and its business community have one
of the highest rates of investment in the region. Some defense-focused
businesses, like armored cars and bulletproof clothing, are already widely
recognized.

Colombia hopes that these trainings and agreements will boost their
military- industrial complex and lead to the sale of ships, boats, guns,
pistols, rifles and gun sights.

Minister Pinzón is promoting Indumil and Cotecmar, two Colombian businesses
that have developed weapons such as the Cordoba pistol, the Galil ACE
rifle, as well as river and ocean patrol boats. The sale of one of these
boats, which 
cost
around
US$60 million to construct, is being negotiated with Trinidad and Tobago,
and Colombia has just closed a deal to sell river patrol boats to Brazil.

The article then goes on to discuss the expansion of Colombian banking
interests in Central America.

*Continuing a problematic trend*

Colombian training of foreign forces is not a new trend, but it is
accelerating one. As noted in our recent military trends
report,
an April PowerPoint slideshow from the Colombian Ministry of Defense shows
there were 9,983 recipients of Colombian training from 45 different
countries between 2010 and 2012. In Panama, Pinzón noted 4,000 police
agents alone have already been trained in Colombia. Between 2010 and 2012,
that number was just shy of 2,

[LAAMN] Venezuelan Authorities to Combat Foreign Currency Scam with Fingerprint Devices

[Cort Greene]

Venezuelan Authorities to Combat Foreign Currency Scam with Fingerprint
Devices

Oct 7th 2013, by Ewan Robertson
[image: The machines ensure that dollar-loaded credit cards can only be
used by those who actually travel abroad (Google)]

The machines ensure that dollar-loaded credit cards can only be used by
those who actually travel abroad (Google)

Mérida, 7th October 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) Venezuelan authorities will
install fingerprint devices in airports and other border posts to prevent
foreign-bound Venezuelans committing a currency scam known as “the scrape”.

The scam involves taking advantage of the difference between the official
exchange rate (BsF6.3 = $1) and the higher black market exchange rate
between the Bolivar and foreign currencies.

Currency exchange controls have been in place in Venezuela since 2003 to
prevent capital flight, and citizens are allocated annual amounts of
dollars for specific activities such as travel and foreign study.

A citizen planning to travel is given their dollar allocation after buying
a flight ticket, with a small portion of the dollars handed out inside
Venezuela, and the majority of the currency loaded onto their credit card
for purchases abroad.

A scam taking advantage of the situation is called “the scrape”, where
citizens travel abroad and then use card transactions to receive most of
their dollars in cash; “scraping” their card clean. Rather than spending
the money abroad, they then return back to Venezuela and sell the dollars
for up to seven times their official value.

As well as this, groups of people buy flights tickets to access their
dollar allocation and then send their cards abroad with an acquaintance who
returns with all of the cash for sale on the black market. Authorities have
indicated that organised gangs are also involved in the scheme.

The practice appears to have taken off this year as the dollar’s back
market price has ballooned, making the scam more lucrative. Along with
other abuses of the currency system by “ghost” import companies, organised
crime and corruption, such practices hurt the Venezuelan economy by
undermining the national currency.

A further side effect of “the scrape” is that flights abroad from Venezuela
are fully booked months in advance, and ticket prices have tripled in some
cases. However many of the planes leave with empty seats belonging to
people who only buy the flight ticket to access foreign currency and take
part in “the scrape”.

*Measures*

Authorities and airline representatives have met in recent weeks to design
strategies to crack down on “the scrape”.

One of the main measures announced is the installation of fingerprint
machines in airports and other border posts to prevent no show passengers
from accessing their dollars. Foreign currency allocations will only be
activated on a traveller’s credit card once they are about to fly.

“The game is up for these people. We’ve been meeting with [a range of
Venezuelan authorities]. We’re transferring them the information of which
passengers are actually leaving the country,” said Luis Semprún Van
Greiken, president of the Association of Venezuelan Airlines (ALAV) last
week.

The finger print machines will be installed by the Identification and
Migration Administration Service (Saime) and the government’s foreign
exchange commission Cadivi.

“The idea is that everyone passing through this filter has the same
treatment,” said the Saime director general, Juan Carlos Dugarte in a press
release.

Further, the attorney general’s office is to dispatch a team of
investigators to crack down on abuses of the currency control system.

A reform to the Law Against Illicit Currency Exchange is also being
studied, which would increase penalties for those engaging in “the scrape”.

Local consumer group Anauco has opposed the fingerprint scheme, arguing
that it will cause longer queues in airports and that authorities could use
other means to monitor which passengers with foreign currency allocations
actually take their flight.

The rising gap between the official and black-market dollar rates
accompanies other economic difficulties for Venezuela this year, including
an annualised inflation rate of 45% and scarcity in some basic products
such as toilet paper.

The conservative opposition blames these problems on government
mismanagement and policies such as price and currency controls.

However, President Nicolas Maduro has argued that the situation is being
caused by an “economic war” waged by national and international economic
actors close to the opposition.

The Venezuelan Central Bank, government ministers and currency authorities
are currently studying reforms to the country’s currency controls, which
are expected to be announced in the near future.
--
*Source URL (retrieved on 07/10/2013 - 4:42pm):*
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10077

[LAAMN] Venezuela:Remembering Cantaura, 31 years later

[Cort Greene]

I remember this event also and was the first time I had heard of the
struggles in Venezuela sitting with political colleagues in the back of the
Memorial Union at the UW-Madison *discussing our Latin America solidarity
work mainly around El Salvador and* Nicaragua *. One  guy by the Mark had
just been to Venezuela over the summer break and was worried about his
girlfriend. Later I was to meet a person from Madison who worked with some
those armed groups in Venezuela in the early 80's. *
*
*
*Cort*
*
*

http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/10/remembering-cantaura-31-years-later.html

Remembering Cantaura, 31 years
laterOctober
6, 2013 — Sabina Becker

[image: cantaura-victims]

A poster from 2009 commemorating the victims of the “democratic” massacre
of Cantaura, Venezuela, which occurred 31 years ago. This is all of a
pattern with US interference throughout Latin America. While Argentina and
Chile suffered openly under fascist dictators imposed with the help of
Washington and the Chicago Boys, Venezuela had its own, but with a veneer
of “democratic” gloss, thanks to the infamous Punto Fijo pact of 1958,
where the dictators basically alternated their reign under a cycle of sham
elections, empty campaign promises, corruption…and covert terror, wrought
by goons from the army, the police, and the DISIP, the secret political
police of the era. After the exclusion of leftists from the pact, guerrilla
bands in Venezuela fought to topple the succession of
dictators-in-all-but-name…and paid the price in blood. And even peaceful,
unarmed leftist organizers and innocent workers paid the same toll, as the
massacre of Cantaura shows in no uncertain
terms:

*5:30 a.m. It was dawn on the morning of October 4, 1982 in the scrublands
of Los Changurriales, in Cantaura. A pot of coffee was brewing and some
arepas were cooking on the fire in a camp of the revolutionary “Américo
Silva” front. It was the front room of an ideological congress which would
have been held by 40 of its members, had seventeen 250-pound bombs not
fallen from the sky, launched by Canberra and Bronco planes of the
Venezuelan Air Force. Everything was blown into the air. Extermination as
state policy was on the march.*
*

It was the “pacification” policy of the COPEI government of Luis Herrera
Campins to silence persons who strove for a Venezuela of justice and social
inclusion. The massacre was part of this plan which, without any mincing of
words, was announced to the press in August of that same year: “They must
surrender or die”, read the headline of the newspaper El Mundo, which cited
the warning given by the then Ministry for Interior Relations to guerrilla
groups operating in the eastern part of the country.

And so it was. Minutes after the bombs fell on Los Changurriales in
Cantaura, they shot 41 revolutionaries at close range in an aerial attack.
Not content with that, 1,500 members of the Army, National Guard and DISIP
[Venezuelan secret police] surrounded the zone, with express orders to wipe
out any survivors.

After the rockets and machine-gun fire from the aerial attack, according to
the account of the journalist Alexis Rosas in his book The Cantaura
Massacre, the close-range firing began again on the ground, on three flanks
and without a call for surrender. Those who were sounded were gunned down
in cold blood by a commando of the DISIP, directed by Henry López Sisco,
who in 1988 participated in the massacre of El Amparo, during the final
months of the government of Jaime Lusinchi.

Even though nearly everyone had been killed, the rain of bullets continued.
They were overkilled without pity. The corpses, exhumed after having been
buried in a common grave by the authorities, showed evidence of the
brutality of the attack. The bodies were dismembered, with bomb wounds in
the extremitites, multiple gunshot wounds, and 14 of them showed signs of
execution-style killing, with bullets in the back of the neck or in the
head.

In that moment, before being assassinated, the “sin” committed by this
revolutionary front was to meet in order to analyze the political and
social situation of the land and to delineate a political proposal of
inclusion, social justice and real participation of the people in a land
governed at that time by the Christian-democratic party, COPEI.

“There died revolutionary and Bolivarian comrades who gave themselves to
the task of teaching peasants and workers to read. All they had were
political thoughts of a better Venezuela,” recalls Nayive Rincón, niece of
Roberto “El Catire” Rincón Cabrera, chief of the Front, in a declaration
published by the blog Cantaura Lives.

Later investigations revealed that the order of the Campins government was
to destroy the “subversives” (which they were called in order to
criminalize them) and defini

[LAAMN] US praises Assad/Russia-US imperialism agreement & Mis-Understanding the Insurgency

[Cort Greene]

http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-video-analysis-mis-understanding-insurgency/
Syria Video Analysis: Mis-Understanding the Insurgency

Six minutes reviewing the latest developments within the insurgency —
including the formation of new blocs in the north and in the Damascus
suburbs — and explaining how many in the media mis-understand this as
“Islamist extremists” taking over the opposition:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lilbi8ub_QA


1*. The re-alignment of factions in the north is largely motivated by 1)
disillusionment with the opposition political and military leadership
outside Syria, amid the failure of the US to give significant assistance to
the insurgency, and 2) the need to confront the influence of the Islamic
State of Iraq and as-Sham.*

*2. The development in the Damascus suburbs is “simply because insurgent
factions are fighting a battle to the death against the forces of the Assad
regime”.*

*3. “It’s simple to declare that the insurgency has been taken over by
radical groups. It’s simple, but it’s wrong. These groups fight together
not because they want to establish a caliphate, but because they see an
increasingly desperate battle against Assad’s forces — and, indeed, the
foreign fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq.”*

*---*
UPDATE 2-US lauds moves to destroy Syria chemical arsenal, praises Assad

   -

  By Lesley Wroughton

Oct 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lauded the start of
destruction of chemical weapons in
Syria as
a "good beginning" and said Washington and Moscow had agreed to press
the United
Nations  to
set a date for a Syria peace conference in November.

In unusual praise for Damascus, Kerry also gave the government of President
Bashar al-Assad credit for quickly complying with the U.N. resolution on
destroying its chemical weapons arsenal.

"I think it is extremely significant that yesterday, Sunday, within a week
of the resolution being passed, some chemical weapons were already being
destroyed," Kerry said at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov at an Asia-Pacific summit on the Indonesian resort
island of Bali.

"I think it's also credit to the Assad regime for complying rapidly, as
they are supposed to."

But he added: "Now, we hope that will continue. I'm not going to vouch
today for what happens months down the road, but it's a good beginning, and
we should welcome a good beginning."

A team of international experts from the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons in The Hague and U.N. personnel began destroying
Syria's chemical gas arsenal on Sunday.

Their work follows an agreement hammered out between Washington and Moscow
after a deadly Aug 21 chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus,
which prompted U.S. threats of air strikes against the Syrian government.
The elimination of the chemical weapons is expected to continue until at
least mid-2014.

More than 100,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, which began in
early 2011 with peaceful demonstrations seeking more democracy but
deteriorated into a sectarian civil war.

On Bali, Kerry and Lavrov first met with aides and then one-on-one,
discussing ways to end Syria's civil war and talks on Oct. 15-16 between
world powers and Iran  on ending a
dispute over its nuclear weapons program.

Kerry characterized his meeting with Lavrov as "one of the most productive
we have had", saying they spoke at length about ways to bring Syria's
warring parties together in Geneva, known as the Geneva 2 talks.

"We re-committed today very specific efforts to move the Geneva process as
rapidly as possible," Kerry said, saying both sides would "lay the
groundwork for a round of talks".

They will meet with United Nations special envoy for
Syria,
Lakhdar Brahimi, to finalise a date for the peace conference, he added.

Brahimi said on Sunday it was not certain that the peace talks would take
place in mid-November as planned.

ASSAD SAYS REBELS SHOULD DISARM

Assad told a German magazine he would not negotiate with rebels until they
laid down their arms, and said his most powerful ally
Russia supported
his government more than ever. He said he did not believe it was possible
to solve the conflict through negotiations with the rebels.

"In my view, a political opposition does not carry weapons. If someone
drops his weapons and wants to return to daily life, then we can discuss
it," he was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel.

Kerry was however hopeful for talks in November.

"It is our mutual hope that that can happen in November and we are both
intent and determined in consultations with our friends in these efforts to
try to make certain this can happen in November," he said, adding: "A final
date and t

[LAAMN] Venezuela: Between disenchantment and patience

[Cort Greene]

http://lo-de-alla.org/2013/10/venezuela-between-disenchantment-and-patience/

Venezuela: Between disenchantment and
patience
[image: ((El Faro
photo))]

((El Faro photo))

*Nicolás Maduro is not Hugo Chávez*

[Translation of an article from *El Faro* of San Salvador, El Salvador, for
October 4, 2013. See original
here and
related articles
here
 and here
.]

By Valeria Pacheco

*Caracas, Venezuela* – “I can’t get rice, flour, oil or butter. You have to
search for food from one supermarket to another and everything is more
expensive, I barely have enough money,” says Isabel Sánchez at the exit of
an informal market in the populous district of Petare, in eastern Caracas.

Six months after the start of the administration of President Nicolás
Maduro, who assumed office on April 19, Venezuelans face a cumulative
inflation through August of 32.9 percent (the highest in Latin America) and
a cyclical shortage of goods that has gotten worse in the past few weeks.

Sánchez, a 45-year-old housewife, argues that these problems already
existed during the government of Hugo Chávez but “now we feel them much
more because Maduro is just learning to govern” and he has “an opposition
that is always attacking him.”

“If you want milk you have to stand in line and if you go to a supermarket
you can buy milk but there is no rice. Now there is more delinquency, there
are more shortages, it’s all a hassle,” adds Francisco, who is next to her,
as he peels yuccas one by one to sell in the market.

Francisco, who has seven children and considers himself a “devoted
Chavista,” describes the situation more sharply. “With Chávez we were much
better off; you don’t need glasses to see what’s right in front of you.”

Maduro, foreign minister for six years and designated by Hugo Chávez to be
his successor shortly before he died, for which he was confirmed by a
narrow margin in early elections shortly afterward, attributes the
shortages to an “economic war” or to sabotage by the opposition and the
businessmen, who hoard goods in order to wreak social discord and
instability.

Maduro began his term already being criticized over his handling of
Chávez’s sickness and death and during these months of economic hardship he
has been taken to task as well over his constant charges of assassination
plots against him and even for some linguistic gaffes in his speeches.

But he is also recognized for his openness in relations to the private
sector, his support for the struggle against widespread corruption – a
topic that was taboo for Chávez – and his announcements – still not put
into effect – of more flexible exchange controls, one of the causes of the
economic crisis.

“Chávez had an extraordinary ability to communicate; he was a teacher.
Maduro wants to emulate him but he hasn’t yet found a style of his own that
defines his leadership,” explains political scientist and university
professor Nicmer Evans.

“It’s been 150 days, there has not been enough time to speak of deception.
The Chavista population is evaluating whether his administration is
consistent with Chávez’s line and his form of leadership,” he adds.

Francisco believes in the head of state’s reasoning. “This is in part
sabotage, like what they carried out against Chávez at the beginning. They
made war against the *comandante* not only over food but over gasoline.”
But before, “if there was a shortage of milk, Chávez would go to Argentina,
there was a shortage of chicken and he would go to Brazil. Chávez would be
on the move,” he says.

“I thought this country was going to move along as it did with Chávez, but
that’s not the way it is. We are short of everything here. I regret voting
for Maduro. He is not managing things well,” Narcelis Páez comments while
he arranges packages of powdered milk at his stand a few meters away from
Francisco.

The conversation gets lively. Ismael Rondón, who is 52 years old and lives
with four of his children in Petare, joins in and agrees on defending the
government despite the problems. “The businessmen hoard the goods and claim
later it’s the government’s fault.”

“The situation in the country may improve. We’ll have to wait because
Maduro hasn’t been in for even six months. We have to give him more time,
he is just beginning,” he adds.

Nevertheless, many Venezuelans also believe that public safety has gotten
worse; in 2012 there were 16,000 homicides in Venezuela, which translates
to 54 assassinations for every 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in South
America.

Maduro repeats almost every day that he will carry on “Chávez’s revolution”
despite the difficulties his government faces, which the opposition
believes are 

[LAAMN] 38 dead in clashes on Egypt's war anniversary

[Cort Greene]

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/83343/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATE---dead-in-clashes-on-Egypts-war-anniversary.aspx

 38 dead in clashes on Egypt's war anniversary
At least 38 people killed as pro-Morsi protesters clash with security
forces and pro-military crowds celebrating 1973 war anniversary; politician
Bothaina Kamel attacked by protesters
Ahram Online , Sunday 6 Oct 2013
[image: Egypt]
Supporters of the Egyptian army chant slogans in Tahrir Square (R) and
Supporters and opponents of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohammed
Morsi clash in Cairo (L) (Photo: AP)

Related
Pro-Morsi protester killed in Upper Egypt's
Minya
US more 'understanding' of Morsi ouster: Egypt interim
president
Bomb defused near Cairo's Tahrir
Square
Gunmen kill Egyptian policeman in
Sinai
Deadly clashes erupted in Cairo on Sunday as pro-Morsi marches protesting
against the military headed to Tahrir Square, where thousands were
celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war against Israel and voicing
support for the army.

Confrontations also took place outside the capital, with the death toll
rising to 38. At least 229 were injured in the melee.

According to health ministry official Khaled El-Khatib, 32 people were
killed in Cairo and Giza, three in Beni Suef and one in Delga in Minya. Two
more deaths occurred in non-specified locations nationwide.

State news agency MENA reports that at least 300 pro-Morsi supporters have
been arrested on Sunday.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, a coalition of Islamist forces
supporting deposed president Mohamed Morsi, claimed that at least 11
protesters had been killed in clashes with security forces in Ramsis Street
in central Cairo.

Backers of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood have staged thousand-strong marches
in several parts of Cairo, Giza and other governorates.

Rallies took a violent turn in central Cairo's Garden City and Giza's Dokki
district, where police fired rounds of teargas after local residents
clashed during pro-Morsi protests heading towards Tahrir, eyewitnesses and
Ahram Online reporters said. The sound of heavy gunfire was later reported.


Politician and former presidential candidate Bothaina Kamel told Aswat
Masriya that she was physically assaulted and her car windows were smashed
by pro-Morsi demonstrators while she was driving through Dokki on Sunday.

In Delga - a town south of Cairo held by Islamists until security forces
raided it last month - a Brotherhood supporter was killed and at least
three injured as a pro-Morsi march clashed with police. Protesters hurled
stones at security officers near a police station, and officers responded
with live fire.

Flexing its muscles, a pro-Morsi Islamist group urged followers to converge
on Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 2011 uprising and 2012
demonstrations against Morsi's rule.

However, police and army troops barred Islamist marches from reaching the
capital's major squares, as army jets and F-16 fighters hover in formations
over Cairo, Alexandria and several other cities.

Almost two dozen Islamists were arrested early on Sunday in northeast Cairo
while marching towards the Rabaa Al-Adawiya area, which security forces
raided in mid-August to disperse a sizeable extended sit-in by Morsi
loyalists, leaving hundreds dead.

The area, along with other major squares, has been sealed off to protesters
since the police crackdown.

In Cairo's Mohandeseen district, thousands of Morsi backers marched through
the area, many flashing the four-finger Rabaa sign and chanting anti-army
slogans, reported Ahram Online's Sherif Tarek.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has repeatedly called for
protests against the military's overthrow of Morsi.

However, its ability to muster large crowds has tailed off as security
forces have mounted a crackdown on Islamists, arresting hundreds of members
and allies including Morsi himself.

*Celebrations in Tahrir*

A short distance away from the Ramses clashes in the flashpoint Tahrir
Square in downtown Cairo, an Ahram reporter said people were queuing to
stream into the area to celebrate the national holiday. There was a
celebratory atmosphere, but security is evident.

Protesters, many clad in T-shirts bearing the photo of army chief General
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi or holding his picture, have converged on the square
in their thousands as patriotic songs boom from loud speakers.

People walk through metal detectors and are thoroughly searched by police
and army personnel as they enter the square, with only two entrances open.
All other routes i

[LAAMN] Colombian-U.S. owned Oil Pipelines attacked near Venezuela border

[Cort Greene]

http://colombiareports.co/guerrillas-attack-oil-pipelines-colombia-near-venezuelan-border/

News
Oct 4, 2013
 Guerrillas attack Colombia oil pipelines near Venezuela borderposted by Taran
Volckhausen 
 [image: Guerrillas attack Colombia oil pipelines near Venezuela
border]
[image: Share Button] 


A local mayor has asked for help from the military to stop oil spilling
from two stretches of pipeline allegedly bombed by Colombia’s
second-largest rebel group ELN .

The two attacks on the joint Colombian-U.S. owned Caño Limon-Coveñas
pipeline, producing spills of crude oil, took place in the rural
municipality of Toledo in Norte de Santander department, near the
Venezuelan border.

Newspaper El Colombiano reported that explosives were detonated at 8PM on
Thursday, and then at 7:30AM on Friday.

The Toledo Mayor, John Triana, told Caracol Radio that the local government
was organizing an environmental response to prevent oil from spilling into
local rivers and affecting the drinking water supply.

“We have activated contingency plans with Ecopetrol, the Office of Risk
Management and the authorities in the affected zones to avoid any more
damage caused by the petroleum,” said Triana.

He asked military authorities in the area to accompany crews while they
repair the damaged stretches of pipeline.

The Caño Limon-Coveñas Pipeline had been attacked 27 times this year alone,
according to Caracol Radio.
Toledo, Norte de Santander

Sources

   - Dos Nuevos Atentados Contra Oleoducto Caño Limón –
Coveñas
(Caracol
   Radio)
   - Atentan Contra El Oleoducto Caño Limón
Coveñas
(ElColombiano)


   - As another round of peace talks between FARC rebels and the Colombian
   government gets underway in Havana, the guerrilla group’s negotiating team
   told the press that there has been “modest
progress” made
   at the negotiating table. The rebels say they have made preliminary
   agreements on a range of issues, in a document spanning some 25 pages.
   
Semana
reports
   that on Monday, Colombian television aired the first-ever interview with
   FARC negotiators Ivan Marquez and Pablo Catatumbo that the rebels granted
   to a Colombian news network. In it, the two voiced sharp criticism of
   former President Alvaro Uribe, who Marquez blasted for “being incapable of
   winning the war and now not wanting to make peace.”


   - El 
Colombiano
and
   the 
AP
report
   that Uribe’s former police general Mauricio Santoyo, who is imprisoned in
   the U.S. for links to paramilitary groups, will be investigated for links
   to the forced disappearance of two human rights activists in Medellin in
   October 2000.
   - From  Pan American Post

[LAAMN] Venezuela’s Price Control Enforcer Eduardo Saman Survives Armed Assault, Three Dead

[Cort Greene]

Venezuela’s Price Control Enforcer Eduardo Saman Survives Armed Assault,
Three Dead

Oct 4th 2013, by Ewan Robertson
[image: Indepabis president Eduardo Saman (archive)]

Indepabis president Eduardo Saman (archive)

Mérida, 4th October 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The head of the state
organisation which regulates government price controls, Eduardo Saman,
survived an armed assault late Wednesday.  All three attackers were killed.

Different motives are being considered for the incident. Police authorities
have suggested that the attack was an attempted robbery of the state
official’s vehicle.

However several public figures and Saman himself are convinced the attack
was an assassination attempt against the official in order to weaken the
government of Nicolas Maduro and its regulatory policies toward the private
sector.

Eduardo Saman is the president of the Institute for the Defence of People
in Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis), a state agency which enforces
price controls and other regulatory economic measures.

Regarded as a radical figure in Chavismo, since appointed to the job in
June he has promised to improve the effectiveness of Indepabis and warned
speculators in the private economy that “the fun is over”.

The attack occurred around midnight on Wednesday as Saman was driving out
of Indepabis’ central office in Caracas. According to police reports and
Saman’s personal account, three individuals armed with handguns and
grenades appeared from a vehicle and began firing at Saman’s armoured SUV.

Saman managed to drive away from the attackers and escape while his escort
guard confronted the attackers, killing one outright. Both of the other
individuals later died; one who apparently detonated a grenade on
him/herself while fleeing capture, and the other from wounds in hospital.

*Reactions*

The incident provoked solidarity and concern from government officials and
supporters. Ernesto Villegas, the former information minister and current
candidate for metropolitan Caracas, wrote on twitter, “Solidarity with
Eduardo Saman, the target of a strange “assault” with grenades”.

Meanwhile socialist lawmaker Adel El Zabayar, who recently returned from a
visit to his ancestral Syria, argued that, “The characteristics of the
attempt against Saman demonstrate that we are now in the presence of
mercenaries and terrorist groups in Venezuela”.

Some figures speculated as to whether the incident was an attempt to repeat
the tragic fate of Daniel Anderson, a state prosecutor who was in charge of
investigating the cases of those accused of participating in the April 2002
against the government of Hugo Chavez.

Anderson was assassinated on 18 November 2004 when two car bombs were
detonated while he was driving his vehicle.

Jesus Silva, a constitutional lawyer and university professor, called on
authorities to act to avoid the same happening to Eduardo Saman.

“I know Eduardo Saman personally…I respect him a lot and I know he has
enemies in the capitalist and speculative sectors who could try to
eliminate him,” he wrote on website Aporrea.

“It would be unpardonable for such a valuable comrade who works for the
food security of Venezuela to become a victim of assassination due to the
lack of action of those who are called upon to strengthen his system of
protection,” continued Silva.

*Investigation*

Venezuela’s scientific criminal investigation police (CICPC) are
investigating the incident, and have stated that while it is too early to
confirm a definite motive, they are working on the assumption that the
attack was an attempted robbery.

“We are undertaking the investigation, we have elements which suggest to us
that this is about common criminals who tried to commit theft,” said CICPC
national director Jose Gregorio Sierralta yesterday.

The CICPC official added that one of those involved in the attacked had
been identified as Kenny Johan Nieto Viloria, 28, who had a previous
history of drug-related crime. Further, the vehicle used in the attack was
a stolen car.

*Personal account*

Today Eduardo Saman gave his personal account of the incident. The official
disputed the motive of robbery for the attack, and asked authorities to
investigate more deeply.

“My impression of the incident is that those people were trying to kill me.
They weren’t trying to take the van,” he said in an interview with ALBA
Ciudad radio.

“When I was leaving [the Indepabis office] in an armoured van, a vehicle
cut across the entrance of the institution and three people got out and
began to fire. They didn’t say it was an assault or anything. One of them
fired at me twice, at the driver’s window, right at my face. Luckily the
bullet proofing resisted…each one [also] carried a grenade.”

Saman emphasised his impression that, “The attitude of the aggressors was
not that of someone who wanted a van. They didn’t ask us to get out. They
went straight to the window and fired”.

The Indepabis president explained that he used his SUV to pu

[LAAMN] Angola 3 -Herman Wallace, The “Muhammad Ali of the Criminal Justice System,” Passes On

[Cort Greene]

[image: User Picture]  Herman
Wallace, The “Muhammad Ali of the Criminal Justice System,” Passes
On
By: Angola 3 News  Friday
October 4, 2013 7:29 am

This morning we lost without a doubt the biggest, bravest, and brashest
personality in the political prisoner world. It is with great sadness that
we write with the news of Herman Wallace’s passing.
[image: Herman Wallace on a stretcher after his release.]

Herman Wallace after his release.

He never did anything half way. He embraced his many quests and adventures
in life with a tenacious gusto and fearless determination that will
absolutely never be rivaled. He was exceptionally loyal and loving to those
he considered friends, and always went out of his way to stand up for those
causes and individuals in need of a strong voice or fierce advocate, no
matter the consequences.

Anyone lucky enough to have spent any time with Herman knows that his
indomitable spirit will live on through his work and the example he left
behind. May each of us aspire to be as dedicated to something as Herman was
to life, and to justice.

Below is a short obituary/press statement for those who didn’t know him
well in case you wish to circulate something. Tributes from those who were
closest to Herman and more information on how to help preserve his legacy
by keeping his struggle alive will soon follow.

*In Memoriam: Herman Wallace*

On October 4th, 2013, Herman Wallace, an icon of the modern prison reform
movement and an innocent man, died a free man after spending an
unimaginable 41 years in solitary confinement.

Herman spent the last four decades of his life fighting against all that is
unjust in the criminal justice system, making international the inhuman
plight that is long term solitary confinement, and struggling to prove that
he was an innocent man. Just 3 days before his passing, he succeeded, his
conviction was overturned, and *he was
released*
to
spend his final hours surrounded by loved ones. Despite his brief moments
of freedom, his case will now forever serve as a tragic example that
justice delayed is justice denied.

Herman Wallace’s early life in New Orleans during the heyday of an
unforgiving and unjust Jim Crow south often found him on the wrong side of
the law and eventually he was sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at
Angola for armed robbery.  While there, he was introduced to the Black
Panther’s powerful message of self determination and collective community
action and quickly became one of its most persuasive and ardent
practitioners.

Not long after he began to organize hunger and work strikes to protest the
continued segregation, endemic corruption, and horrific abuse rampant at
the prison, he and his fellow panther comrades Albert Woodfox and Robert
King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown in solitary.
Robert was released in 2001 after 29 years in solitary but Herman remained
there for an unprecedented 41 years, and Albert is still in a 6×9 solitary
cell.

Herman’s criminal case ended with his passing, but his legacy will live on
through a civil lawsuit he filed jointly with Robert and Albert that seeks
to define and abolish long term solitary confinement as cruel and unusual
punishment, and through his comrade *Albert Woodfox’s still active and
promising bid for
freedom*
from
the wrongful conviction they both shared.

Herman was only 9 days shy of 72 years old.

Services will be held in New Orleans. The date and location will be
forthcoming.

*For more information visit www.angola3.org and
http://angola3news.blogspot.com/*

[LAAMN] El Salvador:Los paros en el sistema de salud: callejón sin salida para las reformas en tiempos de crisis del capitalismo

[Cort Greene]

[image: Bloque Popular Juvenil]
Publicado en *Bloque Popular Juvenil* (http://www.bloquepopularjuvenil.org)

Inicio  > Los paros en el sistema de
salud: callejón sin salida para las reformas en tiempos de crisis del
capitalismo
--
Los paros en el sistema de salud: callejón sin salida para las reformas en
tiempos de crisis del capitalismo
Autor:
 Bloque Popular Juvenil -CMI

Existe el planteamiento enfermizo de tildar toda lucha de empleados
gubernamentales como un acto político de la derecha, o de sus elementos
incrustados en  los ministerios del gobierno, algo que no es del todo
falso, pues para nadie es un secreto de la existencia de estos elementos
que en buena medida están ahí para obstaculizar los proyectos sociales del
gobierno actual.

Sin embargo, no podemos atribuir cualquier reivindicación laboral en el
Estado a estas personas, pues los empleados no protestasen si no existieran
amenazas como la reciente suspensión del escalafón a los empleados del
Ministerio de Salud (suspender el aumento salarial que por ley les
corresponde), en el anteproyecto de Presupuesto general del año 2014.

El Presidente Funes dijo este sábado en su programa radial que estos
recortes no son exclusivos del MINSAL (Ministerio de Salud), y que también
incluyen al MINED, SECULTURA y la PNC, lo cual fue una decisión del
gabinete de gobierno, es decir de los ministros del actual gobierno.



Esto se da en el marco del Asocio para el Crecimiento, el Fomilenio II y
las presiones del Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional para que
el Estado salvadoreño reduzca considerablemente su gasto, es en este marco
que el Ministerio de Hacienda plantea la reducción o el no aumento
presupuestario para el próximo año. Es una grave contradicción que los
gastos incrementen, pero el ingreso no.



Los demás trabajadores sobre todo deben comprender que toda lucha por
mejorar las condiciones de vida es una lucha legítima, pero también
alertamos de que en esta situación se mezclan elementos oportunistas y
arribistas de derecha, que no precisamente estén necesitados del escalafón,
más bien aprovechan la situación para desgastar al gobierno.



A quienes realmente urge una nivelación salarial son aquellos trabajadores
que ganan el mínimo. Los trabajadores del sector privado debemos
identificar que los responsables de todo este caos a través de las crisis
son los capitalistas, son ellos quiénes están constantemente evadiendo y
eludiendo impuestos que ponen en difícil situación las finanzas del Estado.
Debemos unificarnos como trabajadores y luchar contra los verdaderos
responsables de esta situación, los capitalistas.



Recientemente el Viceministro de Salud, Eduardo Espinoza hizo un comentario
acerca de la situación del paro de labores en los hospitales, planteando la
existencia de recursos en manos de los evasores y elusores de impuestos que
casualmente son grandes empresarios nacionales y extranjeros que dejan de
pagar más de 1000 millones de dólares al año en concepto de impuestos.





Es necesario combatir este crimen hacia el pueblo por parte del gran
empresariado, sin embargo el aparato estatal encargado de eso (Ministerio
de Hacienda), no tiene la capacidad de hacerlo. Pero, si apuntáramos las
exigencias de mejoras laborales, hacia los culpables de la reducción
presupuestaria, posiblemente, otro gallo cantaría.



Las luchas por los derechos de los trabajadores son justas y totalmente
legitimas. Los medios de comunicación capitalistas quieren hacernos creer
que los médicos y empleados de salud en huelga son los malos del cuento,
quieren hacernos confrontar. Ante esto, hacemos un llamado a la unidad de
los sindicatos y el FMLN, para movilizarnos y obligar a los evasores y
deudores de impuestos que paguen lo que deben al Estado.



¡Ante la campaña mediática de la derecha: Unidad Popular!

¡Por el pago de impuestos por parte de los grandes empresarios!

¡Mejoras laborales y salariales a los empleados públicos Ya!







   - Sindical  [1]

*Bloque Popular Juvenil*
--
*URL del envío:* http://www.bloquepopularjuvenil.org/node/743

*Enlaces:*
[1] http://www.bloquepopularjuvenil.org/taxonomy/term/11

[LAAMN] Rural Deaths in Venezuela Politically Motivated & “We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution”

[Cort Greene]

Rural Deaths in Venezuela Politically Motivated, Linked to Paramilitaries,
Rights Group Says

Oct 3rd 2013, by Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
[image: Venezuela's land disputes have claimed over 300 lives,
according to unofficial figures from community groups (Archive)]

Venezuela's land disputes have claimed over 300 lives, according to
unofficial figures from community groups (Archive)

Mérida, 3rd October 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The alleged murder of a
rural worker in Lara state is the latest in a series of killings allegedly
linked to paramilitaries in the far north of the Andes, according to a
local human rights group.

On Monday night, 24 year old Jose Perez was en route to the rural community
of Cerro Negro when he was reportedly killed.

According to the Association for Campesino (rural worker) Human Rights
(APDHC), Perez may have been murdered by individuals associated with the El
Fernandito gang- a group with alleged links to paramilitaries operating out
of Lara and neighbouring Portuguesa state.

So far, gangs in the mountainous region between Lara and Portuguesa may be
responsible for the deaths of between 10-12 campesinos in the area this
year.

Perez's death follows from the alleged killing of another rural worker, 20
year old Jose Silvestre Perez, from the community of El Flaco on 16
September. This small rural area is part of the El Maizal commune, which
straddles the border of the two states.

According to APDHC, on 18 September gangs struck again in El Flaco,
allegedly seizing control of the local community school and stealing
vehicles.

“The community school [was made] into an operations centre to evict farmers
from their lands and recruit children and prevent their return to classes,”
APDHC stated .

Community radio Antena Libre 96.3 fm presenter Jose Gomez has argued that
the violence is politically motivated; targeting the commune, and linked to
Colombian criminal organisations.

“The peoples' struggle has historically been repressed by the bourgeoisie,
the struggle for the emancipation of land and rural sectors has been no
exception,” Gomez stated .

Since 2001, conflicts between landless campesinos and large land holders
have been reported in many rural communities. The 2001 Land Law empowered
the government to redistribute unused land from ranchers and other large
land owners to landless rural workers. Land holders who lost out under the
law reform have long been accused of
hiring gangs and paramilitaries to intimidate communities into giving up
their new holdings, though rancher arrests are rare. According to unofficial
figures , at least 300
campesinos have been assassinated in relation to these disputes.

“Today a village was taken, but tomorrow could be a national operation that
would allow imperialism to end the Bolivarian revolution,” Gomez said last
month.

Venezuela's western states have long struggled with crime proportedly
linked to paramilitary groups that operate along the country's border with
Colombia.

In 2010, Colombian authorities reported that paramilitary violence had
intensified in the border region of Norte de Santander. Then Colombian
Ombudsman Volmar Perez Ortiz told the press that paramilitaries were targeting
civilians
.

Earlier this year, the Venezuelan government announced it had captured two
paramilitary groups that had crossed the border, and allegedly planned a
terrorist attack on Venezuelan soil.

“These two groups that were captured in our territory belong to two
well-known Colombian paramilitary gangs, and one of the groups is linked to
one of Colombia’s most wanted criminals, El Chepe Barrera,” said the
minister of internal affairs Miguel Rodriguez.

The latest attacks came less than two months after the Maduro
administration stated in August that it would renew efforts to counter
cross-border violence.

“I want to tell the people of Tachira, Zulia, Apure, Amazonas, Bolivar and
all areas bordering these states, we are setting up a new strategy to
strengthen governance... at the border, President Nicolas Maduro stated,
when he announced a new joint civil-military taskforce would crack down on
criminal gangs and paramilitaries.


--
*Source URL (retrieved on 03/10/2013 - 10:56pm):*
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10067

Reviewing George Ciccariello-Maher’s “We Created Chavez: A People’s History
of the Venezuelan Revolution”

Oct 4th 2013, by Joe Emersberger
[image: Hugo Chavez and supporters at Chavez’s final campaign rally in
Caracas on 4 October, 3 days before his reelection as president]

Hugo Chavez and supporters at Chavez’s final campaign rally in Caracas on 4
October, 3 days before his reelection as president on 7 October (AVN)
[image: The cover of “We Created C

[LAAMN] The Thistle and the Drone

[Cort Greene]

http://pulsemedia.org/2013/10/04/the-thistle-and-the-drone/
The Thistle and the Drone

October 4, 2013 § Leave a
Comment

Excerpts from my review of Akbar Ahmed’s remarkable new
book
.

*In the post-9/11 paranoia, many rogues have endeavoured to portray their
local adversaries as part of a global terrorist threat. Russia did it with
the Chechens; China with Uighurs; Israel with Palestinians – they all
claimed to be fighting a “war on terror” against the same Islamist menace
that threatened America. Others have followed the template. “Painting their
peripheries as associated with Al Qaeda,” writes Akbar Ahmed in his
remarkable new book The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror
Became a Global War on Tribal Islam, “many countries have sought to join
the terror network because of the extensive benefits that it brings. They
use the rhetoric of the war on terror to both justify their oppressive
policies and to ingratiate themselves with the United States and the
international system”.*

*This failure to distinguish regional struggles from global militancy
allowed many states to harness US power to settle local disputes. The
conflict between a centralising, hierarchical state and a recalcitrant,
egalitarian periphery is not unique to Pakistan and the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In the multi-ethnic Orient, geography
rarely corresponds with identity. Many tribal societies have been left
excluded on the margins. In turn they have resisted modernisation, seeing
it as the centre’s tool for expanding its authority. Some of these
conflicts, as in Chechnya, have simmered for centuries. But in most places,
modus vivendi were evolved guaranteeing the autonomy of tribes while
upholding state sovereignty.*

*The war on terror has disrupted this balance. FATA, Yemen and Somalia
represent the most obvious ruptures. But in his exhaustive study, Ahmed
considers 40 cases, ranging from Africa and the Middle East to Eurasia,
where the war on terror, or its local franchise, has upset the equilibrium
to unpredictable, often atrocious effect. In turn, unable to match the
power of central governments that are backed by the lethal technologies of
a superpower, the tribes have resorted to asymmetrical warfare. The drone
has been answered by the suicide bomber.*

*Ahmed draws the metaphor of the thistle from Tolstoy’s Hadji Murad to
represent the resilience and prickliness of tribal society. The drone, on
the other hand, is both the symbol and the instrument of the war on terror.
The resentments sown by the drones have sprouted a new harvest with all of
the thistle’s nettles but none of its beauty.*

*[...]*

*But the use of drones increases American insecurity in unpredictable ways.
Freelance retribution of the kind attempted by Faisal Shahzad at Times
Square and the Tsarnaev brothers at the Boston Marathon are harbingers of
the blowback to come. None of them had any connection to the Fata, but the
relentless killing in Waziristan and beyond outraged them all. The more
“collateral damage” accumulates, the vaster will be the reservoir of
resentment, the greater the willingness to retaliate.*

*The US is in effect creating the demons it is out to slay. President
Barack Obama’s drone war is baiting new enemies and swelling the ranks of
the old. Akbar notes: “92 per cent of the people surveyed in the
Pukhtun-dominated areas of Kandahar and Helmand a decade after the war
began in Afghanistan had never heard of 9/11”. To them, the causes of the
US war remain opaque. They have no desire – or capacity – to hurt America;
but they, like their forefathers, are committed to repelling overbearing
intruders.*

*Please visit The
National
to
read the rest. *

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/author-contends-war-on-terror-is-being-used-to-justify-oppressive-policies#full
*
*
Author contends war on terror is being used to justify oppressive policies

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
October 3, 2013 Updated: October 3, 2013 16:39:00
*

One-page article
*

Last May, a Syrian insurgent told The National’s Phil Sands about a meeting
with US intelligence operators in
Jordan.
The rebel commander was hoping to procure weapons to resist a regime
bristling with Russian arms. But he was surprised to learn that the
Americans were more interested in the composition and activities of the
opposition group Jabhat Al Nusra. Until the regime provoked the US with its
use of poison gas, checking its serial atrocities was a secondary concern.
The CIA was collecting coordinates of potential targets for its drones.
Related

   - [image: Comment] 

[LAAMN] After chemical attack, Damascus suburbs face starvation

[Cort Greene]

   -
   - eon/GPO)
- Living in a cage: On jail, running and the Shuafat
Camp
   ByMoriel Rothman 1 CommentPublished
   October 4, 2013
   

   PHOTOS: Palestinian activists dismantle Israeli
roadblock
   ByActivestills 1 CommentPublished
   October 3,
   2013
   ---


   
http://972mag.com/after-chemical-attack-damascus-suburbs-face-starvation/79851/
   After chemical attack, Damascus suburbs face starvation




 *Since the beginning of 2013, Assad’s forces have laid siege on the
suburbs of the capital known as Ghouta, which was the target of a chemical
weapons attack earlier this summer. Regime forces are stopping food and
other goods from coming in and as winter approaches, activists are warning
that the situation is about to get even worse.*

By Elizabeth Tsurkov

The chemical weapons attack on the eastern and southern outskirts of
Damascus (collectively known as Ghouta) have garnered a great deal of
international attention over the past month. While pundits and experts
discussed the imminent American-led strike on regime targets and later how
to disarm the Assad regime of its chemical weapon stockpiles, however, few
focused on the situation on the ground in the areas affected by the
chemical attack itself (which are targets of daily artillery attacks and
air strikes by the regime). These areas have been besieged by the regime
forces since January 2013, leading to severe shortages of food, medicine
and fuel that have resulted in the death of at least eight malnourished
children and many patients who could have been saved had proper medical
treatment been available to them.

Ghouta has been an opposition stronghold since the first days of the Syrian
uprising. Many of the residents of Ghouta’s conservative Sunni
working-class towns were displaced from southern and eastern Syria due to long
years of 
drought
and
the government’s mismanagement of the drought crisis. During the initial,
peaceful stage of the Syrian uprising, Ghouta witnessed large protests.
Soon after the opposition began to arm itself in 2011, the towns of Ghouta
were wrestled from regime control in 2012 and are now in the hands of the
rebels. Civil society organizations sprung up to fill the void created by
the government’s absence in the area.**


Destruction due to Shelling in Zamalka, a besieged town East of Damascus.
(photo: Lens of a Damascene Girl)

The Ghouta region, unlike rebel-held areas in northern, eastern and
southern Syria, is completely surrounded by regime-controlled areas. As a
result, the regime is able to utilize greater firepower against it, and to
besiege it. The siege of Ghouta dates back to in January 2013 when regime
forces erected checkpoints at all roads leading to the area, positioned
snipers nearby, blocked the entry of food and other goods. Activists and
rebels who attempted to smuggle food into the area were shot at checkpoints
or by snipers.**


The Palestinian Yarmouk Camp south of Damascus came under siege by the
regime in July 2013. Residents now resort to eating flatbreads baked from
stale lentils. (photo: Palestinian Camps News Network)

Impoverished eastern Ghouta is experiencing a significant shortage of
flour, a basic staple. According to Susan Ahmad, spokesperson for the
Revolutionary Command Council in Damascus Suburbs (a civil society
organization that helps administer rebel-held towns in Ghouta), those who
are lucky enough to find flour anywhere are forced to pay 1,500 Syrian
($7.50) liras for just one kilogram. The siege and bombardment of the area,
however, have nearly halted all economic activity, leading to soaring
unemployment. Residents of the area who once traveled to Damascus for work
have been laid off due to the contraction of the Syrian economy. Others
have stopped showing up for work because they fear being arrested at regime
checkpoints.**


Destruction due to shelling in Douma, a town under siege northeast of
Damascus. (photo: Adasa Sham)

Only in recent months have residents truly began to feel the serious
deterioration in conditions in eastern Ghouta. In an interview to +972
Magazine from eastern Ghouta, Susan Ahmad, explained that, “until now,
people ate what they grew in the summer – mainly vegetables and fruit.” The
prices of those goods are very high due to the siege and many 

[LAAMN] Venezuela:Eduardo Samán calificó lo ocurrido como un atentado: “Estas personas querían matarme, es mi percepción” (+Audio)

[Cort Greene]

http://albaciudad.org/wp/index.php/2013/10/eduardo-saman-estas-personas-querian-matarme-es-mi-percepcion/

Eduardo Samán calificó lo ocurrido como un atentado: “Estas personas
querían matarme, es mi percepción” (+Audio)
4 octubre, 2013

[image: Eduardo Samán
(Archivo)]

Eduardo Samán (Archivo)

El profesor Eduardo Samán Naime, presidente de Indepabis, solicitó a los
cuerpos de seguridad hacer una investigación más profunda sobre lo ocurrido
en la medianoche entre miércoles y jueves, cuando fue emboscado por tres
personas que, portando granadas y armas cortas de alto calibre, atentaron
contra su vida. Para Samán, el atentado fue un intento de sicariato con el
objetivo de acabar con su vida aparentando un atraco, que desmoralizaría al
pueblo y permitiría a la derecha ahondar, a través de los medios de
comunicación, los ataques contra el gobierno bolivariano en materia de
inseguridad.
Compartir:[image:
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*Texto: Alba Ciudad (Luigino Bracci)*

“Estoy bien de salud”; manifestó el Presidente de Indepabis. “Quiero
agrader a todas las personas que han manifestado su solidaridad, no he
podido responder todos los mensajes porque he estado afectado
psicológicamente en principio, pero ya estoy superando esto y ya hoy estoy
de nuevo en combate”, manifestó Samán en entrevista en La Brújula del Sur,
programa de Alba Ciudad 96.3 FM conducido por Ernesto J. Navarro e Indira
Carpio. “Esas personas querían matarme, es mi percepción y es lo que sentí
esa noche del miércoles”.

Relató que los sucesos ocurrieron frente a la sede de Indepabis, en la Av.
Libertador de Caracas, en el C.C. Los Cedros. Ocurrió “después de estar
trabajando y recibir a los compañeros de la Sala Situacional en el
0800-Sabotaje, en el Órgano Superior para la Defensa Popular de la
Economía; me estuvieron rindiendo cuentas de lo ocurrido ese día”, pues
estuvieron hasta después de la medianoche entre miércoles y jueves,
trabajando.

“La impresión que tengo del suceso es que esas personas buscaban matarme.
No buscaban llevarse la camioneta; es la impresión que tengo de este
suceso”.

*Los hechos*

“Cuando yo salía en el vehículo, en una camioneta que tiene un blindaje, en
la salida de la puerta de la institución se atravesó un vehículo y de allí
se bajaron 3 personas. Una de las personas se bajó e inmediatamente empezó
a disparar. No se puso a decir que esto es un asalto, ni nada. Enseguida se
puso en la ventana del conductor y empezó a dispararme, hizo dos disparos a
la ventana, justo a la cara. Por suerte el blindaje resistió. Disparó con
un revolver de alta potencia. Ellos portaban granadas, cada uno portaba una
granada”, relató Samán.

Indicó que “la actitud de los agresores no es de alguien que quiera la
camioneta. Ellos no lidiaron, no dijeron que nos bajáramos. Fue
directamente a la ventanilla y disparó directamente”. Samán conducía el
vehículo, una camioneta del año 2006 con blindaje que le suministró la
ministra del Poder Popular para los Servicios Penitenciarios, Iris Varela.

“Pude evadir el sitio. Con la camioneta empujé el carro y me evadí el
sitio, y mi escolta los enfrentó”. Samán explicó que él tiene un sólo
escolta, quien enfrentó a los tres sujetos y los neutralizó repeliendo el
atentado. “En mi opinión fue un atentado; yo pido que los organismos de
seguridad hagan una investigación más profunda”.

“Uno (de los atacantes) quedó neutralizado en el sitio, el otro huyó
herido, luego se encontró con una comisión de la policía. Él fue el que
hizo estallar la granada. El tercero huyó en el automóvil, no sabemos si
había un chofer o él mismo manejó. Lo cierto es que esta persona fue
localizada por la Guardia Nacional herido, fue llevado al CDI y allí
falleció”.

“La persona que huye herida se encuentra con la comisión de la Policía en
la Av. Francisco Solano, que es donde estalla la granada. Es la persona que
no se entregó a la comisión”. Para Samán, el delincuente activó
intencionalmente la granada para acabar con su vida. “No es un vulgar
ladrón de carro; un ladrón de carro no se vuela con una granada”.

*Profundizar investigaciones*

Para el presidente de Indepabis, hay que profundizar las investigaciones.
“Pienso que no fue

[LAAMN] Why I left Socialist Action by Andrew Pollack

[Cort Greene]

*Why I left Socialist Action

Andrew Pollack



Some of you know, either from reading my articles or from informal
discussion, that I had been in Socialist Action (US). This note is to
explain why I resigned on October 3rd.



My disagreement with SA centered on differences over antiwar and solidarity
work, and the party-building opportunities flowing from them.



I won’t claim that my choice as an individual in this matter carries much
if any weight in the historical balance, but I felt I should make the
record, even if only so that SA is not associated with words and deeds of
mine that it clearly doesn’t agree with, and which in fact it has insisted
that I desist from.



SA views its work against imperialism as necessarily revolving solely
around work through the United National Antiwar Coalition, and in that
context to consist politically only of pushing the demands “Out Now” and
“Hands Off [name of country].” It believes it has no duty, as one would in
a traditional united front, to criticize in its own name members of that
united front such as Workers’ World Party who have promoted the virtues of
neocolonial dictators such as Qaddafi, Ahmedinejad, and most recently
Assad, with whom WWP and friends had a most pleasant tea while his troops
and allies were butchering Syrian revolutionaries.



What’s worse, SA is opposed to doing solidarity work with the Syrian and
other Arab revolutions. This is stated most bluntly in this new
article:http://socialistaction.org/2013/10/threat-still-looms-of-u-s-attack-on-syria/



The leading bodies of SA have made clear that I as a member would not be
permitted to disseminate information about such solidarity work, nor to
share articles by other revolutionary groups about those revolutions. The
groups under such a ban include, among others, the ISO here in the US, the
Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt, the Revolutionary Left Current in Syria
– even the seven Arab revolutionary socialist parties who jointly issued a
statement calling for support for the Syrian Revolution, and even though
some of the signers and authors of that statement are members of the same
Fourth International of which SA is a sympathizing
organization!http://www.al-manshour.org/en/statement-by-rev-socialists-marxists-on-us-attack-on-syriaSA
has also forbidden promotion of union solidarity and anti-repression
campaigns promoted by the UK’s MENA Labor Solidarity Network
(http://menasolidaritynetwork.com/ ), allegedly because they, like
others
named here, were too critical of the Muslim Brotherhood!



One doesn’t leave a revolutionary organization lightly, and normally a
disciplined communist whose perspective had been defeated would stay in the
group and bide his or her time until an opportunity arose to try to change
the group’s line.



That’s why, for instance, Paul Levi, while correct politically, was wrong
organizationally
(seehttp://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1924/reminiscences-of-lenin.htm
).



On a movement level the same willingness to be disciplined and accept
disagreeable tasks exists; I’ve often appreciated, for instance, the
anecdote in Draper’s history of the CPUSA describing Bill Dunne telling
communist delegates to a garment union convention, after they had walked
out declaring their intention to form a new union, that they were to return
to the fight within the union, even if it meant crawling on their bellies
to get back in.



Those considerations however are not the most relevant in this situation.
SA is one of several Trotskyist organizations in the US, and sympathizes
with the most important revolutionary socialist International. But it is
not THE revolutionary party in the US. And its sectarianism and
abstentionism means it is cutting itself off from a chance to aid in the
building of that International through support for the growing
revolutionary parties throughout the Arab world. SA is also defaulting on
its elementary responsibility to organize solidarity with that region’s
revolutions. In this situation, working in joint movement and partybuilding
activity with those Arab revolutionaries takes precedence, in my mind, to
waiting for SA to change its line.



For those interested in opposing war and building solidarity with
revolutions, and in engaging in comradely discussions with fellow
revolutionaries doing such work, see
https://menasolnetus.wordpress.com/andhttps://www.facebook.com/MENASolidarityUS



Hopefully soon I will see more SA members involved in such work.



Andrew Pollack*

[LAAMN] Venezuela- 3 killed in attack on INDEPABIS president Eduardo Samán

[Cort Greene]

   1. *Hands Off Venezuela* @HOVcampaign 
   4m 

   INDEPABIS president @SamanEdu , in charge
   of fighting speculation and economic sabotage, attacked by armed gunmen
   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid
   =10151984522453203&set=a.329854508202.190768.7405423202&type=1
…


   
   Hands Off Venezuela! 

   INDEPABIS president Eduardo Samán, was attacked last night by 3 men
   armed with guns and hand grenades when leaving his office. His bodyguards
   repelled the attack and 3 of the attackers were killed in the gun fight.
   Saman is at the head of the struggle against hoarding, speculation and
   sabotage of the economy and generally countering the economic war of the
   oligarchy against the Bolivarian revolution. All our solidarity with
   comrade Saman. Iron fist against the economic war! Expropriate the
   oligarchy!
   *
   *
   2. *Hands Off Venezuela* @HOVcampaign 
   3m 

   Solidarity with @SamanEdu  in charge of
   struggle against economic sabotage, hoarding, attacked by gunmen
#tropa
   pic.twitter.com/MzWnotQ0VZ 

[LAAMN] Video-Venezuela-INDEPABIS president @SamanEdu, attacked by armed gunmen

[Cort Greene]

*
*
*Hands Off Venezuela @HOVcampaign*
*3m*

*INDEPABIS president @SamanEdu , in charge of
fighting speculation and economic sabotage, attacked by armed gunmen*

*
*

* http://youtu.be/XIJIwloSYZM  *

[LAAMN] Haiti -22nd anniversary of 1991 Coup - thousands demonstrate “Martelly must go! MINUSTAH must go!”

[Cort Greene]

*Video- Haiti: Police clashed with some of the thousands of backers of
former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide who protested against the
government led by Michel Martelly **in Port-au-Prince and in other cities**.
*
*
*
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysWaexMDbU*
*
*
*
*

Aristide supporters protest in Haiti

Thousands mark anniversary of ex-president's ousting in 1991, with some
calling for current president to resign


   - Associated Press in Port-au-Prince
   - theguardian.com , Tuesday 1 October 2013
   03.50 EDT

[image: Port-au-Prince protest]
A child adds a tyre to a burning barricade in Port-au-Prince. Photograph:
Jean Jacques Augustin/EPA

Riot police in Haiti  have broken
up an anti-government demonstration by thousands of people to mark the
anniversary of the ousting in 1991 of the former president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

A handful of protesters responded by setting ablaze barricades that blocked
a major thoroughfare through the heart of downtown Port-au-Prince.

Critics of the current president, Michel Martelly, gathered under a heavy
police presence on Monday morning and marched through the capital's
shanties, all Aristide strongholds. Some demonstrators demanded that
Martelly resign because of corruption allegations, while others protested
over the absence of elections. Riot police fired teargas at the
demonstrators after they left the approved route.

Haiti was supposed to have held legislative and local elections two years
ago, but infighting among different branches of the government has delayed
the vote. Martelly has said elections will be held this year, but that
looks unlikely.

Aristide's political party, the Lavalas Family, has said it plans to run,
and its popularity could pose a formidable challenge to Martelly and his
allies. Thousands of people shadowed Aristide in May as he toured the
capital following a court hearingin one of the biggest rallies in
Port-au-Prince this year.

*Popular Forum:
Roadmap Proposed for a Provisional Government*

*Par Yves Pierre-Louis
 *

[image: ...]















On Sep. 30, the 22ndanniversary of the 1991 coup d’état against President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into the
streets of Port-au-Prince and Cap Haïtien to demand two things: “Martelly
must go! MINUSTAH must go!”

Knowing this agenda, the day before over 100 delegates
representing about two dozen different popular organizations from all of
Haiti’s ten departments gathered at the Fany Villa Reception Center in
Port-au-Prince to reflect on and debate a proposal on how to form a
provisional government which could lead the country to free, fair, and
sovereign elections after Martelly’s departure from power, which all of the
delegates felt would be coming in the days ahead, one way or another.

The proposal was made by the Kòwòdinasyon Desalin or Dessalines
Coordination (KOD), a new formation headed by several prominent veterans of
Haiti’s democratic struggle over the past 25 years.

“We are sure that the U.S. Embassy has made its plans for what
to do after the Haitian people have chased Martelly and [Prime Minister
Laurent] Lamothe from power,” said one KOD leader, Yves Pierre-Louis, who
is also*Haïti Liberté*’s Port-au Prince Bureau Chief. “The Haitian people
also have to work out their plans so that Washington, Paris, and Ottawa
don’t simply impose another puppet on Haiti, as they have done so often
over the past two decades.”

The essence of KOD’s proposal is the formation of a 13 member
Council of State which would lead the country with a judge drawn from
Haiti’s Supreme Court. The Council of State’s members would be drawn from
key sectors of Haitian society: peasant organizations, popular
organizations, political parties, non-aligned parties, women’s
organizations, unions, the business sector, vodou, Protestant, and Catholic
sectors, students, young people, and civil society.

“The Council of State would sit down with the Supreme Court
judge to find a democratic formula to name a government,” the KOD proposal
reads. “That government would put in place a democratic Provisional
Electoral Council which would hold a general election in the country for
all the empty posts in a time frame of no more than six months.”

KOD proposed that Haiti should accept no international
financing for those elections which comes with any strings attached. “We
would not refuse” any solidarity offered from foreign nations, “but they
cannot meddle in Haiti’s internal affairs,” the proposal reads. “They can
give their support, but without any conditions.”

In the same vein, the proposal calls on the 9,000 occupation
troops of the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) to leave the country
immediately. “The last MINUSTAH soldier should leave the country no later
than May 2014, just as [a Haitian] Senate resolution [passed in

Re: [LAAMN] US expels 3 Venezuela Diplomats

[Cort Greene]

*Yes , this has been going on for over 12 years now, many intelligent
agencies working on it inside and out, many NGO's and 400 US companies
along with many other countries doing it also.*
*
*
*As I have been saying and some in Venezuela, kick out the US and others
doing it and cut off the oil, complete the revolution...*


On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 5:31 PM,  wrote:

> **
>
>
> Yup, same as it ever was.
>
> Interfere with Corporate sabotage and subversion of a popular elected
> Government, much less in a country that has a Democracy instead of a
> working Corporatocy, and the USA will retaliate by removing anyone that
> might open up a discussion on what is wrong.
>
> Scott
>
> > *The United States is expelling three Venezuelan diplomats, including the
> > South American country's top diplomat in Washington, the State Department
> > said late Tuesday night.*
> > *
> > *
> > *Calixto Ortega, Venezuela's charge d'affaires in Washington who had
> > pursued a opening with Washington for months ( and who some had warned
> > was
> > a mistake because the US will never stop trying to overthrow the
> > Bolivarian
> > revolution) and two other diplomats have been declared personae non
> gratae
> > in response to Venezuela's decision Monday to expel three U.S. diplomats
> > for encouraging economic sabotaged and aiding the opposition.*
> > *
> > *
> > *They will have 48 hours to leave the United States.*
> >
>
>  
>

[LAAMN] US expels 3 Venezuela Diplomats

[Cort Greene]

*The United States is expelling three Venezuelan diplomats, including the
South American country's top diplomat in Washington, the State Department
said late Tuesday night.*
*
*
*Calixto Ortega, Venezuela's charge d'affaires in Washington who had
pursued a opening with Washington for months ( and  who some had warned was
a mistake because the US will never stop trying to overthrow the Bolivarian
revolution) and two other diplomats have been declared personae non gratae
in response to Venezuela's decision Monday to expel three U.S. diplomats
for encouraging economic sabotaged and aiding the opposition.*
*
*
*They will have 48 hours to leave the United States.*

[LAAMN] The Old International Left and the New Cuban Right

[Cort Greene]

I may agree with everything the writer says but he has some very good
points.
Cort

The Old International Left and the New Cuban RightOctober 2, 2013 | [image:
Print] 
Print
 | 0  5  10

 29

*Pedro Campos  *

Picture: cubadebate.cu

HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban revolution has always relied on the solidarity of
the international Left in its confrontation with imperialist aggression and
the criminal US blockade. Those who, in Cuba, continue to struggle for the
development of socialism, for a society without exploiters or exploited
people, should continue to enjoy this support.

It seems, however, that part of this international Left, the Old Left that
never managed to get in step with the times, hasn’t realized that this
revolutionary process has stagnated economically and politically, and not
because of the blockade or imperialist aggression, but as a result of the
government-Party-State’s resistance to the democratization of politics and
the socialization of the country’s economy.

They are the ones who do not see, do not want to see or find it
inconvenient to see that the revolutionary leadership – which has been in
power for over fifty years – continues to try and perpetuate a failed
political system borrowed from the Soviet Union, a neo-Stalinist model with
some superficial pro-capitalist reforms.

These reforms are aimed at creating the conditions that will allow Cuba’s
bureaucratic elite and its descendants to become the owners of major
profitable State companies (in the tourism, biotechnology and trade
sectors), on the basis of a new compromise with the island’s nascent small
and mid-sized capitalist businesses and international Capital – something
not unlike what happened in the former Soviet Union.

Waiting for the bus. Photo: Juan Suarez

Their lust for power, their insistence on maintaining the salaried
exploitation of workers and their current push towards and connivance with
Cuba’s incipient capitalist class and foreign Capital have transformed the
Cuban leadership into a new Right.

Of course, this Right is made up of people who are different from those of
the traditional Cuban right, based chiefly in Miami. Their objectives,
however, are not that different: giving more and more power to national and
international private capitalists through such familiar methods as the
reduction of funds destined to variable capital (labor), shutting down
companies, lay-offs and lowered salaries, the curtailment of worker rights
(to the benefit of employers) and others that have been clearly outlined in
the so-called reform process.

What we are seeing is a struggle between two capitalist classes, between
the capitalists of old and a leadership that aspires to become a new
capitalist class (and, in fact, currently lives like the bourgeoisie),
between those who were expropriated and those who did the expropriating and
never handed the means of production over to the workers.

In between, we have the great majority of Cubans, who do not want to return
to that odious past when the traditional Right was in power, and also do
not want to continue to be exploited by this new Right which declares
itself the rightful heir of a revolution that all of us have fought for.

Cuban pharmacy. Photo: Juan Suarez

The attitude of the old-school, international Left may stem from its
ideological affinity to neo-Stalinism, from the desire to continue
receiving favors from the Cuban government, from a lack of information or,
quite simply, from a misguided notion of revolutionary solidarity.

Whatever the reason, it has yet to understand that much of the opposition
faced by the Cuban government isn’t prompted by imperialism or the
Miami-based Right (as the Cuban government, its media and international
spokespeople want us to believe), but, rather, by its own economic and
political measures, its abusive exploitation of Cuban workers and
professionals, its restrictions on individual liberties, its
anti-democratic model of government, the lack of freedom of expression and
association it has brought about and the unnecessarily violent actions it
has taken against all dissenting thought, be it at the right, center or
left of the political spectrum.

Of course, the traditional Right, with the support of imperialism,
advertises all of the mistakes and civil rights violations that the new
Right is responsible for. The fact that the traditional Right and
imperialist powers use such facts in their campaigns against the Cuban
government (controlled by the new Cuban Right) does not make these
violations of the rights of Cubans any less real.

I am not asking for this sector of the international Left to deny Cuba’s
revolutionary process its solidarity. The Cuban revolution is much more
than what its current leaders, who have become the country’s new Right, are
doing. Those of us who continue to struggle for socialism need the Left to
continue to support 

[LAAMN] Greece: The arrest of Golden Dawn leaders – what does it really mean?

[Cort Greene]

[Note: Since this article was published in Greek, the arrested GD leaders
have been released on bail. Furthermore, during his testimony that lasted
six hours, Ilias Kasidiaris, one of the GD MPs had allegedly said he knew
who the “protected witness” was. Greek media have indicated that the name,
address and phone number of the ‘protected key witness’ who had testified
against Golden Dawn were included in the charges copies given to the
defendants’ lawyers “by mistake”… This reveals further connivance between
the state apparatus and the GD leaders! More on this soon...]

http://www.marxist.com/greece-arrest-golden-dawn-leaders-what-does-it-really-mean.htm

Greece: The arrest of Golden Dawn leaders – what does it really
mean?
Written by Stamatis Karagiannopoulos of the Communist Tendency of SYRIZA
and member of the party’s Central CommitteeWednesday, 02 October 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

The arrest of the Golden Dawn (GD) leadership as well as its MPs has
naturally caused great satisfaction among labour movement and Left
activists. But we must be careful not to allow this to foster illusions in
the democratic nature of the bourgeois state.

The images of these Nazi bigots being dragged away in handcuffs and locked
up in cells that until recently were reserved for demonstrators,
trade-unionists, left-wingers and anarchists, as well as “illegal”
immigrants, can only instil feelings of joy among the majority of the
working class and youth who have always opposed the Nazi propaganda of this
organisation.

These arrests of the Golden Dawn Nazis, although they promote genuine
feelings of satisfaction amongst the working people, are also naturally
helping to breed illusions in the role of the bourgeois state and the
latter day democrats of the ruling class, those same politicians that in
government are applying a programme that is pushing the working class and
poor layers of society deeper and deeper into poverty, a programme that no
longer bears any semblance of “democracy”.

Ever since those arrests, the bourgeois media have been praising the “rule
of law” that was apparently applied in punishing the leaders of the GD. The
truth, however, is the exact opposite to what they are claiming. It is
precisely the total lack of any “rule of law” that has allowed these Nazis
to grow, transforming them into an important political factor in the
bourgeois camp and society in general. Golden Dawn was founded in the 1980s
and ever since then has committed thousands of small scale and large scale
crimes against immigrants and left-wing militants, taking advantage of the
tolerance as well as coverage provided by the same state. The state with
its police, judicial institutions and apparatus, not only did not prevent
GD from growing, but trained it, funded it, armed it and used it as an
auxiliary in its own operations against the labour movement and the Left.

After the dramatic growth of the GD, caused by the sudden dissolution of
the traditional bourgeois political camp, rather than because its ideas and
methods, a significant number of state officials provided it with safe
channels through which it could rise as a political force. The terminology
used by the State itself, such as the “rule of law” and so on, serves as a
mask to hide the real corrupt and reactionary nature of the bourgeois state
and to help people to forget its own active participation in the
transformation of this Nazi gang into a legal parliamentary party, a party
which poses no dangers to capitalism but at the same time can channel some
of dissatisfaction towards the very same policies they serve.

Hence, according to the rule of law, the state arrested the Nazi
leadership, not to provide justice but because this is what the interests
of the ruling class dictate at this point. The ruling class and its patrons
in the Troika wanted the Nazis to function and operate under their own
political and operational control. They wanted, to quote the famous
bourgeois apologist Papadimitriou, for the GD to be a “serious” partner in
a bourgeois front that would prevent the Left getting to power on a
revolutionary programme.

Nonetheless, the Nazis themselves became emboldened by their remarkable
rise in recent polls –largely due to the blind indignation against the
corrupt bourgeois political system – and above all, because of all the
privileges of parliamentary representation, the economic support from a
section of the capitalist class and their powerful links to the armed
forces, and mainly the police. It therefore became evident in the last few
weeks that they were implementing their own plan for an independent
challenge for power. The plan was centred on 

[LAAMN] Blame it on Caracas

[Cort Greene]

Blame it on Caracas

Oct 1st 2013, by Gregory Wilpert - NY Times eXaminer
[image: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (archive)]

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (archive)

*Venezuelanalysis.com founder Gregory Wilpert critiques the New York Times’
coverage of Venezuela – U.S. relations following the expulsion of three
U.S. diplomats from Venezuela by President Nicolas Maduro.*

“Stepping up hostilities with the United States, President Nicolás Maduro
of Venezuela expelled the top American diplomat,” reads the first sentence
of the *New York Times’s* coverage of the three diplomats President Maduro
expelled on Monday (“With Accusations of Sabotage, Venezuela Expels 3 U.S.
Embassy Officials,” by William Neuman, *NYT*, Oct. 1, 2013, p.A6). After
explaining that Maduro accused the diplomats of fomenting sabotage and
protest activity among the opposition, the rest of the article goes on to
say, “The expulsions were the latest diplomatic swipe at Washington by Mr.
Maduro since he took over for the country’s longtime president…” and that
Maduro is intent on “painting the United States as an imperialist aggressor
out to undermine his government.”

In other words, it is the Venezuelan government that is worsening relations
between Caracas and Washington and that the U.S. government is an innocent
victim of Maduro’s verbal and presumably not-so-diplomatic onslaught. The
fact that the U.S. first initiated almost every turn in the worsening
relations between the U.S. and Venezuela is conveniently omitted in
Neuman’s article.

For example, it was ambassador-designate Larry Palmer, in August 2010, who
first cast aspersions on Venezuela’s military and thereby torpedoed his
acceptance as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. Then, in May of 2011, the U.S.
imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA for doing business
with Iran. Later in that same year the Obama administration accused four
Venezuelan government officials of providing support to Colombia’s
guerrilla, the FARC, and levying sanctions in these officials. Shortly
thereafter Obama himself accused the Chávez government of restricting human
rights and of violating democratic principles in Venezuela. In January of
2012 Obama proceeded to expel Venezuela’s consul general in Miami for
allegedly engaging in a spying operation against the U.S. while she was
stationed in Mexico a year earlier. What happened was that she had met with
someone connected to the Venezuelan opposition who tried to entrap her by
claiming to have information about U.S. nuclear facilities. Other than
meeting with someone who unsuccessfully tried to give her false
information, she never actually engaged in any spying activity. Finally,
the day that Chávez died, Maduro revealed that two U.S. diplomats were
meeting with Venezuelan military officials, proposing destabilization plans.

Reading the *New York Times* on U.S-Venezuelan relations, one could get the
impression that either none of these above-named incidents happened or that
if they did, they were meaningless and do not deserve a reaction from the
Venezuelan government. The fact that the Venezuelan government did react
each time and did not tolerate these actions can—in the *NYT* worldview—only
mean that the Venezuelan government is either hell-bent on sabotaging
U.S.-Venezuela relations and/or that these actions are merely a smokescreen
to distract from domestic Venezuelan problems.

Distraction is precisely what Neuman suggests when he quotes Michael
Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, “He [Maduro] needs
diversions and distractions … The situation is so dire in Venezuela that he
needs to find a scapegoat, and it’s convenient and politically so tempting
to kick out U.S. diplomats,” and Neuman follows up with his own comment
that “the country’s economic woes are getting worse.”

Given the lack of information about earlier U.S. actions against Venezuela,
distraction appears to be a compelling explanation for Maduro’s apparently
irrational attacks against the good-hearted Obama administration.
Unfortunately for this narrative, the facts don’t quite fit. That is, while
the article cites an unusually high inflation rate of 45 percent for 2013
so far, it fails to mention that inflation has been declining recently,
from a high of 6.1 percent in May 2013, and dropping to 3.2 and 3.0 percent
in July and August, respectively. Also, while economic growth has been
sluggish, it has been fluctuating between 0.5% and 2.6% per quarter this
year. Another area that is written about a lot is shortages, but these too
have become less acute than earlier this year, according to official
statistics. In short, while there are no doubt economic problems in
Venezuela, they have been improving recently, contrary to Neuman’s claim
that the situation is “getting worse.”

Once again, it seems that the *New York Times* is determined to present
official enemies of the U.S. as irrational and deceptive, while the U.S.
government is the innocent vic

[LAAMN] El Salvador’s Archbishop Closes Preeminent Human Rights Investigation Organization

[Cort Greene]

El Salvador’s Archbishop Closes Preeminent Human Rights Investigation
Organization[image:
PDF][image:
Print][image:
E-mail]Written
by Hilary Goodfriend   Tuesday, 01 October 2013 21:51

Source: CISPES 

On Monday, September 30, the Archbishop of San Salvador José Luis Escobar
Alias shuttered the offices of the Archdiocese’s *Tutela Legal*, the
historic defender of human rights that has served as a platform for the
investigation and denouncement of brutal acts of state violence during the
nation’s civil war and beyond.

Employees of the pioneering institution arrived for work Monday to find the
institution closed; they were informed of their dismissal, given severance
pay and released. According to the fired workers, the Archbishop claimed
that the institution was no longer needed.

With the Archbishop refusing to justify his actions, fears are growing that
the unannounced measure is as a response to the Supreme Court’s recent
decision on September 20 to hear a case challenging El Salvador’s
controversial 1993 Amnesty Law. Alejandro Lenin Díaz Gómez, a former *Tutela
Legal *employee, told reporters that he “did not discount that fact that
the action could be tied to the recent Supreme Court decision to accept a
suit against the Amnesty Law,” as a means to avoid surrendering the
office’s vast archives of war crimes documentation and evidence.

The case, brought by the leaders of the Jesuit Central American
University’s Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA), the progressive legal
organization FESPAD (Foundation for the Study of the Application of the
Law), and the feminist organization Cemujer, charges that the law conflicts
with the country’s constitutional mandate to uphold international treaties,
such as the American Human Rights Convention, over domestic law. (Read more
here
)

On Tuesday, National Human Rights Ombudsman David
Morales
called
on the Archbishop to “preserve the historic archive of Tutela Legal [and]
preserve the accompaniment that it is giving to victims.” El Salvador’s
president Mauricio Funes also expressed concern, stating, “I am troubled by
the message that the Catholic Church is sending.” He noted Tutela Legal’s
vital work taking on “many crimes that the state, in those days, did not
dare investigate.”

For over 30 years, *Tutela Legal* has gathered evidence for over 50,000
human rights violations and served a key role in gathering testimony from
Rufina Amaya, survivor of the notorious 1981 El Mozote
massacre
.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Historic human rights office
closed

Tutela Legal, the heroic legal and human rights office of the Archdiocese
of San Salvador was abruptly closed by the archbishop on September 30 with
no advance warning to its employees or anyone else.

Tutela Legal was founded by slain archbishop Oscar Romero in the late 1970s
to document the death squad murders and other human rights abuses in the
country.  As described
here,
its work was incredibly important during those years:

Tutela Legal was organized during 1978 as part of the efforts by the
archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, and his successor, Arturo Rivera
y Damas, to create commissions and organizations to defend human rights.
Hernandez said that in the late 1970s and 1980s, human rights activists in
El Salvador knew they needed to have strong, scientific evidence as the
basis to denounce abuses. At the time, gathering this kind of information
was particularly dangerous because many people who worked for these groups,
reported violations, or tried to take legal action were either threatened,
assaulted, or murdered by death squads.

Tutela Legal went to sites of supposed human rights violations and
collected evidence as well as relied on testimony from survivors. Hernandez
pointed out that since El Salvador was a signatory to the Geneva
Conventions (international agreements that outlawed torture and established
human rights precedents), Tutela Legal had a framework of standards and law
for carrying out its investigations.

Another important innovation described by Hernandez was Tutela Legal's
monitoring of El Salvador's main guerilla force, t

[LAAMN] Chile: Jailed general commits suicide

[Cort Greene]

http://memoryinlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/09/chile-jailed-general-commits-suicide.html

Chile: Jailed general commits suicide
Well. Chile now only has nine prisoners to transfer from Cordillera
jailto
Punta Pueco. Former head of the national intelligence center (CNI),
Odlanier Mena, killed himself while on weekend leave. He had been serving a
six-year term in connection with the "Caravan of
Death"
.

Mena's lawyer, Jorge Balmaceda, specifically attributed the suicide to the
recent decision to close Cordillera and move its ten inmates to another
military facility. He said that Mena had been in a delicate state of health
with need of oxygen, and apparently believed he would not receive the
necessary medical treatment there.

*Presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet is reported as responding that
the suicide was a "very tragic decision". That's very diplomatic of her.
Whether Mena intended it or not, it will be seized on by supporters of the
military perpetrators and they will attempt to use emotional blackmail to
keep the prisoners' privileges. *

Chile 'Caravan of Death' general commits
suicide
 (BBC)
Pinochet-Era Intelligence Director Commits Suicide in
Chile
 (LAHT)
Se suicida Odlanier Mena, ex director de la CNI y uno de los internos del
Penal 
Cordillera
(La
Tercera)
Michelle Bachelet y suicidio de Odlanier Mena: "Me parece que es una
decisión muy 
trágica"
(La
Tercera)
Abogado de Odlanier Mena: "Se suicidó por el
traslado"
(24
Horas)

[LAAMN] Colombia-ELN statement on Peace Talks & Uribe drops all facade and names political party after himself

[Cort Greene]

http://colombiareports.co/peace-collective-process-eln-central-command/
Sep 30, 2013
ELN reaffirms willingness for peace talksposted by Steven Cohen
[image: ELN reaffirms willingness for peace
talks]
[image: Share Button] 


The Central Command of the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group
published an official announcement Monday reaffirming its willingness to
initiate a formal, transparent peace process with the Colombian government.

Since the release of Canadian hostage Jernoc Wobert in late August, the
government of President Juan Manuel
Santoshas
indicated its willingness to establish negotiations with
Colombia’s
second largest rebel group, along the lines of the one’s currently taking
place in Havana with leaders of the FARC .

Recently, Norway joined a list of several Latin American nations offering
to host any future dialogue. But so far, third-party discussions between
the ELN and the government have yet to produce any official talks.

*MORE:* Norway offers Colombia support in opening dialogue with the
ELN 


*MORE:* Brazil, Costa Rica and Venezuela offer to host peace talks with the
ELN

Monday’s announcement, then, is the first look at what a potential
negotiation table would look like. In it, the ELN reiterates its
willingness to dialogue, while laying out some of the fundamental
differences that need to be bridged heading into any formal talks with the
government.
--
An Open Process
--

For one, the ELN is calling for the entire process, including the buildup
to actual talks, to be made open to the public. Unlike the FARC peace
talks, which the document claims have been “characterized by secrecy”, any
dealings between the ELN and the Santos administration will be broadcast to
the international and national communities, according to the document
released Monday.

The ELN claims it is “convinced” of the “right [of the international and
national communities] to be constructors of peace”, which it called a
necessarily “collective” process, and will, accordingly, encourage the
participation of both the Colombian public and the foreign countries
interested in ending Colombia’s armed conflict.

Before the process can begin, however, the ELN says it has “profound
differences” with the government that need to be addressed.
--
The Goals
--

The ELN share the sentiments expressed by various labor bodies in recent
and ongoing national strikes that the Colombian government uses negotiation
as a means to squash conflict, but not as a vehicle to bring solutions to
the causes.

Colombia’s government, according to the ELN, thinks that the country’s
armed conflict is attributable solely to the “existence of guerrillas”, and
therefore views peace talks with rebel groups as a path to “demobilization
and disarmament”.

The ELN, on the other hand, claims Colombia’s “armed and social conflict”,
and the rebel groups behind it, is a “consequence” of other, systemic
issues.

Accordingly, the ELN wants the focus of any negotiations with the
government to be on “discussing the large economic, social and political
problems that originally caused” the armed conflict.

Solving these problems, the document says, is a necessary prerequisite for
any lasting peace.
--
Politics
--

When it began over 60 years ago, Colombia’s armed conflict was a Marxist
revolution. Sin

[LAAMN] Rights group finds mass graves near Damascus

[Cort Greene]

*
*
*Rights group finds mass graves near Damascus*
October 01, 2013 12:09 AM
By Lauren Williams The
Daily Star[image: A+][image: A-]

BEIRUT: Syrian government forces are digging mass grave sites to bury
thousands of people killed in detention, a human rights organization said
in a report released Monday. Using satellite imagery, along with testimony
from civilian witnesses, former detainees and defected prison officers, the
Violations and Documentation Center has identified two sites it believes
are being used to bury thousands of regime detainees in the Damascus area.

The center, headed by prominent human rights lawyer and opposition activist
Razan Zeitouneh, has documented the detention of over 43,000 Syrians over
the course of the 31-month uprising by name. Of those, they say 3,337
detainees have been killed in custody.

However, according to VDC spokesman Bassam al-Ahmad, a further 1,700
Syrians are missing, with no information on either their detention or death.

While many families of those killed in detention are informed of the death
of a relative and asked to collect the corpse by the authorities, a large
number only receive the grim news from second-hand testimony by other
detainees, with no word on the final resting place.

The VDC believes that some of those missing may be among what they estimate
to be around 1,000 bodies buried at the two locations.

In the report, the VDC cited testimony from former detainees and prison
officers, who said they witnessed the deaths of large numbers of detainees
and heard of their transfer to the sites near existing cemeteries in Najha
and Bahdaliya, to the southeast of Damascus.

Those testimonies appeared to correlate with eyewitness reports of the
movement of refrigerated vans and digging activity, along with satellite
imagery provided by Human Rights Watch showing movement and expansion of
the sites.

The VDC believes the vast majority of those buried at the sites were
long-term detainees who died from severe torture, disease and malnutrition
after lengthy incarceration. In particular, the VDC believes hundreds of
those detained at the notorious Branch 215 of Military Intelligence may
have been transported to the site.

Speaking to The Daily Star from outside Syria following his release from
Branch 215 after 38 days in custody during which he said he was beaten and
tortured, university student Malek al-Khobbi, 28, from Deraa, said he
witnessed the deaths of an average of two people a day in his cell alone.

“Every day they put the dead bodies in one place and then the jailers take
them out,” he said.

In Khobbi’s statement to the VDC, he said “There were two rooms near the
bathrooms; the first was called the ‘consolation’ room’ where the dead
bodies ... are put.”

When he asked a jailer what happened to the dead, he said he was told “they
are taken in the green [military vans] to Mezzeh hospital for processing;
then they are taken to Najha.”

Walid Samhani, a former army sergeant who defected from Military
Intelligence and is now fighting with the rebel Free Syrian Army in
Latakia, told VDC researchers “the sixth and seventh floors” of Branch 215
are used for “interrogation ... which practically means torture and
killing.”

The fate of those killed had remained a “mystery,” according to the VDC’s
Ahmad, until the reports from witnesses emerged citing “suspicious
activity” around the Najha and Bahdaliya sites, apparently corroborated by
satellite imagery.

The VDC cited residents reporting the arrival of bulldozers, followed by
“big refrigerated lorries” at the Najha cemetery site.

The report added that death records, purchased illegally by the families of
the deceased from Military Intelligence, documented a large number of
deaths around September 2011.

Satellite imagery obtained of the site showed changes had occurred, in what
VDC analysis described as the appearance of a large “trench” that was
subsequently left uncovered, along with the appearance of piles of sand and
stones between Sept. 8 and Sept. 22, 2011.

Further activity was observed again in November 2012 and February 2013 in
what Human Rights Watch surmised was carried out by bulldozers and heavy
digging equipment.

At the Bahdaliya Cemetery, the VDC said residents reported refrigerated
trucks arriving during the last days of September and early days of October
2012.

The Human Rights Watch time series satellite imagery showed changes to the
sites, believed to be the digging of new graves between Sept. 8, 2012, and
Feb. 4, 2013.

HRW researcher Josh Lyons told The Daily Star the satellite imagery
“clearly shows that over the course of eight months there was sustained and
substantial digging activity at these two government grave sites.”

However, he cautioned that without the corroborating testimony, there was
nothing to conclude the sites were used for “criminal dumping” of
government victims.

“The problem is that these are known grave sit

[LAAMN] Nicolas Maduro Expels Three US Diplomats from Venezuela for Alleged Conspiracy

[Cort Greene]

Nicolas Maduro Expels Three US Diplomats from Venezuela for Alleged
Conspiracy

Sep 30th 2013, by Ewan Robertson
[image: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro today ordered the expulsion of
a top US diplomat and two other embassy officials for alleged]

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro today ordered the expulsion of a top US
diplomat and two other embassy officials for alleged conspiracy with the
opposition. (AVN)

Mérida, 30th September 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro today ordered the expulsion of a top US diplomat and two
other embassy officials from Venezuela for alleged conspiracy with the
opposition.

“Get out of Venezuela. Yankee go home. Enough of abuses against the dignity
of a homeland that wants peace,” said Maduro during a televised political
event this afternoon.

The US officials named were chargé d'affaires Kelly Keiderling, and two
other embassy employees, Elizabeth Hunderland and David Mutt. They have 48
hours to leave the country.

President Maduro accused these officials of “meeting with the extreme
Venezuela right to finance actions to sabotage the electricity system and
the Venezuelan economy”.

“We’ve been monitoring some officials of the American embassy in Caracas…I
have the proof [of conspiracy] in my hands,” he added.

Maduro has repeatedly referred to blackouts and relative shortages of some
food products this year as an opposition attempt to “sabotage” the
Venezuelan economy and destabilise the country.

The Venezuelan president added today that he “doesn’t care” what the
response from Barack Obama’s administration would be, declaring, “We’re not
going to allow an imperial government to come and bring money to stop
companies operating, [and] to take out the electricity to shut Venezuela
down”.

“Señores gringos, imperialists, you have before you men and women of
dignity that…will never kneel before your interests and we’re not afraid of
you. We’ll confront you on all levels, the political, the diplomatic,”
Maduro added.

The U.S. State Department responded to the declarations by stating that it
has not yet received official notification of the decision to expel the
diplomats. The statement added that the U.S. "completely rejects" the
Venezuelan government's accusation of its officials participating in
the alleged conspiracy plans.

Venezuela – US relations have remained cold since the administration of
late President Hugo Chavez, who accused the US of supporting a short-lived
coup attempt against his government in 2002.

The two countries have not had an exchange of ambassadors since 2010.
Attempts to improve relations this year were cut off by Maduro after the
US’s new ambassador to the United Nations made comments about Venezuela
that were regarded by Venezuelan officials as “unacceptable and unfounded”.

*Venezuela blasts US at UN General Assembly*

Last Friday, Venezuelan foreign minister Elias Jaua addressed the United
Nations General Assembly in New York, where he criticised the US and its
allies as “hawks of war” who had “hijacked” the UN Security Council.

Jaua said that when UN member states stand against interventionist actions
of the US and its followers, these states “simply bang on the table and do
whatever they want, which is exactly what will happen when they later
declare bombings on Syria”.

“We’re here to report a kidnapping” added the Venezuelan official, claiming
that the US had “kidnapped” the UN. He went on to repeat arguments made by
Bolivian president Evo Morales, that the UN headquarters should be moved to
a location where “all nations would be respected”.

Foreign Minister Jaua referred specifically to accusations that the US had
tried to impede members of the Venezuelan delegation from attending the UN
General Assembly meeting by not granting them US entry visas.

He added that President Maduro had been unable to attend the gathering due
to “a whole range of delays, obstacles and lack of guarantees imposed by
the government of the United States” in “flagrant violation” of diplomatic
obligations.

Last Wednesday Maduro cancelled his planned visit to the UN General
Assembly, ostensibly due to fears for his personal safety after receiving
information of alleged “crazy” plots involving ex-US officials Otto Reich
and Roger Noriega.

US government spokespersons have denied placing obstacles or refusing to
grant entry visas to the Venezuelan delegation’s UNGA attendance.

However, an unnamed Obama administration official told Bloomberg news that
a possible concern of the Maduro delegation was that the Venezuelan
president’s plane, which was on loan from Cuba, may have been seized in New
York due to the rules of the US government’s decades-long embargo on Cuban
government assets.

Maduro’s own presidential plane had suffered a mechanical problem after
undergoing maintenance for five months at Airbus SAS in France. The
Venezuelan government is considering legal action against the aviation
company on the issue.

Further, the US

[LAAMN] Venezuela- President Maduro expels 3 US diplomats because destabilizing acts

[Cort Greene]

It has to do with the sabotaged of the electrical grid.

More info to follow, it was just announced of Venezuela TV.
Cort
-

In Spanish
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/venezuela-expulsa-tres-diplom%C3%A1ticos-estadounidenses-sabotaje-contra-patria

Executive expels three American diplomats by sabotage against the homeland


Caracas, 30 Sep. AVN. - The president of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, expelled this Monday  three American diplomats
from the national territory for being caught up in destabilizing acts
against the country.

"They have 48 hours to leave the country," said the national president.

  AVN 30/09/2013 15:38

[LAAMN] Bahrain Spotlight: 50 Defendants Given Long Sentences for Organizing Protests & torture allegations

[Cort Greene]

http://eaworldview.com/2013/09/bahrain-spotlight-50-defendants-given-long-sentences-organizing-protests/

[image: BAHRAIN NAJI FATEEL --- USED 30-09-13]

Published on September 30th, 2013 | *by Scott Lucas*
0
Bahrain Spotlight: 50 Defendants Given Long Sentences for Organizing
Protests

PHOTO: Naji Fateel (left), given a 15-year prison sentence on Sunday

A Bahraini court sentenced 50
people
on
Sunday to between five and 15 years in prison for membership in the
February 14 Coalition, which has been organizing protests against the
regime since the start of the mass demonstrations in 2011.

Bahrain’s head of public prosecution described the group as a terrorist
organisation.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights
said human
rights campaigners were among those convicted under terrorism laws.

Sixteen defendants were sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, including
human rights activist Naji Fateel and political activist Hisham Al-Sabbag.
Four were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 30 to 5 years.

---
50 Shi'a activists sentenced amid torture allegations in Bahrain
Manama  :
Bahrain |
Sep 30, 2013 at 9:47 AM PDT
BY chnarendra  [image: send a
private message] 
10
VIEWS: 5

Allegations the Bahraini authorities used electric shocks and other torture
methods to extract confessions from members of a group of 50 Shi’a
activists are just one factor making their trial and convictions unfair,
Amnesty International said today.

A Bahraini court sentenced the 49 men and one woman, many in their absence,
to up to 15 years’ imprisonment on Sunday, on charges related to their
involvement in the opposition youth movement known as the 14 February
Coalition. The predominantly Sunni Bahraini authorities have accused the
Shi’a group of terrorism.

“It’s appalling what passes for ‘justice’ today in Bahrain. The authorities
simply slap the label ‘terrorist’ on defendants, and then subject them to
all manner of violations to end up with a ‘confession’,” said Philip
Luther, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty
International.

The torture allegations have not been investigated and were not considered
by the court.

“The allegations that confessions were extracted under torture must be
investigated promptly, thoroughly and independently, with those responsible
brought to justice,” said Philip Luther.

The trial proceedings in the 14 February Coalition case fell far short of
international standards, and resulted in all the defendants being
convicted. They are appealing against the verdicts.

One of the defendants, *‘Abd ‘Ali Khair*, was sentenced to 10 years’
imprisonment just for forwarding an email containing a statement by the 14
February Coalition.

His is a member of Al-Wefaq, a political association which does not condone
the use of violence in any form.

“In a cruel irony, the same day dozens of activists were handed down hefty
prison sentences for as little as forwarding an email, Bahrain’s High
Criminal Court of Appeal reduced the sentences of two policemen to two
years each for torturing a protester to death,” said Philip Luther.

*Torture allegations*

*Naji Fateel*, a board member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human
Rights, was arrested on 2 May 2013 from his house in Bani-Jamra.

He was held incommunicado for two days. He alleges the authorities used
electric shocks on sensitive parts of his body, kicked and punched him, and
threatened him with rape.

During the first session of the trial on 11 July Naji Fateel took off his
shirt in court to reveal evidence of torture on his back. He was convicted
of setting up an illegal “terrorist” group which aims to suspend the
constitution and harm national unity, among other things, and sentenced to
15 years in prison.

*Rihana al-Mussawi*, another defendant, told the court that she had been
forced to strip by security officers who threatened her with rape to make
her “confess” to terrorism-related crimes. She received a five-year prison
sentence.

*Mohammad ‘Abdallah al-Singace* was also allegedly tortured in detention
and, as a result, he could hardly walk when he appeared before the court.
His brother Dr ‘Abdeljalil al-Singace is a prisoner of conscience who is
currently serving a life sentence in a Bahraini prison. Mohamad ‘Abdallah
al-Singace was convicted of membership of an illegal “terrorist” group,
among other charges, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

*Legal rights denied*

Defendants were arrested without warrants. Some were violently removed from
their homes after security forces reportedly smashed down their front doors.

Lawyers complained to the court that they were not allowed to visit their
clients. The court refused to allow def

[LAAMN] New intifada against the dictatorship in Sudan

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/new-intifada-against-dictatorship-in-sudan.htm

New intifada against the dictatorship in
Sudan
Written by Jean DuvalMonday, 30 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

Protests have spread all over Sudan since the announcement, one week ago,
of the increase of fuel prices in Sudan. This is not the first uprising
against the Islamic dictatorship of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in
power since 1989. Last year ‘‘Elbow Lick
Fridays”
rocked the regime. But the latest protests are the biggest since the
beginning of the dictatorship. The brutal repression meted out by the
police and Islamic militiamen is not deterring the heroic youth of Sudan.
But will it succeed this time in overthrowing the regime?

[image: 
20130926-police-peoplesworld]Clashes
on 26 September. Photo:
peoplesworldThe
prices of gasoline and diesel were increased by almost 100%. A gallon
[about four litres] of gasoline now costs 21 Sudanese pounds ($4.77 based
on the official exchange rate) compared to 12.5 pounds ($2.84). Diesel also
went from 8 pounds ($1.81) a gallon to 14 pounds ($3.18). Cooking gas
cylinders are now priced at 25 pounds ($5.68) from 15 pounds ($3.40).

The protests erupted against the background of 20% unemployment, inflation
of 40 to 45 % in the last 18 months and 14 million poor people out of a
total population of 30 million. Child mortality from malnutrition has
already increased by 40% last year says the World Health Organisation.

“Economic reform” is the excuse for the cutting of food and fuel subsidies.
Those subsidies cost the state budget 3.5 billion dollars a year. But the
government forgets to say that military spending represents 70% of the
state budget, including 20 million dollars a day for the wars in Darfour or
in Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

The government’s actions follow slavishly the recommendations of the
International Monetary Fund. The cuts in subsidies are part and parcel of a
wider package of austerity. President Bashir has even repeated the
ridiculous argument that food and fuel subsidies only benefit the affluent
Sudanese and not the poor! So who is it we see on the streets of Sudan, a
revolt of the wealthy people or an uprising of the poor and disenfranchised
masses?

Professor Hamid El Tijani, an economy expert at the American University in
Cairo explained in an interview with Radio Dabanga that, “What the
government is currently doing is actually an imposition of new taxes on
basic consumer commodities, rather than the lifting of subsidies—which are
in fact not in place to lift.” He added that Sudan is witnessing an
economic collapse, with an increase in expenses and a deficit in the
revenues. This negative development has prompted the ruling National
Congress Party to resort to “borrowing from the people,” in the name of
lifting subsidies. He stressed that the government, by “lifting subsidies,”
just intends to impose new taxes on citizens (www.radiodabanga.org

).
Free fall economy

The economy is in a shambles. The lifting of food and fuel subsidies is
expected to raise inflation in the country. This is particularly the case
as most food is imported. The exchange rate of the Sudanese pound against
the dollar has fallen to a record low. Although there is not much foreign
trading going on in the nation’s currency, its rate on the black market is
generally considered to be a good gauge of the mood in business circles and
the confidence of ordinary people in the economic situation. In the last
few days people have rushed to trade in their Sudanese pounds for hard
currency. The exchange rate is also important for some foreign firms as
cell phone operators who sell in pounds and then struggle to convert them
into dollars. Gulf banks who hold pound-denominated ‘Islamic bonds’ are
also worried about their assets.

Since the secession of the oil rich southern part of Sudan in 2011 the
national currency lost half of its value. Three quarters of oil production
is located in South Sudan. Oil revenues were the driving force behind the
economy and generated most of the much needed dollars to import food. The
regime has tried to compensate the loss of oil revenues by selling its gold
which represents now 70% of foreign trade. Sudan is sitting on the biggest
gold reserves of the African continent and has handed out exploitation
contracts to 600 firms in the last two years. But the fall of gold prices
this year means that income will be sharply reduced. The gold sales also
fall b

[LAAMN] That crazy opposition-Hugo Chávez 'voice from the grave' clip dismissed by Venezuela president

[Cort Greene]

There also is a birther movement in Venezuela by the opposition, saying
that president Maduro was born in Colombia. They must using the same PR
firm from Miami that the Tea Party has. Cort
--
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/29/hugo-chavez-voice-venezuela-president

Hugo Chávez 'voice from the grave' clip dismissed by Venezuela president

Nicolás Maduro accuses rivals of fabricating audio file imitating late
leader saying he was betrayed and is being held captive


   - Virginia López  in
   Caracas
   - theguardian.com , Sunday 29 September
   2013 12.36 EDT
   - Jump to comments
(33)

[image: President Maduro with a copy of the new edition of Venezuela's
constitution with Chávez on its cover]
President Maduro holds a copy of the new edition of Venezuela's
constitution, with Hugo Chávez on its cover. Photograph: Reuters

**

When Hugo Chávez died eight months
ago,
hundreds of thousands of bereaved Venezuelans flocked past his open coffin
to say their final goodbyes. It is no surprise then that a recording of the
late leader claiming
to be alive would cause a stir.

In the audio recording, a voice similar to Chávez's says he is being held
captive against his will, accusing his former friends of betraying him.

President Nicolás Maduro  to
declare it the latest attempt by the opposition to destabilise the
government.

Maduro, chosen by Chávez as his preferred successor, accused the main
opposition party, Primero Justicia, of faking the clip, in which a weakened
Chávez calls his brother, Adan Chávez, a state governor, to say he is alive.

"They [the opposition] have no respect for the memory and the love that the
Venezuelan people have for Hugo
Chávez and
they are capable of inventing these recordings," Maduro said at the weekend.

The voice claiming to be Chávez says he is convalescing and his closest
friends betrayed him. It pleads with his brother to tell Venezuelans the
truth.

"Who would have thought our enemy was within? How many hugs they gave me,
how many handshakes and how many lies," the voice says. "I want you to tell
the boys, that today, September 16, I am more alive than ever."

The recording's veracity was firmly denied by Adan Chávez. "This disgusting
montage has prompted some to believe that Chávez didn't die and that he is
hiding. Others think that this recording was done before his death. It is
all a great lie.

"Hugo Chávez was buried alongside the love of his loyal and revolutionary
people, and he never sent me a message of this type."

The president of the national assembly, Diosdado Cabello, said the release
of this recording was a political tactic aimed at discouraging United
Socialist party supporters from voting in the December elections.

"This is clearly to demoralise our people, to inhibit them like they did in
the April polls," Cabello said of the presidential elections that gave
Maduro a razor-thin victory over opposition leader, Henrique Capriles.

But some political analysts suggest the recording could have been released
by the government. "It is fundamental to monopolise the control [of
Chávez's image]. It also appears clear that this is an opportunity to blame
the opposition of an attempt to destabilise with which they maintain a
polarisation that benefits them," says Luis Vicente Léon, one
ofVenezuela's
leading political consultants.

This is not the first time Chávez has been imitated. During his first
presidential campaign in 1998, a clip with a voice claiming to be him and
threatening to "fry his opponents' heads" caused a national commotion.

[LAAMN] Tunisia's ruling Islamists accept plan to step down

[Cort Greene]

Tunisia's ruling Islamists accept plan to step down
Sat, Sep 28 2013

By Tarek 
Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Islamist-led government on Saturday agreed to
resign after negotiations that could start next week with secular opponents
to form a caretaker administration and prepare for new elections.

The talks aim to end weeks of crisis involving the Islamist-led coalition
government and secular opposition parties that threatened to derail the
transition to democracy in the North African country where the Arab Spring
uprisings began in 2011.

Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union, mediating between the two sides,
proposed the ruling Islamist Ennahda party agree to three weeks of
negotiations, after which it would step down and make way for an
independent transitional administration and set a date for parliamentary
and presidential elections.

"The dialogue will start on Monday or Tuesday," Lotfi Zitoun, an Ennahda
party official, said. "Ennahda has accepted the plan without conditions to
get the country out of the political crisis."

The UGTT confirmed the agreement and called on both sides to set a time to
begin talks next week.

Since autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in 2011 after street
protests against his rule, Tunisia has struggled with divisions over the
political role of Islam. The opposition accuses Ennahda of imposing an
Islamist agenda on one of the Muslim world's most secular nations.

Tunisia's path to transition, however, has been mostly peaceful compared to
Egypt, where the army toppled an elected Islamist president, and Libya,
where the central government is struggling to curb rival militia influence.

The political crisis erupted in July after the killing of an opposition
leader by suspected Islamist militants, bringing the opposition on to the
streets to demand Ennahda step down.

After weeks of political deadlock, the talks could struggle to get past
differences over a final draft of the new constitution, an electoral law to
guarantee a transparent vote and a date for the elections.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Janet
Lawrence)

© Thomson Reuters 2011.

Re: [LAAMN] Kissinger saw the benefits of Syrian intervention in Lebanon

[Cort Greene]

The Daily Star is well known in Lebanon , you could always write them and
as far know have no ax to grind when it comes to the factionalism taking
place in that country.

Or you could go through the thousands of documents in the National Security
Archive.

http://www.picosearch.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl?index=302953;query=lebanon;SEARCH=Search



On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 1:56 AM,  wrote:

> Humm
>
> Any idea where the verification of these new set of declassified documents
> are? The only think I can find is an
> http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m101203&hd=&l=e
>
> link that sends me right back to this one.
>
> No one, no place else, brings up anything other then these this one
> article, when I want to find out about these declassified documents.
>
> So.. if they exist, where are they, why can't any search engine or set of
> quotes Iv'e searched give me anything other then the DailyStar?
>
> Scott
>
>
> > Kissinger saw the benefits of Syrian intervention in Lebanon
> > September 23, 2013 12:24 AMBy Kareem
> > ShaheenThe
> > Daily Star[image: Kissinger uses a map of Beirut as he briefs the House
> > International Relations Committee in Washington on June 17,
> > 1976.]Kissinger
> > uses a map of Beirut as he briefs the House International Relations
> > Committee in Washington on June 17, 1976.[image: A+][image: A-]
> >
> > BEIRUT: A new set of declassified documents on the run-up to the Syrian
> > intervention in Lebanon’s Civil War sheds light on American diplomacy
> > during the crisis, including contacts with late President Hafez Assad’s
> > regime and U.S. hopes that a Syrian intervention would weaken Yasser
> > Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. The documents, minutes of
> > meetings involving U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, reveal the
> top
> > U.S. diplomat’s open contempt and frustration toward Israeli policymakers
> > for threatening to invade south Lebanon in response to a Syrian
> > intervention.
> >
> > “You know these Israelis really are shits,” Kissinger said at a meeting
> in
> > March 1976, expressing anger at the possibility of an Israeli attack.
> >
> > The archival documents show the U.S. administration had foreknowledge of
> a
> > possible Syrian intervention, deciding it was in accordance with U.S.
> > interests but refraining from supporting it publicly in fear of the
> > invasion sparking a broad Middle Eastern war.
> >
> > “Now if I could design the solution, I would go to Assad and say, ‘If you
> > could move in quickly, and if you could give us an iron clad guarantee
> > that
> > you will get out again quickly and that you will not go south of the
> > [Litani] river, we will keep the Israelis out,’” he said in one meeting.
> >
> > The minutes show a Kissinger deeply involved in Middle Eastern politics,
> > conferring on an almost daily basis with top advisers and closely
> > following
> > Lebanon’s descent into violence while trying to grapple with the
> > insurmountable complexity of its civil war politics.
> >
> > Kissinger saw benefits to a Syrian intervention, guessing that it would
> > weaken Arafat’s PLO, but he refrained from backing it publicly and in
> > talks
> > with Syrian officials.
> >
> > The documents paint an image of an irreverent, sharp and sometimes
> profane
> > man, who was also prone to generalizations, for instance describing
> > Egyptian negotiators as “duplicitous.”
> >
> > They are also striking because they show the relatively close
> relationship
> > between the Assad regime and the U.S.
> >
> > The documents are part of a multi-volume series called “Foreign Relations
> > of the United States.” The volume dealing with the Arab-Israeli dispute
> > includes a set of archival files on meetings concerning Lebanon at the
> > start of the Civil War.
> >
> > American officials had a low opinion of Lebanese politicians at the time.
> > Former President Suleiman Franjieh is described as “a disaster,” Druze
> > leader Kamal Jumblatt as “crazy” and political leaders as “warlords.”
> >
> > Syrian intervention in Lebanon was discussed in a meeting on Oct. 13,
> > immediately sparking talk of a likely Israeli retaliation.
> >
> > “There is no way – no way – in which the Israelis will sit still while
> the
> > Syrians send in their troops. I am sure of that,” said Kissinger, who
> > sought to find out from the Israelis what level of Syrian activity in
> > Lebanon would be acceptable to them.
> >
> > Kissinger was also dismissive of the Israeli government, describing
> former
> > General and premier Yigal Allon as a “sweet fool” and Yitzhak Rabin as
> > “weak,” while lamenting the U.S. failure to influence its ally.
> >
> > The secretary said he was ready to support Syrian efforts to achieve a
> > political solution in Lebanon.
> >
> > “We have to go back to Assad ... Ask him what he is up to and, if we
> agree
> > with him, we will do our best to help him,” he said. “But warn him what
> he
> > does must be done 

[LAAMN] Sri Lanka-Stop Impunity for Genocide and Torture -US, China.Iran, Pakistan & Cuba-ALBA complicity

[Cort Greene]

Stop Impunity for Genocide and Torture
[September 28, 2013]

Tamils’ history in Sri Lanka since independence from colonialist Britain is
one of constant discrimination and misery. For half-a-century Tamils have
been subjected to policies of genocide as defined by the United Nations in
its Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, Dec. 9, 1948.

Article III of this Convention makes liable to punishment: a) Genocide; b)
Conspiracy to commit genocide; c) Direct and public incitement to commit
genocide; d) Attempt to commit genocide; and e) Complicity in genocide.
Article IV states that, persons committing genocide shall be punished
whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or
private individuals.

Although Sinhalese governments have treated (and treat) Tamils as inferiors
and second-class citizens, no foreign government has wished to seek an
indictment against Sri Lanka’s governments. Tamils have no political power,
no territory, and no state to represent them, and the most powerful nations
have their own genocidal ghosts in their closets.

Sinhalese governments are responsible for implementing discriminatory laws
against Tamils: inequality in education and employment opportunities, in
religion and language. These governments are responsible for many tens of
thousands of civilian murders in pogroms and during the civil war, murders
through extra-judicial executions and disappearances. They are responsible
for systematic torture, for incarceration of hundreds of thousands without
due process; for absconding with Tamil homes and businesses, places of
worship and building hotels upon Tamil graveyards. Governmental genocide is
aided by self-styled Buddhist monks and so-called Communist parties of
various stripes, and by a score of foreign governments.

Evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, is vivid.
Satellite photos taken by the UN and the US show the slaughter of civilians
during the end of the civil war. Channel 4 documentaries, testimonies of
victims and UN aid workers have been released to the public. There is the
revealing UN panel of experts’ 214-page report and recommendations, and the
reports and recommendations of the High Commissioner, Navaneetham Pillay.
Yet no session of the Human Rights Council has even discussed these reports
and recommendations for an independent body under the United Nations.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5, states:
*No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.*

For decades Sri Lankan governments have tortured and continue to torture
Tamils routinely. There can be no healing as long as impunity is granted
torturers. The tortured feel society accepts this worst of all violence,
leading to loss of confidence in democracy and in humanity. The failure to
punish perpetrators encourages endless repetition of torture.

*Who are the genocidal accomplices?*

India provided weaponry, radar, training, and even troops since 1987 to
wipe out Tamils. India has spent billions of dollars aiding Sri Lanka
government policies of discrimination and annihilation.

The United States financed Sinhalese genocide of Tamils. For the last two
decades of the civil war, it provided an average of $1.5 million annually
in military warfare, training and intelligence. In the last three years of
the war, the Bush regime was bogged down in the Middle East and provided
less material aid, but it encouraged its racist Zionist ally, Israel, to
continue its military aid.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 2009 yearbook and
a March 2010 database report place Israel as a major supplier. From 2000 to
2007 Israel, along with the US and India, supplied “several large
warships.” Israel offered unmanned aerial vehicles, 9 Kfir fighter jets, 38
Shaldag fast and 6 Super Dvora patrol craft, mines, ground surveillance,
radar equipment, training, and Mossad assistance. It even sent some pilots.
Already in 1980, estimates were that Israel had sold $1 billion in weaponry.

SIPRI also documents that several European nations provided warfare
materials. The UK, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, France, Russia and the Ukraine
sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of: jets, helicopters, patrol
boats, transportation aircraft and trucks, tanks, rocket systems, radar
equipment. As late as 2008, the UK exported £1.4 million in arms.

Many of these sales of military equipment were illegal under the 1998
European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports.

Italy, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore also supplied lesser
amounts of weaponry and military technical aid.

China, Pakistan and Iran came into the picture in the last three years
(China even earlier). Pakistan provided $100 million in military loans in
2009. It donated small arms and pilot training. In 2008-9, Iran provided
loans, credits and donations to the tune of $2.35 billion to help Sri Lanka
fuel its war needs. Ch

[LAAMN] Iran Contra - When Rouhani Met Ollie North

[Cort Greene]

This was part Iran-contra affair and in U.S. history it was a  secret
arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels
from profits gained by selling arms to Iran and the selling of drugs also
played a large role

Read more: Iran-contra affair |
Infoplease.com

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/iran-contra-affair.html#ixzz2gDIxveq9

When Rouhani Met Ollie
North…
and strung the White House along to get more weapons.
BY SHANE HARRIS | SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

Hasan Rouhani, a 37-year-old senior foreign affairs advisor in the Iranian
government, and his country's future president, sat with a delegation of
White House officials on the top floor of what was
once
the
Hilton hotel in Tehran. It was May 27, 1986, and Rouhani had come to
secretly broker a deal with the Americans, at great political and personal
risk.
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The U.S. team's ostensible purpose was to persuade Iranian leaders to
assist in the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, something
Rouhani was willing to do in exchange for the United States selling
missiles and weapons systems to Iran. But the group, which consisted of
senior National Security Council staffers, including a then little-known
Marine lieutenant colonel named Oliver North, had a second and arguably
more ambitious goal: to forge a new political alliance with moderate
Iranian leaders, such as Rouhani and his bosses, the men who ran the
country.

In those meetings, the man to whom U.S. officials are now
turning
as
the best 
hope
for
a rapprochement with Iran, after more than three decades of hostilities,
showed himself to be a shrewd negotiator, ready to usher in a new era of
openness. But he was also willing to subvert that broader goal and string
the Americans along to get what he wanted -- more weapons. If there is a
window into how Rouhani thinks today and how he will approach negotiations
over Iran's nuclear program, it may be those few days in May he spent in
high-stakes talks with the Americans over hostages and the countries'
shared futures.

Rouhani knew that helping to free the hostages held by Hezbollah, the
terrorist group with which Iran held some influence, was a top priority for
President Ronald Reagan. The U.S. president had personally committed to the
families that he'd do whatever it took to rescue their loved ones. A
televised homecoming would be a political triumph for Reagan.

"By solving this problem we strengthen you in the White House," Rouhani
told North and his colleagues. "As we promised, we will make every effort."

But it would not come without cost. Rouhani and his cohort, a group of
lower-level functionaries in the regime, kept turning the conversation back
to the subject of weapons. The Americans had pledged to have a plane full
of missile parts on its way to Tehran within 10 hours of the hostages'
release. The Iranians wanted the missiles first. When it was clear that
wouldn't happen, they offered to help secure the release of two hostages
and said that after further negotiations they'd try for two more.

Rouhani did believe in the broader mission. "You did a great job coming
here, given the state of relations between us," Rouhani told the Americans.
He thought they could start to work together, though it would be slow
going. "I would be surprised if little problems did not come up. There is a
Persian saying: Patience will bring you victory -- they are old friend.
Without patience, we won't reach anything. Politicians must understand
this."

But the bartering over missiles frustrated the Americans. North had handled
all the logistics for the meeting and was overseeing the arms sales. But
the higher strategy was led by Reagan's former national security advisor,
Robert "Bud" McFarlane. Freeing the hostages was a priority, but McFarlane
worried that it

[LAAMN] Officials Claim Tunisian Women are Waging a 'Sexual Jihad' in Syria, But What's the Real Story?

[Cort Greene]

http://www.policymic.com/articles/65041/officials-claim-tunisian-women-are-waging-a-sexual-jihad-in-syria-but-what-s-the-real-story

Officials Claim Tunisian Women are Waging a 'Sexual Jihad' in Syria, But
What's the Real Story?

   - Sana Saeed 
   - in
   - World 
   - 3 days ago
   -

Mic 
this!16

   -
   

   - 4580


   -
   - 893


   -

58
[image: officials, claim, tunisian, women, are, waging, a, sexual, jihad,
in, syria,, but, whats, the, real, story?,]

Officials Claim Tunisian Women are Waging a 'Sexual Jihad' in Syria, But
What's the Real Story?
© The Telegraph

By now you have probably already heard of the harem of Tunisian sex-warrior
slaves heading to Syria in order to give up their young bodies to the
appetites of deprived rebels to fulfill *jihad al-Nikkah* — “Sexual Jihad"
— and are coming back to the country with bellies full of Jihadi babies.
Unfortunately for what seems to be that blind spot people have when it
comes to stories on Muslims and sex, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence
of Tunisian female warriors going to fight a holy sex war.

Sucks, I know.

Despite the lack of clear evidence of a sex war pandemic, this hasn’t
stopped news media outlets all over the world from grabbing, expanding, and
running with this story.

In December, Lebanese news channel Al Jadeed
reported that
hardline and popular Salafi scholar Shaykh Mohamad Al Arefe, a loud and
inciting opponent of the Syrian regime, had issued a fatwa (a non-binding
religious opinion ) allowing the
gang rape of non-Sunni Syrian women by rebels. Not only did the scholar
vehemently deny expressing any such opinion, on
Twitter
and
in later sermons  (both links
in Arabic), but the story was debunked by the Electronic Intifada’s Ali
Abunimah
.

On March 27, 2012, the Pan-Arab news site *Al Hayat*, published a
piece
discussing
the apparent crisis of young Tunisian girls and what was being referred to
as “Sexual Jihad.” It claimed that the impetus behind this was another
fatwa from Al Arefe, in which he urged young women to go in engage in the
so-called sexual Jihad by offering themselves to the rebels. There was,
however, no proof of this fatwa and those close to Al Arefe also thoroughly
denied the cleric had ever made such a ridiculous statement.

According to the report, 13 young Tunisian girls had gone missing, believed
to be in Syria engaging in the sexual Jihad. The story gained traction in
Arabic social media circles  when
in a video, parents of one of the girls claimed that their 17-year old
daughter, who had since returned home, had been brainwashed by friends with
Salafi Jihadi leanings who told her to go to Syria to temporarily marry and
have sex with rebels. Iranian news station Al-Alam also released a video
claiming to be interviewing one such
girl
 (Arabic).

While Tunisia's Minister of Religious Affairs Noureddine El-Khadimi
condemned such religious opinions, there seemed to be no actual evidence of
anyone — Al Arefe or any other scholar— issuing such a decree.

In July, sexual Jihad popped up again in headlines when following protests
by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Rabaa, reports emerged — based on a
questionable Facebook post— that female Brotherhood supporters were
preparing themselves for sexual Jihad. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, which
supported the crackdown on Brotherhood supporters, was one of the first to
report on the 
issue
.

Sexual Jihad, however, didn’t go viral until last week when
AFP
 and Al 
Arabiya
were
amongst the first to report that that in an address to the National
Assembly last Thursday, Tunisia

[LAAMN] Kissinger saw the benefits of Syrian intervention in Lebanon

[Cort Greene]

Kissinger saw the benefits of Syrian intervention in Lebanon
September 23, 2013 12:24 AMBy Kareem
ShaheenThe
Daily Star[image: Kissinger uses a map of Beirut as he briefs the House
International Relations Committee in Washington on June 17, 1976.]Kissinger
uses a map of Beirut as he briefs the House International Relations
Committee in Washington on June 17, 1976.[image: A+][image: A-]

BEIRUT: A new set of declassified documents on the run-up to the Syrian
intervention in Lebanon’s Civil War sheds light on American diplomacy
during the crisis, including contacts with late President Hafez Assad’s
regime and U.S. hopes that a Syrian intervention would weaken Yasser
Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. The documents, minutes of
meetings involving U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, reveal the top
U.S. diplomat’s open contempt and frustration toward Israeli policymakers
for threatening to invade south Lebanon in response to a Syrian
intervention.

“You know these Israelis really are shits,” Kissinger said at a meeting in
March 1976, expressing anger at the possibility of an Israeli attack.

The archival documents show the U.S. administration had foreknowledge of a
possible Syrian intervention, deciding it was in accordance with U.S.
interests but refraining from supporting it publicly in fear of the
invasion sparking a broad Middle Eastern war.

“Now if I could design the solution, I would go to Assad and say, ‘If you
could move in quickly, and if you could give us an iron clad guarantee that
you will get out again quickly and that you will not go south of the
[Litani] river, we will keep the Israelis out,’” he said in one meeting.

The minutes show a Kissinger deeply involved in Middle Eastern politics,
conferring on an almost daily basis with top advisers and closely following
Lebanon’s descent into violence while trying to grapple with the
insurmountable complexity of its civil war politics.

Kissinger saw benefits to a Syrian intervention, guessing that it would
weaken Arafat’s PLO, but he refrained from backing it publicly and in talks
with Syrian officials.

The documents paint an image of an irreverent, sharp and sometimes profane
man, who was also prone to generalizations, for instance describing
Egyptian negotiators as “duplicitous.”

They are also striking because they show the relatively close relationship
between the Assad regime and the U.S.

The documents are part of a multi-volume series called “Foreign Relations
of the United States.” The volume dealing with the Arab-Israeli dispute
includes a set of archival files on meetings concerning Lebanon at the
start of the Civil War.

American officials had a low opinion of Lebanese politicians at the time.
Former President Suleiman Franjieh is described as “a disaster,” Druze
leader Kamal Jumblatt as “crazy” and political leaders as “warlords.”

Syrian intervention in Lebanon was discussed in a meeting on Oct. 13,
immediately sparking talk of a likely Israeli retaliation.

“There is no way – no way – in which the Israelis will sit still while the
Syrians send in their troops. I am sure of that,” said Kissinger, who
sought to find out from the Israelis what level of Syrian activity in
Lebanon would be acceptable to them.

Kissinger was also dismissive of the Israeli government, describing former
General and premier Yigal Allon as a “sweet fool” and Yitzhak Rabin as
“weak,” while lamenting the U.S. failure to influence its ally.

The secretary said he was ready to support Syrian efforts to achieve a
political solution in Lebanon.

“We have to go back to Assad ... Ask him what he is up to and, if we agree
with him, we will do our best to help him,” he said. “But warn him what he
does must be done without the use of Syrian regular forces.”

“Also have him give Assad my best personal regards,” he said to a
diplomatic envoy.

In March 1976, as the Americans gleaned more details of the extent of
Syria’s potential involvement, American officials sought clarity from
Syria over
its intentions in Lebanon and how long it would stay there.

Kissinger said the Israelis would intervene because they wished to strike a
mortal blow to PLO strongholds in Lebanon, which he referred derisively to
as “Fatahland.”

“Their position is that they cannot trust the Syrians,” Kissinger said.
“They are not at all sure that the Syrians would leave if they go in, so
that if they do go in, the Israelis would then quietly take over strategic
points in southern Lebanon and in effect hold them hostage till the Syrians
leave.”

But in a meeting with President Gerald Ford in late March, Kissinger said
the U.S. might benefit from a Syrian intervention that strikes at the PLO.

“If Syria could go in quickly and clean it out, it would be good,” he said.

Kissinger floated the idea at the time that the Syrians could be replaced
by a U.N. force after destroying the PLO.

But Kissinger was frustrated by Israel’s objections, and decid

[LAAMN] Syrian Marxist Arrested-Freedom for Jihad and Syria’s Wretched of the Earth

[Cort Greene]

http://budourhassan.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/freedom-for-jihad-and-syrias-wretched-of-the-earth/

Freedom for Jihad and Syria's Wretched of the Earth
Posted on September 27,
2013
 by BudourHassan 

On 10 August, 2013, Syrian security forces arrested Syrian journalist and
Marxist dissident Jihad Asa'ad Muhammad near Athawra Street in central
Damascus. News of his arrest was confirmed by his sister Lina, a fellow
Marxist and anti-regime activist forced into hiding. Jihad had been among
the few revolutionary activists who remained in the Syrian capital, a
deceptively quiet bubble under the strangling iron fist of the regime,
despite the ominous threat of arrest hovering over his head. Soon after his
arrest, a Facebook
page
was
created that both demanded Jihad's immediate release and re-published
articles he had written during and before the uprising.

[image: (1)]

There exist, according to conservative estimates, tens of thousands of
Syrian civilians similarly languishing in the myriad detention centres
across Syria. The vast majority of them are not well-known tech-savvy
activists or writers; they do not speak a foreign language or possess
social media accounts; and no-one, except for their families, will care to
call for their release and will shed a tear if they die in jail. But it is
precisely those - the unsung and unknown heroes and heroines of the
revolution, the forgotten women and men of impoverished neighbourhoods and
the marginalised countryside, and *Syria's wretched of the earth* - were
the protagonists of Jihad Muhammad's pieces.

His pieces tell us about *Massoud*, the "Lionel Messi of the Syrian
revolution," a 17-year-old schoolboy from one of the poorest Damascene
cantons. Massoud, a top-scorer of his neighbourhood's football club,
participated in demonstrations wearing Messi's shirt for FC Barcelona.
Taking advantage of his Messi-like speed and diminutive size, he raised the
revolutionary flag and freedom signs on rooftops, scrawled anti-regime
graffiti, and constantly dodged the security forces. Massoud was arrested
from his classroom and, for two months, tortured while in custody. After
his release, he joined the Free Syrian Army.

Jihad also tells us about *Umm Haytham*, as one of thousands of Syrian
women tirelessly going to jails and security branches to look for the
whereabouts of their detained and forcibly disappeared sons, brothers,
husbands and loved ones. They travel every day under shelling and despite
checkpoints, in scorching sun and heavy rain, and put up with insulting
remarks of police officers and soldiers. And they remain steadfast, buoyed
with hope.

He tells us about revolutionary *women from socially-conservative and
patriarchal communities*. Despite their frontline role in the uprising,
those women are viewed with repugnance by the self-styled "feminists" and
bourgeois "leftists" who claim to promote women's rights while not being
able to see beyond a woman's veil and looks.

He tells us about *Adnan*, an Alawite soldier from the Latakia Mountains
who served in Assad's army but vehemently supported the uprising. Unable to
defect, he was ultimately killed in battle, prompting his bereaved mother
to murmur helplessly: "Their sons are in mansions while our sons go to
graves."

In addition, Jihad explores the social, economic and political roots of the
Syrian uprising and its evolution into an asymmetrical militarised civil
conflict, elegantly discussing the sectarian demographics and the
gluttonous neo-liberalism that characterises Assad's ostensibly secular and
socialist Syria.

Issues concerning social justice, class struggle, and critique of the urban
bourgeoisie were focal points of Jihad's articles, coupled with themes of
civil and political liberties and the struggle against tyranny.

Born in 1968 to a left-wing family in Damascus countryside, Jihad is the
eldest male among nine siblings. Between 2003 and 2004, the Damascus-based
Radio Sawt Asha'ab aired folktales he wrote and edited. The first major
turning point in Jihad's journalistic career came in 2006 when he became
Editor-in-Chief of the Qassioun newspaper, founded that year by the
National Committee for the Unity of Syrian Communists, an off-shot of the
Syrian Communist Party. But Jihad was more than just an editor. He
encouraged young Syrian writers to contribute and kept the newspaper going
through the thick and thin for five years. Jihad himself wrote columns
about a plethora of subjects ranging from arts and culture to state
corruption, capitalism and imperialism. His vocal criticism of the
government made him a target of persecution by the police st

[LAAMN] FARC Leader “Timochenko” Expresses Frustration with Santos’s Negotiating Strategy

[Cort Greene]

https://nacla.org/blog/2013/9/26/farc-leader-%E2%80%9Ctimochenko%E2%80%9D-expresses-frustration-santos%E2%80%99s-negotiating-strategy

FARC Leader “Timochenko” Expresses Frustration with Santos’s Negotiating
Strategy
Nazih Richani 
Cuadernos Colombianos 
September 26, 2013
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[image: 1989]

The peace process between the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC)
and the government of Juan Manuel Santos is in
crisis.The
FARC’s general commander Timoleón
Jiménez,
"Timochenko," said on Wednesday September 25, that he is instructing the
FARC negotiators to reveal where the negotiations are taking place, and
what agreements had been reached. This is in direct violation of what the
FARC and the government had agreed to at the outset of the process—that
nothing would be disclosed until the process was concluded. Since I have
been following this process closely, I am sharing with my readers some
important information and an analysis of what has led Timochenko to lash
out.

An Informant who met with the FARC’s top negotiators a few weeks ago told
me that negotiators Iván Marquez and Pablo Catatumbo were both unsatisfied
with the adamant refusal of the Santos government to tackle tough points,
especially those having to do with the agrarian question. This presumably
involves discussions that have already been concluded. But what has
happened is that the government has decided to leave the unresolved issues
in the agrarian question to future discussions while presenting the case as
though a conclusive agreement has been reached. All this while the FARC
remained silent due to its commitment to wait until the talks concluded
before announcing anything. Well, until now.

Why now then?

Santos in his attempt to outmaneuver the FARC and his political
opponents—including his archival, former president Alvaro Uribe
Velez—pushed the envelop by advancing two resolutions through Congress,
both upsetting the FARC. One called for a referendum on the agreement when
reached, rather than accepting the FARC´s call for a constituent assembly.
Second, he offered a judicial framework for transitional justice without
consulting the FARC. At the same time he presented to the general public an
image of a government that was serious about peace. But the last straw for
Timochenko was his speech at the United Nations and his embrace of the
International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming that the court would support
the peace process without addressing the question of "crimes against
humanity" committed by the state and its proxies over the past five decades.

For the record, over the course of the conflict, the state and its
paramilitary groups have committed more than 70% of the massacres,
selective killings, disappearances, and almost all of the forceful
displacements. That is to say that state agents with their paramilitary
instruments and their death-squad allies committed most of the crimes
against humanity. This raises the question of whether the ICC is going to
hold the different presidents of Colombia (including the deceased)
accountable, along with the Colombian public forces(military, police, and
intelligence services) for all their crimes against humanity. If this is
the case then the rebels must also pay their dues before the world court of
justice, but what we seem to have here is selective justice where most of
the state actors remain protected by official impunity or ommission while
the rebels are held accountable.

This takes us to a lesson from history that says that the winners end up
writing the historical narrative and punishing the losers. But President
Santos: you have not won this war and the rebels are still standing. This
is what Timochenko is trying to tell you in his letter. This is his attempt
to retake the political initiative.

The FARC can make or break Santos´s re-election bid and hence I think
President Santos has overplayed his hand this time around. If the FARC
reveals to the public in the coming days what little has actually been
achieved after one year of talks, Santos´s re-election bid will be greatly
damaged if not fatally wounded.

My guess is that Santos will reconsider his strategy if he wants to stay in
the game. He must provide some seriousness in tackling the tough issues of
land distribution, meaningful political reform, reforming the military, and
revisiting the ruling rentier economic model. None of which the Santos team
thus far is willing to negotiate.

Stay tuned.

[LAAMN] The New Banks in Town: Chinese Finance in Latin America

[Cort Greene]

This report does not include the recent loans negotiated  by Venezuelan
government these past few weeks ( their loans to China stood at $38.5
Billion DOLLARS through 2011) and from the scant reports of the recent
ones, they seem to be even more stringent in the terms than before.

What I found more interesting as in the case of Venezuela, several
countries could both help or advance the socio-economic progress of other
countries through trade, subsidies and the provision of resources, or be a
brake and lock to those countries such as competitors to progress by
preventing the use of capital, technology, trade routes, labor, land or
other resources.

 In Trotsky's theory of imperialism, domination of one country by another
does not mean the country dominated preventing the development as a whole,
but develops mainly depending on the requirements of the dominant country.
For example, an export industry will develop around oil in the country
dominated, but the rest of the economy is not developed, so that the
country's economy developed more unevenly than it was before, rather than
in a balanced way of development.

 For those who want to understand the export of capital as imperialism,
please read your Lenin and  Rosa Luxemburg on the subject.

Cort

Full report also here:
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/GallagherChineseFinanceLatinAmerica.pdf



The New Banks in Town:
Chinese Finance in Latin America

*By Kevin P. Gallagher, Amos Irwin, and Katherine Koleski
February 2012
Download the full
report
*
Also available in*
Spanish
* and 
*Portuguese*
*See Press Coverage and New
Media
See the China-Latin America Finance Database
*

*[image: New Banks In Town by Gallagher Irwin and
Koleski]*In
this report we estimate that since 2005 China has provided loan commitments
upwards of $75 billion to Latin American countries. These figures have now
been updated through 2012, showing $87 billion in loans, as part of
the China-Latin
America Finance Database , a collaboration
between GDAE, Boston University's Global Economic Governance Initiative,
and the Inter-American Dialogue. China’s loan commitments of $37 billion in
2010 was more than the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and the
United States Export-Import Bank combined for that year.

After providing estimates of Chinese finance we also examine the common
claims that Chinese loans to Latin America have more favorable terms,
impose no policy conditions, and have less stringent environmental
guidelines than the loans of International Financial Institutions (IFIs)
and Western governments.  We find that:

   - The Chinese Development Bank (CDB) loans carry more stringent terms
   than World Bank loans.


   - China’s Export-Import Bank, by contrast, generally offers lower
   interest rates than the U.S. Ex-Im Bank—though this difference stems from
   the fact that the World Bank offers concessional interest rates as a form
   of aid, while China offers concessional rates not through CDB but rather
   China Ex-Im.


   - Chinese banks provide financing to a significantly different set of
   countries than the IFIs and Western banks—namely Argentina, Ecuador, and
   Venezuela that are not able to borrow as easily in global capital markets.


   - Chinese and IFI/Western banks do not overlap significantly in Latin
   America because they give different-size loans to different sectors in
   different countries. Chinese banks have largely focused on loans to natural
   resource based and infrastructure sectors.


   - Chinese banks impose no policy conditions on borrower governments, but
   do require equipment purchases and sometimes oil sale agreements.


   - The financing terms in oil sale agreements seem to be better for the
   South Americans than most people believe.


   - Chinese finance does operate under a set of environmental guidelines,
   but those guidelines are not on par with those of their Western
   counterparts.

It is our hope that this report will provide a more empirical-based
foundation for research on Chinese finance in LAC.  The investigation we
performed here lends credence to some of the claims about China in Latin
America, and less so to others.  On the positive side, it is clear that
China is a new and growing source of finance for LAC countries, especially
for the set of nations that are having trouble gaining access to global
capital markets.  Moreover, from an LAC perspective those loans do not come
with the policy conditionalities that are tied to IFI and Western loans.
Finally, LAC nations can get more financing for the infrastructu

[LAAMN] Mexico-Los alcances de la lucha magisterial

[Cort Greene]

http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/3058

Los alcances de la lucha magisterial
Escrito por:
 Guillermo Flores, profesor de la sección 10, democrática

*Crecen las manifestaciones*

El miércoles 4 de septiembre, por la madrugada, los senadores aprobaron la
última de las leyes secundarias, la del Servicio Profesional Docente. En un
edificio totalmente amurallado, los senadores aparentemente asestaban el
golpe final a los trabajadores.

Después de más de 3 semanas que los maestros mantenían un plantón,
principalmente de Oaxaca y Michoacán y ante un linchamiento de los medios
electrónicos, parecía que poco se podía hacer. Sin embargo, ese mismo día
se veían manifestaciones multitudinarias en donde nunca se habían dado y en
muchos casos inesperadas como en Veracruz, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua o
Quintana Roo, incluso llevando acciones a otro nivel, bloqueando
aeropuertos, puentes internacionales y plantones en edificios públicos con
paros casi totales. La mayoría eran alzamientos espontáneos, incluso sin
una dirección clara. Pero no dejaban de ser movilizaciones extraordinarias.

En el paro cívico nacional del 11 de septiembre el descontento subió de
tono, marchas, bloqueos carreteros en Chiapas y Tlaxcala; tomas de oficinas
gubernamentales en Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Quintana Roo, Yucatán,
Sonora, en total 26 estados movilizándose. En Campeche 6 mil profesores se
manifestaban desconociendo al  secretario general de la sección 4 del SNTE.
Unos días antes profesores de Veracruz y Quintana Roo habían hecho lo
propio. Esto nos daba una muestra del giro en la conciencia de los
 trabajadores pasando de las demandas puramente económicas a las políticas.
 En el DF el mismo día se manifestaban más 15 mil maestros de varias
entidades del país.

*La reforma y el SNTE*

Elba Esther se oponía a la “Reforma Educativa” de Peña Nieto porque sabía
que le restaría  poder al SNTE.  Incluso amenazaba con levantar al
magisterio contra la reforma. Pero solo eran amenazas para poder negociar
su permanencia y los cotos de poder en el Sindicato.

El gobierno del PRI nunca pensó encarcelar al monstruo que ellos mismos
crearon. Pero pronto entendieron que Elba Esther era ya un instrumento
inservible, al no encontrar acuerdo para echar a andar dicha reforma. Y era
relativamente fácil terminar con ella, siendo un personaje siniestro y
corrupto los días de la “lideresa” estaban contados. En todo momento la
mano derecha de gordillo, Juan Díaz de la torre se oponía también
tajantemente a la “reforma”.

El giro de Díaz de la torre fue de 360 grados, ya en el poder y con
Gordillo en la cárcel. Aplaudía y aceptaba la “reforma educativa” e
invitaba a los maestros del país a sumarse a ella. Sin importarle incluso
que también a los charros del SNTE les pasarían la guillotina.

A Juan Díaz de la Torre no le quedo más que aceptarla, también estaba
metido en el fango y sabía que podía pasarle lo mismo que a su jefa.  De la
torre era el encargado de firmar los cheques de los dineros de las cuotas
sindicales, con los cuales Elba se daba la gran vida.

El Estado echaba a andar a su nueva herramienta y así el sindicato
utilizaría todo el aparato para acallar las voces de descontento.  Lo
consiguió con todas las corrientes institucionales y no les costó mucho
trabajo, esta gente está educada en la obediencia.  Pero para sorpresa los
millones de trabajadores no harían lo mismo y estaban a punto de
protagonizar magnificas manifestaciones de rechazo a la reforma sumándose a
las convocatorias de la CNTE e incluso tirando de la noche a la mañana
dirigentes institucionales como en Veracruz, Campeche y Yucatán.

*Las secciones del Distrito Federal y Valle de México*

En las secciones 9, 10 y 11 del DF los llamados a luchar contra la agresiva
“reforma educativa” no hacían eco.  Incluso en el cerco que comenzó el 19
de agosto en la cámara de diputados los manifestantes de estas secciones se
podían contar con los dedos de las manos. Por primera vez el 4 de
septiembre comisiones de más o menos 50 escuelas de la sección 10, en su
mayor parte con paros parciales, llegaban a manifestarse. La sección 9 de
maestros de primaria  triplicaban en número a los marchistas de la sección
10.

En el primer paro cívico nacional  los maestros de secundaria
contabilizaban representantes de 120 escuelas y la sección novena también
había crecido en número.  En la sección 36 del valle de México, a pesar de
que los institucionales del SNTE mantienen un control casi total, se
hicieron notar con un contingente importante principalmente de los
municipios de Ecatepec y de Nezahualcóyotl. La sección 11 de manuales y
administrativos mantenía poca presencia en las marchas.

En las escuelas de educación básica del centro del país existe un gran
descontento que va creciendo, sin embargo no ha sido posible capitalizarlo.
El miedo a perder su empleo está latente, las tradiciones de lucha del 89
solo quedan en los maestros veteranos. Pese a todo ello existe una nueva
capa de jóvenes p

[LAAMN] Syria-Messages from Local Coordination Committees to the world & MORE

[Cort Greene]

Messages from Local Coordination Committees to the world / رسائل لجان
التنسيق الى العالم
Posted on September 20,
2013
September 20, 2013

Despite the brutality of the Syrian regime and the weakness of the
international community the insistence of the Syrians has increased  day by
day to go in the revolution so they come out in Friday they named “Only
Syrians will liberate Syria” to prove that the will of the Syrian people
will remain the most powerful weapon in the face of tyranny.

Activists of the committees in  Douma, Zabadani and  Madaya in Damascus
Suburbs, Tafas and Mizeireeb in Daraa sent messages that rejected to
replace tyranny with another, especially the practices of “the State of
Iraq and the Levant,” which it does not differ from the practices of the
Syrian regime in repression and suppression of expression freedom, and also
they emphasized the legitimacy of the revolution People and proceed with
the revolution until victory, refusing  half-solutions which do not satisfy
the aspirations of the Syrian people, and whatever the difficulties
revolutions can make the impossible becomes real

http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/messages-from-local-coordination-committees-to-the-world/#more-4573

-


http://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2013/09/evidence-of-syrian-army-using-munitions.html

Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Evidence Of The Syrian Army Using Munitions Linked To The August 21st Sarin
Attack
Since the UN 
report
into
the August 21st sarin attack confirmed the use of a previously unknown
munition in the attack, which I had previously named the UMLACA (more
details 
here),
there's been a lot of debate about whether or not the Syrian army has such
a munition.  There's been multiple videos of the munitions posted online by
the Syrian opposition, and they've been consistently described as being
fired by Syrian government forces.  From those videos, I've been able to
identify at least two types of these munitions, one type linked to the
August 21st sarin attack and past alleged chemical attacks, and a second,
high explosive, type.

The following video from Daraya, Damascus, published on Decemeber 29th
2012, was highlighted by @hesbol  on a
blog post
attempting
to discern the range of the UMLACA.  It shows what seems to be a high
explosive version of the UMLACA being launched and detonating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NzKbZsTjkug




As the camera tracks the flight of the UMLACA it's very distinct outline
can be clearly seen



In the video it's claimed that the munitions are fired from Mezzeh airbase,
and it's actually possible to confirm they are coming from the direction of
Mezzeh airbase.  At the start of the video we see the launch, and the
outline of the hills behind it.



Using Google Earth we can position the virtual camera facing north from
Daraya, looking towards Mezzeh airbase, and it's clear the topography
matches what we see in the video



The structure at the top of the hill is the HQ of Maher al-Assad's 4th
division, which can be seenhere on
Wikimapia.
 A 
report
from
the Institute for the Study of War examining the situation in Damascus in
December 2012, shows that the area north of Daraya, including Mezzeh
airbase, and the 4th division terrain to the north, were under the control
of the Syrian army, and it seems, from what we can see in the above video,
that the UMLACA was fired by Syrian government forces.  This not only shows
the Syrian army have been using the munitions, but they've been using them
since December 2012.

More posted on the subject of the August 21st attacks can be found
here,
and other posts on chemical weapons and Syria, including extremely
informative interviews with chemical weapon specialists, can be found
here
.

http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/20/analysis-syria-cw/#.UkHit4bFXmI
Imagery Analysis: Syria’s Chemical Weapo

[LAAMN] USA Newest Drones on the rise QF-16 supersonic jet fighter drones

[Cort Greene]

http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/23/qf-16-unmanned-flight/#.UkHfmIbFXmI

[Photo] First pilotless F-16 flies first remotely controlled mission at
Tyndall Air Force Base
Sep 23 2013 - 3
Comments

The first unmanned QF-16 Full Scale Aerial
Target
flew
on Sept. 19 at Tyndall Air Force base in Florida, demonstrating the next
generation of combat training and testing.

The aircraft has joined the 82nd Aerial Target
Squadron to
serve as an aerial target for testing against potential adversaries,
radars, surface and air-to-air missiles.

*Image credit: Boeing*

*-*
Newest drones on the rise at Tyndall AFB // VIDEO
[image: New QF-16
drone]

A QF-16 takes off on its first unmanned flight at Tyndall Air Force Base
last week. The military aims to have the QF-16 provide a more accurate
representation of real world threats for testing and training.
*Air Force Staff Sgt. Javier Cruz / Special to The News Herald*
By RANDAL YAKEY / The News Herald

Published: Monday, September 23, 2013 at 19:01 PM.

**

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — The transition from the older, converted F-4
Phantom drones to the newer F-16 supersonic jet fighter drones has begun,
Tyndall officials announced Monday.

The QF-16, formerly F-16s, is a “reusable, full-scale aerial target drone”
that will replace the QF-4 currently being used as practice targets for the
F-22 Raptors, according to the Air Force. The QF-16 is 49 feet long, weighs
19,890 lbs., can reach speeds of 1,500 mph and has a wingspan of about 33
feet.

Tyndall announced its first launch of the QF-16 was completed Thursday, but
did not report how the launch happened until Monday. According to Tyndall
Public Affairs, a pilot performed the preflight checks before climbing out
to the QF-16, locking the canopy from the outside.

*— VIDEO: Watch the drone's first flight » *

http://video.boeing.com/services/player/bcpid1173939806001?bckey=AQ~~,ukPAlqE~,oAVq1qtdRjwBrIkHYj2MSytJiEK9s5fy&bctid=2684464741001


Control was then turned over to Thomas Mudge, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron
(ATRS) pilot controller, who launched the jet for its one-hour mission and
conducted a series of maneuvers before returning to base.

“The flight itself went very well,” Mudge said in a released statement.

The QF-16 can be flown either by a pilot or via remote control, the Air
Force wrote. The Air Force added that eventually a bomb would be placed
aboard the plane so it could be destroyed if needed.

Late Monday, Air Force Col. Ryan Inman, 82nd ATRS commander, addressed why
it was time to replace the QF-4 with the QF-16.

“Currently, the majority of aircraft parts for the QF-4 are no longer being
manufactured,” Inman said. “The QF-16 provides a complete supply chain that
is still active and will maintain replacement part availability for our
entire aerial target fleet.”

In all, up to 126 retired F-16s could be converted to drones, according to
the Air Force. They will be equipped to fly and land multiple times in
manned and unmanned configurations before their final missions against live
weapons on a controlled range, according to the Pentagon.

Tyndall has had two incidents this year where QF-4s either had to be
ditched or crashed at the runway.

On July 11, a QF-4 drone had to be destroyed, causing it to plunge into the
Gulf of Mexico near St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, the Gulf County
Sheriff’s Office said. Tyndall officials initially said the drone went
“haywire” but later said they were forced to destroy the drone when it
became apparent they could not bring the plane in for a safe landing.

A week later, another QF-4 drone crashed at the foot of a Tyndall runway.

The incident prompted Air Force officials to close U.S. 98 forcing a
lengthy delay for traffic traveling between Parker and Mexico Beach.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/government/newest-drones-on-the-rise-at-tyndall-afb-video-1.207427?page=1

[LAAMN] Egypt-New 'anti-Brotherhood, anti-military' front launched to 'achieve revolution goals

[Cort Greene]

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/82400/Egypt/Politics-/New-antiBrotherhood,-antimilitary-front-launched-t.aspx

New 'anti-Brotherhood, anti-military' front launched to 'achieve revolution
goals'
'Revolutionaries' front launched on Tuesday in Cairo to provide
'alternative path to military and Muslim Brotherhood'
Ahram Online, Tuesday 24 Sep 2013

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Among the attendees Activist Alaa Abd El-Fatah, Labor representative Saeed
Omar, Revolutionary socialist Haitham Mohamedein, Leftist economist Wael
Gamal, Student representative Wessam Atta (Photo: Salma Shukrallah)

Related
New anti-military, anti-Brotherhood front to be launched
Tuesday
A new front, dubbed "Revolution Path Front" aimed at providing an
alternative to the current "polarisation" between the military and Muslim
Brotherhood has been launched on Tuesday in a press conference attended by
tens of leading political figures, activists and groups.

"It has been two-and-a-half years since the revolution began and Egyptians
have not yet achieved their dream of building a new republic that will
provide them with democracy, justice and equality," according to the
front's founding statement read by prominent leftist-economist Wael Gamal.

"Millions have taken to the streets twice; once in January 2011 to topple
Mubarak's regime, which was based on corruption and oppression… and a
second time in June 2013, forcing Mohamed Morsi to step down after losing
legitimacy as a result of the Brotherhood's attempts to monopolise
political life and rebuild an oppressive system," the statement added.

The aim of the front, explained Gamal, is to work for the redistribution of
wealth, achieve social justice, combat the formation of an oppressive
regime, achieve equality between citizens, set the path for transitional
justice and adopt foreign policies that guarantee national independence.

The call for an "Egyptian Bill of Rights," will be one of many campaigns
the front aims at developing, and will include collecting at least one
million signatures on a rights document that will stipulate the desired
civil, economic, political and cultural rights of Egyptians.

Known activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, April 6 founding member Ahmed Maher,
renowned author Ahdaf Soueif, and labor lawyer Haitham Mohamadein were
amongst several political figures to announce the launch of the new front.

"Equal citizenship, the right to health, the right to education, the right
to a minimum wage and fair trials are among many of the points to be
included in the bill of rights," said labour activist and member of the
Revolutionary Socialists Mohamadein.

"The revolution's goals are being forgotten and hence there is a need for
this front," said April 6's Maher.

According to Abdel-Fattah, membership in the new front will only be open to
individuals, even if many of them belong to a particular political group or
party. The front should provide a centralised and democratic body that can
hold together a network of individual activists and movements, he explained.

Student activist Wesam Atta, a member of Justice and Freedom Youth, said
that a meeting will be held Saturday to accept membership proposals and
form committees within various governorates.

The front already includes leading members of April 6, the April 6
Democratic Front, Strong Egypt Party, the Revolutionary Socialists and the
Justice and Freedom Youth.

Egypt’s military led a coalition of political forces in removing the
Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July, after mass
national protests against the former elected president.

[LAAMN] Germany: Merkel's victory – What does it mean?

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/germany-merkel-victory-what-does-it-mean.htm

Germany: Merkel's victory – What does it
mean?
Written by Hans-Gerd ÖfingerTuesday, 24 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

German chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic alliance
(CDU/CSU) celebrated a sweeping victory in the German federal elections
held last Sunday. On the basis of an 7.8 percent swing the CDU/CSU scored
over 18 million votes and a share of 41.5 percent – their best result in
national elections for 20 years. Yet due to the German system of
proportional representation this massive swing was not big enough to secure
an overall majority of seats for the CDU/CSU in the new Bundestag, the
federal parliament based in the old Reichstag building in Berlin.

This lack of a clear majority of seats for the traditional bourgeois
parties is mainly due to the fact that the FDP (Liberal Party) which had
been in Merkel's coalition government for the last four years suffered a
humiliating defeat as their support melted away from 14.6 to merely 4.8
percent of the votes cast. They lost their entire parliamentary basis.
Since a party in Germany requires a minimum share of five percent in
national and regional elections before any seats are allocated. The 4.8
percent score represents a historic defeat for the FDP, a bourgeois party
which has served as the direct mouthpiece of big business and the top one
percent of society over the last decades.

On the other hand, the SPD which a few months ago prided itself for its
labour movement traditions and a history of 150 years did not really
recover from its historic 23 percent defeat suffered in 2009. The SPD's
share of 25,7 percent still represents the second worst score in any
national election since World War II. On the electoral plane the party has
been thrown back in fact by 100 years. This is above all the result of the
reformism without reforms or rather reformism with counterreforms carried
out by the coalition government of SPD and Greens led by (ex chancellor)
Gerhard Schröder (SPD) from 1998 to 2005. With their “reforms” of the
labour market they had ushered in a massive casualisation of labour in
Germany and attacks on the unemployed. Now a quarter of the workforce have
some sort of casual jobs, many of them with wages just about or below the
poverty line. Many of them need more than one job to survive or need
additional social security to pay their rents. This is – by the way – the
main and principal explanation for the alleged German “job miracle”. There
is a deepening split between workers and employees in relatively safe jobs
and an increasing number of casual labourers. German variants of soup
kitchens (“Tafeln”) where welfare institutions and volunteers hand out free
food to the unemployed and working poor are springing up like mushrooms all
over the country. At the same time the gap between the classes, between
rich and poor, is wider than ever.

When Schröder lost his majority in 2005, the SPD leaders sought refuge in a
coalition with the CDU/CSU which ushered in “reforms” such as the increase
of the retirement age to 67 years and an increase of the VAT from 16 to 19
percent. It is true that the 2013 SPD election manifesto promised to
“correct” some of the worst aspects of their past government records and
anti working class legislation and campaigned for a minimum wage of 8.50
Euro and against the “abuse” of “labour leasing”. Yet Peer Steinbrück, the
SPD candidate for chancellor, represented the old Schröderite/Blairite
right wing of the SPD and thus did not appeal to millions of workers who
used to support the SPD in past decades and have turned away in different
directions since then. Whereas the SPD had re-conquered their leadership in
government in 1998 with the backing of over 20 million voters primarily
from the working classs and youth, they scored merely 11.2 million votes
last Sunday. The Greens, too, who would have liked to return into a
coalition with the SPD this time, suffered losses and remain miles away
from the temporary hype they scored mainly in 2011 when environmetal issues
became a decisive point of public interest after the nuclear disaster in
Fukushima (Japan).
DIE LINKE emerged as third biggest party

If Merkel succeeds in forming a coalition with the SPD in the coming weeks,
DIE LINKE (Left Party) will become the biggest parliamentary opposition
party nationally. With an 8.6 percent share DIE LINKE eclipsed the Greens.
After a series of humiliating defeats in Western regional elections since
2011, the party has managed to stabilize its electoral position in the West
last Sunday where they scored over five percent in all the federal states
with the exception o

[LAAMN] To ban or not to ban the burka

[Cort Greene]

You’re not 
Muslims

Politics 

by Maryam 
Namazie

These handful of burka-clad women “respond” to the debate on the burka-ban
on behalf of “Muslim women.”

Listen to their vile rhetoric.

They do not represent Muslim women” but Islamism. The burka symbolises
everything Islamism wants at the expense of countless human beings, many of
them Muslim.

Oh sorry I forgot, it’s a “right” and a “choice” – things that are
non-existent when Islamism takes power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgMr6KjHCnI



I won’t cover my
hair

Politics 

by Maryam 
Namazie

Amira Osman Hamed
says
:

I’m Sudanese. I’m Muslim, and I’m not going to cover my head.

Today, 19 September, she faces trial in the Sudan for refusing to wear the
hijab and will be flogged if convicted.

She says she’s prepared to be flogged to defend the right to leave her hair
uncovered in defiance of a “Taliban”-like law.

It would be good if secularists could take some time out of their busy
schedule defending the veil and burqa to defend the likes of Amira.

Here’s a petition you can
sign (thanks
to Jane J for forwarding it to me).

Also Tweet: Save Amira Osman Hamed from flogging in Sudan. #Amira #Sudan
#flogging. Do it now please.

[image: 
amiraosmanhamed]


http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/09/19/to-ban-or-not-to-ban-the-burka/


To ban or not to ban the burka

Politics 

by Maryam 
Namazie

Again the “veil controversy”. And as usual full of misinformation and
deception.

Let me clear a few things up:

First off, no one is calling for an all-out ban on the veil though
proponents often give this impression. Even the French ban is not an
all-out ban; it merely bans all “conspicuous religious symbols” – not just
the hejab but also the cross and skullcap – in public schools. The burqa
ban too is a ban on face covering not an all-out veil ban.

Secondly, supporting a burka ban is not racist or discriminatory in and of
itself. Proponents deceptively imply that the “authentic” Muslim woman is
one who supports the veil, the niqab and burka and any opposition is an
attack on “Muslim women”. But there is no homogeneous “Muslim community”
anywhere. In fact, many women, including “Muslim women,” vehemently oppose
the burqa and niqab and even the veil itself. Today, one of them – Amira
Osman Hamed – is being tried
in
Sudan for refusing to wear the hejab (head covering).

Even the highest Islamic institution of Egypt, Al Azhar, obliges women to
show their faces in court via a decree issued in 1880. And numerous Islamic
scholars oppose the niqab or face covering and consider it un-Islamic.

Moreover, as Algerian secularist Marieme Helie Lucas says, the rights of
the unveiled are just as implicated as those who are veiled. The “right to
veil” rapidly becomes the right to beat up those who do not. Yes,
certainly there are women who freely choose to wear the niqab or burqa but
on a mass social scale, they are impositions.

Thirdly, whilst the niqab or burka are often framed within the context of
“a woman’s right to choose”, it has to do with much more than mere
religious identity and religious beliefs. Apart from the fact that it is a
symbol of women’s subordination, it is also a tool of Islamism. The
increase in the burka and niqab are a direct result of the rise of the
far-Right political Islamic movement and part of that movement’s broader
agenda to segregate society and impose sex apartheid.

To ban or not to ban the burka? Ban it, of course.

And not merely because of security matters or for purposes of
identification and communication as is often stated but in order to protect
and promote the rights of women and girls – all of them – and not just the
few who wear the burka and niqab…

Frankly, I think every secularist and women’s rights defender should
support a burka/niqab ban. That they don’t shows a lack of moral courage
and clarity in the face of the religious Right’s barbarity and misogyny.

For me personally, nothing better portrays the outrage of the burqa and
niqab than the below photo of an Afghan woman who is hardly discernible
sitting amongst rubbish bags. The burqa and niqab dehumanises and relegat

[LAAMN] Desmond Tutu: UN owes it to Syria's children to act

[Cort Greene]

Desmond Tutu: UN owes it to Syria's children to act
DateSeptember 24, 2013

   - 9 reading now
   - Comments 
6
   - Read later

DESMOND TUTU



[image: Syrian refugee children signal to onlooking media, from a camp set
up by Syrian refugees talk in a camp set up by Turkish Red Crescent in the
Turkish town of Yayladagi in Hatay province, Turkey, Friday, June 10, 2011.
The Turkish region borders with Syria and said Wednesday it would open its
borders to aid Syrians who are fleeing from violence, as Syrian troops
backed by dozens of tanks massed near the border, Friday, preparing to move
on Syrian protesters and what they called mutinous forces.(AP Photo/Burhan
Ozbilici)]

"The children of Syria are in a narrow, dark place. We must be their
friends. We must end this war." *Photo: Burhan Ozbilici*

Noor - not her real name - is a heavily pregnant 22-year-old Syrian with an
air of relief about her. Just two weeks ago she arrived, hungry and
exhausted, to the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, with her three children
in tow.

Hunger finally did what continuous violence hadn't so far and forced the
family from their home because there simply was no more food to be had.
They trudged for five nights to escape their homeland, afraid to travel
during the day for fear of shelling.

In the camp, Noor carefully holds her baby, Yazan (also not his real name),
who is thin. Too thin. Diagnosed with severe calcium deficiency, Yazan has
yet to develop any teeth - despite being more than a year old.

Since the war started in Syria, the country has slowly disintegrated. More
than one-third of hospitals have been destroyed, according to the World
Health Organisation. According to Save the Children, 3900 schools have been
destroyed, damaged or are occupied for non-educational purposes since the
start of the conflict.
Advertisement

Syria today is no place for a child and, outrageously, more than 1 million
have already been forced to flee with their families to camps and host
communities in neighbouring countries. Those are the lucky ones - thousands
upon thousands have already been killed. Where is the outrage?

And every child forced out of education, or forced to flee, or whose
development is stunted like Yazan's because of this conflict is a thorn in
our collective conscience. The international community is not only failing
to bring a peaceful end to this conflict but we are compounding that
failure by neglecting to address its dreadful consequences. In our failure
to ensure that people in Syria are getting the food and basic supplies they
need, we condemn children to hunger on top of the horrors of war.

Families trapped inside Syria are today witnessing some of the worst
violence yet seen in the 2½ year conflict. Whole families cannot get access
to the aid they desperately need and when their voices are heard they tell
of a desperate struggle to survive, living under bombardment, the threat of
violence and ever-dwindling supplies as the war chokes Syrian cities.

The situation is bleak for families trying to feed their children. Save the
Children this week releases a report that shows how a lack of food combined
with soaring prices is exposing the children of Syria to a serious risk of
malnutrition. Until recently a food exporter, now 4 million Syrians - half
of them children - are in need of emergency food assistance. As the
destruction continues, this number will grow. Children who three years ago
could rely on three healthy meals a day will now go to bed hungry, afraid,
and all too aware that they have been abandoned by the world outside. There
are already cases of children dying in Syria because they couldn't get
enough food or medical support. Where is the outrage?

Even where there is food available, Syrians face an appalling choice: slide
into hunger or put themselves in the line of fire. There are widespread
reports of people being targeted while queuing for bread. Imagine it:
hungry, desperate and under fire.

At the United Nations General Assembly this week, our leaders must
recognise the human cost of this war. They must recognise the need to use
their global platform to bring the world's attention to this crisis and get
agreement for life-saving aid to get to Syria. They must recognise our
outrage over how thousands of our bright and innocent children are being
flung into the chasm of human hatred.

In Syria, they have an old saying: a narrow place can contain a thousand
friends. The children of Syria are in a narrow, dark place. We must be
their friends. We must get them help. We must end this war.

*Desmond Tutu is Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town.*


Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/desmond-tutu-un-owes-it-to-syrias-children-to-act-20130923-2ua5o.html#ixzz2flftS0Lp

Re: [LAAMN] More on Mint Press article-Syria

[Cort Greene]

Ah yes, the the information of the chemicals attack came from the peaceful
opposition of the LCC's first, no Western backed grouping but Scot would
rather believe that it was a mishandling in a tunnel that happened to
spread to 7 different locations.

We have seen 3 different conspiracy theories now put out by the pro Assad
groupings on the so called left and the regime and none of them hold water.

Cort


On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 11:40 PM,  wrote:

> Ah yes, the Sources might be Ruskie or Iranian, and they must be
> distrusted because the Israeli and Saudi sources must be good, we
> shouldn't even have to questions this as the Western Corporate media
> carried these stories faster then the destruction of an exploding drone
> bomb.
>
> All the key words, and the probably, and mights, and maybes are placed in
> the proper places, so we best get back in line and repeat what we are
> told, question nothing, and attack all who raise any questions, as after
> all, the Commies, Ruskies, Axis of Evil, everyone knows they are the only
> continuous liars, the Western State Department and Corporate Media are
> immaculate.
>
> Our source of information and ways the information is disseminated are all
> so familiar. Familiarity over thinking and questioning is always the
> favorable way to go.
>
> Scott
>
> > Yahya Ababneh exposed
> >
> > *Syria "rebel chemicals" story may have come from Russian source**
> >   *
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > New questions have arisen about Yahya Ababneh, the alleged author of an
> > article claiming that the chemical deaths in Damascus last month were
> > caused by rebel fighters mishandling weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia.
> >
> > The story, originally
> > published<
> http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/
> >
> > by
> > an American website, Mint Press News, has since been cited by Russian
> > officials (and others) to cast doubt on the findings of the UN weapons
> > inspectors in Syria.
> >
> > Mint Press named the journalists who wrote the story as Dale Gavlak – an
> > established freelance based in Jordan who has worked regularly for the
> > Associated Press – and Yahya Ababneh, a Jordanian.
> >
> > In a dramatic twist last Friday, Gavlak issued a
> > statement<
> http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2013/september/syria-rebel-chemicals-mystery-deepens.htm#sthash.ZVOXSlaa.O0BtxSdJ.dpbs
> >
> > denying
> > that she was an "author" or "reporter" for the article. "Yahya Ababneh is
> > the sole reporter and author," she said. However, she followed this up
> > yesterday with an email to the Brown Moses blog conceding that she had
> > helped
> > Ababneh<
> http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2013/september/syria-rebel-chemicals-story-gets-weirder.htm#sthash.CcfgHzWX.5tA4Vqaq.dpbs
> >
> > to
> > "write up" the story, that she had sent it to Mint Press herself once it
> > was completed, and that she had vouched for Ababneh's journalistic
> > credentials.
> >
> > According to Ababneh's profile on LinkedIn, the professional networking
> > website, he has carried out journalistic assignments "in Jordan, Syria,
> > Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Libya for clients such as al-Jazeera,
> > al-Quds al-Arabi, Amman Net, and other publications".
> >
> > So far, though, no evidence has emerged to support this claim and
> internet
> > searches in English and Arabic for articles that carry his byline have
> > drawn a blank.
> >
> > To add to this mystery, Ababneh's profile was deleted from LinkedIn
> > yesterday, though a cached copy can be found
> > here<
> https://cache3.pinboard.in/bangpound/5df0b79210da89ed5e54/108.1.html>
> > .
> >
> > One thing that doesn't show up in the cache is the endorsements given to
> > Ababneh by other LinkedIn users. On the deleted page, he had received
> > endorsements for his skills from two people – Ghazal Omid of the Iran
> > Future organisation and Sufian Ababneh, a legal adviser at the Jordanian
> > embassy in London. Among other things, Sufian Ababneh had endorsed him
> for
> > his skills as an actor.
> >
> > ** * **
> >
> > Let's now turn to a column written by Peter
> > Hitchens<
> http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/08/before-we-bomb-syria-shouldnt-we-seek-proof-of-guilt-.html
> >
> > for
> > the Mail on Sunday on 26 August, which a reader pointed out to me in an
> > email. There's no need to read the column – just scroll down through the
> > comments thread.
> >
> > Here we find a
> > comment<
> http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/08/before-we-bomb-syria-shouldnt-we-seek-proof-of-guilt-.html?cid=6a00d8341c565553ef019aff0dc59b970b#comment-6a00d8341c565553ef019aff0dc59b970b
> >
> > posted
> > at 9.31pm on August 28 in the name of Yan Barakat. Note the timing,
> > because
> > Dale Gavlak says she didn't send the "Saudi chemicals" story to Mint
> Press
> > until August 29.
> >
> > This means there is no way Yan Barakat could have read the article on
> Mint
> > Press's website – and yet Barakat's comme

[LAAMN] The Great Soy Expansion: Brazilian Land Grabs in Eastern Bolivia

[Cort Greene]

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/bolivia-archives-31/4471-the-great-soy-expansion-brazilian-land-grabs-in-eastern-bolivia

The Great Soy Expansion: Brazilian Land Grabs in Eastern
Bolivia[image: 
PDF][image:
Print][image:
E-mail]Written
by Miguel Urioste F. de C.,   Sunday, 22 September 2013 11:01

[image: Photo by Sam Beebe, Ecotrust]This article is an excerpt from Food
First’s Land & Sovereignty Series. Click
here to
download the full report.



In the last two decades, the best agricultural lands in Bolivia have been
put into commercial production by large-scale producers closely linked to
foreign investors, particularly Brazilians. Foreigners now control more
than one million hectares of prime agricultural and ranching lands in
Bolivia, primarily in the eastern lowland department of Santa Cruz, an
important agro-export region dominated by transnational corporations.


While the initial migration of Brazilian investors to Bolivia began in the
1980s, Bolivian liberalization policies in the 1990s facilitated access to
inexpensive and fertile lands. The department of Santa Cruz has been the
primary target for Brazilian investors, where they achieved a much higher
profit margin than in Brazil because of the low price of land; the low
price and easy convertibility of the US dollar as the currency of
transaction; and the extremely low rate of taxation on land and exports.
State subsidies and the “freezing” of the price of diesel for the last two
decades were also central to the expansion of the agricultural frontier in
Santa Cruz.



Since 1990, the area of cultivation in Santa Cruz has expanded from
slightly over 400,000 hectares to more than two million hectares in 2011.
Since 2005, a new round of Brazilian land investments in Santa Cruz has
emerged, this time for ranching. There are currently approximately seven
million head of cattle in Bolivia, three million (or 40 percent) of which
are located in Santa Cruz. Pressure is mounting to expand both soybean
production and ranching operations into forested areas.



According to the Regulatory Agency for the Social Control of Forests and
Lands, 3.3 million hectares of forest have been illegally deforested in
Bolivia between 1996 and 2009 alone. The environmental degradation of the
eastern lowlands has caused several micro-climatic changes in the region,
increasing water stress. In the Santa Cruz province of Velasco, water is
often controlled by cattle ranchers who dam brooks to water their cattle.
Indigenous farming communities living downstream claim that their streams
no longer run except in very wet years, leaving them without water.



Despite President Evo Morales’ political discourse against the latifundio
(large landholdings), the state has not done much to hinder foreign direct
investment in land. And foreign agribusiness has found ways to circumvent
existing regulations, influence political power within Bolivia, and tap
into longstanding discrimination against indigenous people in the name of
regional development.

Existing regulations regarding land rights and titling in Bolivia—including
the Law of Community Reorientation of Agrarian Reform of 2006 and the new
constitution of 2009— permit the free sale and purchase of lands between
private parties, irrespective of their nationality as long as the area does
not exceed 5,000 hectares. However, in order to bypass regulations and
obtain bank loans (which require a proven permanent presence in the
country) many of Brazilians have married Bolivian citizens or created
companies through associations of Bolivian citizens that (for the most
part) exist only on paper.



Foreign investors also benefit from underlying forms of regionalism and
discrimination that are pervasive in Bolivia. For example, Bolivian and
Brazilian large-scale producers in the eastern lowlands have a kind of
“ethnic pact” which identifies indigenous (Quechua and Aymara) peasant
settlers from the highlands as their common enemy. Peasants are blamed for
various social ills, including cocaine production and narco-trafficking;
deforestation; and indiscriminate “slash and burn” agriculture.



These negative perceptions—particularly among the middle classes of Santa
Cruz—are mirrored by a favorable view of foreigners. Indeed, the foreign
presence in Santa Cruz is highly regarded and even sought-out as a means of
making lands more “productive” and attracting capital, technology,
employment, market knowledge, inputs and genetically modified seeds.



Foreign control over land and resources for industria

[LAAMN] More on Mint Press article-Syria

[Cort Greene]

Yahya Ababneh exposed

*Syria "rebel chemicals" story may have come from Russian source**
  *




New questions have arisen about Yahya Ababneh, the alleged author of an
article claiming that the chemical deaths in Damascus last month were
caused by rebel fighters mishandling weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia.

The story, originally
published
by
an American website, Mint Press News, has since been cited by Russian
officials (and others) to cast doubt on the findings of the UN weapons
inspectors in Syria.

Mint Press named the journalists who wrote the story as Dale Gavlak – an
established freelance based in Jordan who has worked regularly for the
Associated Press – and Yahya Ababneh, a Jordanian.

In a dramatic twist last Friday, Gavlak issued a
statement
denying
that she was an "author" or "reporter" for the article. "Yahya Ababneh is
the sole reporter and author," she said. However, she followed this up
yesterday with an email to the Brown Moses blog conceding that she had helped
Ababneh
to
"write up" the story, that she had sent it to Mint Press herself once it
was completed, and that she had vouched for Ababneh's journalistic
credentials.

According to Ababneh's profile on LinkedIn, the professional networking
website, he has carried out journalistic assignments "in Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Libya for clients such as al-Jazeera,
al-Quds al-Arabi, Amman Net, and other publications".

So far, though, no evidence has emerged to support this claim and internet
searches in English and Arabic for articles that carry his byline have
drawn a blank.

To add to this mystery, Ababneh's profile was deleted from LinkedIn
yesterday, though a cached copy can be found
here
.

One thing that doesn't show up in the cache is the endorsements given to
Ababneh by other LinkedIn users. On the deleted page, he had received
endorsements for his skills from two people – Ghazal Omid of the Iran
Future organisation and Sufian Ababneh, a legal adviser at the Jordanian
embassy in London. Among other things, Sufian Ababneh had endorsed him for
his skills as an actor.

** * **

Let's now turn to a column written by Peter
Hitchens
for
the Mail on Sunday on 26 August, which a reader pointed out to me in an
email. There's no need to read the column – just scroll down through the
comments thread.

Here we find a 
comment
posted
at 9.31pm on August 28 in the name of Yan Barakat. Note the timing, because
Dale Gavlak says she didn't send the "Saudi chemicals" story to Mint Press
until August 29.

This means there is no way Yan Barakat could have read the article on Mint
Press's website – and yet Barakat's comments bear some interesting
resemblances to the story allegedly written by Ababneh.

"Who used the chemical weapons?" Barakat asks. He continues:

"The answer is neither the Syrian regime, nor the rebels. This is the game
of Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief. He gave these weapons
to the rebels via tunnels but they did not have enough information about
them. Almost all of the rebels handling the weapons were killed because
they used them incorrectly.

"Many people inside the village were really angry with Jabhat Al Nazrah
[sic] (an Al Qaeda associate in Syria)."

Barakat then adds some information that wasn't included in the Mint Press
story which has done so much to excite Russian officials:

*"Some old men arrived in Damascus from Russia and one of them became
friends with me. He told me that they have evidence that it was the rebels
who used the weapons."*

So who is Yan Barakat? Clicking on his name in the Mail on Sunday comments
thread leads to his Facebook page  where
there is a photo of him.


Like Yahya Ababneh, Yan Barakat appears to be a Jordanian freelance
journalist. There was an article published under his name  in the Jerusalem
Post
.

** * **

Let's now turn to another website – this time a blog in Spanish about
Cuba.
Here we find another blogger getting excited about Ababneh's weapons story.

The interesting part of this is that it includes a link to Ababneh's
now-deleted profile on Lin

[LAAMN] Mexico-La lucha estudiantil hombro a hombro con los maestros

[Cort Greene]

http://www.laizquierdasocialista.org/node/3052

La lucha estudiantil hombro a hombro con los maestros
Escrito por:
 CLEP-CEDEP

La lucha que se ha desatado por todo el país donde los profesores
democráticos están jugando un papel determinante ha contagiado a varios
sectores de la población, entre ellos los estudiantes de las normales
rurales y de las universidades y media superior de la capital del país.
Esta revuelta magisterial está sacudiendo la sociedad y el reflujo que se
había postrado en el movimiento después de la nula lucha que se dio con la
imposición de Peña Nieto.

*Contra la reforma educativa*

Los medios de comunicación masiva, medios de la oligarquía nacional
(Televisa y TV Azteca) han desatado una campaña brutal en contra de la
Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) y todos
aquellos profesores que están luchando contra la llamada Reforma Educativa.

Los tachan de flojos, los responsabilizan por la pérdida de días de clase y
en general del atraso educativo que hay en el país. Más recientemente se
les echa en cara de ser los responsables del tráfico capitalino y demás
cosas.

Nosotros sabemos, por experiencia propia, que estas campañas de
linchamiento mediático se hacen contra todos aquellos que están dispuestos
a luchar y no permitir que sean afectados sus derechos. El ejemplo más
palpable de esto lo podemos tener cuando nosotros los estudiantes hicimos
la huelga universitaria para defender la educación gratuita en la UNAM y
por más de 10 meses mantuvimos cerradas las escuelas. En ese momento todo
estudiante no era otra cosa que un provocador, mugroso, flojo y demás.

La realidad es que con la llamada reforma educativa –se debería de llamar
reforma laboral magisterial y contra la educación gratuita-  se intenta
quitar prácticamente todos los derechos laborales a los profesores. No solo
pierden la base labora y con esto pasan a ser removibles o reemplazables en
cualquier momento, sino que se les impide el siquiera levantar una demanda
laboral contra quien le arrebate sus derechos.

Este ataque en medio del desempleo creciente a nivel nacional, con sueldos
miserables, es aceptar que miles de profesores y sus familias pueden, en
cualquier momento, quedar en la mendicidad. En las montañas de Guerrero,
las regiones oaxaqueñas, las costas chiapanecas y todas las demás regiones
pobre del país esta reforma significa una muerte en lenta agonía.

Además de esto, la contra reforma plantea un ataque directo a las familias
que tiene hijos en escuelas  públicas pre-escolar, primarias, secundarias y
media superior que dependan de la SEP ya que con la supuesta “autonomía de
gestión” el gobierno se lava las manos con respecto a los gastos que se
generen en las escuelas y estos van a tener que ser cubiertos por
iniciativas de los directivos y padres de familia.

¿Qué quiere decir esto exactamente? Que de ahora en adelante como las
escuelas son auto gestionables  los padres de familia tienen que aportar el
dinero para pagar los gastos que necesite la escuela para su funcionamiento
(recibos de luz, agua, teléfono, mantenimiento de bancas, pizarrones,
inmuebles, pintura de fachada, etc.). Es decir, aunque se sigue manteniendo
la idea de una educación gratuita  y plantean que las cuotas que se cobran
cada inicio de ciclo escolar no son obligatorias, con esta nueva
“autonomía de gestión” los padres tendrán que pagar de forma regular para
cubrir el funcionamiento regular de la escuela. Esto es una verdadera
iniciativa privatizadora de forma disfrazada.

Otro aspecto a notar, que se ha comentado muy poco es que con la nueva
reforma no se toca ya, ni de pasada, la educación superior: para el Estado
simplemente no es necesaria ésta y por ende se desprende de todo compromiso
con la misma. Aunque ahora no se ha puesto mucha atención en este punto no
va a pasar un largo periodo para que veamos recortes sustanciales a la
UNAM, Politécnico, UAM, ENAH y demás instituciones de grado universitario
del país.

*La lucha de los profesores se extiende por todo el país*

Ésta es la  causa del malestar y la insurgencia magisterial que estamos
viendo en más de 27 estados de la república. Incluso en lugares donde la
dirigencia del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE)
-sindicato charro- las bases se han movilizado y desconocido a sus
delegados sindicales.

En Quintana Roo, Campeche, Yucatán, Tabasco, Veracruz, Tamaulipas,
Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Baja California
Norte y Sur, Jalisco, Tlaxcala y Estado de México, en todos estos Estados
donde  el movimiento democrático había sido borrado por los charros, hoy
están en lucha. Desafiando las amenazas de sanciones administrativas,
despidos y  de represión, han salido a las calles.

En Estados donde la Coordinadora es un referente de lucha el proceso se
está llegando a grados más desarrollados. En abril pudimos ver la lucha del
pueblo de Guerrero encabezado por los profesores y las policías
comunitarias. En Oaxaca la 

[LAAMN] AntiWar.com mea culpa on Mint Press article on Syria Gas Attack

[Cort Greene]

**


Retraction and Apology to Our Readers for Mint Press Article on Syria Gas
Attack

By Eric Garris
Antiwar.com
September 20, 2013

On August 31, Antiwar.com reprinted an article from Mint Press News:
"Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack." We
originally linked to it, but then reprinted on our site at the request of
Mint Press because traffic on their site was crashing their server. The
validity of the story was primarily based on the fact that the supposed
co-author (Dale Gavlak) is a reporter for Associated Press.

Many other articles have been written which refer to the information
contained in the Mint Press piece, including ones appearing on Antiwar.com.

Dale Gavlak has issued a statement saying she did not co-author the article
and denies that she traveled to Syria or contributed to the article in any
way. Here is his statement:

"Mint Press News incorrectly used my byline for an article it published on
August 29, 2013 alleging chemical weapons usage by Syrian rebels. Despite
my repeated requests, made directly and through legal counsel, they have
not been willing to issue a retraction stating that I was not the author.
Yahya Ababneh is the sole reporter and author of the Mint Press News
piece.   To date, Mint Press News has refused to act professionally or
honestly in regards to disclosing the actual authorship and sources for
this story.

"I did not travel to Syria, have any discussions with Syrian rebels, or do
any other reporting on which the article is based.  The article is not
based on my personal observations and should not be given credence based on
my journalistic reputation. Also, it is false and misleading to attribute
comments made in the story as if they were my own statements."

The staff of Antiwar.com sincerely and deeply apologizes for being a part
of spreading this article. We also apologize to Dale Gavlak.


http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/09/20/retraction-and-apology-to-our-readers-for-mint-press-article-on-syria-gas-attack/

[LAAMN] Syria: genocide by international consensus

[Cort Greene]

[image: The people of Syria ‘celebrate’ the fact that they will
not be killed with sarin gas anymore … ‘just’ by
conventional means.] 

The people of Syria ‘celebrate’ the fact that they will not be killed with
sarin gas anymore … ‘just’ by conventional means.

---


Syria: genocide by international consensus
Amr Salahi
Friday, 20 September 2013 10:53
  36  2

  12  49

[image: Bashar Assad]

Outside Syria, not many people remember the peaceful protests calling for
freedom and democracy that began the Syrian revolution in March 2011, and
how those protests were met by the Assad regime.
*Part 1: A green light to Assad*

*Ever since the Syrian regime gassed its own citizens in the Damascus
suburbs in a chemical attack on August 21, the issue has rarely been out of
the Western news media. However, the debate has been very simplistic. Any
observer would be forgiven for thinking that the only crime committed in
Syria was this chemical attack, and that the Syrian people had not been
subjected to a genocidal war at the hands of a ruthless sectarian
dictatorship for two and a half years.*

*
*

*Of course, the original cause of the conflict has been largely forgotten.
Outside Syria, not many people remember the peaceful protests calling for
freedom and democracy that began the Syrian revolution in March 2011, and
how those protests were met by the Assad regime, with unarmed protesters
being slaughtered in the streets and children who wrote slogans on walls or
took part in the protests tortured, on many occasions to death, in the
regime's jails. It was only after many long months of killing and
oppression that defecting soldiers from the regime's army formed the Free
Syrian Army, to defend peaceful protesters as well as ordinary citizens
from government attacks.*

*
*

*An observer of the debate would also be forgiven for thinking that the
countries of the world are divided on Syria. The received wisdom on the
Syrian conflict is that the United States, its allies in NATO and the Gulf
States are offering support to the rebels while Russia, China, Iran and the
Lebanese Hezbollah are supporting the regime.*

*
*

* Bashar Al-Assad's regime likes to paint itself as part of an "axis of
resistance" against US and Israeli imperialism which includes Iran and
Hezbollah and is supported by Russia; this is why it has gained support
from the anti-imperialist left in Western countries. A closer look at the
support the regime is receiving vis-a-vis the "support" the rebels are
receiving from their supposed allies shows that there is in fact little
difference between the major powers on the Syrian issue. Russian ships
carrying weapons, including aircraft, dock regularly in Latakia and Tartus,
ensuring that the regime remains armed to the teeth and able to fight on
despite the military setbacks inflicted on it by the rebels. Iran has not
only sent weapons to the regime but also troops and advisers. It is
believed widely in Syria that these advisers are the real rulers of the
country. Hezbollah was instrumental in the regime's ruthless bombardment
and capture of Qusair, and its fighters now line up alongside the regime in
Deraa and Aleppo.*

*
*

*On the other hand, the United States and the European countries have given
rhetorical support to the Syrian opposition while making sure that the Free
Syrian Army remains unable to defeat the government's forces by imposing a
strict arms embargo. For example, last year the Free Syrian Army managed to
acquire anti-aircraft weapons but the United States and NATO refused to
allow them to be transported to Syria and they remained in storage in
Turkey. *

*
*

*In June this year, following a regime chemical attack on the town of
Saraqeb, the Obama administration announced that it would arm the Syrian
rebels. To-date they have not received a single bullet from the United
States or from any of its European allies. The FSA's main source of weapons
remains those captured from the regime or those sold to it by corrupt
regime officers. It is thought that Gulf countries have supplied weapons
but not on a scale that would tip the balance of the conflict. The main
factor ensuring that the conflict and genocide continue, and the Assad
regime stays in power, is the continuing embargo on weapons to the Free
Syrian Army, which lacks the heavy weapons needed to defeat the state's
armed forces.*

*
*

*In order to understand the position of the United States and its European
allies, it is helpful to look at the statements of Israeli officials. While
the main pro-Israel lobby group in the United States, AIPAC, publicly
declared its support for strikes against the Syrian regime following the
most recent chemical weapons attack, it is much more evident that Israel
would in fact prefer Bashar Al-Assad to remain in power. The Wall Street
Journal reported recently that Israel

[LAAMN] Alan Woods [Video]: Lenin and Trotsky - What they really stood for

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/video-aw-lening-and-trotsky-what-they-really-stood-for.htm

[Video]: Lenin and Trotsky - What they really stood
for
Written by Alan WoodsFriday, 20 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

*At the recent Marxist summer school in London, Alan Woods - author of
"Bolshevism: the road to revolution" - explores the ideas of Bolshevism and
discusses the vital role of Lenin and Trotsky in the Russian Revolution of
1917.*

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ZICRekmCE*

[LAAMN] South Africa: COSATU to hold Special National Congress as Right Wing retreats

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/south-africa-cosatu-to-hold-special-national-congress.htm

South Africa: COSATU to hold Special National Congress as Right Wing
retreats
Written by Vernie MorkenFriday, 20 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) will hold a special
national congress to deal with divisions that have ravaged South Africa's
largest labour federation for the last period. The announcement came on
August 19th after the three day meeting of the Central Executive Committee
(CEC) meeting that was held in Johannesburg. This was after nine affiliated
unions wrote to the CEC, requesting such a congress. This represents a step
in the right direction for the federation. COSATU's constitution states
that for a special congress to be held, at least one third of affiliates
(seven) must make such a request. The president of the federation then has
14 days to deal with the logistics of holding the congress, including
setting a date.
Divisions

[image: 
COSATULogo]The
immediate background to this was the suspension of the federation's general
secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi by the CEC on 14 August after he admitted to
having an extramarital affair with a junior colleague. In a previous
article we explained that the reason for Vavi's suspension had nothing to
do with his personal indiscretions, but rather with the politics and
contradictory forces in the Tripartite Alliance (ANC, SACP and COSATU).The
decision to suspend Vavi has plunged COSATU into the deepest crisis since
its formation. Unions have now lined up against each other, representing
right and left wings of the federation. At the time of Vavi's suspension,
the General Secretary of the Food and Allied Workers Union, Katishi
Masemola warned: “COSATU won't be the same. The first thing is that there
is going to be two camps within the federation. Each and every affiliate
will be affected by instability of sorts. Unity of each and every affiliate
is not guaranteed."

Since then events have proved him right. But the divisions run much deeper
than just within COSATU. The origins of the federation's troubles are
rooted in the Tripartite Alliance, and reflect the conflict between those
who are closer to the government and thus enjoy the “fruits of office” and
those who are closer to the shop floor and are much more in touch with
workers. The whole campaign to oust Vavi is actually an attempt to silence
him because of his outspokenness against corruption, anti-working class
policies, and his criticism of the fact that SACP and COSATU leading
members joined the ANC government where they implement these policies. The
General Secretary of the Metalworkers Union, (NUMSA), Irvin Jim, directly
accuses the secretary general of the ANC and the general secretary of the
Communist Party of being behind the divisions. Addressing workers at a
march in Randburg, Jim said: "Him [Mantashe] and Blade (Nzimande of the
SACP) are doing everything to divide COSATU unions".

For their part, Mantashe and Nzimande upped the ante by launching
blistering attacks against the pro-Vavi faction. Addressing members of the
police officers union (POPCRU), Nzimande  even referred to them as the
enemy: "If some union leaders think that they are going to take affiliates
out of COSATU, then they will find the Communist Party first. Those who are
threatening to walk out, they will first have to open this red door. Those
who are planning to do so; they are part of the enemy that wants to destroy
our revolution. There can be no problem that is bigger than the unity of
COSATU." This is quite typical of Nzimande - taking up a defensive position
in public while dealing through intrigue behind the scenes. He also
defended the fact that SACP leading members are part of the government,
saying:"The 'liberal idea'(!!) that the state was inherently bad and
constantly had to be criticised had to be resisted. That is why in our
universities and in the media, in order to prove that we are truly
independent, we must attack the government and the ANC. Then you will get
kudos. Most of us here campaigned for this government in 2009.So this is
our government, no matter what problems it has. It is our government.”

What revolution is Nzimande talking about when the ANC government is firmly
committed to capitalist policies, privatization, tendering, etc.? What
revolution is he talking about when prominent ANC leaders sit on the
administration boards of the same mining companies that ordinary
mine-workers are fighting against and then when mine-workers go on strike,
the ANC government responds by sending the police 

[LAAMN] New Tension Between Venezuela and USA

[Cort Greene]

New Tension Between Venezuela and USA

Posted By *Circles Robinson* On September 19, 2013 @ 8:46 pm In *Recent
Posts,World* |**

Nicolas Maduro. Photo: telesurtv.net

HAVANA TIMES — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reported today that the
US government denied him permission to fly over the airspace of Puerto Rico
in his flight tomorrow to China, where he will carry out an official visit,
reports dpa news.

As a result, Maduro said he will change the route. The prohibition from
Washington brings renewed tension to the rocky relationship between the two
governments.

“I have ordered the planners to map another route even if it is longer, but
the United States is not going to stop me from going to China. Denying
permission for a head of state to fly over the airspace of a country they
have colonized is a serious offense”, said Maduro at a rally in Caracas.

Maduro did not explain the reasons given for the US refusal. He is planning
a 12-day visit to China, during which he will meet with his Chinese
counterpart Xi Jinping.

The Venezuelan present also reported that the US government is also
“conditioning” the assistance of the Venezuelan delegation to the UN
General Assembly in New York.

“They want to condition us by not granting a visa to the head of the office
of the presidency, (Minister Wilmer Barrientos), but you (President Barack
Obama) are required to give visas to all my team,” he said.

Maduro warned that if it is necessary to take “diplomatic measures” against
the US government he will; “I’m not going to accept this action.”

In this regard, Maduro urged Foreign Minister Elias Jaua to activate the
mechanisms for his likely presence at the UN General Assembly.

Shortly after Maduro’s announcement of the new tensions caused by the US
refusal to grant fly over of Puerto Rican air space, Bolivian President Evo
Morales gave a press conference where he called on the ALBA countries to
boycott the upcoming US General Assembly Session in solidarity with
Venezuela.

Morales accused the US of non-compliance with four international norms by
prohibiting Maduro to fly over Puerto Rico en route to China, reported dpa.

--
1 Comment (Open  |
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--

Article printed from Havana Times.org: *http://www.havanatimes.org*

URL to article: *http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=98909*

[LAAMN] U.S. denies its airspace (that of Puerto Rico) for the flight of President Maduro to China

[Cort Greene]

*U.S. denies its airspace (that of Puerto Rico) for the flight of President
Maduro to China*
*
*
*By: Agencies Aporrea.org*

Caracas, September 19 - Foreign Minister Elias Jaua announced Thursday that
the United States banned the plane that was to  fly President Nicolas
Maduro by its airspace on the route of his journey to China.

"We have received information from U.S. authorities that we have been
denied the flight over U.S. airspace," said Jaua this afternoon to the
media in the Yellow House, where he held a meeting with the Foreign
Minister of South Africa .

"We denounce this as a more aggressive U.S. imperialism against the
Government of the Bolivarian Republic" settled.

"Nobody can deny overflight aircraft transporting a President on a journey
of international state," the Chancellor said that while "there is no valid
argument for denying that flyby, so we denounce as a aggression ".

Maduro's trip to China remains: seek other routes

After ensuring that this prohibition is not going "to prevent us to travel
to the Republic of China", let them know that they are "looking for other
flight options, but we reserve the measures at all levels that we have to
take if the U.S. government , its aeronautical authorities, not rectified
in this new assault on Venezuela's sovereignty. "

Despite this new episode in the strained relations between Washington and
Caracas, Venezuela's Foreign Minister said he expects a correction by the
U.S. government.

[LAAMN] U.S. Urged to Curb Militarization in Latin America

[Cort Greene]

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/4470-us-urged-to-curb-militarization-in-latin-america

U.S. Urged to Curb Militarization in Latin America[image:
PDF][image:
Print][image:
E-mail]Written
by Jim Lobe   Thursday, 19 September 2013 15:31

[image: A military checkpoint on Colombia's Atrato River. Credit: Jesús
Abad Colorado/IPS](IPS) - The United States needs to phase down its drug
war and tighten the reins on its cooperation with local militaries and
police in Latin America, according to a new report released here Wednesday
by three influential think tanks.

Of particular interest is the increase in training deployments to Latin
American and the Caribbean by the Special Operations Forces (SOF) – elite
units like the Army’s Green Berets and Navy SEALS – due in part to the U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq and drawdown from Afghanistan.

Over the past decade, SOF ranks have more than doubled to about 65,000, and
their commander, Adm. William McRaven, has been particularly aggressive in
seeking new missions for his troops in new theaters, including Latin
America and the Caribbean where they are training thousands of local
counterparts.

“You can train a lot of people for the cost of one helicopter,” Adam
Isacson, an analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA),
told IPS.

He noted that the increased investment in SOF was part of a much larger
Pentagon strategy of maintaining a “light (military) footprint” in
countries around the globe while bolstering its influence with local
military institutions.

The Pentagon, however, is much less transparent than the State Department,
and its programs are often not subject to the same human-rights conditions
and do not get the same degree of Congressional oversight.

Moreover, McRaven has sought the authority to deploy SOF teams to countries
without consulting either U.S. ambassadors there or even the U.S. Southern
Command (SOUTHCOM), making it even more difficult for civil society
activists to track what they’re doing and whether they’re working with
local units with poor human-rights records that would normally be denied
U.S. aid and training under the so-called Leahy Law.

Last summer, according to Isacson, McRaven’s command even tried to work out
an agreement with Colombia to set up a regional special operations
coordination center there without consulting SOUTHCOM or the embassy.

“What these developments mean is that the military role in foreign
policy-making is becoming ever greater, and military-to-military relations
come to matter more than diplomatic relations,” he said. “What does that
mean for civil-military relations not only in the region, but also here at
home?”

The 32-page 
report,
entitled “Time to Listen”, describes U.S. policy as “on auto-pilot”,
largely due to the powerful bureaucratic interests in the Pentagon and the
Drug Enforcement Administration and their regional counterparts that have
built up over decades.

“The counter-drug bureaucracies in the United States are remarkably
resistant to change, unwilling to rethink and reassess strategies and
goals,” said Lisa Haugaard, director of the Latin America Working Group
Education Fund (LAWGEF) which released the report along with WOLA and the
Centre for International Policy (CIP).

The report also noted that new security technologies, including drones,
whose use by the U.S. and other countries is growing quickly throughout the
region, and cyber-spying of the kind that prompted this week’s abrupt
cancellation by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff of her state visit here
next month, pose major challenges to the security environment and civil
liberties in the region.

Total U.S. aid to Latin America hit its highest level in more than two
decades in 2010 – nearly 4.5 billion dollars – due to the costs of the
“Merida Initiative”, a multi-year program for fighting drug-trafficking in
Mexico and Central America, and a major inflow of assistance to help Haiti
recover from that year’s devastating earthquake.

But aid fell sharply in 2011 – to just 2.5 billion dollars – and is
expected to decline to just 2.2 billion dollars in fiscal 2014, which
begins Oct. 1.

Military and security assistance also reached its height in 2010, at 1.6
billion dollars, but has since declined to around 900 million dollars,
largely as a result of the phase-out of Plan Colombia and the Merida
Initiative. Central America is the only sub-region in which aid, including
non-security assistance, is increasing significantly.

[LAAMN] Corpoelec Workers Protest Conditions as Venezuelan Electricity Minister Vows to “Restore Confidence” in Power Grid

[Cort Greene]

Corpoelec Workers Protest Conditions as Venezuelan Electricity Minister
Vows to “Restore Confidence” in Power Grid

Sep 19th 2013, by Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
[image: Corpoelec workers protested in Carabobo on Wednesday (Noticias24)]

Corpoelec workers protested in Carabobo on Wednesday (Noticias24)

Merida, 19th September 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Electricity minister
Jesse Chacon has pledged to improve Venezuela's power grid following
widespread blackouts on 3 September, while workers at the state energy
company Corpoelec have protested against new employment conditions.

On Wednesday, Chacon launched an initiative labelled by the government as
“Mission Electricity” during the inauguration of the India Urquía power
plant in Miranda state.

Chacon stated he intends to “restore confidence in our system”, following
this month's blackouts. During the ceremony, the minister stated that the
blackouts had been caused by a metal grille falling on electrical lines;
the resulting short-circuit cutting power across the west of the country.

The minister reiterated previous statements that the malfunction was the
result of sabotage, though he stated that an investigation is ongoing.

“It didn't fall due to a lack of maintenance, because [maintenance] was
done on 27 June this year,” Chacon stated.

Following the blackouts, President Nicolas Maduro announced the creation of
a new security unit to guard electricity sites.

“Only the armed forces and the people, united with [Corpoelec] employees
can strengthen and give the security required for the system,” Chacon said
yesterday.

Despite allegations of sabotage, Chacon argued that a new “awareness” of
energy use is needed.

The minister stated that between 1998 and 2011 electricity usage has almost
doubled, while arguing that Venezuela now produces three times more
electricity than the Latin American per capita average. Venezuela also
produces four times the electricity per capita rate than neighbouring
Colombia, according to the minister.

Along with improving security, the new mission will promote the use of
renewable energy and “rational” electricity consumption. One suggestion put
forth by the minister was that Venezuelans should try to reduce
unnecessarily usage of air conditioners.

“The mission seeks to provide that cultural change in Venezuelan society.
To understand that we can make rational and efficient use of electrical
energy and maintain the [current] levels of quality of life,” he stated.

The mission also aims to increase energy output by 1600 megawatts this
quarter with new investment in energy infrastructure; including the
construction of 150 new transmission lines. Chacon also stated that the
government has invested US6 billion in new hydro-electricity assets along
with thermo-electricity, which are expected to be operational by 2014. He
also pledged to ensure more regular maintenance of the grid nationwide.

While Chacon launched the new mission, in Carabobo state a group of
Corpoelec workers protested outside the state company's offices against new
employment conditions established earlier this month.

According to the head of the Carabobo Electrical Union Herles Contreras,
new conditions that came into effect on 1 September limit casual workers to
45 day contracts, after which they cannot be rehired for 90 days. However,
casual workers will still need to wait around three months for rehiring
even after completing a contract that is less than 45 days, which according
to Contreras is common for many Corpoelec jobs.

“The revenue system, distribution, cutting, reconnection and the
transmission system will be affected because many of these people do these
jobs,” Contreras stated, arguing that hundreds of casual employees could be
affected by the changes in Carabobo alone, and as many as 6000 nationwide.

Contreras stated that the new measures could cause “chaos” in the
electricity sector.
--
*Source URL (retrieved on 19/09/2013 - 2:34pm):*
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10034

[LAAMN] SYRIA/VENEZUELA-Revolution, civil war and imperialist intervention

[Cort Greene]

This is just one statement but there are several groups on the Left in
Venezuela who don't have the same position as the government on Syria.

Cort

---
http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article3121


SYRIA/VENEZUELA
Revolution, civil war and imperialist intervention

STATEMENT ON SYRIA BY MAREA SOCIALISTA

Wednesday 18 September 2013

   -

This statement on Syria was issued by the Venezuelan revolutionary
organization Marea Socialista (“Socialist Tide”) on 8 September 2013.
Active since the beginning within the Chavista movement and the Bolivarian
process, Marea Socialista is a current organized within the PSUV (United
Socialist Party of Venezuela), founded by Hugo Chavez. It advocates
deepening the popular process in Venezuela and mobilizes against the
bureaucratization of this process. It is interesting, in this respect, to
know its analysis and its positioning concerning events in Syria. Its call
for the internationalist and democratic radical Left to make itself heard
in a coordinated manner is also important.

Since August 21, Syria has been on the front pages of the world’s press.
The killing of more than 1,400 people with chemical weapons provided the
excuse for Obama to launch a criminal threat of intervention by the United
States against this already martyred Middle Eastern country. A threat in
which he has got himself bogged down and which for that reason is even more
dangerous.

A hundred thousand dead, half a million injured and maimed, more than a
million (if you count only minors less than 18 years old) refugees; that is
the balance sheet of the victims caused by the dictatorship of Bashar
Al-Assad since March 2011. This makes the Syrian conflict one of the most
tragic of the first years of the twenty-first century. These figures are
those of the reports of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees
(UNHCR) and so far nobody has challenged them.

The military intervention of the United States will only add to this
tragedy with a very large dose of barbarism and the definite probability of
a regional explosion with incalculable consequences.

For we who look at these things from the outside, without feeling in our
own flesh the anguish and the daily violence, the pain and hatred due to
the daily loss of relatives, friends or companions, the desolation and
destruction of a country once known as "the land of cinnamon", the debate
nevertheless unleashes raging passions and evokes a feeling of urgency
faced with the dangers for humanity that an imperialist aggression
represents.

How can we help stop the massacre in this country? What can we do to
prevent the imperialist intervention which will cause a great new leap in
the spiral of violence that strikes primarily the Syrian people and those
of the region? What can we do to help ensure that this people which rose up
against decades of oppression manages to achieve its objective? The answers
to these questions, as to so many others, cut across the bitter debates
that are develop in the so-called "Left" on a world scale.

The crisis of the capitalist system of domination, open from the 2007
financial crisis onwards, has initiated a new period of rebellion. A period
of struggles and protests that have in their turn triggered revolutionary
processes against governments and regimes in different countries of the
world and challenged the traditional political organizations and
institutions of capitalist governance. But they have also triggered
counter-revolutions and wars whose purpose is to crush the rise of this new
process of struggle of the peoples and their desire and determination for
change.

In this new stage on a world level, the Arab Spring , that is to say, the
process of democratic and anti-capitalist revolutions which has liquidated
the old status quo that had lasted for more than five decades in the Near
and Middle East, is the first regional laboratory for the confrontation
between revolution and counter-revolution. The cost in human lives of the
barbarism caused by dictators, by monarchs, by the fascist state of Israel
and the leaders of world imperialism would be all for nothing if we do not
learn the bitter lessons that these processes themselves provide us with.

In our opinion, we are in the presence of a long-term process, whose
development will consist of advances and retreats. A process which, with
its peculiarities, different rhythms and distinct time scales, will
continue to spread steadily. That is why the direct military intervention
that U.S. imperialism is preparing for Syria is intended, among other
objectives, to strike at a regional revolutionary process of which we must
seek the origin in the structural crisis of capitalism, which has been open
and visible since 2007.

Identify the root causes of the present conflict; identify the sectors in
conflict and the role of each driving force; understand the internal
dynamics of the forces, bu

[LAAMN] Iran-Photo of the Day: Freed Political Prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh

[Cort Greene]

*Mahsa Vahdat & Mighty Sam McClain - Sun of Iran*
**
*video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqi0y8HIXV0*
--

Nasrin Sotoudeh tells NYT: "I hope the verdicts of all political prisoners
are revised."

Photo of the Day: Freed Political Prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh

Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of at least 11 political prisoners freed on
Wednesday
:

[image: IRAN 18-09-13
SOTOUDEH]

(Photo: Behrouz Mehri/AFP)
Video: Rouhani to US Channel “We Will Never Develop Nuclear Weapons”

In an interview with US NBC News, to be broadcast on Wednesday night,
President Rouhani has repeated the line of Iranian officials — including
the Supreme Leader — that the Islamic Republic will never develop nuclear
weapons:

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/andrea-mitchell/53043096


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news , world
news,
and news about the economy 
16 Political Prisoners Released, Including Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh

Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, detained since September 2010, has
been 
released
from
prison,according to her husband Reza
Khandan
.

The lawyer is one of 16 political prisoners — eight women and three men —
who have suddenly been freed.

Sotoudeh, who represented a number of prominent activists before she was
imprisoned, was serving a six-year sentence for actions against national
security and propaganda against the regime, including an interview she gave
to foreign media with her head uncovered.

http://eaworldview.com/2013/09/iran-today-does-supreme-leaders-heroic-flexibility-mean-talks-with-us/

[LAAMN] 100,000 on the streets of Poland: “Part-time jobs, full-time exploitation”

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/10-on-the-streets-of-poland-part-time-jobs-full-time-exploitation.htm

100,000 on the streets of Poland: “Part-time jobs, full-time
exploitation”
Written by Ben GlinieckiWednesday, 18 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

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   -
   -

On Saturday 14 September over 100,000 people marched through Warsaw in a
joint action called by Solidarity, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions
(OPZZ) and the Forum of Trade Unions. This was the culmination of four days
of trade union demonstrations against the Donald Tusk government.

[image: 
protest-18-09-2013]The
main demands of the protests were on the issues of unemployment, the
minimum wage, the retirement age and access to social benefits for those in
need. The unions are demanding, along with changes to proposed legislation,
the dismissal of Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz from his post as Minister of
Labour. The size of this demonstration is far greater than has been seen in
Poland for many years and is a reflection of the economic stagnation and
falling standards of living that Polish workers have experienced over the
past years.
The spark

The spark for the demonstrations last week were the proposed reforms to the
labour code that allow for so-called “junk” contracts, which refer to
temporary contracts designed for casual labour under which employment
rights are severely limited. One demonstrator, Zdzislaw Urabanek, a 60 year
old chemical factory worker and member of the Solidarity trade union said
on Saturday, *“I want an end to temporary contracts. Young people are only
getting contracts for one, two, three months” *and one of the placards
being carried on the demonstration read *“Part-time job, full-time
exploitation!”  *In response to these proposals the leaders of the three
major unions voted to walk out of talks with the Minister of Labour and
call for joint demonstrations against the government.
Economic troubles

This proposed reform has not come out of nowhere. Poland’s economy is
stagnating. Although it was the only European country to officially avoid
recession in 2009, its growth rate at present is an unimpressive 0.1%.
According to staffing firm Randstad, 67% of Polish companies expect the
economy to either stagnate or contract over the next six months and only
25% expect growth.

Meanwhile the Polish government’s tax revenues have fallen well below
expectations, forcing the government to push through an amendment to the
2013 budget last Friday that allows for an increase of the budget deficit
by PLN 16 billion (USD 5.07 billion) beyond what was originally expected.
Wider demands

As a result of these economic woes and in order to safeguard the profits of
the Polish bourgeoisie, the ruling liberal party – Civic Platform (PO) – is
being introducing cuts in public services and worsening working and living
conditions for Polish workers. This attempt to introduce more “junk”
contracts is just one reflection of this tendency. It is therefore not
surprising that the demands of the protestors grew to be wider than simply
an end to “junk” contracts. Marek Lewandowski, a spokesman for Solidarity,
said *“We want better pensions at the age of 65 as before, and not at the
age of 67. We want better social policy and guarantees for employees.” *Another
major demand of the unions is the introduction of a law that will create a
faster rate of increase for the minimum wage.

But the unions have not stopped at economic demands. Tomasz Danielewicz, a
nurse who travelled to Warsaw to take part in the demonstration, said *“We
have come to Warsaw to show a red card to the government”. *Piotr Duda, the
leader of Solidarity, said *“We should start collecting signatures calling
for the dissolution of parliament because the government are beyond coming
up with anything new”, *while Jan Guz, the leader of OPZZ told the
demonstration *“The government gets its last warning today. If it draws no
conclusions, we will block the whole country, all roads and highways”. *As
a minimum requirement for the unions to come back to the negotiating table
the leaders have demanded the dismissal of the Minister of Labour. As with
all workers across Europe in the recent period, Polish workers are
increasingly insistent on political change to solve their worsening
economic position.
A political change to what?

The question Polish workers will be asking is: a political change to what?
With 59% of Poles in favour of these protests, and only 31% against, it is
clear that the majority can see that the PO offers no alternative to the
economic problems and decline in living standards fac

[LAAMN] Greek Fascist Kill Anti-Fascist Rapper: Unified anti-fascist defence groups everywhere - United Central Anti-fascist Militia now!

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/greek-fascists-kill-anti-fascist-rapper-pavlos-fyssas.htm

Greek Fascist Kill Anti-Fascist Rapper: Unified anti-fascist defence groups
everywhere - United Central Anti-fascist Militia
now!
Written by Communist Tendency of SYRIZAWednesday, 18 September 2013
[image: 
Print][image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

This morning a 34-year old anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas, was stabbed
to death, by a member of the fascist organisation Golden Dawn, in a working
class neighborhood near the port of Athens. The incident comes after a
series of violent attacks in recent days by members of Golden Dawn against
political rivals, including both communist activists. Below we publish an
appeal published on this occasion by the Communist Tendency of
SYRIZA.


United anti-fascist defence groups everywhere - United Central Anti-Fascist
Militia now!

[image: pavlos-fyssas]

The fascists have murdered a left activist. Words of anger and indignation
are not enough. Now is the time for mass anti-fascist united action.
Everyone should come to the anti-fascist gathering today at 17.30, Amfiali
Square. We need Anti-fascist Self-Defence Groups everywhere - a Central
Anti-Fascist Militia. Read the statement below of the Communist Tendency of
SYRIZA.

Last night's murder of 34 year old anti-fascist fighter Pavlos Fyssas in
Amfiali by a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, as well as being a heinous
political crime, is an alarm call to mobilise the labour movement and the
Left. Coming immediately after the violent attack on communist militants in
Perama, the murder of the anti-fascist fighter proves that Golden Dawn is a
ruthless gang of fascist assassins at the service of big capital, aiming
not only to terrorise, but also to physically eliminate fighters of the
labour movement and the Left.

Faced with the escalation of the murderous activities of the fascists there
is only one way forward: massive, united, organised and effective
anti-fascist action. All organisations and activists in the labour movement
and the Left are now being targeted. The most urgent task for all unions
and workers' parties, all organisations and tendencies of the Left, is to
protect the movement and every fighter from the ruthless fascist violence.

We should sow no illusions about the role of the bourgeois state, the
"security forces" and the "law enforcement". It has been historically
established - and this has become evident in the case of the Golden Dawn -
that the police does not persecute the fascists, but instead, plays the
role of financing, organising, supplying arms and protecting them. The
protection of the activists and the labour movement from the murderous
fascist violence, is a task that can be fulfilled only by the movement
itself relying only on its own forces.

Democratic wishful thinking and the invocation of the state institutions,
which are the cover of the organised, reactionary violence of the ruling
class, disorients the movement and emboldens the fascists. Now is the time
to act, and for this action to be effective, coordination and unity of all
labour and leftist organisations is required.

In order to organise decisive and effective response to the murderous
fascist violence, the Communist Tendency of SYRIZA proposes:

   - A United Front of the trade unions - SYRIZA - KKE and other left-wing,
   anti-fascist organisations on a concrete programme of mass action, for
   anti-fascist self-defence and combating fascist violence.
   - Establishing anti-fascist defence groups in the neighbourhoods,
   workplaces and education institutions by all organisations of the labour
   movement, youth and the Left.
   - Establishing a Single Central Anti-fascist Militia with selected
   members of the anti-fascist defence groups, to undertake the task of
   guarding and self-defence of the mobilisations of the labour movement and
   the youth nationally from the attacks of the fascists, and the official
   state repression.

Communist Tendency of SYRIZA - 09/18/2013

Re: [LAAMN] Israel launches second Syria air strike in two days - reports RT News http://rt.]

[Cort Greene]

*So 400 people( if you believe that number) in an Israeli strike ( one of 5
over the years) is more than 100,000 than the fascist  Assad regime is
responsible for. *
*
*
*You a fucking wing nut.*


On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 12:36 AM,  wrote:

> **
>
>
> There ya go Cort, your Western/Israeli/Saudi Intervention to remove Assad
> no matter how it plays out for the people of the land.
>
> Israel has killed more Syrians over the years then Assad has, but
> apparently that doesn't figure into regime change minded people.
>
> Scott
>
> --
>
> Israel launches second Syria air strike in two days - reports
> RT News
> http://rt.com/news/damascus-syria-explosions-sunday-831/
> Videos and article at site about Israeli air strikes in May
>
> "Unconfirmed reports say at least 400 were killed."
>
> "We have a classical example of Israel trying to influence
> American policy in the Middle East."
>
> "Israel realizes that Assad won't be going unless there is
> outside intervention."
>
> "It was ...the military intelligence Israeli official that made
> the announcement about Syria using chemical weapons
> from the very beginning, after President Obama had said
> time and again that that was the red line."
>
> Cynthia McKinney:
>
> "I am in Syria now with former Attorney General Ramsey
> Clark, where residents enjoy free education and free healthcare.
> Visited a Damascus hospital, the Grand Mufti, a school that
> has been turned into residences for Internally Displaced
> Persons. Ended the Day with Ogarit Dandash who founded
> "Over Our Dead Bodies," a group of young people who climbed
> atop Mount Qasioun and dared U.S. bombs to target them.
> They are still there in defiant resistance to any war against
> Syria. Mount Qasioun should be the site of a peace party
> not bombing strikes."
>
> Israeli rockets strike Mount Qasioun (The Cave of Blood) in Syria
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQSLWH-jI04
> 1 min. video
>
> Say No to War in Syria at:
> http://tinyurl.com/ken7vxp
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>  
>

Re: [LAAMN] "Military Intervention In Syria", US Training "Rebels" Since 2011

[Cort Greene]

Please Scot, tell us which opposition group is the US training?

I suggest you look at the all the
http://wikileaks.org/syria-files/releases.html  cables on Syria and US
dealings with the regime and still no word about Russian and Iranian
imperialist intervention which pre dates US imperialism intervention by
decades.

Cort


On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 6:49 PM,  wrote:

> **
>
>
> This is worth re-posting. Any assumptions about Syria that discounts
> Western Intervention or Western creation of events so they can intervene,
> is at best incomplete, but more likely to support US intervention. Many
> people get paid big bucks to make people want to do those things that we'd
> not do if we had all the facts in the first place.
>
> Scott
>
> "Military Intervention In Syria", US Training "Rebels" Since 2011 And The
> Complete Grand Plan - The March 2012 Leak
>
>
> http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-25/military-intervention-syria-us-training-rebels-2011-and-complete-grand-plan-march-20
>
> For all those still shocked by the "developing events" in Syria, here is
> the full rundown as it was orchestrated back in 2011, and as it was
> released in March 2012 by Wikileaks.
>
> From Wikileaks, released 3/6/2012, typos and grammar errors as in original.
>
> * * *
>
> INSIGHT - military intervention in Syria, post withdrawal status of forces
>
> Released on 2012-03-06 07:00 GMT
>
> A few points I wanted to highlight from meetings today --
>
> I spent most of the afternoon at the Pentagon with the USAF strategic
> studies group - guys who spend their time trying to understand and explain
> to the USAF chief the big picture in areas where they're operating in. It
> was just myself and four other guys at the Lieutenant Colonel level,
> including one French and one British representative who are liaising with
> the US currently out of DC.
>
> They wanted to grill me on the strategic picture on Syria, so after that I
> got to grill them on the military picture. There is still a very low level
> of understanding of what is actually at stake in Syria, what's the
> strategic interest there, the Turkish role, the Iranian role, etc. After a
> couple hours of talking, they said without saying that SOF teams
> (presumably from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey) are already on the ground
> focused on recce [ZH: "recce" means reconnaissance] missions and training
> opposition forces. One Air Force intel guy (US) said very carefully that
> there isn't much of a Free Syrian Army to train right now anyway, but all
> the operations being done now are being done out of 'prudence.' The way it
> was put to me was, 'look at this way - the level of information known on
> Syrian OrBat this month is the best it's been since 2001.' They have been
> told to prepare contingencies and be ready to act within 2-3 months, but
> they still stress that this is all being done as contingency planning, not
> as a move toward escalation.
>
> I kept pressing on the question of what these SOF teams would be working
> toward, and whether this would lead to an eventual air camapign to give a
> Syrian rebel group cover. They pretty quickly distanced themselves from
> that idea, saying that the idea 'hypothetically' is to commit guerrilla
> attacks, assassination campaigns, try to break the back of the Alawite
> forces, elicit collapse from within. There wouldn't be a need for air
> cover, and they wouldn't expect these Syrian rebels to be marching in
> columns anyway.
>
> They emphasized how the air campaign in Syria makes Libya look like a
> piece of cake. Syrian air defenses are a lot more robust and are much
> denser, esp around Damascus and on the borders with Israel, Turkey. THey
> are most worried about mobile air defenses, particularly the SA-17s that
> they've been getting recently. It's still a doable mission, it's just not
> an easy one.
>
> The main base they would use is Cyprus, hands down. Brits and FRench would
> fly out of there. They kept stressing how much is stored at Cyprus and how
> much recce comes out of there. The group was split on whether Turkey would
> be involved, but said Turkey would be pretty critical to the mission to
> base stuff out of there. EVen if Turkey had a poltiical problem with
> Cyprus, they said there is no way the Brits and the FRench wouldn't use
> Cyprus as their main air force base. Air Force Intel guy seems pretty
> convinced that the Turks won't participate (he seemed pretty pissed at
> them.)
>
> There still seems to be a lot of confusion over what a military
> intervention involving an air campaign would be designed to achieve. It
> isn't clear cut for them geographically like in Libya, and you can't just
> create an NFZ over Homs, Hama region. This would entail a countrywide SEAD
> campaign lasting the duration of the war. They dont believe air
> intervention would happen unless there was enough media attention on a
> massacre, like the Ghadafi move against Benghazi. They think the US would
> have a high tolerance 

Re: [LAAMN] SYRIA: The Rise of Al Qaeda in Syria: Separating Fact from Mythology

[Cort Greene]

*Oh Scot*
*
*
*Your ignorance is showing or is it that the pole from the caber toss hit
you in the head too many times at the Highland games... [?]*
*
*
*Rojo Rojito*
*
*
*Cort*



On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 2:56 PM,  wrote:

> Who, pray tell, is Shrooms, much less who is this person (or organization)
> working for?
>
> And why does this sound like I'm reading something on the PNAC site?
>
> Scott
>
> "Therefore strategies for dealing with, and opposing, the Muslim
> Brotherhood should be fundamentally different from our approach to
> militant-Jihadi groups"
>
>
> > *Remembering Sabra and Shatila massacre 16-18 September 1982
> > #Lebanon
> > *
> >
> >
> >
> http://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/syria-the-rise-of-al-qaeda-in-syria-separating-fact-from-mythology/
> >
> > ← SYRIA/PALESTINE: Palestinians and the Syrian Revolution: Lessons from
> > the
> > fight against
> > fascism<
> http://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/syriapalestine-palestinians-and-the-syrian-revolution-lessons-from-the-fight-against-fascism/
> >
> > →<
> http://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/uk-anti-fascist-network-statement-on-saturday-7th-september-edl-demonstration/
> >
> > SYRIA: The Rise of Al Qaeda in Syria: Separating Fact from Mythology
> >
> > SEP
> > 12<
> http://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/syria-the-rise-of-al-qaeda-in-syria-separating-fact-from-mythology/
> >
> >
> > Posted by tahriricn 
> >
> > By Leila Shrooms for Tahrir-ICN[image:
> > ED-AR204_obagy_D_20130830164816]<
> http://tahriricn.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ed-ar204_obagy_d_20130830164816.jpg
> >
> >
> > One of the most worrying developments during the trajectory of Syria’s
> > revolution has been the rise of militant Jihadi groups. The danger that
> > the
> > increasing strength of such groups poses to both Syria and the region
> > should not be underestimated. Yet a lot of misunderstandings exist about
> > the nature and dominance of such groups which this article attempts to
> > address. Only when fact is separated from mythology are we able to move
> > forward collectively towards a strategy that addresses the threat of
> > counter-revolutionary forces and have a better understanding of who is
> > working for the original goals of the revolution so that they can be
> given
> > the solidarity they deserve.
> >
> > *Al Qaeda ideology*
> > Al Qaeda or militant Jihadi groups[1] have an internationalist
> perspective
> > and want to establish a global Islamic caliphate based on a strict
> > interpretation of Sharia law. The ideology of Al Qaeda groups is closely
> > related to Salafi/Wahabi ideology (the totalitarian political doctrine
> > which is practiced in Saudi Arabia). Whilst Salafism is an extremely
> > repressive, puritanical ideology which follows a literal interpretation
> of
> > the Quran, it is important to note that not all Salafists believe in
> > violent means to establish their goals and that some Salafists are
> > prepared
> > to work within a democratic system. By contrast, militant Jihadi groups
> > reject the concept of democracy holding that their interpretation of
> Islam
> > is mandated by God. They believe that it is a religious duty to defend
> the
> > Muslim community against enemies of Islam and are prepared to die as
> > martyrs for that cause. They regard anyone who does not subscribe to
> their
> > ideology (including liberal Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims) as
> > heretics/Kafir. Some, known as Takfiris, believe that they have the right
> > to kill heretics. Al Qaeda affiliated groups in the region include
> > Egyptian
> > Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula in Yemen and Saudi
> > Arabia,
> > Jund Ansar Allah in Palestine, Fatah Al Islam in Lebanon and Al Qaeda in
> > the Islamic Maghreb in Algeria and Morocco. [2]These groups do not have a
> > broad popular support base, primarily due to their use of terrorist means
> > targeting civilians in countries in which they operate and their
> following
> > of an interpretation of Islam which is alien to almost everyone.
> >
> > *Mainstream political Islam*
> > It is important not to confuse militant Jihadis with mainstream political
> > Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Whilst the Muslim
> > Brotherhood is undoubtably conservative and reactionary, they have broad
> > based popular support across the Middle East and North Africa and have
> won
> > democratic elections in Palestine, Tunisia and Egypt. They gained
> > prominence during the Islamic revival of the 1970s, as a direct response
> > to
> > western imperialism. They work to reinstate Islamic laws and believe in
> > the
> > concept of Islamic unity and the return of the caliphate abolished by
> > Ataturk in 1924 although they primarily struggle on the national level.
> > They advocate that political Islam is compatible with the establishment
> of
> > a modern, democratic, multi-party state that respects hu

[LAAMN] Syria-Who Was Responsible For The August 21st Attack?

[Cort Greene]

This is the evidence that the Syrian government was capable of the attack,
and had a history of using the munitions linked to the attack.  As for
evidence of Syrian opposition responsibility, that appears rather thin on
the ground.  You have claims the attacks were faked, the victims being
Alawite hostages from Latakia, that were somehow driven through hundreds of
miles of contested and government controlled territory to Damascus. * There's
claims that** this was some sort of
accident
 involving Saudi supplied chemical weapons, which fails to explain how one
incident could effect two separate areas.  Other claims centre around the
opposition having sarin, based off reports in Turkey in
May,
where it was reported Jabhat al-Nusra members were arrested with sarin.
 The "sarin" was later reported to be
anti-freeze,
and only this 
week
some
of the members are being prosecuted for trying to make sarin, having only a
shopping list of ingredients, rather than actual sarin.  It seems to me,
that compared to the evidence of government responsibility for the attacks,
the evidence of opposition responsibility seems very poor.*
*
*
http://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2013/09/who-was-responsible-for-august-21st.html
*
*


Monday, 16 September 2013
Who Was Responsible For The August 21st Attack?
In light of today's report from the
UN
confirming
the use of sarin in the August 21st attacks in Damascus, I thought I'd take
a look at the open source evidence of who is responsible.  I'll be looking
at evidence that's freely available for anyone to examine, rather than what
German spy boats may or may not of heard, or intelligence reports that tell
us they have evidence, but don't actually show the evidence.  As always,
evidence does not automatically equal proof, so it's up to you to decide if
this information proves one side or the other was responsible.
*
*Two munitions have been linked to the attack, the M14 140mm artillery
rocket,
and a munition I've previously referred to as the UMLACA (Unidentified
Munition Linked to Alleged Chemical Attacks).

M14
140mm artillery
rocket
UMLACAThe UN inspectors have now confirmed both munitions carried a
chemical payload, so the question is, who used them?  In the 18 months I've
been studying the arms and munitions in the conflict I have never seen
either type of munition used by the opposition. The opposition has rocket
artillery, for example the 107mm
Type-63
multiple
rocket launcher and the Croatian 128mm
RAK-12,
but I've never seen any sign of the 140mm systems (such as the
BM-14)
that would be used to launch the M14 artillery rocket.  More details on the
M14, and it's origins, are in this video from RUSI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PmwjXp45syI



As with the M14, there's no evidence the Syrian opposition has access to,
or have used, the UMLACA.
Since January 2013, a number of photographs  and
videos
of
these munitions have been published by opposition activists, who have
consistently claimed these were fired by government forces.  Thefirst
video,
posted from Daraya, Damascus on January 4th 2013, doesn't even link the
munition to a chemical attack, and through the last 3 weeks of
investigations on the munition, I've established there are at least two
types of this munition; the type linked to the August 21st attack and other
alleged chemical attacks, and a high explosive type, which I examine in
this 
post
.

It's important to note that the UMLACA has also been recorded at the scene
of at least one other chemical attack, including one in Adra, Damascus, on
August 5th, which I detail
here.
 Another video , from June
11th, also filmed in Ad

[LAAMN] Syria divides the Arab left & Sleeping with the Enemy: The Global Left and the 'No to War' Discourse

[Cort Greene]

http://mondediplo.com/2012/08/04syrialeft

* *
Syria divides the Arab left
The violence deepens and spreads. Yet unlike Egypt and Tunisia, the Syrian
revolt has not had unanimous support from the Arab left. There is a split
between those who sympathise with the protestors’ demands and those who
fear foreign interference, both political and military
by Nicolas Dot-Pouillard

Last August the Lebanese leftwing nationalist daily, *Al-Akhbar,* went
through its first crisis since its launch in the summer of 2006
(1).
Managing editor Khaled Saghieh left the paper he had helped set up, because
of its coverage of the Syrian crisis. Saghieh denounced the paper’s lack of
support for the popular uprising that began in March 2011. *Al-Akhbar* has
never denied its political sympathies with Hizbullah, one of Bashar
al-Assad’s chief allies in the region, or hidden the fact that it prefers
dialogue between the Damascus government and a section of the opposition to
the fall of Assad’s regime. The paper has given a voice to certain members
of the Syrian opposition, including Salameh Kaileh, a Syrian-Palestinian
Marxist intellectual who was arrested this April by the security services.

In June an article by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb
(2)
provoked dissension within the paper’s English online version. The Lebanese
commentator placed herself firmly behind the Damascus regime, and
criticised supporters of a “third way” — those who denounce the regime
while warning against western military intervention on the Libyan model.
The same month another *Al-Akhbar English* journalist, Max Blumenthal,
announced he was leaving in an article criticising “Assad apologists”
within the editorial staff (3
).

*Al-Akhbar*’s crisis is symptomatic of the debate dividing the Arab left,
ideologically and strategically. Some continue to support the Syrian regime
in the name of the struggle against Israel and resistance to imperialism.
Others stand staunchly with the opposition, in the name of revolution and
the defence of democratic rights. Still others support a middle way between
showing solidarity (from a distance) with the protestors’ demands for
freedom, and rejecting foreign interference: they advocate some kind of
national reconciliation. The Syrian crisis is making the Arab left —
whether strictly Communist, tending towards Marxist, leftwing nationalist,
radical or moderate — seem in disarray.

There is little unequivocal support for the Assad clan, and few people are
calling for the regime to carry on as it is; but unconditional supporters
of the revolution do not seem to be in the majority either. Most of them
are on the far left of the political spectrum, usually Trotskyist (the
Socialist Forum in Lebanon, the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt) or
Maoist (the Democratic Way in Morocco). They have links with sections of
the opposition, such as Ghayath Naisse’s Syrian Revolutionary Left. Since
spring 2011 they have taken part in occasional demonstrations in front of
Syrian embassies and consulates in their own countries. There are also some
independent leftwing intellectuals who support insurrection, like the
Lebanese historian Fawwaz Traboulsi
(4).
They demand the fall of the regime, and rule out dialogue. Even though they
champion peaceful popular protest, they believe the rebels have the right
to resort to force of arms. Far left supporters of revolution distance
themselves from the Syrian National Council (SNC)
(5),
one of the main opposition coalitions, because they believe its links with
countries such as Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia could compromise the
independence of the popular movement.
A prudent distance

Part of the radical left, though denouncing the Assad regime and calling
for its fall, is wary of the support the Gulf monarchies are giving to the
Syrian revolutionaries; equally, it dares not subscribe fully to the
anti-Assad discourse of the “international community”, especially the US.
But this anti-imperialist reflex does not take precedence over support for
revolution: what counts is the internal situation in Syria, and the
principle of popular uprising, as it did in Tunisia and Egypt.

But the majority of the Arab left are maintaining a prudent distance from
the Syrian uprising. They condemn its militarisation, which they say only
benefits radical Islamist groups and the foreign fighters flocking to
Syria. They criticise the sectarianism of the conflict, pitting first
Alawite then Christian minorities against a Sunni majority radicalised by
repression, which they fear will lead to unending civil war. And they worry
about the regional and international balance of power. With Iran and Syria
set against the Gulf monarchies, and Russia and China against the US, Syria
has been put on the front line of 

[LAAMN] Death under torture in Syria: the horrors ignored by pacifists

[Cort Greene]

http://therepublicgs.net/2013/09/15/death-under-torture-in-syria-the-horrors-ignored-by-pacifists/

Death
under torture in Syria: the horrors ignored by pacifists

*Budour Hassan*

*15 September 2013*

Perhaps one of the cruellest aspects of the Syrian regime’s war on the
Syrian population is its success in normalising death and desensitising the
world to its harrowing massacres. Missing from the six-digit death toll are
the charred faces and untold stories of the martyrs, and of the suffering
inflicted upon the loved ones they leave behind. As one Syrian activist put
it: «One thing I will never forgive Bashar al-Assad for is denying us the
chance to grieve over our martyred friends». Indeed, with mass-murder
turning into a horrifyingly frequent occurrence two-and-a-half years on,
mourning the fallen has become a luxury most Syrians are deprived of.
Dehumanising Syrians

The dehumanisation of Syrians was painfully illustrated by the debate that
ensued after the chemical weapons attack on 21 August in the Damascus
countryside. The victims were treated as mere footnotes by the
international community, the mainstream media, and the anti-war camp. For
western governments who draw a «red line» with chemical weapons-use – and
Israel’s interests – the red blood of Syrian children slaughtered with
conventional weapons by the regime and its militias is not sufficiently
outrageous. The whole discourse, as Syrian writer and former political
prisoner Yassin al-Haj Saleh puts it, is about chemical weapons, not about
the criminal who used chemical weapons, the people murdered by them, or the
greater number of people murdered with guns.

For mainstream media, the Syrian people are stripped of their voices and
agency and the Syrian revolution is instead a «civil war» between two
evils: a secular dictator versus flesh-eating, bearded Islamists. Nowhere
to be seen or heard is the astounding defiance and communal solidarity that
has kept the revolution alive despite all odds; the brave struggle against
the oppressive «Islamic State in Iraq and Syria» that controls large parts
of the «liberated» areas in Northern Syria; and the ongoing grassroots
initiatives and protests against both the regime as well as the Islamist
extremists.

Meanwhile, for most anti-war coalitions: «war is peace and ignorance is
strength». They parade as facts hackneyed and false dichotomies to argue
that all the rebels are terrorists and Assad is now not only ostensibly
fighting imperialism, but terrorism as well. That Assad has been waging a
sectarian, all-out war on Syrian civilians for the past thirty months
matters little. That his regime has systematically arrested peaceful and
secular activists while releasing Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists matters
less. And that thousands of imprisoned Syrian, including workers, children,
unarmed demonstrators, and community organisers, have been tortured to
death by regime forces since the start of the uprising matters none at all.
Killed under torture

So it follows that these «anti-war» campaigners will ignore one of the
regime’s latest torture victims: Khaled Bakrawi, a 27-year-old
Palestinian-Syrian community organiser and founding member of the Jafra
Foundation for Relief and Youth Development. Khaled was arrested by regime
security forces in January 2013 for his leading role in organising and
carrying out humanitarian and aid work in Yarmouk Refugee Camp. On 11
September, the Yarmouk coordination committee and Jafra Foundation reported
that Khaled was killed under torture in one of the several infamous
intelligence branches in Damascus.

*[image: 
1185902_536320166434214_1540542854_n]
*Khaled was born and raised in Yarmouk refugee camp in the Southern
outskirts of Damascus. His family was displaced from the
ethnically-cleansed Palestinian village of Loubieh by Israeli occupation
forces during the 1948 Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe).

On 5 June, 2011, Khaled took part in the «return march» to the occupied
Golan Heights, witnessing Ahmad Jibril’s PFLP-GC, a regime-backed
Palestinian militia, exploit the patriotism and enthusiasm of Yarmouk’s
youth by instigating them to march to occupied Palestine in an attempt to
bolster Assad’s popularity and divert attention from the ongoing crackdown
of the then overwhelmingly peaceful revolution. Anticipating a brutal
reaction by the Israeli occupation army, Khaled tried to dissuade the
unarmed youth from entering the Israeli-occupied ceasefire zone, but to no
avail. He was left witnessing Syrian regime troops sip tea and look on
nonchalantly as Israeli occupation soldiers showered Palestinian and Syrian
protesters with bullets. In that protest, dozens were killed or injured.
Khaled was shot with two bullets in the thigh.
Insulting objectification

One of Khaled’s friends, who visited him in hospital after his

[LAAMN] Syria: Palestinian Update from ‘Steadfast Yarmouk’ and a Note

[Cort Greene]

HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A SYRIAN SCORNED saqet
SKIP TO 
CONTENT

   - HOME 
   - ABOUT 

http://saqet.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/update-from-steadfast-yarmouk-and-a-note/
Update from ‘Steadfast Yarmouk’ and a NoteSEPTEMBER 13,
2013
SAQET GRASSROOTS
MOVEMENTS
,PALESTINE ,
SOLIDARITY
, SYRIA ,YARMOUK
CAMPLEAVE
A 
COMMENT

More than a month has passed since the actions of the Palestinian Camps in
Syria, and the siege on Yarmouk Camp is still ongoing…

Today, September 13, 2013, despite the crippling regime-imposed siege on
Yarmouk Camp, Damascus, the people of the Camp went out and
protested
after
Friday noon prayers. They began in front of Palestine Mosque and marched
throughout the Camp.



Women, men and children of Yarmouk at today’s protest
[Source
]
In their protest, the residents
stressed
Palestinian-Syrian
unity throughout the ongoing conflict, called on the armed opposition to
come to the front and break the siege. They also repeated calls from their
“Breaking the Silence Campaign” to the Palestinian Diaspora to aid by
working to lift the siege on the Camp and the southern parts of Damascus.

Video from today’s protest in Yarmouk Camp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OtwC74HkVY


Following the protest, Yarmouk was shelled with
rockets,
a daily part of the ongoing siege imposed on the Camp. Video
here
.

The people of Yarmouk have come out and protested following the receipt of
heartbreaking news two days ago, regarding a well-loved activist: Khaled
Bakrawi. Khaled Bakrawi was a 24-year old activist from Yarmouk Camp, born
and raised in Syria but originally from Lubya, Palestine that was
ethnically cleansed in 1948.
[image: 
1185902_536320166434214_1540542854_n]

Khaled Bakrawi, Martyr.

Khaled Bakrawi played an integral role in rallying the masses in the
struggle for justice. He was one of the founders of the Jafra
Foundation and
was extremely active in the Palestinian Youth
Movement.
During the commemoration of al-Naksa in 2011, Khaled was injured when
Israeli Occupation Forces opened fire on the protestors. Despite his
wounds, he remained steadfast in his struggles and organized for the
internally displaced that made their way into Yarmouk.

Khaled Bakrawi had been missing, thought to be in Assad’s jails, since
January 19, 2013. This was
confirmed on
September 11, 2013 when
news
of
his martyrdom broke; he had been tortured to death. Khaled leaves behind a
legacy of Resistance and compassion, one that any Revolutionary against the
universal struggle of tyranny should hope to emulate. Rest in Power, ya
shaheed.

*A note*

Despite siege, shelling, death and detainment, our Palestinian brothers and
sisters have stood steadfast by Syrians and the Revolution. They have
endured the brutality of the Assad regime for as long as we have, and have
not wavered.

And neither should we, in our support of them. As such, it is the duty of
Syrians in the Diaspora to say “NO” to normalization and partnerships with
Zionists for the supposed sake of the Revolution. It is our duty as Syrians
to stand against the regimes that have perpetuated the pain of our
Palestinian brothers and sisters, to refuse “help” that surely comes at the
cost of their freedom, their lives. It is our duty not to dirty our cause
with the stain of collaboration, as our freedom and dignity will not arrive
on the blood and pain of Palestine.

And lest we forget: “The nation of injustice is one; authoritarianism and
Zionism 

Freedom to all our detainees, in Zionist and Assadist jails. Long live t

[LAAMN] Malala Yousufzai Raising $500 Million to educate Syrian Refugees

[Cort Greene]

http://www.therevoltingsyrian.com/

Malala Raising $500 Million For Syrian Refugees
»

My Two Cents: She was shot in the head by terrorists in Pakistan for
promoting women’s education, she then goes on to survive the attack and now
she’s raising $500million to educate the thousands of Syrian refugee
children in Lebanon. She is only 16 years old. This young lady is amazing.

After being nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize,
16-year-old Malala Yousufzai is taking up another ambitious challenge:
Educating the massive influx of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

Teaming with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and rights
organization “A World at School,” the activist will work to raise $500
million over the next three
years
to
provide education to the 300,000 Syrian school-age children living in
Lebanon. According to Time, Lebanon estimates nearly 550,000 school-aged
Syrian children will be in the country by the end of the year, outnumbering
Lebanon’s own 300,000 school-aged children.

To raise awareness for the program, Malala spoke via Skype with two
refugees,
Zahra and Om Kolthoum Katou, who have been living in Lebanon for the last
year since being forced from their home in Aleppo. The young refugees went
six months without attending school, but are now enrolled in catch-up
classes funded by UNICEF.

"I totally support you. You are very brave," Malala told the girls. "I
believe that you will get your education, that you will go to school – and
that no one can stop you."

According to a recent UNICEF report, nearly two million Syrian children
have dropped out of school in the last year, amounting to almost 40 percent
of all students between the first and ninth
grades.
Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, more than 700,000
Syrians have fled to
Lebanon,
constituting nearly 20 percent of the country’s population, NBC notes.

Altogether, nearly two million
people
have
fled Syria since the beginning of the conflict.

“For a country that was close to achieving universal primary education
before the conflict started, the numbers are staggering” said Maria
Calivis, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.


In August, Malala won the International Children’s Peace Prize for her
dedication to promoting education. The young Pakistani activist rose to
worldwide prominence after surviving an assassination
attempt
by
the Taliban in 2012. She now lives and attends school in England.

Posted 3 hours ago

1 note • 
0
Comments
Tagged: Syria ,
Lebanon
, Malala ,
Pakistan
, Shot ,
Taliban
, Refugee ,
Aid
,Education ,
Charity
, United Nations
, Nobel
Peace Prize .

Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution by Matthew VanDyke

If you watch one thing today, please make it this.

A truly excellent short film on the Syrian Revolution, filmed in Aleppo.

ww.youtube.com/watch?v=RA8HsfRioWE#t=20

Thanks @Matt_VanDyke 

-


Videos on the Syrian Revolution : “From Brazil… this is the Syrian
Revolution” and
“Veto”
Posted on September 10,
2013

[LAAMN] Lal Khan-Pakistan: The Spider’s Web

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/the-spiders-web.htm

Pakistan: The Spider’s Web 
Written by Lal KhanFriday, 13 September 2013
[image: Print] [image:
E-mail]

   -
   -
   -

Introduction: In June this year, Shahrukh Jatoi the son of a Sindhi feudal
landlord, was handed the death penalty after being found guilty of shooting
dead university student Shahzeb Khan last December. The case raised furore
all over Pakistan as it was a clear example of the corruption and cronyism
that exists within Paksitani society. As Khan's father said: “This is the
brutal reign of the feudals. They don’t spare anyone.”. Despite being found
guilty and sentenced to death Jatoi was pardoned last week after paying
Khan's family a sum of 350 million Rs ($3.3m).

[image: 
shahrukh-jatoi]Shahrukh
Jatoi, the son of a feudal landlord, was smiling and waving V signs after
he received his death sentence. He was sure that his obscene wealth would
save him from the gallows.The release of Shahrukh Jatoi and others in the
Shahzaib murder case by way of Qisas, or payment of Blood Money to the
parents of the deceased victim, has yet again triggered a debate on the
status of laws enacted in the name of religion. A rich killer from the
feudal aristocracy, despite having blood on his hands, went scot-free only
because he belonged to a class that could quash the verdict and bend
justice through their obscene wealth. However, it is not just the law of
Qisas one needs to condemn. The entire judicial set up makes a mockery of
justice.

After sixty -six years of Pakistan’s existence the legal code inherited
from the British, the Islamic courts, the tribal Jirgas and rural
panchayats is operative at different levels of society. It’s not just that
a universal legal system is missing but that the vast majority of the
population does not have the financial means to obtain justice. The real
situation is that from the lower courts to the Supreme Court the whole
judicial system is so complicated, slow and expensive that the toiling
classes are even denied the most elementary kind of bourgeois democratic
justice.

Justice as well as proper health care, decent education and other basic
necessities have become the privileges of the rich and the mighty. As the
ancient Athenian poet, lawmaker and statesman Solon said: “Laws are like
spiders’ webs: if some light or powerless thing falls into them, it is
caught, but a bigger one can break through and get away”

This scenario has been omnipresent in all class societies but under crony
capitalism with its burgeoning crisis in countries like Pakistan obtaining
justice has become a psychological and financial torment. The expenses and
fees in the high and supreme courts are so astronomical that not more than
five percent of the people of the country can afford to seek justice
through this path.

The bourgeois revolutions in Europe that erupted in the wake of the
renaissance created new types of nation states in concert with the rising
capitalist economics. This is also true for the US and other advanced
capitalist countries where the bourgeois revolutions were completed to
various degrees. One of the corner stones of these new states was the
judiciary. This institution was proclaimed sacred and the other
institutions of the state, such as the dominant media and the
intelligentsia, inculcated this myth into the general social consciousness.

The ruling classes and the far sighted experts of capital ensured that the
judiciary lived in a world that apart from society and was above all its
ills and defects. With a multitude of concocted myths, respect for and fear
of the judiciary was instilled in the psyche of society. They were very
careful and cautious not to over use this state institution in order to
preserve it as a tool to curb the revolts of the oppressed class in
extraordinary revolutionary periods.

The British brought this judicial system to the subcontinent and imposed it
over the prevalent existing judicial practices. This system that the
British introduced still dominates India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other
countries of the British ex colonies.

During the time of the British Raj there were several cases in which the
judiciary was used to impose imperialist rule but the most significant one
was the trial of Bhagat Singh and other militants of the HSRA (Hindustan
Socialist Republican Association). These revolutionary freedom fighters had
planned to challenge the judicial system and spread their revolutionary
message through the proceedings of the court trial. The Viceroy, Lord
Irvin, was so much irritated by the tactic of these militants that he
issued a special ordinance, which not only curbed their legal rights but
also brought the trial to a hast

[LAAMN] Alan Woods- 40th anniversary of the coup- Lessons of Chile 1973

[Cort Greene]

*
*
Lessons of Chile 1973 
*Written by Alan Woods**Thursday, 11 January 1979*

[image: Salvador Allende-th]*Today is the 40th anniversary of the coup that
overthrew president Salvador Allende in Chile and installed the brutal
Pinochet dictatorship. We take advantadge of this opportunity to publish a
document written in 1979 by Alan Woods analysing the history of Chilean
labour movement and specially the period of the socialist coalition
government of Allende. Who was behind Pinochet's coup? What interests was
he defending? What were the policies of the Allende government and why
despite all warnings was unable to prevent the coup?*

*
*

*To read the article-*

*http://www.marxist.com/lessons-of-chile-1973.htm
*


*Chile* and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the
Military Coup, September 11,
1973
... film The Battle of *Chile* (First Run/Icarus Films) Washington, D.C. –
September 11, 1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the military ...
... intervention in *Chile*, and the repressive character of General
Pinochet's rule, the coup became the most notorious military takeover in
the ...
... talk" with *Chile*'s Ambassador Trucco. National Security Council,
Disarray in *Chile* Policy, July 1, 1975 This memorandum, from Stephen Low
to ...
... collaboration with *Chile*'s security forces, including the promise of
surveillance of subjects inside the United States. Fuentes was detained
through ...
... Jack Kubisch, and *Chile*'s foreign minister General Huerta on the
controversy over two U.S. citizens--Charles Horman and Frank
Teruggi--executed by ...
... ," and states that "*Chile*'s coup de etat [sic] was close to perfect."
His report provides details on Chilean military operations during and after
the ...
*http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm*

*
*

[LAAMN] 40 years since the real Sept.11th-President Salvador Allende: The Last Speech

[Cort Greene]

President Salvador Allende: The Last Speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YUx5Zp0Z9A

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido - Chile 11. september 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0-rnnitNBc

[LAAMN] Blood in the Streets of Santiago: Forty Years Since the Coup in Chile

[Cort Greene]

http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1779

Blood in the Streets of Santiago: Forty Years Since the Coup in Chile
By Richard Pithouse  · 9 Sep
2013
6
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[image: Picture credit: Former President of Chile, Salvador Allende,
courtesy Browse Biography.] 
Picture credit: Former President of Chile, Salvador Allende, courtesy
Browse Biography.

Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet, was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1971 for “a poetry that with the action of an elemental force
brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams". In his acceptance speech in
Stockholm he cited Arthur Rimbaud, the wild teenage poetic genius of the
Paris Commune of 1871: "In the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we
shall enter the splendid Cities." Neruda declared that “my duties as a poet
involve friendship not only with the rose and with symmetry, with exalted
love and endless longing”, but also a “taking sides” with the “organized
masses of the people” in struggle against the “the condemnation of
centuries” and for “justice and dignity”.

Neruda was not just speaking as a poet. In 1970 he had been appointed as
the ambassador to France when Salvador Allende led a coalition of left
parties to victory in a bitterly contested election in Chile. As a teenager
Allende had formed a close friendship with an anarchist shoemaker, Juan
Demarchi, and their discussions, and shared reading, opened his political
horizons. For the rest of his life Allende’s politics remained more
democratic, more pragmatic and more generous in the face of organisational
and ideological diversity, than was, and still is, more usually the case on
the left. But this was not only a matter of ideas. His work as a doctor
rooted his politics in a concrete understanding of the day to day lives of
ordinary Chileans.

Neruda, who had first been the Communist Party’s candidate for the
Presidency, had campaigned for Allende’s attempt to rally the left under a
single banner insisting that “our people must be elevated to the life of
human dignity that they deserve”. To the horror of Chilean elites, Catholic
intellectuals, American business and political interests Allende won the
election. His victory speech promised a “second independence – economic
independence” and he symbolically opened the doors of the Presidential
Palace, La Moneda, to the people.

Allende was and remained committed to a democratic and non-violent path to
a more just society. But from the beginning it was clear that he faced
forces that didn’t share these scruples. Before he was even sworn into
office the American ambassador in Santiago reported to Henry Kissinger, a
powerful figure in Richard Nixon’s administration, that: "Once Allende
comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and the
Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty."

In office Allende, at first moving cautiously, began to make small but
significant reforms. Wages were increased, children provided with milk,
houses built, effective literacy programmes put in places, libraries
developed in trade union offices and shanty towns, literary classics
published and distributed and child care facilities and public laundries
set up. Then the mines and banks were nationalised. Allende’s share of the
vote escalated dramatically in the April 1971 municipal elections.

But demands for change were also escalating outside of the electoral arena
and representative politics. There were rural and urban land occupations
and then, in the same month as the municipal elections, workers seized
control of a textile mill. Allende was rattled and insisted that “The
masses cannot go beyond their leaders, because the leaders have an
obligation to direct the process and not to leave it to be directed by the
masses.” In the end, unwilling to repress the occupation of the mill, he
let it stand. In the next two years there were more than 500 factory
occupations. They, and the self-governing neighbourhoods in the shanty
towns, became centres of increasingly confident popular power. Some
commentators called this, in a phrase that carries a certain resonance in
contemporary South Africa, “a radical third force”.

The backlash from elites in Chile and the US began to gather real
intensity. At the same time Allende’s government, and popular struggles in
Chile, won increasing international support. Stevedores in Rotterdam and
Marseille refused to unload any copper in protest at an

[LAAMN] Venezuela:Letter from the Workers of the Automobile Industry to President Nicolas Maduro

[Cort Greene]

Letter from the Workers of the Automobile Industry to President Nicolas
Maduro

Sep 9th 2013, by Workers of the Venezuelan Automobile Industry
[image: Car assembly workers request that the government reconsider aspects
of the Law Regulating the Purchase and Sale of New and Used]

Car assembly workers request that the government reconsider aspects of the
Law Regulating the Purchase and Sale of New and Used Motor Vehicles (Diario
El Tiempo / AP)

*Union representatives of car assembly workers request President Nicolas
Maduro to reconsider aspects of the new law regulating vehicle sales, and
suggest changes to Venezuela’s automobile industry to spur national auto
production.*

The workers of [Venezuela’s] vehicle assembly companies and auto parts
factories are worried and have been discussing the current situation of the
[national] automobile industry.

This year we’ve seen how the levels of production in the factories in which
we work have not become stable. The bosses mention problems in the
assignation of foreign currency [for imports of parts and technology]. If
this is true and the cause is due to the existing flow of foreign currency
in the country, we believe that the state should immediately stop plans to
import vehicles and revise with the workers the possibility of substituting
this with national production. This would preserve the foreign currency to
instead cover the needs of the nation and other manufacturing activities
which contribute to Gross National Product.

The Law Regulating the Purchase and Sale of New and Used Motor
Vehicles has
put the national discussion over high vehicle prices to the fore. We
workers celebrate that the state protects the population from usury and
speculation, and that it strengthens the battle against the excesses of
capital and the transnational companies with a legal framework that puts
sales irregularities in order.

Because of this we reject the circles of opinion which, from the same
speculative sectors, have blamed high prices on automobile workers and
their unions.

Day by day we automobile workers experience numerous difficulties in order
to produce, and while the bosses accuse us of irresponsibility, they
maintain jobs which have caused illness to more than 50% of the labour
force, many with two or three pathologies. This is the main cause of the
absences of which they complain.

Today automobile companies are beginning to respond to the new law by
lowering production, and threatening to eliminate shifts and models under
production. Further, in contract negotiations such as in Ford the
employer’s representation is threatening to leave the table if this law is
promulgated, as could likewise happen in General Motors and MMC
(Mitsubishi) in the next few weeks.

We believe that the legislature, despite its good faith to legislate in
favour of the Bolivarian people, by not taking the opinion of automobile
workers into account, was not able to evaluate certain risks in situations
that could emerge at the time of applying the Law Regulating the Purchase
and Sale of New and Used Motor Vehicles, in the law’s current form as
approved in the National Assembly.

The risks have to do with the possibility that the bosses, the same ones
that don’t dare to say what they think in public, decide not to continue
producing in this country, causing the tragic toll that would be the loss
of a huge amount of jobs due to the closure of companies. This would result
in a terrible cost, including a political one of undesirable dimensions, in
the actions of the workers and their social and family environment. It is
estimated that the automobile industry employs more than 80,000 people,
adding the direct posts to all the activity that vehicle assembly generates.

The workers of the automobile industry are demanding the unions that we
mobilise and we’ve been discussing it. We want you, estimated colleague,
worker president Nicolas Maduro, to listen to us and before applying this
law, consider the possibility of opening up a discussing with us; [we] who
have been in the fray of the revolutionary struggle, defending this process
next to the giant Hugo Chavez and as a consequence of the order of the same*
Comandante, *are following you, our first *Chavista *worker president.

We put all our knowledge at the service of the Bolivarian government to
together discuss a National Plan to re-boost the development of our
national auto industry. In little time we can assemble in our country en
masse the production units needed to cover the needs of public transport
and, next to that, we have projects to implement a fuel saving policy.

We workers propose that we be Worker Inspectors to guarantee that
production goals established between the national government and companies
are met, monitoring plans to progressively incorporate nationally-produced
parts, and that prices established for vehicles assembled in Venezuela are
respected.

Awaiting that you attend to

[LAAMN] Mexico-Balance del mitin en defensa de la industria energética nacional: Vamos a la lucha pero necesitamos un plan de acción amplio y radical

[Cort Greene]

http://laizquierdasocialista.org/node/3035

Balance del mitin en defensa de la industria energética nacional: Vamos a
la lucha pero necesitamos un plan de acción amplio y radical
Escrito por:
 Alfredo Elizondo

8 de Septiembre de 2013, la fecha que marca la cita tan esperada por muchos
militantes de base de Morena, particularmente por que señala la ruta hacia
la defensa de industria petrolera y eléctrica nacional. Mucho se esperó el
plan de acción departe de AMLO, sin embargo, lo señalado el día de hoy está
lejos de ser una estrategia que, a primera vista, pueda generar condiciones
óptimas para tratar de frenar a la derecha. Por otra parte, la tan esperada
“unidad” sigue siendo más protocolaria y por decreto que en acciones
específicas, las dirigencia de Morena muestra una debilidad notable al
alejarse de los movimientos y organizaciones sociales que son aliados
estratégicos del Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, no así la base, que
instintivamente siente una afinidad con los profesores, electricistas, y
otras organizaciones sociales en lucha, que la impulsa a olvidarse de
divisiones artificiales, sin embargo, el nivel de coordinación y
organización entre la militancia le impide, hasta el momento, ser un
contrapeso efectivo a decisiones que no parecen tener coherencia con la
necesidad de lucha conjunta actual.

*La masiva muestra de rabia*

A pesar de que la cita se había pactado para las 10 a.m. (y pese al cambio
de sede), miles de compañeras y compañeros comenzaron a llegar desde
temprano, de todos los rincones del país. Mantas, consignas y deseos de
expresar su descontento estaban en el ambiente. Contingentes que arribaron
desde sitios tan alejados como Quintana Roo o Chihuahua no faltaron a la
muestra de rabia contra el régimen convocada por Morena. La juventud estuvo
también presente, a través de contingentes de universidades como la UNAM,
IPN, UAM, UACM y otras escuelas, pero también de miles de jóvenes que aún
no olvidan que la actual marioneta con copete nos fue impuesta el año
pasado.

Antes del arribo de AMLO se podían observar pancartas con mensajes de
descontento, satíricas y llamando a la lucha. La base sabe perfectamente
que no son tiempos para las complacencias, sino que hay que mostrar al
régimen que no le será nada sencillo pasarnos por encima. Una vez llegado
AMLO al templete una serie de mensajes referentes a la historia de la
expropiación petrolera y los recientes acontecimientos con los profesores
fueron dados por diversos compañeros como Damián Alcazar, Claudia Sheinbaum
y Martí Batres.

Posteriormente, AMLO tomó la palabra señalando correctamente que las
privatizaciones, lejos de mejorar la vida de las clases populares, han
generado mayor pobreza y marginación. Las menciones y comparaciones entre
Peña Nieto, Salinas, Santa Anna, y otros nefastos personajes de la historia
del país, así como las posibles consecuencias que tendremos que enfrentar
de aprobarse las reformas, fueron recurrentes en el mensaje, las compañeras
y compañeros respondían con consignas y muestras de enojo ante la mención
de los despojos realizados al pueblo de México. Finalmente, el momento por
todos esperados llegó, AMLO hizo mención del plan de acción para evitar la
reforma energética. Primero, hizo hincapié en la necesidad de que la
movilización sea masiva, ya que no existe otra forma de frenar al régimen,
él mismo reconoció que en las cámaras de diputados y senadores resulta
imposible dar una lucha seria, ya que están mayoritariamente vendidas al
PRI. Por otra parte, reiteró nuevamente el carácter pacífico del movimiento
y la necesidad de que se mantuviera así. Para finalizar, se convocó a la
realización de asambleas informativas para el domingo 15 de septiembre en
cada municipio y delegación del país, así como una marcha masiva del Ángel
de la Independencia al Zócalo el día 22 de septiembre a las 10 a.m. La
respuesta de la base fue inmediata, descontento generalizado ante el plan
anunciado, particularmente se escuchaba al unísono la consigna de “Hoy”,
haciendo referencia a tomar acciones inmediatas y  no esperar plazos. AMLO
solo se concretó a mencionar que “hay que tener paciencia”, cuando la rabia
de la militancia se expresó masivamente.

*Lo que faltó…*

A lo largo del mensaje emitido por AMLO existieron también múltiples
referencias a organizaciones como el SME, los profesores en lucha, los
trabajadores mineros, pero en los hechos, el plan de acción solo comprende
medidas que no abonan en la construcción de la tan mencionada (pero poco
practicada) unidad. Es casi imposible que simplemente con asambleas
informativas y una movilización sea posible frenar a la derecha. Por otra
parte, el régimen ya demostró que puede actuar de forma rápidamente
coordinada para realizar sus ataques, la Reforma Laboral y la Educativa son
muestras de que una vez tomadas las decisiones, en realidad solo se
requiere que los empleados del Congreso levanten su mano para legalizar los
despojos al pueblo, ante estas prácticas no es po

[LAAMN] Damascus “Welcomes Russia’s Initiative On Chemical Weapons”

[Cort Greene]

Damascus “Welcomes Russia’s Initiative On Chemical Weapons”

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Muallem has responded positively to a
proposal  by his Russian
counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, regarding the possibility of transferring
Syria’s chemical weapons stocks to international supervision.

RIA Novosti quotes Al Muallem — currently in Moscow for talks with Lavrov —
as saying:

*During talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he launched an
initiative related to chemical weapons. I listened carefully to his
statement. In regard to that, I declare that the Syrian Arab Republic
welcomes Russia’s initiative, on the basis that the Syrian leadership cares
about the lives of our citizens and the security in our country.*
**

*We are also confident in the wisdom of the Russian government, which is
trying to prevent American aggression against our people.
*

Moscow Calls On Syria To Transfer Chemical Weapons To International
Supervision

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called on the Assad
regime to
transfer its chemical weapons to international supervision to avoid a U.S.
military strike, RIA Novosti reports.

“If by establishing international control over chemical weapons [in Syria]
allows a strike to be avoided, then we will immediately work with
Damascus,” – Lavrov said, according to RIA.

Interfax has a slightly different
version of
the quote, reporting that Lavrov began by noting that “We don’t know if
Damascus will agree to this or not” regarding the matter of chemical
weapons stocks being transferred to international control.

RIA goes on to quote Lavrov as saying:

“We call on the Syrian leadership to not only agree on a statement
regarding the storage of chemical weapons under international supervision,
but also their subsequent destruction, as well as regarding [Syria's] full
accession to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.”

Lavrov added that Russia had already submitted a proposal to this affect to
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Muallem, who is currently in Moscow for
talks, and that the Russian Foreign Ministry “look[ed] forward to a speedy
and hopefully positive response.”

So far, Moscow has maintained the line that the Assad regime was not
responsible for the August 21 attacks, and that that U.S. needed to provide
incontrovertible proof of Damascus’s culpability.

This move seems to indicate that Moscow may not be sure that this line will
hold, it is trying a new gambit to avoid a strike. Taking advantage of the
presence of Al Muallem in Moscow, it is calling John Kerry’s bluff — if it
is a bluff — that intervention will be suspended if Syria gives up its
chemical weapons. For this tactic to work, however, Damascus has to agree
to do its part, admitting again that it holds chemical weapons, revealing
the extent of those stocks, and admitting that is willing to renounce them.

http://eaworldview.com/2013/09/syria-today-assad-v-kerry-the-quest-for-international-support/

[LAAMN] When Syria was a US Ally & The woman in the Syrian revolution

[Cort Greene]

When Syria was a US Ally (or at Least
Helpful)

*Posted on 09/08/2013 by Juan Cole*

*One of George Orwell’s keenest insights in 1984 is the kaleidoscopic
character of modern state-to-state relations, wherein countries go from
being allies to enemies and back again, and government spokesmen and the
press report on each situation (friendship or enmity) as though it was
eternal.*

*As the US prepares a possible missile attack on Syria, it is worth
remembering the times in modern history when Syria was cooperative with the
US or even an ally (yes). I’m not sure on whom this record of cooperation
reflects worse, but it shows it is a Realist world out there…*

*1. In 1976 as the Palestine Liberation Organization and its Muslim and
Druze allies were poised to take over Lebanon, Syria received a green light
from the US and Israel to invade and put them down, strengthening the right
wing Christian militias that were rivals to the PLO.*

*2. In 1985 Syria intervened with hijackers holding
passengers on
a US airliner hostage in Lebanon to free them, and was thanked when it
succeeded by president Ronald Reagan.*

*3. In 1989, Syria supported US and Saudi attempts to broker a deal among
Lebanon’s warring factions, leading to the Taif Accords that brought the
Lebanese Civil War to an end.*

*4. Syria fought as an ally of the US against Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991.*

*5. In the 1990s, Syria attended several peace summits aimed at ending the
Israel-Palestinian struggle. Then President Hafez al-Assad accepted George
H. W. Bush’s invitation to talks, and later he met with President Clinton
during the latter’s diplomatic push.*

*6. After 2001, the US sent captured al-Qaeda operatives to Syria to be
tortured by that country’s secret police.*

*7. Syrian intelligence let the United States know when it discovered an
al-Qaeda plot to attack the US Fifth Fleet navy HQ in Bahrain.*

*---*

http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/the-woman-in-the-syrian-revolution-viewed-by-revolutionary-women/#more-4445
*
*


*
*
Post navigation←
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woman in the Syrian revolution, viewed by revolutionary women
Posted on September 7,
2013

[image: 
282232_374787675932794_1672348593_n-2]

>From demonstration to demonstration they started to get to know each other.
The common link between them was their sense of responsibility towards
their country usurped by the tyrannical regime that has spent all its years
in power to serve its own interests. This is what motivated them to form a
working group to provide support, by all means at their disposal, to the
revolutionary movement that aimed to overthrow the regime.

They participated in the weekly peaceful demonstrations alongside men of
their city Salamyeh. When, in August 2011, the regime decided to stifle the
free voice of the city in a violent campaign of mass arrests that affected
most peaceful activists in Salamyeh, they organized women demonstrations to
advocate the overthrow of the tyrannical regime and demand the release of
their detained sons. They organized sit-ins and protest rallies in most
streets of the city, the most famous being the sit-ins the central public
square of the city just before Mother’s Day in March 2012. Their demand for
the release of the detainees was not appreciated by the director of the
security forces of the area that responded fiercely by going with shabbiha
to beat and arrest all those who tried to prevent or defend the protesters.

After tightening the repression and surveillance of the city and the
increase of the risk of arrests, the women of the coordination of the city
of Salamyeh had to find another way to make their voice heard to the world
and to all of the sons of the nation by organizing sit-ins in solidarity on
a weekly manner at their homes with all the children of the Syrian
revolution and to write statements that explain their position regarding
the events in Syria in general, and of the city of Salamyeh in particular.
Statements were read during sit-ins, published on internet through their
own page and distributed to the citizens of the city after printing.

They were the first to take action in solidarity with the women prisoners
on strike in Adra prison and devoted them a statement. 

[LAAMN] Syria Special: How Iran’s “Analysts” Punk’d Daily Telegraph With “100s of Western Activists as Human Shields”

[Cort Greene]

[image: Syria Special: How Iran’s “Analysts” Punk’d Daily Telegraph With
“100s of Western Activists as Human Shields”]

Published on September 8th, 2013 | *by Joanna
Paraszczuk
, Scott Lucas *
0
Syria Special: How Iran’s “Analysts” Punk’d Daily Telegraph With “100s of
Western Activists as Human Shields”

IMAGE: Franklin Lamb, top source for Iran’s Press TV and London’s Daily
Telegraph

Britain’s Daily Telegraph does love a sensational headline — even if it’s
not accurate — about Syria, such as “Al-Qaeda Seizes Village That Still
Speaks the Ancient Language of
Christ”
and “Syria’s Neighbours Fear Biological Weapons
Attack
“.

And the same Daily Telegraph is quite keen on titillating its readers by
playing up the threat from Tehran, regardless of evidence, with
scary-sounding exclamations such as “Iran’s Plan B for a Nuclear
Bomb
“.

But what would happen if Iran’s favorite “analysts” were to serve up a
delicious, ready-baked Syria story to a salivating Daily Telegraph? Would
the British paper say *No *or would the temptation of a thrilling headline
(even if factually inaccurate) be just too much?

We now have the answer — Temptation Wins.

On Friday, the Telegraph featured this spine-tingling story by Ruth
Sherlock, “Syria: Western Activists Volunteer to Become ‘Human
Shields’
“.

The Telegraph does adore its intrepid tales of deluded Western leftists
protecting nasty foreign dictators, such as this story about Saddam Hussein
and Iraq 
2003
.

So it is unsurprising that Sherlock serves up a fresh version of the tale a
decade later:

*The “International Human Shields” movement, started by a group of
activists in Britain and the US, plans to bring to Syria civilians from
countries around the globe, who will try to deter US strikes on the country
by staking out potential military targets.*

Ooh, exciting! But what exactly is the “International Human Shields”
movement? Where is it based? Who are its “hundreds of activists”?

Sherlock’s source is one Franklin Lamb, who portrays himself as the group’s
“legal adviser” and claims he has been “inundated” with requests to join
from Canada, France, Italy, the U.S., and Britain.

Franklin Lamb is, to put it mildly, a colorful character. “A former
Assistant Counsel of the US House Judiciary Committee and Professor of
International Law at Northwestern College of Law” who now lives in Beirut,
Lamb is well-known to Iran watchers as a regular commentator on Iran’s
State English-language news service Press
TV where
he is trotted out to inform viewers about menacing American-Zionist plots
and Washington’s deviousness in the Middle East. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iylja124QqA


Lamb does not confine his outpourings to Press TV, however — he is
also a featured
columunist for Veterans Today ,
a conspiracy-theory site warning of American and Israeli evil — it recently
claimed thatIsrael had dropped a nuclear bomb near
Damascus
.

In this recent 
piece
for
Veterans Today on Syria, Lamb expounds his theories of a far-reaching,
heinous U.S.-Saudi-Bahraini-Zionist plot to invade Damascus. Lamb informs
his readers that behind the nefarious plot is a Bahraini Jew working with
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee:

*Long known, for having myriad contacts at AIPAC HQ, and as an ardent
Zionist, Houda Nonoo has attended lobby functions while advising associates
that the “Arabs must forget about the so-called Liberation of Palestine. It
will never happen.”*

A reliable source of information on the Syria conflict, then.

Through Lamb, Sherlock has a second source: one “Ken O’Keefe, an ex-US
Marine who gave up his American citizenship in disgust at Iraq war and who
became a leader of [a] Human Shields group” in 2003.

*I have been sharing my experience with Mr L

[LAAMN] Jihadists, US backed-rebels and intervention: Syria is very different from these rampant lies

[Cort Greene]

http://northyorkshirecommentary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/jihadists-us-backed-rebels-and.html

Saturday, 7 September 2013
Jihadists, US backed-rebels and intervention: Syria is very different from
these rampant lies
On the 21st of August 2013, I crossed into Syria with a good friend from
the Free Syrian Army, and two others who had joined us in crossing the
border. I entered Syria with the purpose of making a documentary on the
revolution there , to show the world the
true character of the revolution and to raise money for refugees and others
who desperately need help, as well as dispel many of the media lies about
events there.

The crossing was incredibly swift and easy, taking into account the fact
that we were in the middle of what is probably one of history's largest
genocides. We avoided the Bab al-Hawa gate post and crossed via another
location (which I cannot name for security reasons), as fighting around Bab
al-Hawa, and checkpoints set up by a minority of extremist fruitloops in
some jihadist groups in the area could have proved to be a major problem
for westerners crossing there. Instead, we crossed a few miles further down.

Once I got into Idlib, around the Darkush region, I saw clear evidence of a
liberated region which was thriving, albeit at a struggling pace for many
people. Children played with their friends around houses and fields (many
giving voluntary victory signs for the camera and seeming brimming with
optimism), people busily worked inside and outside their houses, trucks and
cars transporting goods and people were a common sight along the roads...

Syrian
children in Idlib jostle to show their optimism to my
camera; a heart-warming and inspiring sight amid all the
tragedy and sadness.And yet, poverty and hardship was never far round the
corner. Many houses were spartan in appearance, with the inhabitants having
to be constantly hard at work in all manner of ways - slaving over
wood-burning stoves, doing washing, attending to wide-eyed,
inquisitive-looking children clad in dusty clothes, you name it. Most of
the post-revolution infrastructure was clearly extinguished when the
regime's forces lost control of huge swathes of Idlib, save for a few
emptied villages  in which their thugs have brutally driven out the
population and occupied their homes (I saw them inside civilian houses from
a short distance with my own eyes, on a trip near to the front-line with
the Free Syrian Army).

Yet people have carried on, as they often do in times of crisis - Free
Syrian Army soldiers (none of them foreigners, I only met one foreign rebel
fighter in the home of a friend. He was from Tunisia, and joined the FSA,
not al-Nusra or other such groups. This is a story which the media often
ignores) have set up makeshift checkpoints all along the roads, to ensure
the safety of all passers by, and to eliminate the chances of regime spies
slipping through, people have set up makeshift shops and stalls along roads
(selling anything from cola to biscuits), many small shops remain open,
selling all manner of foodstuffs, and some schools remain open - I
accompanied one friend and his friends to an Arabic exam.

Yet this is far from the idealistic, anarchic, chaotic image of the
revolution that western occupistas, teenagle pseudo-intellectual Leninists
and Castro admirers would venerate (when they're not canonising Assad as a
hero, on the basis that he mouths off against the west) - they spend so
long shouting "Viva la revolution!" that they forget a fundamental fact -
this is an uprising, and one that has been forced into becoming
militarised. People die. Unfortunately, in this case, when they do die,
they die in the hundreds of thousands. Everyone - or nearly everyone -
seems to have lost someone.

A son, a daughter, a friend, an associate - everybody knows someone who has
lost someone. I was reduced to tears when my good friend described how he
felt like he didn't want to live, and his mother, brother, and brother's
son had been killed by Assad's genocide. Even those who manage to escape
this horrific bombing, which regularly occurs all across Idlib (I saw Assad
destroy a hospital in Darkush using artillery fire, with my own eyes), are
often forced to take drastic, squalid measures to stay alive. Even when
people have houses and homes to go to, power cuts are unfortunately a
regular feature of daily life, hindering communications and day-to-day life
for an already struggling population. Myself and my friends often
experienced them fro several hours.

A
(former) hospital in Darkush, courtesy of the Assad regime.
Does this look like some sort of terrorist HQ to any of you?
I met families forced to flee their homes who now sleep under trees, open
to the elements, for refuge (with my friend warning that dea

[LAAMN] UPDATED Egypt: Revolutionary Socialists - Haitham Mohamedain released, but charged with “terrorism” against the state

[Cort Greene]

http://menasolidaritynetwork.com/2013/09/07/egypt-haitham-mohamedain-charged-with-terrorism-against-the-state/
MENA Solidarity Network 
Solidarity with Workers in the Middle East
UPDATED Egypt: Haitham Mohamedain released, but charged with “terrorism”
against the state

*Posted on September 7, 2013*

1

[image: 
haitham_solidarity]

Labour lawyer Haitham Mohamedain has been released by Suez prosecutors
without posting bail, but according to his lawyer, Ramy Ghoneim, he was
read a list of very serious charges, including:

   - “Leading and joining a secret organisation called the Revolutionary
   Socialists, the purpose of which is to deny the authority of the state,
   assault citizens and damage social peace”
   - “Incitement by verbal and written means for the purposes mentioned in
   the first indictment and possessing publications inciting violence”
   - “Attempting to change the form of government by terrorist means
   through the organisation you lead”
   - “Jointly inciting and assisting in the destruction of state property,
   facilities and institutions with the intention of damaging the nation”
   - “Jointly inciting and assisting in the occupation of a number of
   public buildings and public facilities”
   - “Establishing and leading the Revolutionary Socialists organisation
   which agitates in favour imposing a specific social class on the whole of
   society and overthrowing the social order of the state”

Haitham’s arrest has drawn condemnation from trade unionists and activists
across the world. Hundreds have already signed a statement in protest in
the 48 hours since his detention on Thursday afternoon. He is a well-known
labour lawyer who has represented hundreds of striking workers in court,
and is also well-known for his work with victims of torture through
El-Nadeem Centre.

This prosecution is part of a much wider crackdown on opponents of the
Egyptian army. Thousands of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have been
arrested, and the authorities have begun to arrest and threaten activists
from the revolutinonary 6th April Youth Movement.

*What you can do:*

   - *Sign the statement calling for the dropping of all charges against
   Haitham. Add you name
here
   *
   - *Write urgently to the Egyptian authorities calling for an end to the
   harassment and prosecution of the military’s political opponents. **Rush
   messages of protest to General Abd-al-Fattah al-Sisi, Commander in Chief of
   the Egyptian Armed Forces. Email General al-Sisi here m...@afmic.gov.eg copy
   in Kamal Abu Aita, Minister of Labour (minoff...@mome.gov.eg) and the
   Egyptian Ambassador to the UK (eg.emb_lon...@mfa.gov.eg) or your
   country. *
   - *Print out this
sign
for
   solidarity pictures and send to us via
Facebook or
   Twitter @menasolidarity*
   - *Sign and circulate our Emergency Statement on
Egypt
which
   condemns the army’s crackdown*

[LAAMN] Week in Photos-Prawer Plan protests to house demolitions

[Cort Greene]

   - Documenting life and struggle from within: Bil'in photographer
   publishes first
book
   ByHaggai Matar | 1 CommentPublished
   September 6, 2013

   

   Seeing his cousin killed by soldiers drove Hamde Abu-Rahma to
   photojournalism. The picture outside his window is still grim but Abu-Rahma
   insists on smiling.
   - From Prawer protests to house demolitions: A week in
photos
   ByActivestills Published
   September 6, 2013

   

   U.S. Jewish groups use Holocaust guilt to push for Syria
strike
   ByMairav Zonszein 16 CommentsPublished
   September 5, 2013

   




http://972mag.com/from-prawer-plan-protests-to-house-demolitions-a-week-in-photos-august-29-september-4/78488/


By Activestills  |Published
September 6, 2013From Prawer Plan protests to house demolitions: A week in
photos - August 29 - September 4

*This week: Demonstrations against the occupation, Prawer-Begin Plan
protests, house demolitions, gas mask distribution and settlements behind
walls.*


An Israeli border policeman orders a Palestinian photographer to leave the
area near the wall during the weekly protest against the wall and then
occupation in the West Bank village of Bil’in, August 30, 2013. (photo:
Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)




A Palestinian youth throws stones at Israeli soldiers, standing on top of
the wall, during the weekly protest against the wall and the occupation in
the West Bank village of Bil’in, August 30, 2013. (photo: Oren
Ziv/Activestills.org)




Bedouins who live in the Negev desert and local activists demonstrate in
central Tel Aviv against the Prawer-Begin plan, August 31, 2013. According
to the plan, which the government failed to consult the Bedouin community
on when drafting, nearly all residents in the unrecognized Negev villages
will be evicted and forcibly relocated to planned communities. (photo:
Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)




Two activists, one of them wearing a Palestinian flag, walk past Israeli
border policemen during a demonstration by Bedouins who live in the Negev
desert and local activists against the Prawer-Begin plan, in center Tel
Aviv, August 31, 2013.




Khaled Zir al-Husseini stands near a Palestinian flag in the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Silwan on September 1, 2013. Khaled Zir al-Husseini and his
family moved into a cave down the hill, as they sought shelter following
the destruction of their house by Israeli forces as part of the national
park plans in the old city and the village of Silwan. (photo:
Activestills.org)




A Palestinian girl stands on a makeshift bed in the cave that hosts her
family since the demolition of their house by Israeli forces in the East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, August 29, 2013. (photo: Activestills.org)




Israelis line up at a gas mask distribution center in South Tel Aviv,
August. 29, 2013. Large crowds of Israelis have lined up at gas mask
distribution centers across the country fearing a possible U.S. strike on
Syria could lead to an Syrian attack on Israel. (photo: Oren
Ziv/Activestills.org)

[LAAMN] American Friends Service Committee/Western Massachusetts- Inside the Syrian Revolution and What the Left Must Do

[Cort Greene]

American Friends Service Committee of Western
Massachusetts
Inside the Syrian Revolution and What the Left Must Do

Home  → Campaign
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*[image: Dr. Yasser
Munif]A
Conversation with Yasser Munif: Inside the Syrian Revolution and What the
Left Must Do*

I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Yasser Munif, professor at Emerson
College,
call into The Declaration  radio show
tonight. He has recently visited Syria, witnessed the revolution there, and
has spoken and written about it (including an interview with scholar Nigel
Gibson at 
Jadaliyya.)
We talked about what he saw, the troubles facing revolutionaries in Syria,
the very oppositional distinction between revolutionaries and jihadists,
and more. And we talked about the Left’s perception of what’s going on, and
how so many are getting it wrong on Syria.
On September 5, 2013   /   Campaign
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, Declaration ,
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/   Leave a comment 


http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/
Radio interview of Yasser Munif: inside the Syrian Revolution and What the
Left Must 
Do
Posted on September 7,
2013


*A Conversation with Yasser Munif: Inside the Syrian Revolution and What
the Left Must Do*

Dr. Yasser Munif, professor at Emerson
College,
has
recently visited Syria, witnessed the revolution there, and has spoken and
written about it (including an interview with scholar Nigel Gibson at
Jadaliyya.)
He talks about what he saw, the troubles facing revolutionaries in Syria,
the very oppositional distinction between revolutionaries and jihadists,
and more. And he talked about the Left’s perception of what’s going on, and
how so many are getting it wrong on Syria.

Listen to the interview on the following link:

http://afscwm.org/2013/09/05/syrianrevolution/

A passage from the interview:
“Yasser Munif: This summer I actually spent two months in Syria, in
northern Syria, the liberated area, and it was a very humbling experience.
I learned a lot and I saw a popular revolution, an ongoing popular
revolution. People are rebuilding institutions, they are managing their
cities after the fall of the state and the regime, and it is a very
challenging task to do because there are no resources, there is no funding,
and there are permanent attacks by the regime. Those areas I’m talking
about in the north are liberated: there are no clashes on the ground. But
there are constant airstrikes and missiles are launched on these cities.

So people are coming up with creative solutions: they are creating
political institutions. There are local councils in each one of those
cities and they meet on a weekly basis. They discuss everything in the city
and they try to solve their problems.

And so there are millions of people who hear the media in the West and
elsewhere talking about civil war and so on, and most of these people
reject those labels. They believe there is a popular revolution in Syria.
It’s true that it’s at a critical period and there are challenging tasks
ahead of them, and there are jihadists who are trying to undermine their
work, and obviously the regime… “

[LAAMN] Festive Left Friday Blogging: Chavecito, Lucerito…

[Cort Greene]

http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/09/festive-left-friday-blogging-chavecito-lucerito.html

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Chavecito,
Lucerito…September
6, 2013 — Sabina Becker

*‘Scuse me while I miss this guy:*

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z90T2qVqHKs
*

*Chavecito on Aló Presidente, serenading his two oldest daughters with a
llanero folk song, “Lucerito” (Little Star). Can’t believe he’s already
been gone six months. He’s still the star that lights my way, and still the
reason I keep up this regular Friday feature. This is one star that will
never really go out.*

[LAAMN] EU backing for Syria meets scepticism & Syria Brotherhood Leader US Position Negative

[Cort Greene]

France seeks EU backing for Syria stance but meets scepticism
September 06, 2013 08:56 PM (Last updated: September 06, 2013 09:03
PM)By Adrian
Croft , Justyna
Pawlak[image:
Reuters][image: France’s President Francois Hollande gives a press
conference in Saint Petersburg on September 6, 2013 on the sideline of the
G20 summit. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG]France’s President Francois Hollande
gives a press conference in Saint Petersburg on September 6, 2013 on the
sideline of the G20 summit. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG[image: A+][image: A-]

VILNIUS: France, which backs military action to punish Syria for a deadly
chemical weapons attack, tried to rally support from its European
Union partners
on Friday but met scepticism from governments wary of turning their backs
on the United Nations.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius sought agreement from EU
counterparts meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius that President
Bashar al-Assad's government was responsible for an Aug. 21 gas attack that
the United States says killed more than 1,400 people, a source close to
Fabius said.

But he was rebuffed by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and other
ministers who said countries contemplating military action must await the
findings of U.N. chemical weapons inspectors, which could take weeks.

After British Prime Minister David Cameron failed to win parliamentary
backing for military strikes, France is the only major military power
lining up behind U.S. President Barack Obama, who is seeking a go-ahead
from Congress.

Some EU nations oppose a military strike, making it hard for the 28-nation
bloc to forge a common position.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to join the EU ministers in
Vilnius on Saturday to discuss Syria and the Middle East peace process.

"We believe that it is necessary to wait for the report of the U.N.
chemical weapons experts before taking any further decisions, also on
possible measures of a military nature. That's our appeal to those who talk
and think about military measures," Westerwelle told reporters in Vilnius.

Germany had urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to speed up
publication of the report, Westerwelle said.

He also said Germany was in "extraordinarily close talks with the Russians"
to try to make progress on the diplomatic track. Divisions between Western
powers and Russia and China have blocked effective action in the U.N.
Security Council to resolve the 2-1/2-year-old Syrian conflict.

On arrival in Vilnius, Fabius played down the U.N. inspectors' report,
saying it was likely to disappoint, because the inspectors had only been
asked to look into whether it was a chemical attack, not who was
responsible for it.

But French President Francois Hollande said later in St. Petersburg,
Russia, that France would await the conclusions of the inspectors before
deciding on action.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said their findings would be very
important for giving "international credibility for whatever happens".

Several other ministers made clear they believed the United Nations should
be in charge of efforts to find a solution to the crisis. The EU has been
scarred by the experience of a decade ago when a U.S.-led coalition invaded
Iraq without U.N. backing.

"As far as my government is concerned, the United Nations should be put in
a position to draw conclusions on the basis of the reports given by the
inspectors," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said.

Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn said many EU countries
faced a "practically impossible" choice between the position of the United
States and France and the basic rules of the United Nations.

"We must not forget the political solution before attacking, because once
you have struck, the political solution becomes enormously difficult," he
said. "Is it really in the interests of the Syrian people to want to
punish Bashar
al-Assad through military strikes? I think not."

At a summit of the Group of 20 countries in St. Petersburg this week, the
EU's top officials stopped short of endorsing the U.S.-led push for a
military strike on Syria and warned there could be no military solution to
the conflict.


Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Sep-06/230275-frances-hollande-seeks-coalition-in-favour-of-syria-action.ashx#ixzz2e9PWmHQh

(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Syria Brotherhood Leader:
US Position on Syria 'Negative'
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood's then-Secretary-General Ali al-Bayanouni (L)
and former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam hold a news conference
in Brussels, March 17, 2006. (photo by REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)

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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/08/syria-muslim-b

[LAAMN] Egyptian military arrests leading Revolutionary Socialist member

[Cort Greene]

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/80904/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptian-military-arrests-leading-Revolutionary-So.aspx

*Egyptian military arrests leading Revolutionary Socialist member

Charges against Haytham Mohamadein, who is being detained at a police
station in Suez, remain unclear

By Reem Gehad
Ahramonline
Thursday 5 Sep 2013

Labour lawyer Haytham Mohamadein, a leading member of Egypt's Revolutionary
Socialists, was arrested at a military checkpoint close to Suez and is
currently being detained, the group announced on Thursday.

Mohamadein, who is also a member of El-Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of
Victims of Violence, was on his way from Cairo to Suez on Thursday when he
was arrested at a military checkpoint on Suez Road. He was then transferred
to Attaqa police station in Suez.

Mohamadein is expected to be referred to the prosecution on Friday. The
charges he faces are yet to be officially confirmed and the army has not
made any statements yet on the issue.

Aida Seif El-Dawla of El-Nadeem centre told Ahram Online that Mohamadein
spoke with her shortly after his arrest.

"He told me that army forces stopped him at the checkpoint and took hold of
his bag, which contained documents and legal records of his clients," she
said. "He refused this action."

Meanwhile, reports have been circulating about the charges Mohamadein may
be facing.

The Revolutionary Socialists' official Facebook page states that there are
unconfirmed reports that Mohamadein faces "forged" charges of "attacking an
army soldier on duty." Similarly, NGO the Arabic Network for Human Rights
Information claimed in a statement that an army officer filed a report
against Mohamadein accusing him of verbally assaulting him.

However, Seif El-Dawla says that Mohamadein did not tell her about any
conflict with the forces at the checkpoint.

Mohamadein was interviewed on Al Jazeera Mubashar Masr channel on Friday,
during which he expressed his opposition to what he described as the
"military leadership" of Egypt's interim government.

"[Army commander-in-chief] General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is leading a
counter-revolution under the cover of suppressing Islamists in the
streets," he said. "The Mubarak regime is being revived again."

He also commented on the recent re-emergence of military trials saying,
that "the military are obstructing the revolution and rejecting its
demands."

The Revolutionary Socialists supported the anti-Morsi Rebel (Tamarod)
campaign and was part of the organising committee for the 30 Juneprotests
against president Mohamed Morsi. Following the mass nationwide protests,
the military ousted Morsi on 3 July.

However, the group has criticised calls for the army to play a role in
politics and maintains its opposition to military rule as well as to the
rule of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is currently under a state of emergency which was introduced after
violence broke out following a deadly crackdown on pro-Morsi protest camps
in Cairo by security forces on 14 August. This was accompanied by an
overnight curfew in 14 governorates.

The army has been deployed on the streets at security checkpoints since
then, particularly at strategic areas such as Suez, near the Suez Canal. *

[LAAMN] Mexico-La insurgencia magisterial

[Cort Greene]

http://www.marxist.com/la-insurgencia-magisterial.htm

La insurgencia 
magisterial
Written by Carlos MárquezFriday, 06 September 2013
[image: Print] 
[image:
E-mail]

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La
reforma educativa pretende avanzar en el desentendimiento del Estado a la
educación básica y en el desmantelamiento de los derechos laborales de los
trabajadores de la educación, buscando eliminar a uno de los sectores más
combativos del sindicalismo mexicano: la Coordinadora Nacional de los
Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE). Pese a las decididas protestas del
magisterio el régimen ha mostrado su firme determinación de avanzar en la
aplicación de su programa de ataques aprobando la ley de servicio docente,
una de las últimas medidas que le faltaban acordar de su contrarreforma
educativa. Con esto, el gobierno de Peña Nieto y su Pacto por México
demuestra una vez más su carácter de clase, atropellando los derechos de
los trabajadores.

[image: 
insurgencia-magisterial-th]La
reforma educativa fue la primera iniciativa que el gobierno de Peña Nieto
impulsó tomando posesión. El ataque fue tan rápido, aprovechando un periodo
temporal de desorientación y dispersión del movimiento de masas, que no dio
tiempo de dar una respuesta contundente a nivel nacional. Para poder hacer
valida la reforma había que aprobarla en la mayoría de los congresos
Estatales y vimos algunos pocos casos donde se dio una resistencia local.
Pero ya en ese entonces se vio la explosividad que hay debajo de la
superficie con la lucha en el estado de Guerrero, donde los maestros
agrupados en la CETEG  ganaron a la mayoría de la base magisterial y
encabezaron la conformación del Movimiento Popular de Guerrero agrupando a
otros sindicatos, organizaciones sociales y Policías Comunitarias. Esta
lucha incluyó marchas armadas en la Capital Estatal, la toma del congreso y
acciones de enojo de las masas que terminaron por destrozar los locales de
todos los partidos políticos.
Una reforma laboral para los trabajadores de la educación

La reforma ya había sido aprobada en lo fundamental, siendo modificados los
artículos 3° y 73 de la Constitución, pero ahora ha tocado el turno a las
leyes secundarias, donde se especifican los diversos ataques. Los
profesores han denunciado que ésta es en realidad una reforma laborar en la
educación. En un comunicado de la Sección XVIII de la CNTE del Estado de
Michoacán señalan:

“Esta aprobación rompe con el sentido social de nuestra Constitución, borra
su orientación y perfil popular y la convierte en una ‘arma legal’ (pero no
legitima) de los ricos del país; destruye el sentido estratégico  para el
desarrollo nacional, juega la formación de los ciudadanos mexicanos; deja
en manos de la OCDE, de mexicanos primero y en general de ese grupo de
ricos, la determinación del qué, cuándo y cómo se enseña”.

“Así mismo, al magisterio y  pueblo de México se nos  niegan el goce de las
garantías establecidas en la Carta Magna, se coloca a los maestros
mexicanos, como ciudadanos indefensos a la espera del despido. Serán
necesarios solamente procedimientos administrativos, para borrar el derecho
a la plaza de base, la seguridad y estabilidad laboral, contratación
colectiva, los derechos escalafonario, el derecho de ejercer libremente la
profesión. Igualmente somete la educación a las competencias educativas
empresariales regresivas”.

A finales del 2012 fue aprobada las modificaciones a la Ley Federal del
Trabajo. Aquí se ataca a los nuevos trabajadores y se justifica el trabajo
eventual, por hora y por temporada. El siguiente paso es desmantelar el
trabajo estable y la organización sindical, eso es justo lo que intentan
ahora con los trabajadores de la educación, pero continuará con todos los
trabajadores sindicalizados y con estabilidad laboral del sector público y
privado. Este no es un ataque aislado.
Respuesta organizada

Esta lucha es política, el Estado quiere aplastar a uno de los sectores más
organizados del proletariado mexicano, al ala izquierda del Sindicato
Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación. Pero el tiro les puede salir por
la culata.

Al iniciar el ciclo escolar miles de maestros de estados como Oaxaca,
Michoacán y Guerrero iniciaron un paro indefinido de labores. En Chiapas
los maestros se han sumado al mismo. Los maestros han ocupado la plaza
central del país y han estado realizando movilizaciones a diario. Estas han
incluido bloqueos a las entradas de las grandes televisoras (Televisa y TV
Azteca) que encabezan una campaña de difamación, mentiras y calumnias
contra la CNTE. También se bloqueó la avenida principal que conecta al
Aeropuerto Intern