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Arab League Presence Gives Cover to Syrian Protesters
Demonstrations across the country with the most defiant protests taking place where the Arab League monitors were present
The largest demonstrations in Syria since the summer have laid siege to parts of Damascus and most key towns and cities, emboldened by Arab League monitors whose presence appeared to provide protesters with cover from regime gunmen.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians protesters poured into the streets across the nation Friday in the largest protests in months. (Photograph: AP) An estimated 500,000 people are thought to have taken to the streets across the country, with the largest and most defiant protests taking place in areas where the observers were present.
The touring members of the Arab League states could not stop the bloodshed, however, with opposition groups claiming up to 31 people were killed nationwide. Almost all deaths were reportedly in areas that the 60-man delegation is yet to visit.
At least four areas of Damascus and parts of Syria's second city, Aleppo, were occupied by large groups of demonstrators – a marked difference from the time when rallies only took place in the south and west of the country.
The main opposition group inside Syria, the Local Co-ordination Committees, claimed that 150,000 people were chanting in front of monitors in the capital, with security forces watching on.
The open defiance in the regime's power bases suggests that the support which President Bashar al-Assad had regularly boasted of in the capital may not be iron-clad. Opposition activists in Douma in northern Damascus said up to 24 protesters were wounded there by nail bombs thrown into the crowd.
Two key opposition cities, Deraa in the south, where the uprising began, and Homs near the Lebanese border, which has become the centre of the nine-month revolt, were heaving with demonstrators chanting anti-regime slogans and waving a national flag last flown before the Assad clan swept to power in Syria more than 40 years ago.
The mass turnout had been co-ordinated by opposition groups to coincide with the monitors' first Friday in Syria. The first day of the weekend has traditionally seen the most organised challenges to the regime, with protesters spilling on to the streets after Friday prayers.
Activists tried to hold ground in key public squares – to which they had been denied access for months by security forces determined to stem the momentum of protests. In Homs, Deraa and Damascus, they appeared to hold their ground – a breakthrough of sorts in a standoff that has seen a relentless regime crackdown often forcing protesters into small streets and alleyways, away from public view.
The capacity of the Arab League delegation to bring about change in Syria remains the subject of conjecture among opposition ranks.
Now into its fourth day, the monitors have shown a willingness to travel to flashpoint areas and to evade regime escorts where possible.
The presence of the delegation has also refocused world attention on Syria, which had descended into a daily grind of dozens of deaths and competing narratives.
The regime has clung to its position that the revolt is being driven by al-Qaida, while demonstrators insist that the uprising remains popular and driven by a need for radical reform inside one of the region's most uncompromising police states.
"It's better that they are here even if this doesn't end in a security council referral," said one Homs activist. "We can film at checkpoints without being shot. We can defy the military and we can show what is happening to the world."
Despite the renewed focus, the initial observations of the delegation leader, former Sudanese intelligence chief, Mustafa al-Dabi, continued to trouble opposition officials.
Dabi on Tuesday described the situation in the ravaged city of Homs as "reassuring".
His remarks were today seized on by Russia, a staunch Syrian ally, which praised the conduct of the mission so far and claimed it had provided a "reassuring" picture of the situation inside the country.
Crowds continued to film every move of the delegation, creating an added layer of scrutiny to the observer mission, which is due to remain in Syria for the next three weeks. After two months of wrangling, Syria agreed to allow entry to 150 monitors, down from the initially agreed figure of 600.
Meanwhile, the Free Syria Army, which has fought an increasingly robust armed resistance against loyalist security forces, announced that it would stop military operations while the monitors remained in the country.
Over the past four months the uprising has taken on the feel of a full blown insurgency, with daily battles between government troops and opposition forces, comprised of defectors from the military and citizens who have taken up arms.
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Show All"Over the past four months the uprising has taken on the feel of a full blown insurgency, with daily battles between government troops and opposition forces, comprised of defectors from the military and citizens who have taken up arms."
@39:30--Stephen Lendman, as a guest on The Morning Mix on KPFA today, Dec 30, 8:00am, says "armed insurgent terrorists" are attacking both the people and the military, that these are the "same armed insurgent terrorists who were doing the same in Libya," and that the "UnderSecretary of State says that the Arab League Monitors aren't playing by WDC rules..." http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/76470
That's exactly right, SDT. Lendman has connected the dots. The Neocon PNAC blueprint for "full spectrum dominance" continues unabated, step by devious step. It is time to stop these psychopaths before they destroy the world. Occupy everything.
I wonder why Stephen Lendman (well-intended as he may be), has never been invited to DemocracyNow, unlike these (Syrian) fellows on Thursday:
"Syrian Activist Speaks Out from Hiding as Arab League Mission Fails to Slow Deadly Crackdown"
www.democracynow.org/2011/12/29/syrian_activist_speaks_out_from_hiding
[...]
AMY GOODMAN: We can hear you just fine, Bassel, but we want you to be very careful. You can tell us you can’t talk. That is fine. We also have a guest here in the studio, Karam Nachar. But I do want to ask you about who is killing who in Homs, in Hama, in Damascus, right now. Tell us who the forces are.
BASSEL: Actually, the violence in the city of Homs is like—what I saw the last week I was there, like, it’s threatening to turn into like almost a civil war. A heavy crackdown on the city, punishing the rising area and killing the civilians, is forcing the locals to form like an armed resistance to the regime’s forces. And they are supported by army deserters. So the fight is between the locals and the security forces and the supporters of the regime. The rising areas are besieged by the regime forces. I tried to cross to the besieged area of Baba Amr for three days, but I failed to enter this area. I witnessed—and actually, I was shot by snipers when I was trying to cross to these areas. People are forced to fight back to block out the security forces and make their way out to provide food and supplies. So, like, they are putting the people in the position like they have to defend themselves. This is what I saw in Homs. But the violence is rising and the tension is, like, becoming more high there.
I'll tell you why Amy Goodman doesn't have Lendman on her show: because he speaks the truth about the whole destructive neocon agenda to make the Middle East into so many client states under the boot heel of the US and Israel. In other words, he raises too many questions about the real agenda behind these Arab "uprisings", the armed examples of which happen to be occurring in states non-compliant with said agenda. And the arms are coming from the West and from Turkey, and at least some of the armed insurgents are foreign, according to reports on the ground.
Neither you nor Amy know whether this Bassel is speaking the truth. There are plently of non-Western and independent news reports that contradict what Bassel says. Not only, but the way he says it sounds suspicious to me: "A heavy crackdown on the city, punishing the rising area and killing the civilians, is forcing the locals to form like an armed resistance to the regime’s forces. And they are supported by army deserters. So the fight is between the locals and the security forces and the supporters of the regime. [...] they are putting the people in the position like they have to defend themselves."
It couldn't have been scripted better if it had been written by the CIA itself. Nothing like making it fit the pattern of the prior MSM lies about Libya and Syria to a T. Way to go, Amy, way to go Boomerang. I hope all that blood on your hands feels all nice and sticky. And so the neocon agenda marches on, with the ever so solicitous help of schlubs like you.
Yeah, I know. I've seen him on video...on Iran PressTV. He's the Jewish version of Alex Jones. But, hey, don't let that cloud your senses. And don't take me wrong, I like the guy and applaud his effort to expose Israel's crimes against humanity but he's a tad...how can I say paranoid without saying it? But you, don't you ever let reality, facts or the truth get in the way of your own version of reality. As the Right so is the Left, only you sand on the opposite side of the street...and that's only because it is the side that has the shade on it.
You are what someone referred to as "mentally defectives" (see my comment below with sources) because you self-brainwash yourselves with the shit you want to hear and much like the Right Wing nutjobs, you will never ever let anything rational stand in the way of your delusions and paranoia. It's too bad that you can't see how you pick up buzz words like (from your own comment) "neoCon" "anti-Imperialism" "gatekeeper" and run with them on senseless rants worthy only of Fidel Castro. So disturbing! Man, humanity is so screwed!
Humanity is screwed because of people like you who take TV for reality and who justify murder and pillage in the name of disinformation spoonfed to you like so much pabulum, which you lap up like a starving baby. As for buzzwords, you do a pretty good job of it yourself: for example, "nutjobs" (a favorite of the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Bill Maher, and other luminaries of the little screen), "paranoid" (often used, again by the above luminaries, to describe those who rightly don't trust their government or media), "delusions", and so on. I'll take my "delusions" over your TV reality any day.
No, humanity is screwed because of people like you who immediately judge and attack without even knowing what IranPressTV is (for your information, it's a WEBSITE)! And since it is from the country of Iran (you know, crazy little guy waving his arms up in the air and decrying anti-imperialism and Zionism while shooting its own people just the way you like it) so, I know that you will apologize for your harsh judgment. But if you don't, it's okay, you're American, you can't help what you are.
Are you feeling stupid yet or should I continue showing you for the ignorant whackjob that you are? Aaaah, what the hell...let's humor you a bit. It's so easy! :)
So, I'm screwed up because "take TV (even if TV is not TV but a website sponsored by one of the regimes whose brutality you sponsor, justify and condone which should make it okay in your book) for reality and who justify murder and pillage..." unlike you who takes the word of an unknown on a even more unknown website with no credibility for reality to...~drum roll~ justify murder and pillage in the name of disinformation spoonfed to you like so much pabulum, which you lap up like a starving baby by the self-imposed genocidal maniac of the country you purport to defend. Nothing wrong there!
"As for buzzwords, you do a pretty good job of it yourself: for example, "nutjobs" (a favorite of the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Bill Maher, and other luminaries of the little screen)..."
Well, I'll leave that you since you seem to be an expert on the subject. I can't possibly top your knowledge on that area. :)
""...paranoid" (often used, again by the above luminaries, to describe those who rightly don't trust their government or media) "delusions", and so on...."
And, never, ever by those on the Left. Of course! We all know that the word is trademarked by the Right Wing(tm), and their "Government(tm)" or "media(tm)" (didn't you really mean to say "corporate media" there, Toots?)
"I'll take my "delusions" over your TV reality any day. "
Your first post me told me that. You didn't need to repeat it. :)
Oh, btw, here's the link to the "TV reality" that I watch just in case you wanna apologize after you check it out and realize your stupidity. If on the contrary, you feel so ashamed that you wanna jump off a high building or a bottle of pill, I understand.
http://www.presstv.ir/
Finally, why is is that genocide is not okay when NATO does it but it is condoned, justified, excused and protected when a self-appointed dictator does it to its own people? Please, help me understand that hypocrisy and inhumanity. I beg of you!
"He's [Lendman] the Jewish version of Alex Jones. But, hey, don't let that cloud your senses. And don't take me wrong, I like the guy and applaud his effort to expose Israel's crimes against humanity but he's a tad...how can I say paranoid without saying it?"
Really? Then you are going to HATE his critical analysis of Ron Paul...
"Ron Paul's Political Platform for America: A Critical Assessment" by Stephen Lendman (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2842)
SkDoTo, ever seen Stephen Lendman express himself in person? Go watch him and tell me what you think. Ever wonder why it is that the people that seem to make the most sense in black and white, usually look, sound and act like complete nuts in the flesh? Why is that?
BTW, way to cherry pick what you misguided souls decide to attack and ignoring what was said before. By your specialty (like that of your brothers and sisters on the other side of the street, the one with the sun), you pick and choose the things that fit your pre-conceived notions and refuse to see anything else. "Facts" and "truth" are only those that validate your closed mind and nothing else gets in.
By the way, WTF does Ron Paul have to do with the fact that the Syrian people are being massacred by their dictator again?
Oh, and I'm sorry if mentioned DemocracyNow. I know that, in this particular issue (as well as in all others that show inconvenient truths), they're the gatekeepers for the status quo and Amy Goodman is a secret mole for the CIA...and Mossad!
You people are just like a parable I learned as a kid in school about a girl called Juana La Lista who was so utterly smart that one day she fell asleep with a pair of scissors on her hands, cut up her clothes to shreds, woke up and didn't recognize herself in the rags and ran away never to be seen again. Y'all are Juana La Lista in the flesh and blood. You don't need anybody to brainwash you, you do it yourselves.
Yeah, and you're too arrogant to know that you're doing the CIA's work yourself. Though too stupid to be actually in the agency's employ. Talk about brainwashing. You're a veritable font of disinformation. You think if something has the stamp of officialdom, then it must be true. I remember you from past 9/11 threads...
And when all these poor hypothetical Arabs rising up, so we're told, against their wicked rulers and begging for the ever so benign West to come to their aid actually get what you think they want--that is, not real democracy (haven't seen much of that anywhere for a while) but a quisling pro-US pro-Israel government that will put all their resources and services up for private purchase--what then? Will they be better off? Is it better to be tortured by an American than by a fellow Arab? Or by someone in the pay of an American or a Frenchman? You tell me, Einstein.
People like you are the enablers of empire. You have managed to give the word "humanitarian" a bad name, just the way Israel likes it. You are a disgrace to reasonable, peaceful discourse.
It takes one (arrogant) to know another, I always say.
And, yep, you know it, I'm doing the work of the CIA. That'll be me. But what can I say, they pay me well so I make no apologies. :) Oh, never mind, of course, you just figured out that I'm not really CIA but a Zionist (it's either one or the other, eh?) Ha ha ha!
As for my stupidity, I'd be careful with labels and such if I were you since you...ahem...just thought that Iran's PressTV is a...~drum roll~ REALITY TV SHOW...ROFL! Funny how when you're a hammer, all your problems are nails and when you're Amerikan, your entire pathetic existence revolves around the TV set. Priceless!
Seriously, how can you people stare at your hypocritical, ignorant, ugly selves in the mirror, huh? You're no better than the Right Wing nutjobs who post on Yahoo. The same ignorance, hatred, lack of empathy, generalizations, ad hominem attacks. Holy shit! If only I could figure out a way to make money by showing you for the hypocrites that you are, I...well, let's just say that I could quit my job at the CIA today...he he he...
As for the "imaginary" Arabs who are not rising against their governments (because just like you sheepish American who needs to rebel against tyranny?), tell me darling, when was the last time you visited the Middle East? Or here's an easier one, when was the last time you even spoke to an Arab? When?
I know that you can't even see that you're one walking, talking (probably very fat) cliche. Proving with every word why the rest of the world rightfully stereotypes you as misguided, ignorant, ruthless, selfish, self-centered and ignorant. Oh, did I say ignorant?
"Is it better to be tortured by an American than by a fellow Arab?"
According to you, the Arab is better.
"Or by someone in the pay of an American or a Frenchman? You tell me, Einstein."
You've answered your own questions many times and answered for me, you don't want my real answer nor can you extrapolate it, your "mind" is too tightly closed for any reason to get thru. Besides, it's as if you can hear anything over the sound of your own shrieks, Ghandi.
People like you are just like your empire. You have managed to give the word "humanitarian" a bad name, just the way Israel likes it. You are a disgrace to reasonable, peaceful discourse.
I'm sorry, but people who write arab "uprisings"<-- in quotes are crazy or terribly misinformed. You seem believe that the capitalist elite are omnipotent. Every single movement apparently opposing them is actually controlled by them in your view. I don't see why you even bother with politics given how bleak your worldview is. I hope you also think that occupy wall street is a CIA conspiracy. Don't you? Or is OWS a people's movement, but in your view arabs don't have people's movements? You must think Arabs loovve strong men like Qaddafi or Mubarak. Seriously. What would you be doing if you lived under one of those regimes. Would you take to the streets at the first opportunity?
I'm sorry this is in rant form, but I've lived in Egypt. I know many in the masses of people who are giving everything, even taking bullets, or losing eyes to try to change things. Yeah, the military is performing a well-organized counterrevolution, and they might succeed, but for you to deride these people as agents is beyond disgusting. If you don't believe in Tahrir square, then please just stay away from OWS as well, because nobody needs to hear this bs from you.
Go learn some Arabic and go to talk to the people in one of these places instead of listening to some wstern old-school Qadaffi ally.
If "you" dromedarian, are talking to "me" - boy, are you ever barking up the wrong tree! If you had the slightest grasp on sarcasm and your own hypocrisy, you'd see that I'm making fun of YOU. All of you! Read the comments here and you will at one point or another, all those claims I've put in quotations (because they are made by y'all and not me), regurgitated here. But when you put all your whackadoodle paranoid theories together and you are showed for the nuts you are, not only do you refuse to see it but, hell, you don't like it! Y'all are too brainwashed, hypocritical and dense to realize what you do. How sad! And to think that you pretend to be the saviors of the world... As the Right so is the Left. Just as delusional, ignorant, malicious & brainwashed.
And if you don't like to hear this BS, then I suggest you STFU, because it is rather *YOU* each and every single one of you who is doing this, not me. I'm just calling you on your paranoia, ignorance and hypocrisy.
One comment (now two) = American Exceptionalism alive and well
=======
But where is the latest analysis of what people in Iowa are watching on television? Who's leading the race?
So are we supposed to root for an armed invasion now? The Syria articles showing up on CommonDreams don't really leave any other option up for debate, I'm getting that creepy "steamrolling into war" feeling I got back when we invaded Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and then started attacking Pakistan...followed by Yemen....with a few potshots taken at Somalia....and then we helped destroy Libya......and so on...
You can have some empathy for the people of Syria and their plight. If you late your hatred of your government get the best of you and condone the carnage of a butcher like Assad, you are no better than the government you decry and seek to expose.
What the f..k do YOU know about "the people of Syria," dude? And you still haven't answered the question I asked you above. To wit: And when the predatory West gets to install a quisling government in Syria, will "the people of Syria" be better off having their resources and services owned by foreign investors? Is Libya better off now? Would you rather live under an independent tyrant with your country functioning and in one piece, or under a bunch of foreign-sponsored, equally tyrannical marauders with your once-prosperous country utterly in ruins and the financial vultures circling overhead? Tell me, I'm curious to know.
The same goes for you, "What the f..k do YOU know about "the people of Syria," dude?" You can't read the answer to any questions because you're too busy swinging at me the shit you're scooping from your mouth.
"To wit: And when the predatory West gets to install a quisling government in Syria, will "the people of Syria" be better off having their resources and services owned by foreign investors?"
And tell again, how exactly are you helping them now to deal with the brutality of their self-imposed dictators? Better yet, who the fuck died and left you in charge of the destiny of the Syrian people? Seriously, who the fuck do you people think you are telling the peoples of the world what to do, what not to do, who to install or disinstall? Isn't that exactly what you're pretending to prevent in the first place? Isn't it time that y'all shut your piehole and concentrate on something more duable and productive like...hmmm...oh, gee, I don't you, FIXING YOUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY! for example. BTW, loving Clovis, why aren't you at one of the Occupy encampments instead of hiding in your basement behind the screen of a computer telling the rest of the world how to charter their own destinies? Why, Clovis? Why aren't you out there protesting and trying to fix YOUR OWN MESS? Why? Tlell me, I'm curious to know.
"Would you rather live under an independent tyrant with your country functioning and in one piece, or under a bunch of foreign-sponsored, equally tyrannical marauders with your once-prosperous country utterly in ruins and the financial vultures circling overhead?"
Guess what, knucklehead. I come from just such a quandary. I don't prefer either! And that, you idiot is the fucking point! That neither one is good and that the least you can do, you fat freak, is have some respect and compassion and understand what those poor people are going thru instead of putting your idiotic "anti-imperialist" blinders on and cheering for their bloodshed because in some fucked up way, you think you're saving them. LET THEM chart their destiny! If THEY want to get out from under their tyrant, respect that! If they want to exchange that for a foreign boot, that is what THEY have decided for themselves and who the fuck are you to tell them what to do? Do you get that one? In four words "butt the fuck out!" Don't be such a malignant hypocrite and let them take control of their destiny for better or worse. You - and the other misguided miscreants like you - have absolutely ZERO right to interfere in anybody's affairs...particularly, when yours are a mess. Start by fighting the system from within. Go ahead, be a big world, dun your big bloomers on and join an Occupy movement and change the evil from within. Help yourself before you have the audacity to undermine the effort of others.
Shame on you!
on thursday, december 29th, democracy now! conducted an interview with syrian journalist and documentary film maker, bassel, speaking from hiding. he had to speak softly as demonstrators clashed with government forces right outside his door. i even felt the tension watching from my living room.
wow! what a brave man! and yet another journalistic coup for democracy now!!
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/29/syrian_activist_speaks_out_from_hiding
Are you being ironic, hummingbird? It sounds a little suspicious to me. Who is this bassel? How do you know he's not a recipient of aid and training from NED (not to mention weapons from the French and Turks) like so many of the Syrian agitators?. Democracy Now was a cheeleader for the destruction of Libya and a disseminator of murderous falsehoods, destroying whatever residual faith I had in Amy Goodman. This great "scoop" shows me they're doing the same for Syria. Amy's a sham, a gatekeeper of the worst sort. Shame on her.
You are right. I was also shocked by how DN cheered for the Libya invasion, and I also now have nothing but utter contempt for Goodman. But I think you are being too kind.... ....
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/amy-goodman-walks-the-dark-side-on-libya-invasion/
and this... ...
http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/09/et-tu-amy-goodman/
You're aware that COTO also believes shape-shifting alien lizard-human hybrids are ruling the world? http://coto2.wordpress.com/tag/lizard-people/
Aww...I'm sorry, here's the same article written by the same person on a different website, better now? .... ... http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/appalling-propaganda-from-amy-goodman-about-libya/
So you know that your source, the author (and owner of the willyloman website) Scott Creighton, has been debunked by "debunk the debunkers" for rejecting the nano-thermite theory? But he's credible about Amy Goodman?
PeterGreenway, did you hear cheering from Amy Goodman or a factual report from someone who (unlike you and your ilk) is living the events? You do realize right, that having compassion, understanding and solidarity with the plight of an oppressed people and recognizing what they are going thru does not cheering for an invasion or anything else make, right? Are you people so utterly heartless and desensitized to see that you are every bit as brainwashed, inhumane and horrible as the Right Wing when they cheer for the same kinds of horrors? Shame on you people!
"[Clovis] You are right."
Clovis, the woman who thinks that Iran's PressTV is a reality show. ROFL. You just can't make this shit up. This is your source of news. The way you people validate and fuel your paranoid delusions is absolutely commendable.
"I was also shocked by how DN cheered for the Libya invasion, and I also now have nothing but utter contempt for Goodman."
Hmmmm...just wonderin' - is reporting an event as it is happening in an unbiased and factual way now construed as "cheering" in your closed minds? In that case, is not reporting an event you don't like then, your idea of "not cheering" for it and being unbiased and factual? If so, how is that any better or worse than the corporate media which picks and chooses which events to report and in what fashion? Do you people EVER listen to yourselves talk?
Jesus Christ, we're so screwed! Y'all are as bad - if not worse - than the Right Wing. What a dangerous state of affairs! Y'all screw for virginity and don't even know it.
ROFL! What dishonesty! And the lack of empathy is appalling and no different than that expressed and demonstrated by the Teabaggers who clap when people die without medical insurance or are executed by the state. They appease their non-existent consciences with Jesus and god and Christianity and blah blah blah. The Lefties do exactly the same thing while trying to cover up their inhumanity and lack of empathy with their "anti-imperialist" bullshit.
Sick, sick, sick! When I see the right kicked, I can understand. And when I see the Left being quashed, I also understand. From Latin America to the Middle East, they are a menace to humanity. More proof that there is no hope for the human race. We are all the same evil shit under the skin.
"We are all the same evil shit under the skin." Speak for yourself, asshole.
Yes, you are. Both, evil and an asshole. Or an evil asshole if you prefer. And, btw, Clovis dear, thank you for proving and showing - beyond a shadow of a doubt - that you are exactly as hateful, misguided, hypocritical and ignorant as the Right Wing. Just because you post here instead of Yahoo doesn't mean you're better or different.
Hey, don't tempt your fate. Folks around here pick and choose their sources of information and truths to match their pre-conceived notions. For example, during Egypt, DemocracyNow and Al Jazeera were beacons of truth, exposing the corruption and the violence. But in Libya and now Syria...well, everybody knows that they're "gatekeepers" for the system, rooting for imperialism in secret and Amy is a double secret agent for Mossad and the CIA.
~hark~
Don't try to understand. These people are as sick as their counterparts on the right only they have replaced god, Jesus and Christianity with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and "anti-imperialism" - Never mind that at the end, they act exactly the same way that their much hated Empire does.
I don't think what you said sounds cruel at all. It's about time we got some egg on our face.
You people are disgusting! You are actually cheering for the violence in Syria while claiming that...well, you don't want to cheer for violence in Syria. Do you people ever see the sheer hypocrisy and danger in what you do? Or do you not care and are incapable of some sympathy? And, yeah, go right ahead and accuse me of my cheering for war so you don't have to either respond nor see what you're doing. Shame on all of you, you're all sickening!
No, YOU are cheering for the "violence" (another loaded MSM buzzword) in Syria. You can't wait for the NATO bombs to start falling. Such compassion! Such humanitarianism!
Really? I thought *you* were the one who was planting the seed of doubt in order to justify the fact that you deny and condone the violence (another of your buzz words) being perpetrated against the people of Syria. But, hey, Clovis, don't you EVER let facts get in the way of your closed mind. You may actually look like someone who knows what she's doing or cares for anything other than the "anti-imperialism" ~drool, knee jerk, orgasm~ rah rah rah
"You can't wait for the NATO bombs to start falling."
Oh, really Clovis? Go ahead and show me for the fool that I am and post and repost here (and even tattoo it on your fat ass) where I said that. Go ahead and show me for the fool you think I am and not for the fact that you continue to ASSUME and make an ASS out of U and ME! Go ahead, Clovis, I dare you!
Such compassion! Such humanitarianism! Denying the suffering of a people and the horrors committed against them because you hate your empire (the one that you helped build and support whether you recognize it or not) more than you value the lives of civilians. What a gal! With characters like you, who needs NATO? You, and your big fat mouth are as dangerous and detrimental to peoples all over the world as the bombs your Empire drops on them with YOUR money! See, dear, whether you like it or not, you aid, abet and contribute in two ways: with your money and your mouth!
Instead of commenting first and reading the other comments later, I did it backward today so my comment is not on the article by on the comments themselves which, although not surprising having witnessed time and again the knee-jerk reaction of the so-called "Progressives" and Left Wing, sickens me all the same. There are certain things that, no matter how many times one is exposed to and witnesses them, continue to be as nauseating, virulent and dangerous as the first time. It took me a long while to put this picture together but finally stumbled upon an obscure little article with a preamble on Communist propaganda on an about Bush titled "Propaganda: Nobody Does It Better Than America" by by Paul Weber. In it, the author says: "Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting and having discussions with people who came to America from countries known for their adherence to totalitarianism: China, Russia, and former east European satellites of the Soviet Union. When we discussed how the state managed to control public opinion under totalitarianism, these people would usually produce a weary, knowledgeable, cynical smile and point out that propaganda in those countries was really done quite incompetently. If you really want to know propaganda, they said, you need to study American propaganda technique. According to them, it is, undeniably, the best in the world."
And later on this gem "Propaganda in those countries was too obvious, they told me. As soon as you read the first sentence you knew it was a bunch of propaganda, so you didn’t even bother to read it. If you heard a speech, you knew in the first few words that it was propaganda, and you tuned it out.
"But," I then queried, "How do you know when it’s just propaganda? The expatriates explained that bad propaganda uses obvious terminology that anyone can see through. Anyone hearing the phrase "capitalist running dogs", knows he’s listening to incompetent propaganda and tunes it out. Lousy propaganda, these knowledgeable but jaded individuals would tell me, appeals to an abstract theory, to a rational thesis that can be disproved. Even though communists had total control of the press, the people just tuned it out (except for those who were the most mentally defective). Most people, they assured me, just went about their lives as best they could, paid lip service to the state, and just tried to keep out of the way of the secret police. But hardly anyone really believed the stuff. The result, after many decades of suffering, was the eventual collapse of the old order once The Great Leader expired, whether his name was Brezhnev, Mao, or Tito."
And there my friends is the key to the mystery! You people are what he describes as "mentally defective" and you are! Reading propaganda bullshit from the likes of nuts like Fidel Castro, Chavez or Qaddafi (just to name but a few of your heroes) is one thing. To live it is a whole different story! This shit doesn't work with anyone who - like me - has lived under the crap. And the guy is absolutely right, you can see, smell, taste and feel the bullshit and your senses automatically shut down to protect your brain from all the damages. But y'all, you seek the shit and eat it like it's candy. What a bunch of morons! What a shame that we can't pack you all and send you to Syria or Venezuela or Cuba and let you experience that which you so condone and so fearlessly defend. How sick and pathetic!
You really are quite a determined and single-minded disinformer, pal. I guess the endless flow of mindfuck disinformation from the MSM isn't quite enough for you. You have to add your own stinking two cents. But here you give yourself away, incidentally, by mentioning Venezuela in your list of "tyrannies". You are therefore NOT a leftist, and certainly not a democratic one, though you play one on the internet. You are a stooge of the system. Now go and pick up your check. You can feel proud of yourself. You have managed, all by yourself, to pollute this thread with all your kneejerk ad hominems. I'll not waste any more of my time on you.
But do tell me, before I click off, how you explain the collapse of WTC 7. I'm dying of curiosity.
Unlike you? At least, dear, I ain't half as angry and hypocritical as you. And, oh, yeah, and I know that PressTV is not a "reality show" - Still ROFL at that one!
How's that MSN for a buzzword, eh, Clovis? Keep on spitting them out, dear, eventually, you're bound to run out. Oh, and coincidentally, DemocracyNow is anything but MSN just like PressTV is anything but TV. Ha ha! (You're killing me here, Clovis)
"But here you give yourself away, incidentally, by mentioning Venezuela in your list of "tyrannies"."
BTW, Clovis, except for what you have heard from Steve Lendman in some obscure website, WTF do you know about Venezuela? When was the last time you visited there? When was the last time you spoke to someone from Venezuela? Hmmm? When?
"You are therefore NOT a leftist, and certainly not a democratic one, though you play one on the internet."
Clovis, didn't yo momma ever tell you never to assume because when you do 'you make AN ASS out of U and ME?" Well, if she had told you that, you could have avoided making such a spectacle out of yourself. For your information, oh dis/misinformed one, I am proud NOT to be a Leftist. Imagine if I were "a leftist and a "democrat" I'd be just like you and I think I'd cut my own tongue if I thought I were anything like you. Unlike you, I also don't put labels on myself and spew the garbage that goes with that label while acting exactly - or worse - than the ones you so vehemently criticize and hate on the opposite side of the street. Ye get what I'm saying, toots?
You are most certainly a leftist and as such, you play one on the internet. You are a stooge of the system. Now go and pick up your neck. You can feel proud of yourself. You have managed, all by yourself, to pollute this thread with all your kneejerk ad hominems. I'll not waste any more of my time on you...unless I do, of course. :)
Well, here we go again...right after you said you wouldn't waste any more of your time on me you go and ask "But do tell me, before I click off, how you explain the collapse of WTC 7. I'm dying of curiosity." and expect an answer, of course. Well, here it goes.
What the fuck does the collapse of WTC 7 - of all things - have to do with your justifying and condoning Assad's slaughter of civilians in Syria and spewing propaganda on behave of such a sanguine regime? What? WTF? Are you sure you're in the right thread? Are you sure you're in the right 'internets'? Are you sure you're even in the right planet. Holy crap, Clovis. You're a hoot. A nut and a hoot. LOL!
The situation in Syria is unfolding exactly as that of Libya, step by step...and thanks to the predictable, loving, anti-imperialist "Progressive Lefties" the ones who hate their governenment more than they do humanity not withstanding the crap they peddle on unsuspecting bystanders:
1. Self-appointed tyrant rules country with iron fist and bloodshed for years.
2. Tyrant is very smart and adopts an "anti-imperialist" stance - if only in rhetoric but not in action.
3. Civil rights, crimes, abuses, torture and brutality are rampant in the country but the Left Wing stands silent and pretends not to notice.
4. Population rises.
5. Left Wing pretends not to notice.
6. Tyrant starts to slaughter civilians by the thousands.
7. Left Wing remains silent.
8. There is talk of intervention.
9. Left Wing wakes up and starts to scream...in favor of the dictator and against the oppressed people while spewing the same lies (word by word) as published by the dictators on their state media. While the hordes of their self-brainwashed, misguided, mentally deficients (such as Rocky Raccoon above) take to the internet to decry "imperialist intervention," "CIA/Mossad causing the unrest," "people being brainwashed and/or paid or both by US/CIA," and launch a vicious campaign against any NGO that reports the carnage (i.e. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc. - the same organizations that they will later quote in their arguments when they report the same crimes but committed by NATO/US).
Give them enough time and they are capable of single-handledly screwing an entire nation of millions of people without a second thought or any regard as to their well-being, safety or human right while judging them and presenting them all as idiots who would sell their lives, that of their people and their nation for a few American dollars. I guess the old adage here of "when you're a hammer all your problems are nails" can be adopted to say that "When you're Amerikan all problems are solved with money (or war)."
But, heeeeey, such is the loving Left for ya! Just like their brothers on the Right only they've replaced god, Jesus and religion with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Communism/anti-imperialism (to them, they're both one and the same). They have been repeating this pattern forever in Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Libya and now Syria (at least since I've been paying some attention but I'm sure there many more I've missed). They're so predictable as to even follow the same numerical order as I've listed above. What a fucked up world we live in! To paraphrase the song "idiots to the left, idiots to the right and here I'm, stuck in the middle with...who again?"
I said I was checking out, but I have to make one final comment on your ignorance. HRW, which was among the first NGOs trumpeting Gaddafi's supposed attacks on civilians eventually had to admit that they were mistaken and had no proof of such. But this rather major admission was not covered by the MSM and therefore YOU missed it. But go ahead and continue to pollute. In so doing you simply expose yourself for the intolerant ideologue that you are. Now go down a six-pack. And don't forget the chips. The TV's already on.
Oh, trust you me, I knew you weren't going away anywhere, darling. The question from the Twilight Zone gave you away. Besides, people like you don't easily give back. You're the type that has to keep on coming back foot in mouth, time and again. You just like to hear the sound of your own voice...probably because no one else does. LOL!
Oh, the horror! HRW was caught with its pants down. No...no...[the Reverend grabs his heart]...You've got me right here, Clovis. You've got me! Such facts, such truth, such undeniable information. What can I say? Steve Lendman knows better. Besides, why ask me, particularly, when you're not interested in what I really have to say but just keep coming back for the bashing, eh?
BTW, Clovis, I look forward to the day soon when you are quoting HRW as the absolute source of facts and truth to prove all the horrors committed by the empire. He he he...
"But go ahead and continue to pollute. In so doing you simply expose yourself for the intolerant ideologue that you are. Now go down a six-pack. And don't forget the chips. The TV's already on."
Atta girl! I like your open mind, your respect, your restraint, how non-judgmental you are. Anything else but be unbecoming of a...hmmmm..."Democratic Leftie" (shouldn't you be trademarking that?). Thanks for reminding me about the beer and the chips, it's so like you not to forget about the staples of your diet. Again, projection is everything. :)
And, yes, dear, I will be watching PressTV. ROFLMFAO!
Note to self: Once an Amerikan, ALWAYS an Amerikan!
PS: "Pollute" as define herein shall be any post we don't like or agree with. As on the Right, so are those on the Left.
Also, you forgot to call me a troll. Must be all that beer you're drinking...
Nothing like dodging the actual and factual points I make with your screeds of incomprehensible nonsense. But don't let the surrounding reality prevent you from getting full extension on your arm when you make the "Sieg Heil" salute.
What factual points? The ones as "reported" by Stephen Lendman? Or the one that Iran's PressTV is a "reality show"? Or the rest of the ad hominems you launched at me? What "valid" points do you think you have? BTW, how about answering the two questions I asked you: (1) When was the last time you visited Syria or even spoke to someone from Syria?; and (2) if you're so gung-ho on saving the world from anti-imperialism and blah blah blah, what are you doing with your 2,000 lb. ass plopped in front of a computer screen instead of putting that ass (and the mouth that goes with it) to good use and joining your local Occupy movement so that you can start making a change from within?
How about it, Clovis? How about facing your ugly and hypocritical self for once in your pathetic trailer park existence? Now, shouldn't just go and jump off a bottle of antidepresants or something?
Finally, I noticed that you project an awful lot: from your stupidity (the first sweet little nothing you whispered in my hairy ear), to your mental illness and your alcoholism and eating problems. You haven't missed one. I'm willing to bet $1,000 bucks that you are: in your middle 40s, divorced or never married, with a prescription pill and booze addiction, living in a trailer park in Texas or Alabama (or some other hick state) and you weigh, at least 200-lbs? How many did I get right, Clovis? Oh, and your heart is as ugly as your face, go take a look in the mirror, you ignorant hypocrite and tell me what you see.
Wrong on all accounts, reverend. I'm a published writer, among other things, and happily married. How about you?
And I am lucky enough to live in a gentle village in southwest France. Sorry to disappoint you there, too.
I think you get a little overexcited at the keyboard. You should take up yoga and meditation. It would do you a world of good.
Viva Chavez!
A published writer...~snicker, snicker~ who thinks that PressTV is a reality show. No wonder there's so much ignorance in this country. The most ignorant are "published authors" - Heavens help us all!
"I think you get a little overexcited at the keyboard. You should take up yoga and meditation. It would do you a world of good." Speaking to yourself, I gather?
And, instead of "living in a gentle village in southwest (sic) France" how about living in a gentle village in, say, Northeast Venezuela so that you can experience in your own flesh and blood what Chavez is all about? Have a bone to pick with that? Considering what a big mouth you have, you shouldn't have a problem putting your money (Francs) where your piehole is.
BTW, how about answer my questions, toots, huh? Something that should be really easy considering that you're a "published author" and all.
ROFL! Aaaaaaaaah, delusions!
"I'm a published writer, among other things, and happily married."
Yeah, so is Sarah Palin.
Hark, hark, hark!
Sorry, I just couldn't resist that cheap shot. You make it so very, very easy. Ha ha ha!
PS: I know that you're a "published author" - my wife of 25 years bought your booklet on how to crochet sweaters for dogs and cats. :)
I think you need help, pal.