December 6, 2012

By Omar Lamrani

The battle for Damascus is raging with increasing intensity while rebels continue to make substantial advances in Syria's north and east. Every new air base, city or town that falls to the rebels further underlines that Bashar al Assad's writ over the country is shrinking. It is no longer possible to accurately depict al Assad as the ruler of Syria. At this point, he is merely the head of a large and powerful armed force, albeit one that still controls a significant portion of the country.

The nature of the conflict has changed significantly since it began nearly two years ago. The rebels initially operated with meager resources and equipment, but bolstered by defections, some outside support and their demographic advantage, they have managed to gain ground on what was previously a far superior enemy. Even the regime's qualitative superiority in equipment is fast eroding as the rebels start to frequently utilize main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, rocket and tube artillery and even man-portable air-defense systems captured from the regime's stockpiles.

Weary and stumbling, the regime is attempting to push back rebel forces in and near Damascus and to maintain a corridor to the Alawite coast while delaying rebel advances in the rest of the country. Al Assad and his allies will fight for every inch, fully aware that their power depends on the ability of the regime forces to hold ground.

The Battle for Damascus

It is important to remember that, despite considerable setbacks, al Assad's forces still control a sizable portion of Syria and its population centers. After failing to take Damascus in Operation Damascus Volcano in July, the rebels are again stepping up their efforts and operations in the Damascus area. However, unlike in their previous failed operation, this time the rebels are relying on an intensive guerrilla campaign to exhaust and degrade al Assad's substantial forces in Damascus and its countryside.

After the last surge in fighting around Damascus in July and August, the regime kept large numbers of troops in the area. These forces continued search and destroy operations near the capital despite the considerable pressure facing its forces in the rest of the country, including in Aleppo. Once the rebels began to make gains in the north and east, the regime was forced to dispatch some of its forces around Damascus to reinforce other fronts. Unfortunately for the regime, its operations in the capital area had not significantly degraded local rebel forces. Rebels in the area began intensifying their operations once more, forcing the regime to recall many of its units to Damascus.

Aware of the magnitude of the threat, the regime has reportedly shifted its strategy in the battle for Damascus to isolating the city proper from the numerous suburbs. The rebels have made considerable headway in the Damascus suburbs. For example, on Nov. 25 rebels overran the Marj al-Sultan military air base in eastern Ghouta, east of the capital. Rebel operations in the outskirts of Damascus have also interrupted the flow of goods to and from the city, causing the prices of basic staples such as bread to skyrocket.

Rebel Gains in the East and North

Damascus is not the only area where the regime is finding itself under considerable pressure. The rebels have made some major advances in the last month in the energy-rich Deir el-Zour governorate to the east. Having seized a number of towns, airfields and military bases, the rebels have also taken the majority of the oil fields in the governorate. They captured the Al-Ward oil field Nov. 4, the Conoco natural gas reserve Nov. 27 and, after al Assad's forces withdrew from it on Nov. 29, the Omar oil field north of the town of Mayadeen. Al Assad's forces now control only five oil fields, all located west of the city of Deir el-Zour. With the battle for the city and its associated airfield intensifying, even those remaining fields are at risk of falling into rebel hands.

The rebel successes in Deir el-Zour have effectively cut the regime's ground lines of communication and supply to Iraq. They have also starved the regime of the vast majority of its oil revenue and affected its ability to fuel its war machine. At the same time, the rebels are reportedly already seeking to capitalize on their seizure of the eastern oil fields. According to reports, the rebels are smuggling oil to Turkey and Iraq and using the revenue to purchase arms. They are also reportedly using the oil and natural gas locally for power generators and fuel.

While all of eastern Syria may soon fall into rebel hands, rebels in the north have continued to isolate al Assad forces in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, particularly in the capital cities of those two provinces. After overrunning the 46th regiment near Atarib on Nov. 19 following a two-month siege, the rebels are now looking to further squeeze remaining regime forces in Aleppo by taking the Sheikh Suleiman base north of the 46th regiment's former base.

The Rebels' Improved Air Defense Capability

Isolated and surrounded, regime forces in the north are increasingly relying on air support for both defense and supply. However, this advantage is deteriorating every day and is increasingly threatened by the rebels' improved air defense arsenal and tactics.

The rebels first attempted to acquire air defense weaponry by seizing heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery. They captured a number of air defense bases, taking 12.7 mm DShK heavy machine guns, 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine guns and even 23 mm ZU-23-2 autocannons. Over time, the rebels became more proficient with these weapons, and an increasing number of Syrian air force fixed-wing and rotary aircraft were shot down. The rebels also formed hunter-killer groups with air defense equipment mounted on flatbed trucks that provided them mobile platforms for targeting regime air and infantry units.

As more and more regime bases were taken, the rebels were able to bolster their air defense equipment through the capture of a number of man-portable air-defense systems. At the outset of the conflict, the Syrian military maintained a large inventory of shoulder-fired air-defense missiles, likely thousands of missiles ranging from early generation SA-7s to very advanced SA-24s. These missiles were stored in army bases across the country. There are also unconfirmed reports that Qatar and Saudi Arabia may have transferred some man-portable air-defense systems to the rebels through Turkey.

The rebels tallied their first confirmed kill with shoulder-fired air-defense missiles Nov. 27, when they shot down a Syrian Arab Air Force Mi-8/17 helicopter near Aleppo city. The weapon system used in the attack was likely an SA-7, SA-16 or SA-24 captured from the 46th regiment. The surface-to-air missiles are a serious upgrade in the rebels' air defense capability.

The Fight Continues

Having isolated al Assad's forces in the north and made substantial advances in the east, the rebels are poised to push farther into the Orontes River Valley to relieve the beleaguered rebel units in the Rastan, Homs and al-Qusayr areas of Homs governorate. For months, regime forces have sought to overwhelm the remaining rebel forces in Homs city, but the rebels have managed to hold out. The rebels are also set to begin pushing south along the main M5 thoroughfare to Khan Sheikhoun and the approaches to Hama. However, first they need to overwhelm the remaining regime forces in Wadi al-Dhaif near Maarrat al-Numan.

Alternatively, the regime is fighting hard to maintain its control over the Orontes River Valley around Homs in order to keep an open corridor linking Damascus to the mostly Alawite coast. Not only is this corridor at risk of eventually being cut off, but the regime is also facing a substantial push by rebel forces into northeastern Latakia governorate from Idlib. Rebels have advanced in the vicinity of the Turkman Mountain, have taken control of Bdama and are now fighting their way down in the direction of Latakia city.

While events in Damascus and Rif Damascus are increasingly worrisome for the regime, al Assad's forces in the rest of Syria are also under considerable pressure from rebel advances. It is by no means certain that al Assad's forces are under imminent threat of collapse because they still hold a great deal of territory and no major city has yet been completely taken by the rebels. The retreat and consolidation of al Assad's forces also allows them to maintain shorter and less vulnerable lines of supply. However, it is clear that the regime is very much on the defensive and has been forced to gradually contract its lines toward a core that now encompasses Damascus, the Orontes River Valley and the mostly Alawite coast. With the regime's situation rapidly deteriorating, even the attempt to stage a gradual withdrawal to the core is risky.


Al Assad's Last Stand is republished with permission of Stratfor."

If anyone thinks this Syria business is just another prelude to yet another war in a faraway place, I'm afraid I have rather bad news for you. This potential conflict looks to be the trigger of a planned "doomsday."

Forget about whether or not you are on the side of the "good guys" or the "bad guys"; there are NO good guys except those against all war in the first place, so ignore the usual pre-war propaganda about who's doing whatever dastardly crap to incite your moral outrage. Your outrage should be directed at the people trying to con you into favouring a war they want.

The warmongers are banging the drums of war louder every day. I'm afraid the game of geopolitical chess has turned into the uglier and chancier game of "brinkmanship", where one little miscalculation leads to a major war.

The brinkmanship alliance dominoes are all in place. Syria has a military alliance with Iran (the real target) and China & Russia have important strategic interests in Iran, since China needs it as a source of oil and it's Russia's next-door neighbour. Neither of these nuke-equipped countries will stand for a western war with Iran, which would start if NATO hits Syria.

In light of the fact that Russia knows this and since Syria has traditionally been within its sphere of influence, Russia has drawn a "line in the sand." After years of western encroachment on its sphere of influence, it will tolerate no more, knowing that its own survival is on the line such that an incursion into Syria by NATO forces could well mean nuclear war with Russia (and therefore involve China and probably ALL the nuke-armed countries once the missiles start flying).

http://euobserver.com/foreign/27827

The risks are high and the stakes in this one are not just a regional war in the middle east (which will turn Israel/Palestine into a glass parking lot…Israel's not-so-secret possession of nukes, whether they use them or not, virtually guarantees a massive nuclear strike on the territory); the risk is an all-out, global thermonuclear, biological and chemical war in which you, the reader may well be turned into an unpublished statistic no matter where you live.

Am I fear-mongering? I wish I were, but there are actually some very powerful people in the world who would actually like to realize this ugliest of scenarios for a variety of reasons, not the least of which might be the second coming of Jesus, the coming of the Messiah, or the lost imam. Think they'll be surprised when their "saviour" doesn't show up in time?…Yeah…me too. A new Armageddon is being staged for the benefit of the power elite who wrote the screenplay based on scriptural prophecy. There is a script to follow, and Damascus MUST fall into rubble & ruin:

http://www.endtimepilgrim.org/damas5.htm

I think it's time we all took a crash course in reason and wisdom. We don't have much time left to learn that the only thing that's gonna save us is us. If the human race can't save the human race, we are toast; period (And if you are one of the "elite" planning all this garbage, remember "The best laid plans…" & all that, so as much as you think you can sit it out in a well stocked bunker or a remote country, a single "typo" in your script may well make you the author of your own demise. Historically speaking, some typos are never caught before the work gets published)

Don't worry about whose fault this is (the Zionists, Banksters, Islamists, Jesuits, Masons, Reptilians, Aliens, Satan's, etc.); in the end it will be you to blame for allowing this garbage to continue.

Don't look to your "leaders" (religious and/or political) to save you; they are the ones leading you to the slaughter.

Don't look to a merciful God. I can tell you right now that if you are His children, He's not gonna clean up your mess for you. He never has and He never will. I'm pretty sure He figures that if you haven't grown up enough by now to do it yourself, you are just gonna have to live or die in your own, fouled nest. Advice…Quit looking up and start looking in the mirror if you want to see your Saviour. YOU are the Heart and the Hand of God.

Don't do nothing and expect your friends and neighbours to come together to save you, because they'll all be doing nothing too…waiting for you and their other friends to save them!

At the risk of sounding like an Uncle Sam recruiting poster, I want YOU to get off your *** and change the world into a better place FAST. You can start by dealing with this Syria crap, not by taking a side in a war, but by UNITING with the people of ALL sides everywhere to wage peace as fiercely as you've ever waged war; not just by carrying a protest sign, but by really taking charge and demanding some answers from that partisan, greedy, scheming ineptocracy you voted in. Give them no rest; be relentless; DEMAND from them the moral accountability for their actions that they demand from you.

Demand your tax money back and don't give them any more by withholding for moral reasons, because you will NOT support the killing of ANY of your fellow human beings in the name of anything, holy or unholy, or for any goal, monetary or militaristic/hegemonic. If you are a soldier, quit taking immoral and unconscionable orders from a satanically criminal high command.

DO SOMETHING, because I assure you, if you do nothing, or just follow along with the divided & conquered status quo, you'll be watching your own death on TV very soon. If you're not gonna do anything, at least remember this; "How to prepare for a nuclear attack: …Go underground, to a basement if you have one…squat down with your arms behind your head; tuck it between your legs as far as you can…Then kiss your *** goodbye."

The old world and the old ways will soon end. This will be followed by an age of unity, equality, and peace. It is the inevitable consequence of what is happening now. The only thing yet to be determined is whether we are united in the equality of death and the peace of the grave, or united globally as people and equals, enjoying a peaceful life.

Either future is your choice. Choose wisely.

Russia stands to lose Billions in Arms-Trade,and so does China,while Iran would lose quite a bit of Regional Influence if Assad falls!
I grew up during the Cold War in Europe,under the Shadow of a possible Nuclear Exchange,and did my National Service overshadowed by Nuclear Weapons!
and that We are the World-Huey is just that,Huey!
Turn the Other Cheek,be Peaceful is just not cutting it!
A very wise Poet said once,that he most pious Man can't live in Peace if his evil Neighbor doesn't let him!

I didn't say we should turn the other cheek...I said people EVERYWHERE should turn on their own "leaders", who have lied them into wars of aggression & conquest for thousands of years.

Your poet wasn't very wise. He should have known that we are just as good or evil as our neighbour. Like attracts like and neighbourhoods generally consist of people who either get along or get kicked out. It's all a function of who moved in last. If the pious man moved in to an evil community, its his own damned fault and he deserves what he gets. If the evil man moved in to a pious one, he won't be killed outright, but rest assured, the community will see to it that he pays for his crimes.

It's too bad nobody ever listened to the wisest poetic "commandment" ever issued: "Love thy neighbour as thyself."...It's really very simple. Obey it and you'll have peace; ignore it and you'll have war.

Are you for real? I mean, half this crap is an insane rave littered with hyperbole and hysteria.

I'm just a little tired of the human race falling into the "It wasn't my fault" mindset, where fixing the problems it creates for itself isn't as important as having a blamestorming session to see who's fault it is.

I'm not "for real", I'm a duck, so I can look at your pathetic species objectively and believe me, you guys are just a joke with a poor punchline. Wanna know why the animals won't talk to you?...because we don't care to associate with immoral life-forms. You are all nothing but a bunch of murderous self-serving hypocrites bent on your own collective suicide as a species. The rest of the animal kingdom will be happy to see you go...Hopefully, you won't take too many of us with you, but it's the generally agreed sacrifice we're willing to make if it means being rid of you.

The other animals will probably be mad at me for breaking the "no talking" rule, but SOMEBODY has to tell you the truth; you're obviously incapable of seeing it for yourselves.

Don't roast yourselves too much on the nuclear spit...My vulture friends don't like their meat too well-done.

Ok, so you're another CT looney. I get that. Bye!

Ad hominems eh? At least your debating style is improving; that's the best rebuttal you've given me yet.

I'm a laid back duck and it'll take more than a cheap ad hominem to ruffle my feathers and rouse my fowl temper.

Obviously you're being confrontational. Your teachers are quite adept in this field, so feel free to rave if you must, as I'm not interested.

Syrian army reinforcements on edge of contested Damascus suburbs


Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Syrian army fired rockets into and reinforced its positions around two Damascus suburbs on Friday, resident opposition activists said, as it battles to isolate the centre of the capital from recent rebel offensives.

Opposition activists said forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had sent troops backed up by tanks to Moadamiah and Daraya, suburbs to the south west of the city that are close to a large military airport.

If rebels can hold those two districts they will have a continuous arc of control from the northeast to southwest of the capital, cornering Damascus against the Qasioun mountain range.

"Fifteen tanks arrived at the edge of Moadamiah this morning after and a night of very heavy artillery shelling and rocket fire into the suburbs," said an activist who asked not to be named. "They are trying to storm the area," he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked monitor, said that troops were massing on the outskirts of the areas in preparation for an advance.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports due to severe government restrictions on media access.

Assad has been struggling to put down the 20-month-old revolt against his rule, which began as peaceful protests but has turned into a civil war that has spread to most of the country. Opposition supporters say 40,000 people have died.

Rebels have made advances of the outskirts of the capital and taken several military bases around the country in recent weeks but Assad's superior military power has levelled opposition-held areas with aerial and artillery strikes.

Which governments' restrictions? -- Looks like the NATO governments to me, in particular the UK's. This appears to be a propaganda piece set up by one or more "opposition activists" like the UK based, Assad opposing "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights."

http://rt.com/news/syrian-observatory-human-rights-reliability-223/

"It is quite clear that the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" based in London and receiving the entirety of their reports via "phone" & YouTube videos from Syria, is working in coordination with both US-funded NGOs and the British Foreign Minister. Considering that Hague similarly coddled Libyan opposition leaders in London while playing a key role in promoting the NATO attack on Libya and the subsequent installation of a BP oilman as "prime minister," Abdelrahman's consorting signifies a verbatim repeat of the now openly fraudulent and genocidal NATO campaign in Libya."

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2011/12/syrian-ngos-working-directly-with.html

I must say though, that the "impartial" BBC gave the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a rather glowing report:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15896636

"Hivin Kako, a volunteer with the Observatory, says the reporting process is difficult given the situation, but that it has never had a case where it has listed someone as dead who was later found out not to be." -- I'm pretty sure that at least that much is the truth.

"Hey Hivan, this one's still breathing!"..."Fix that; I've already got his name down."

RT, also known as Russia Today, is an international multilingual Russian-based television network. It is 'registered' as an Autonomous Non-profit Organization funded by the Federal budget of Russia through the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.

Of course, Russia Today would never misrepresent the situation in order to further Russian interests in the conflict, after all, Putin is known for promoting freedom in the Russian press.

This quote is especially revealing:

The activities of the controversial London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have been denounced by Russia’s Foreign Ministry with spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich casting doubts on SOHR’s reliability.

­"As far as we know, this organization employs only two people (its head and secretary-translator). It is headed by Rami Abdulrahman, who has no training either in journalism or law or even a complete secondary education," Lukashevich said.

Straight from the Russian Foreign Ministry. So, who is disseminating propaganda exactly?



Oh, and a blog with an article by a contributor to globalresearch. Mr. Cartalucci, it is not 'clear'. I love the hyperbole: "openly fraudulent and genocidal campaign in Libya."
Oh, please we're adults here.




Hivin Kako, a volunteer with the Observatory, says the reporting process is difficult given the situation, but that it has never had a case where it has listed someone as dead who was later found out not to be.

"If we don't know how they were killed we will say so. If it was a random bullet we will say that - we won't say they were killed by the security forces"...

...As such, while the organisation is not political in nature, she says, it wants President Assad to step down to allow for transparent elections and a transition to democracy.

The organisation has also expressed its opposition to foreign intervention, saying it prefers the more peaceful approaches taken by the Arab League, who this week sent observers into Syria as part of a deal to end the violence.

So, Russia Today and a crank's blog. How about Press2's point of view to really add some colour? After all, the Iranian government's perspective would be just as objective as Russia Today's.

Oh my, I think I'm getting a whiff of Bulls**t.

Syrian Army Bombs Damascus Suburbs


December 07, 2012


Syrian activists say the army has bombed two Damascus suburbs and poured in military reinforcements in an effort to try to reclaim territory controlled by rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday the army fired rockets at the rebel-held Daraya and Moadamiah suburbs southwest of the capital. The group said it feared that troops massing on the suburbs' outskirts could be the prelude to an imminent ground assault.

On Thursday, United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the United States and Russia agree on the need to find a "creative solution" to bring Syria back from the brink.

Brahimi held three-way talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a human rights meeting in Dublin earlier Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that intelligence shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be considering using chemical weapons as rebel successes in the civil war put more and more pressure on his government.

The White House has warned Assad that using chemical gas against his own people would be a "red line" for the United States and bring serious consequences.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Maqdad has told Lebanese television that if Syria had chemical weapons, it would not use them against the Syrian people. He said the West is using threat of chemical weapons as an excuse to intervene.

http://www.voanews.com/content/syrian-army-bombs-damascus-suburbs/1560232.html

Syrian rebels say Damascus airport is fair target after heavy fighting


By Babak Dehghanpisheh, Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan,
Dec 07, 2012 08:44 PM EST

The Washington Post Updated: Saturday, December 8, 6:44 AM


BEIRUT -- Syrian rebels declared Damascus International Airport to be a legitimate target Friday after days of heavy fighting around the facility and warned civilians to stay away.

The airport has been operating only sporadically in the past week with some international airlines choosing to avoid using the facility altogether. A rebel offensive on the airport could shut it down to commercial traffic for the foreseeable future, cutting off one of the few links that the country has to the outside world.

One rebel commander said that attacks on the airport were justified because the facility is being used as a military zone. “The airport is now full of armored vehicles and soldiers.” Nabil al-Amir, a spokesman for the rebels’ Damascus Military Council, told the Reuters news agency.

If the rebels are able to take over the facility, it would be a significant strategic and symbolic victory and could indicate a bigger push to bring the fight to the capital. The heavy violence in recent days has left its mark on the area around the airport and could signal an even tougher battle ahead for the rebels.

“Eyewitnesses told us there are signs of fierce clashes with destroyed vehicles and trucks with bodies inside around the area,” said Alexia Jaad, an activist in Damascus.

Also on Friday, Syrian rebel groups meeting in Istanbul chose the 30 members of its new unified command, many of whom reportedly have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to an unnamed attendee at the meeting quoted by the Reuters news agency. The meeting for the formation of the new command body was attended by security officials from the United States, Britain, France, Jordan and Gulf countries.

“The command has been organized into several fronts. We are now in the process of electing a military leader and a political liaison office for each region,” one delegate who didn’t want to be named told Reuters.

Absent from the meeting were some senior commanders from the Free Syrian Army. “They formed a new command, and we were not even asked to be nominated,” said Col. Malik Kurdi, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army. “This new command was an outcome of an international acceptance to exclude the former commanders of the Free Syrian Army and get new commanders.”

Kurdi said the selection of the new command body was driven by Qatar and Saudi Arabia and would spark in-fighting among rebel groups rather than draw them together. “I see a dark future because those who are taking over are guided and controlled by external will and are not free rebels fighting for the good of Syria,” he said.

The selection of the new body comes four days before the Friends of Syria, a group of foreign nations supporting the Syrian opposition, are to meet in Morocco. In recent weeks, the United States, Britain, France and other supporters of the opposition have pushed the rebel groups to become more organized, with stronger ties between political representatives outside Syria and the military commanders inside the country.

In Belfast on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that a free Syria can never include the leader now fighting to hang onto his three-decade regime, underscoring the American goal for new U.S.-Russian cooperation on Syria.

Clinton was in Ireland to discuss the Syrian crisis with the Russian foreign minister and the U.N. envoy for Syria in an effort by the United States to gain Russian cooperation in resolving the conflict. Russia has been an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Clinton called the visit with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, held Thursday in Dublin, constructive but very preliminary. The two diplomats agreed to support efforts by Lakhdar Brahim, the U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, a decision Clinton said was influenced by the rapid escalation of the 20-month civil war.

“I don’t think anyone believes that there was some great breakthrough,” Clinton said. “No one should have any illusions about how hard this remains.”

Anyone with any influence on the regime or the rebels is duty-bound to try to intervene for a “political transition,” in Syria, Clinton said.

The transition phrase is a euphemism the United States has employed to make the goal of ousting Assad easier for his Russian backers to swallow. But Clinton followed it with a flat statement that Assad cannot hope to survive any reordering of the Syrian government that the new cooperation might foster.

The United States wants freedom and protections for all Syrians and will hold all parties to account, Clinton said.

“A future of this kind cannot possibly include Assad,” Clinton said.

Gearan reported from Belfast. Suzan Haidamous and Ahmed Ramadan contributed to this report.

The section highlighted in bold is rather foreboding. Without a unified government to fill Assad's power vacuum, Syria could easily plunge into a civil war similar to that in Lebanon 30 years ago.

Other Syrian activists say otherwise, in fact, one was quoted as saying that ANY positive news pertaining to the Assad government is totally ignored by the western media AND by "human rights" organizations like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.



True...The US and NATO are itching to stick their forces into Syria, hopefully under a phoney RPT doctrine as an excuse to oust Assad.

The propaganda report quoted was about what I would have expected from an "unbiased" propaganda organ like the BBC or the Voice of Ameristan.



I'm inclined to agree....They are MUCH more objective & honest than the crap we get here in the west.

An understatement. The problem with "arab spring" is the crazies are running the nuthouse. Any of the these countries are capable of being taken over by the arab "flavor of the moment" who just happens to be holding just enough power at that instant with just the right amount of supporters in place. Egypt and Libya could turn and go moderate or radical at any moment and any other moderate arab country could go radical with the right push at the right time. Russia and China are just making things worse and Pakistan is sitting there with a keg of gunpowder which may go up for sale at any time.

Radicals from any fraction can infiltrate and bolster or hinder any other faction at any time. Those with guns and money carry weight.

Other Syrian activists say otherwise, in fact, one was quoted as saying that ANY positive news pertaining to the Assad government is totally ignored by the western media AND by "human rights" organizations like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Really? Just the one then? Where would this 'news' come from? Press2? Russia Today?



Yes, well, just more unsubstantiated opinion. So, you're just clutching at straws based upon your personal prejudices? Hey, that's ok too. My bet is on the fact that the west doesn't intervene, so let's see where that goes, shall we? Btw, the US is a member of NATO.



But you're completely oblivious to the propaganda in the Russia Today report? Ok, I get that.





You're such a joker! Btw, my comment was sarcastic, but I suppose that is a little difficult to comprehend in the printed form.

So, in effect, you're just using this forum as an excuse to hate on the west.

Nice one (note: sarcasm)

Actually it came from an activist for Syria I know personally. He's a reliable source.



You lose the bet; they've intervened already. How do you think Al Qaeda wound up in Syria? The Syrian Rebel Army is composed of mostly foreign mercenaries stuck into Syria and funded by the West for the purpose of creating a "humanitarian crisis" that'll "force" NATO to intervene publicly with military action "justified" under the RPT doctrine; which is basically the same crap they pulled on Libya last year.

http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2012/12/france-funding-syrian-rebels-in-new.html

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d53_1354907445

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/121206/syria-chemical-weapons-reports-part-western-conspirac

http://xrepublic.tv/node/1319

(It looks to me like they are just replaying the old Iraq WMD tapes and dubbing in "Syria")

I think I figured out where Washington got its foreign policy from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdnJNl3tBA&feature=player_embedded



I'm not oblivious to it. You and I both know that most of the so-called news is just propaganda. I must say though, that Russia Today tends to not produce as much propaganda; it's too busy critically ripping ours apart, factually speaking (which isn't terribly hard to do).



Hey, I was born & raised here. I love the place and the people…It's only the governments that have a bunch of screws loose.

as to your YouTube!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law