Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Syria -- As it Happens, Before it Happens



Yes, we are at the mercy of idiots.  Here are some details you should know.  I wanted to get this to you ASAP:




  1. Debbas @Debbas1m

    Assad is on Facebook and Instagram posting. If the world wanted to kill him easily they can trace him.The world wants syria destroyed

  2. Gateway @o_Gateway_o1m

    Ohh, now might just stack is on the World Wide Web...oh no, I just we just better have nuclear war and kill everybody New World Order

  3. Rob Underwood @brooklynrob1m

    I caught a screen shot of the hack before it was taken down:

  4. risk ability @riskability1m

    [military intervention can be avoided by the resignation of one man] Resignation not killing nor weakening

  5. Michael L. Love @gnudarwin1m

    Does the world really want another war based on US lies?

  6. druidess فلسطين حرة @druidlassy1m

    Intervention Would Reaffirm ’s Biggest Flip-Flop via

  7. obazS @obazS1m

    Intervention or no intervention, apparently the US will be the "bad guys" in any case.

  8. Mehdi @Shareif1m

    Russian plane lands in # to deliver aid, evacuate citizens

  9. ThiggyBR @ThiggyBR1m

    RT : RT Leaked Documents: U.S. Framed Syria in Chemical Weapons Attack

  10. Tommy Realing @tommyelephant1m

    Why does our government think its ok to get into another countries issues?

  11. sergei @sergeimirkat1m

    Pentagon Sees Syrian Military, Not Chemical Sites, as Target

  12. Fla Cracker @TheFlaCracker1m

    Remember when backed up Bush to try to stop from going from IRAQ to ? Yeah.. I don't either

  13. NexisHexus @FC_WitchParty1m

    is a no go. Applaud France to do what it feels is moral, sit back. The US punditocracy is a reactionary money pit.

  14. Raja Chemayel @RajaChemayel2m

    In a couple of days , the King shall reveal to us who ( or what) his mother was.........

  15. Sahidul Islam @Sahidul_2m

    A father reunites with his son after he thought his son had died during the chemical attack

  16. M I T R A @miiiitra2m

    weapons of mass distraction while they load up their weapons of mass destruction

  17. Ali Askari @Askari_H2m

    ": Syrian Electronic Army takes down New York Times website "

  18. Douglas C Perera @DouglasCP2m

    If we do hit it may also be to test our offensive weapons against Russia's defensive weapons. Could be a balance of power experiment.

  19. Robert Ayson @RobAyson2m

    The big policy question for Mr Obama: can you strike without intervening? Depends on how we define intervention.

  20. Jerry Spencer @spencersdesk2m

    Don't trust Joe RT 58"No doubt" 's gov't was behind chemical attacks, says US Vice President Joe Biden

  21. plemochoe @plemochoe2m

    The trolls' commentary on is a little to uniform: same length, a lack of variation, a sameness of the voice. Maybe 5 actual people?

  22. Lehman College @Lehman_College2m

    Lehman professor on the complexities of the elite- "A New Old : Authenticity & Distinction in Urban "

  23. EatingMyPeaz @EatingMyPeaz2m

    Since the chemical-weapons "red line" warning on 20 August 2012, LCC have confirmed that at least 50143 people have been killed in .

  24. News1130 @News1130radio2m

    Foreign Affairs Minister wants opp. leaders discuss . He says recalling parliament to discuss military action still premature though.

  25. Liar MPs @LiarMPs2m

    Amazingly we have Tony Blair popping up and making the case for war in . Arms industry must pay awfully well these days!

  26. Ben Davis @benldavis2m

    Hmmm... 's Military Intelligence Interrogation Division Branch 248 Worth an £800,000 cruise missile?

  27. Viva la causa! @70torinoman2m

    's use of is cause for war. U.S. hit Fallujah with phosphorus in 2004 that was okay.

  28. DC Decoder @DC_Decoder2m

    US uses strongest language yet to condemn chemical weapons attacks in , world weighs options: via

  29. Iyad El-Baghdadi @iyad_elbaghdadi2m

    Tonight's recommended read: "The Intellectual Dishonesty Surrounding Intervention in ", by :

  30. 1TurkVatandasi @1TurkVatandasi2m

    I believe all the population in the world is against the war except for the moneymakers

  31. Cleopatra @SyrianCleopatra2m

    "We will prevent any American warship to enter Suez Canal to hit ." - Egyptian General Sisi. -A true Arab leader.

  32. Maysaloon @Maysaloon3m

    'In the beginning there was the video'

  33. plemochoe @plemochoe3m

    I retweeted some of the "new trolls". I am surer now that some of these responses are professionally composed, like ad copy

  34. Robert Naiman @naiman3m

    Get Authorization for , House Lawmakers Say | Goppers

  35. Anna Langton @Dune93m

    Please do not vote for military action in Some sort of humanitarian effort is needed. No more guns.

  36. Rob Smith @sphinxrepairs3m

    recalled to to vote on crisis, . .

  37. Anonymous @Anonycast3m

    Well, eye for an eye. sana(.)sy is down.

  38. Realtime World @realtime_world3m

    Military strikes on 'as early as Thursday,' US officials say - :

  39. Derrick Snyder @Derrick_Snyder3m

    If there's one thing the US excels at it's killing lots of brown people.

  40. Mohamed Farah @m0farah3m

    20th century “More than 170 million people were killed.”Most were civilians Imperial Madness via

  41. Britannica @Britannica3m

    RT : As the war in escalates... , in 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact renounced war.

  42. PJ @snickerstank3m

    Anybody else think this whole thing could be Iran?

  43. María @MariaCabadas3m

    "No doubt" 's government was behind chemical attacks, says US Vice President Joe Biden

  44. Ali Gharib @Ali_Gharib3m

    I say kudos to the ADL for taking a stand on without waiting for Israel to make the first move.

  45. Sami Khattak @iMrSammi3m

    Stay safe and blessed, they are polishing some cruise missiles to deliver them at your place I guess. Hafiz-O-Nasir'

  46. Richard Jowsey @RichardAJowsey3m

    Experts Point To Long, Glorious History Of Successful U.S. Bombing Campaigns

  47. Snappy Ky.le @SnappyKyle4m

    I have a hard time believing that the same god fearing folk who flew passenger jets into office buildings would gas their own people

  48. Zab @zabmustefa4m

    Remember what American troops did in ? And now you want them in ?

  49. كريستوفر ديفيدسون @dr_davidson4m

    The other element of the mystery to underline is that it immediately moved international media circus away from crisis,..(1/2)

  50. Alex Nelson @awnelson174m

    I'll bet Obama, Hagel and Kerry are in some back room consulting with Joshua and the WOPR right now.

  51. Josh Blount @Joshowieblount4m

    Our warmongering president is at it again. Wake up people, look at his foreign policy decisions of the past. Stay out of it.

  52. Ian @Mancman104m

    The British media wouldn't love war mongering so bloody much if they were on the frontline of it!!!

  53. Felix @Felix_Evans4m

    Clinton admin bombed a pharmaceutical plant thinking it was being used for CW's by Bin Laden, will we not make the same mistake?

  54. Luke Madigan @lukemadigan4m

    And off to war America goes again...

  55. EatingMyPeaz @EatingMyPeaz4m

    LCC in summary: At least 2059 people were killed in the past 7 days. Tue:79, Mon:148, Sun:80, Sat:114, Fri:86, Thu:115, Wed:1437.

  56. plemochoe @plemochoe4m

    Something about the length and the "old salt" style of these new tweeters cries out "Con job" to me

  57. Hani @Ugariti_Homsi4m

    We have no choice in what the US govt will do in . So I think we should stop arguing!

  58. BBC News (World) @BBCWorld4m

    "No doubt" 's government was behind chemical attacks, says US Vice President Joe Biden

  59. Glyn Sexton @glynster614m

    Difficult to launch limited strike in without being drawn-in deeper. UK policy would then inevitability be dictated by US

  60. AmericanDefenseNews @AmDefNews4m

    General Jack Keane is 100% right as always.

  61. Yahya Bennett @HandalaChiapas4m

    "In the event of an attack on assemble here at this time" For or against, this must be the stupidest anti-war demo ever

  62. Tom Vallen @TomVallen4m

    The News. Instantly puts your problems into perspective...

  63. Calisthene @calisthene4m

    war is bad news for: Lybia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali, Pakistan,... The people in charge learned nothing from your blood.

  64. Nancy @RightDame4m

    I don't like this..Something doesn't feel right to me. We need to make SURE before we get FURTHER involved.

  65. Andy Wake @vsign4m

    If UK MPs support a missile attack on without the burden of proof its time for mass non violent resistance.

  66. ارررررسلان  årsªlán @Arsalanism4m

    -ian coup government, aka "democracy" dictating military, is secretly thankful that all attention is diverted to .

  67. wissamtarif @wissamtarif4m

    In refugee camp many families today expressed fear that Al Assad moves their detainees to locations that the might target.

  68. Nein. @NeinQuarterly4m

    Not sure if "ready to go" is a foreign policy or a philosophy of history.

  69. Cllr. Mathew Hulbert @HulbertMathew4m

    Cook on action in Iraq in '03: "It is false to argue that only those who support War support our troops."

  70. chris latimer @justbeinganicon4m

    are gonna again show their uselessness on Thursday

  71. Rob Smith @sphinxrepairs4m

    Military strikes on ’as early as Thursday,’ officials say via

  72. Ross Wilson @rosswilsonmusic4m

    Whichever parties support Oz involvement in military intervention don't vote for them

  73. مُيناَ ال بَرلِن @MonadeBerlin4m

    RT It's not easy to hide a chemical attack, experts say

  74. Salman ™ @kleptomaniac_4m

    Meanwhile supporters!

  75. JuanCarlos HERNANDEZ @jchernandezjazz4m

    50 000 Russian militaries want to come to to fight on the Asad's side |

  76. YiddishFlame @YiddishFlame4m

    Does it make it more dramatic when u write BOOM? “: BOOM! Assad Left & Is On The Moment In Iran!!! -

  77. Sophia Jones @Sophia_MJones4m

    RT A wave of panic is invading . Everyone is discussing the vague, obscure future that is waiting for them.

  78. Michael L. Love @gnudarwin4m

    After the US has wiped out a bunch of Syrians, we will be very impressed by how they hate chemical weapons.

  79. PostmodernPriesthood @postmodernPH5m

    "His law is love, and His gospel is peace" -O Holy Night

  80. E to the F™ @FastEddie5175m

    2 of 2 Obama 2008 "in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. 2013: "Uhhhh, uhhhh"

  81. Nihat @Shahjalali5m

    Create a pretext with a chemical attack. Gives U.S. a reason to intervene & possibly draw in Iran..I'm definite skeptical

  82. Daniel @Daaniellllll5m

    RT : Unless he is giving up, can not leave that soon, it will spur defections.

  83. Morten @MortenHj5m

    When Obama set his "Red line" for what he really said was "Here rebels, this is the goal we wish you to reach. Do it"

  84. Ian @Mancman105m

    Commons vote on Thursday is immaterial&Cameron&Hague can media grandstand all they want but the US have already made the decisons

  85. plemochoe @plemochoe5m

    I'm wavering: am I seeing HuffPo type "I am clever" commenters on , or a huge wave of pacifist trolls? Whichever, it's massive

  86. Nadiya @NadiyaTakolia5m

    before the suspected chemical attack in over 100,000 have already been killed by bombs and guns. Why no uproar before?

  87. CAAB @C_A_A_B5m

    1/5 There are horrible parallels to the illegal war in Iraq... All our security is put at risk should force be used.

  88. Andy @NorthernGrit5m

    Looking like the navy and raf going to be busy this Christmas.

  89. James Prain @jimprain5m

    - We should stay out of the "Cross this line" rhetoric & resist getting involved if not will to go all the way and take Assad out.

  90. Nick Bryant @BryNicholas5m

    Tomorrow just might be the beginning of the end, we shall have to wait and see. Whatever happens one thing is certain...

  91. Alan Brook @abrook55m

    There are 1 million child refugees already

  92. hillski @hillski5m

    so we might hit Syria thursday while Congress is on vacation?

  93. Trust No One @ScarletCircus5m

    The crazy part of this situation is got WMDs from Iraq...

  94. John Clarke @writingfreedom5m

    Nothing about our nation bombing another one has anything to do with humanitarianism. It is all propaganda PR exercise for government

  95. Cleopatra @SyrianCleopatra5m

    URGENT: No decision yet on military action - Cameron

  96. dado @unaa20115m

    Damascus circinate free southern army destroyed several tanks for the Army 25 8

  97. NexisHexus @FC_WitchParty5m

    is no go. Europe resents the alleged chem weapons so let them ,Near Russia , they'll face the ' conflict of interest

  98. Barry Obama @Barry_O445m

    Already ran the kinetic military action play... Time to go w/ the limited strike play

  99. S K @nolesfan20115m

    literally both the anti and pro intervention sides on the thing live far from reality

  100. Gerard Russell @GSJRussell5m

    My worst fear for poor : a repeat of 1990s Afghanistan. Rebels overthrew government, fought each other: a million died.

  101. McBlondeLand @McBlondeLand6m

    "US military are warning there could be mass casualties of civilians if US fires it's weapons @ " Better to be killed by us than them?

  102. عبدالله ع الرشيد @abdullah05994226m

    Iran gives notice to international community to use all its might to prevent use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world, esp. in

  103. FutureNews @Yavuzhan_k6m

    , Hey, SEA Could you Pls Hack betrayer Erdogan and his DOGS? Congrats!

  104. Jim GM8LFB @GM8LFB6m

    Assad jumps ship already. Now in Iran

  105. Neill Michael Nagib @neillmichael6m

    Regime change in will leave a huge power vacuum and will not end civil strife. Tragically sometimes a civil war is just inevitable.

  106. Laura Marcus @MissLauraMarcus6m

    Lots on my TL about . I was against war in and can't see why we're in but can't let dictators get away with murder.

  107. elaina @elainacohen6m

    there will be consequences from attacking # a roll call 0f dead far exceeding numbers already massacred

  108. Paul Rutherford @PaulRutherford86m

    WHAT IF?? Rebels in stole a chemical weapon and it 'accidentally' went off?? Blame govt and start a really big war??

  109. Zulfikar Khan @zulfkhan1236m

    I am about to go to bed how many have no place to sleep in and how many have slept forever in tonight

  110. HM King of Bosnia @KingdomOfBosnia6m

    HM to Assad: kick out catholic CNN warmongers, stop their mind-games, defeatism! Illyria is down but & still OLDER THAN ROME!

  111. Mr. Wolski @WolskiMr6m

    So the Syrian Electronic Army hacked Twitter? Oh. No. They. Didn't.

  112. Agent Android Dog @tearsintherain16m

    It is sad to see uk media/politicians circle jerking with and other at the prospect of war with

  113. Dan Maguire @Dan_Newcastle6m

    Please support peace not war on Thursday. Please vote against Government, learn from Iraq

  114. GEOFFREY @jeffreynola6m

    : After 60yrs of Success, BOMBING mult. Nations, here comes ! Learn from History! !

  115. Richard S Pearson @RichardSPearson6m

    Which is precisely why we should stay the f**k out of . Why are 400 killed by gas more noteworthy than 99,600 by bombs

  116. Hands OFF Syria @handsoffsyria6m

    | Ladies & Gentlemen, the US and it tools have pre-planned everything well in advance: The date of the...

  117. Hugh Hewitt @hughhewitt6m

    Dexter Filkins joins me next MT: : Dexter Filkins on , w/eyewitness account of attack's aftermath: "

  118. Saima @DaLondonGirl6m

    Curious what you want done in ..Cant really make out from ur tweets.Ure against Assad but dont want US to intervene either?

  119. DAVY™ (DAY-V) @PrinceDavy4dub7m

    WOW, really chemically bombed themselves smh.. Some ppl have no regard, no care for others lives or the consequences of murder..

  120. Josh Scarabin @JoshScarabin7m

    US good intentions created Osama bin Laden. Any action/inaction re: will be used as propaganda by jihadists.

  121. JerusalemOnline @JOL_NEWS7m

    still has not reached decision regarding

  122. Aral Balkan @aral7m

    MT :US/UK ‘won’t be bound by’ findings of UN on . Are we bound by anything? Might makes right, no?

  123. Kate Davidson @KateCDavidson7m

    10 problems with the latest excuse for war

  124. Year of the Dragon @Jon_MBA7m

    , yeah, great idea, target those chemical weapons stockpiles, hang on a minute (the film, if u seen it you'll know why).

  125. caMORON's enemy @crusader4animal7m

    The Rothschilds will be rubbing their hands in glee at how much money they're going to make fm their puppets in USA & UK going to war

  126. Flash @Flash_Adalwolf7m

    Just remember folks the US dose not have an issue with you killing your civilian population as long as you don't use chemical weapons

  127. Havewhatusay @havewhatusay7m

    Interesting and leading with I don't know what is doing I guess ratings speak for themselves.

  128. Ed Harris @eddaplumber7m

    Why aren't we headed to Syrian refugee camps and bringing them home to America, if they'll come?

  129. steve [Pleb] @scouseware7m

    MPs will vote on with a three line party whip. Because majority of them are careerists, their constituents wishes will take 2nd place

  130. aysee @__aysee_7m

    ": Syrian Electronic Army woooo "

  131. Lora Cox @lorajcox7m

    Wish the average American would pay more attention to instead of another misguided child star.

  132. Nervana Mahmoud @Nervana_18m

    There is a hint of truth in the claim that has survived cos of Baath regime. Now there is a chance to prove it can survive without it

  133. Ian Geldard @igeldard8m

    opposes use of airspace to strike

  134. Hands OFF Syria @handsoffsyria8m

    | Ladies & Gentlemen, the US and it tools have pre-planned everything well in advance: The date of the...

  135. MoJo77 @MuazJ779m

    Israel may have intercepted Syrian discussions about chemical attack - Free

  136. Maysaloon @Maysaloon10m

    I remember the desperation in their voices as they tried to convince the world they were being massacred. Nobody believed at first

  137. Syrianonymous @Syrianonymous10m

    strikes again .

  138. cassandra @CassandraRules10m

    A good way to help ... is supplying atropine to clinics there. You can donate here->

  139. aysee @__aysee_12m

    New York Times, Twitter, WSJ hacked? Syrian Electronic Army suspected; Update: Dow Jones 'pounces'

  140. Scriptonite @Scriptonite12m

    UK/US war planes and hardware circulating out of ahead of planned attack on ...

  141. Martin Bagot @MartinBagot13m

    Claire Short makes good point. Rush to action on before findings of UN inspectors casts doubt on its credibility

  142. Barry Magee @barrybhoy8613m

    Turkish communists protest against their government's aggressive stance against

  143. Lucy Kafanov @LucyKafanov14m

    For those of you tracking recent developments, BBC created a helpful online section with maps & analysis:

  144. MoJo77 @MuazJ7714m

    War Drums Reverberate Throughout Media

  145. National Interest @TheNatlInterest15m

    Schemes that set the desert on fire: A look at the Anglo-French conspiring that saw born a mess

  146. Kathryn DeLong @kathryndelong15m

    With Iraq over and Afghanistan winding down, the U.S. is overdue for another unjust, wasteful, bloody, long, unwinnable war.

  147. The Koch Archives @theKocharchives16m

    'Ruthless' brother of President Assad accused of being behind chemical weapons attack ...

  148. Jackie Leonard @JackieLeonard0116m

    On air: The Newsroom - ; US banker buys house with bailout money; + on govts snooping

  149. ماسة @dimashqiyeh31516m

    A Free Syrian Army fighter wears a hat while resting in a safe house in Jobar, Damascus

  150. Sara Sorcher @SaraSorcherNJ16m

    Assad's brother suspected of authorizing chemical attack in , UN official tells

  151. Tom Nichols @TheWarRoom_Tom16m

    I winced at this list too, but this amounts to: "If these people make the case, it's ergo a bad argument."

  152. CSMonitor.com @csmonitor17m

    Russian and Chinese disapproval complicates hopes for a united effort in from world powers:

  153. Stop The Wars @sickjew17m

    Only repressive dictatorships and mob-type entities use violence against official enemies to "teach them a lesson."

  154. Medea Benjamin @medeabenjamin17m

    Let's advocate a peaceful resolution so that the people of will see an end to conflict, not more of it!

  155. Jennifer Preston @JenniferPreston1h

    Can't access@nytimes? Read latest NYT coverage about here: http://170.149.168.130/packages/html/world/obama-syria-strike.html

  156. Chris Deerin @chrisdeerin2h

    Assad has crossed the line - this is a moment for democratic nations to live up to their values, says

  157. Mike Prysner @MikePrysner1h

    UNITE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE NEW U.S. WAR FOR EMPIRE! Join me in this National Call to Action: Syria

  158. AJELive @AJELive1h

    live blog: Report: Choosing the right options in Syria

  159. CODEPINK @codepink1h

    At tomorrow's March on Washington, we demand peace, not bombs in . Meet us at 12th and Constitution NW

  160. Morten @MortenHj1h

    Terrorists in bombing a bus & shooting sarin gas at building while radio chatting about it

  161. The Hill @thehill1h

    White House: We're not looking for 'regime change' as goal in

  162. AJELive @AJELive2h

    live blog: Report: Chemical warfare in

  163. Richard Engel @RichardEngel2h

    US State Department said it is "crystal clear" the Assad government was responsible for chemical attack in .

  164. POLITICO @politico2h

    .: "No doubt" who is responsible for chemical weapons attack: Syrian regime.

  165. U.S. Dept. of Fear @FearDept2h

    Hear our war drums? Wall St. does! Monday stock in the maker of Tomahawk cruise missiles hit an all-time high.

  166. Haaretz.com @haaretzcom2h

    Defense Minister Ya'alon: Whoever tests Israel will be confronted with might of IDF

  167. POLITICO @politico2h

    22 House lawmakers sign letter urging Obama to call special session on . via

  168. SANA English @SANA_English3h

    's Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mouallem: No country in the world would use chemical weapons upon its own people

  169. The Guardian @guardian3h

    'Bombing is about western powers satisfying their desire not to look impotent' via


Friday, August 23, 2013

Syria Where is the Skepticism About Chemical Weapons?

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013

Patrick Cockburn on U.S. Plans to Arm Syrian Rebels: Where is the Skepticism About Chemical Weapons?

Veteran foreign correspondent Patrick Cockburn of The Independent joins us to discuss the Obama administration’s decision to begin directly arming Syrian rebels after concluding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons. "There must be some doubts about this," Cockburn says, adding that it "reminds me of what they were saying in 2002 and 2003 about Saddam [Hussein]’s weapons of mass destruction." Cockburn warns U.S. involvement could escalate regional conflicts that could "go on for years," and critiques the media’s lack of skepticism about White House claims.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin the news that the Obama administration has decided to begin arming Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad after concluding Assad’s forces have used chemical weapons. The White House said Thursday it has firmer evidence the Assad government has used the weapons multiple times on a "small scale" and that up 150 people have died. Unnamed officials told the Times theCIA would coordinate the transfers of small arms and ammunition. The United Nations says roughly 93,000 people have died in the two-year-old civil war.

AMY GOODMAN: A U.N. panel recently accused both sides of carrying out war crimes. In a conference phone call with reporters Thursday, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes declined to say exactly what type of aid the U.S. would give the rebels’ Supreme Military Council.

BEN RHODES: The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the SMC. That includes military support. I cannot detail for you all of the types of that support, for a variety of reasons, but, again, suffice to say this is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing to the SMC than what we have provided before.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined on the telephone by Patrick Cockburn, foreign correspondent for The Independent of London who has reported extensively on Syria.

Your response to what the United States is saying and going to do in Syria, Patrick?

PATRICK COCKBURN: Well, I think it’s probably bad news for the Syrian people. It means there’s going to be an escalation of the war. What isn’t clear yet is whether the administration, as it hints, is going to just trying to redress the balance between the rebels and Assad’s forces, after the rebels have suffered some defeat, or whether they’re going right down the road to try and overthrow Assad, rather like Libya in 2011, and this is the beginning of an all-out offensive against Assad, which will grow incrementally.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Patrick Cockburn, the potential here for the United States intervening not only in the situation in Syria but also in the growing sort of divide and conflict between Shia and Sunni throughout that region of the world?

PATRICK COCKBURN: Yeah, so this is extraordinarily dangerous. I mean, the—what’s happening in Syria may have begun as an uprising against a dictatorial government, but now it’s Sunni against Shia within the country, it’s Sunni against Shia outside the country. The allies of the U.S. in this conflict are extremely sectarian Sunni monarchies, very little interest in democracy. So, I think once you get entangled in this, rather like Iraq, it’s very different to—difficult to disentangle yourself, and this could go on for years.

AMY GOODMAN: Patrick Cockburn, the evidence that the U.S. says it has that the Assad forces used chemical weapons?

PATRICK COCKBURN: Well, there must be, you know, some doubts about this. You know, they say this in a sure voice, but it’s a sure voice which reminds me of what they were saying in 2002 and 2003 about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. You know, you would need the evidence to be laid out in front of you to really be convinced by this.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the concerns in some circles that this is really developing into a proxy war with Iran and Hezbollah, rather than actually trying to deal with the situation internally within Syria?

PATRICK COCKBURN: Yeah, it already has turned into a proxy war. You can see that with—Hezbollah and Iran were involved, but also the U.S. was—had already combined with Qatar to send weapons. Qatar has sent up to $3 billion to the rebels, 70 loads of flights of weapons, organized by—with the CIA. So, that was already happening. I think one of the—you know, what ought to happen would be to go down the diplomatic road to try and have a ceasefire. I don’t think you can have any solution at this moment in time, because you people are too involved in the war, they hate each other. But they should push for a ceasefire, and then there might be the basis for some talks afterwards. But the decision by the U.S. looks as though it’s going to push this into an all-out and long-running conflict.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Patrick Cockburn, your assessment of the media coverage of what’s happening in Syria and the U.S.’s decision?

PATRICK COCKBURN: Well, I was rather amazed and depressed by some of it that I have seen, particularly CNN, that was an—seemed to be an immediate acceptance that whatever was said about Syria employing chemical weapons was accepted as if it was written in stone, despite all of what happened in Iraq in the past, and an almost total lack of skepticism about the claims now being made.

AMY GOODMAN: Patrick Cockburn, I want to thank you for being with us—of course, we’ll continue to follow what’s happening in Syria—foreign correspondent forThe Independent, speaking to us from London. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll speak with James Bamford about the NSA’s secret war. Stay with us.


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He's Ba-ak!

THE ABSURDEST OF TIMES








This was just too funny to let go.  It reminded me of an old Lenny Bruce routine where he does his impression of a jailhouse riot starring Hume Cronin.  "Heare that you bitches in cellblock 5, he's giving it for me?"


Anyway, in a related issue, since Mubarak was one of the first to say "Assad's days are numbered," a good way to solve this last issue over the gas is to analyze it.  Chemical analysis can tell if it is government or made for the terrorists. 

One way the terrorists could improve their image is to open a sting of burger joints and call them Jihad Joe's.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Syria and Terrorist Sarin

THE ABSURD TIMES



Now, do a chemical analysis!  I'm tired of saying it!!! The terrorists (the U.S. agents) used the gas.  It is not government made!!















Timeline Photos



CHEMICAL MISSILE LAUNCHED FROM REBEL-CONTROLLED EASTERN SUBURBS

By Voice Of Russia

The missile with a chemical poison gas sarine was launched by Syrian rebels and targeted the eastern suburbs of Damascus. This is according to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

"Early morning of August 21, a homemade rocket carrying an unknown chemical warfare agent was launched on the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The missile resembled the rocket which was used by the rebels on March 19 in Khan al-Asal," said Lukashevich.

"Moscow believes it is important to carry out an objective and professional investigation of what happened", the diplomat continued. "It looks like an attempt to create a pretext for the UN Security Council to side with the opponents of Syrian Government and thus undermine Geneva-2 talks which are now scheduled for August 28".

"Once again we urge all those who have the opportunity to influence the armed extremists to make every effort to put an end to provocations with the use of chemical agents," Lukashevich asserted.

Noteworthy is the fact that "the biased regional media immediately, as if on demand, began an aggressive information attack, placing the responsibility for the attaks on Assad government. All of this can only suggest that we are dealing with a pre-planned provocation," Lukashevich stated.

"This is supported by the fact that the criminal act was committed near Damascus at the very moment when UN investigators began their work in Syria", the diplomat concluded.

21. Aug. 2013

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35928.htm

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Creating An Alternative Internet To Keep The NSA Out

Creating An Alternative Internet To Keep The NSA Out

Scores of communities worldwide have been building these roll-your-own networks—often because a mesh can also be used as a cheap way to access the regular internet. But along the way people are discovering an intriguing upside: Their new digital spaces are autonomous and relatively safe from outside meddling.

Joseph Bonicioli mostly uses the same internet you and I do. He pays a service provider a monthly fee to get him online. But to talk to his friends and neighbors in Athens, Greece, he’s also got something much weirder and more interesting: a private, parallel internet.
He and his fellow Athenians built it. They did so by linking up a set of rooftop wifi antennas to create a “mesh,” a sort of bucket brigade that can pass along data and signals. It’s actually faster than the Net we pay for: Data travels through the mesh at no less than 14 megabits a second, and up to 150 Mbs a second, about 30 times faster than the commercial pipeline I get at home. Bonicioli and the others can send messages, video chat, and trade huge files without ever appearing on the regular internet. And it’s a pretty big group of people: Their Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network has more than 1,000 members, from Athens proper to nearby islands. Anyone can join for free by installing some equipment. “It’s like a whole other web,” Bonicioli told me recently. “It’s our network, but it’s also a playground.”
Indeed, the mesh has become a major social hub. There are blogs, discussion forums, a Craigslist knockoff; they’ve held movie nights where one member streams a flick and hundreds tune in to watch. There’s so much local culture that they even programmed their own mini-Google to help meshers find stuff. “It changes attitudes,” Bonicioli says. “People start sharing a lot. They start getting to know someone next door–they find the same interests; they find someone to go out and talk with.” People have fallen in love after meeting on the mesh.
The Athenians aren’t alone. Scores of communities worldwide have been building these roll-your-own networks–often because a mesh can also be used as a cheap way to access the regular internet. But along the way people are discovering an intriguing upside: Their new digital spaces are autonomous and relatively safe from outside meddling. In an era when governments and corporations are increasingly tracking our online movements, the user-controlled networks are emerging as an almost subversive concept. “When you run your own network,” Bonicioli explains, “nobody can shut it down.”
THE INTERNET may seem amorphous, but it’s at heart pretty physical. Its backbone is a huge array of fiber-optic, telephone, and TV cables that carry data from country to country. To gain access, you need someone to connect your house to that backbone. This is what’s known as the “last mile” problem, and it’s usually solved by large internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast. They buy access to the backbone and charge you for delivering the signal via telephone wires or cable lines. Most developed nations have plenty of ISPs, but in poor countries and rural areas, the last-mile problem still looms large. If providers don’t think there’s enough profit in household service, they either don’t offer any or do it only at exorbitant rates.
Meshes evolved to tackle this problem. Consider the Spanish network Guifi, which took root in the early aughts as people got sick of waiting for their sclerotic telcos to wire the countryside. “In some places you can wait for 50 years and die and you’re still waiting,” jokes Guifi member Ramon Roca. The bandwidth-starved Spaniards attached long-range antennas to their wifi cards and pointed them at public hot spots like libraries. Some contributed new backbone connections by shelling out, individually or in groups, for expensive DSL links, while others dipped into the network for free. (Guifi is a complex stew of charity, free-riding, and cost-sharing.) To join the bucket brigade, all you had to do was add some hardware that allowed your computer’s wifi hub to pass along the signal to anyone in your vicinity. Gradually, one hub at a time, Guifi grew into the world’s largest mesh, with more than 21,000 members. “When people see the price they get from the mesh, they’re like, ‘Ten bucks a month? Oh, shit, I’ll pay that!’”
In some ways, a community mesh resembles a food co-op. Its members crunch the numbers and realize that they can solve the last-mile problem themselves at a fraction of the price. In Kansas City, Isaac Wilder, cofounder of the Free Network Foundation, is using this model to wire up neighborhoods where the average household income is barely $10,000 a year. His group partners with community organizations that pay for backbone access. Wilder then sets up a mesh that anyone can join for a modest sum. “The margins on most internet providers are so ridiculously inflated,” he says. “When people see the price they get from the mesh, they’re like, ‘Ten bucks a month? Oh, shit, I’ll pay that!’”
In other cases, meshes are run like tiny local businesses. Stephen Song, the founder of Village Telco, markets “mesh potatoes,” inexpensive wifi devices that automatically mesh with each other, allowing them to transmit data and make local calls. In towns across Africa, where internet access is overpriced or nonexistent, mom-and-pop shops buy backbone access and then sell mesh potatoes to customers, offering them cheap monthly phone and internet rates. Song hopes this entrepreneurial model will lead to stable networks that don’t have to rely on donations or tech-savvy community volunteers. He set up a mesh himself in Cape Town, South Africa. “The primary users of that tech were grandmothers,” Song says. “Grandmothers are really dependent on their families, and visiting is hard–it’s a really hilly area. So if you have an appealing low-cost alternative, they go for it.”
WHILE MESH networks were created to solve an economic problem, it turns out they also have a starkly political element: They give people–particularly political activists–a safer and more reliable way to communicate.
As activism has become increasingly reliant on social networking, repressive regimes have responded by cutting off internet access. When Hosni Mubarak, for instance, discovered that protesters were using Facebook to help foment dissent, he ordered the state-controlled ISPs to shut down Egypt’s internet for days. In China, the Communist Party uses its “Great Firewall” to prevent citizens from reading pro-democracy sites. In the United States, authorities have shut down mobile service to prevent activists from communicating, as happened a couple of years ago during a protest at San Francisco subway stations. And such reactions aren’t only prompted by dissent. Some of the big phone and cable companies have begun to block digital activities they disapprove of, like sharing huge files on BitTorrent. In 2009, the recording industry even persuaded France to pass a law–since declared unconstitutional–that canceled the internet service of any household caught downloading copyrighted files more than three times. “What if you could communicate with anyone, anywhere, without going over an inch of corporate or government cable?”
The last-mile problem, it turns out, isn’t just technical or economic: It’s political and even cultural. To repurpose the famous A.J. Liebling statement, internet freedom is guaranteed only to those who own a connection. “And right now, you and me don’t own the internet–we just rent the capacity to access it from the companies that do own it,” Wilder says.
So now digital-freedom activists and nonprofits are making mesh tools specifically to carve out spaces free from government snooping. During the Occupy Wall Street actions in New York City, Wilder set up a local mesh for the protesters. In Washington, DC, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute is developing Commotion–”internet in a suitcase” software that lets anyone quickly deploy a mesh. “We’re making infrastructure for anyone who wants to control their own network,” says Sascha Meinrath, who runs OTI. In a country with a repressive government, dissidents could use Commotion to set up a private, encrypted mesh. If a despot decided to shut off internet access, the activists could pay for a satellite connection and then share it across the mesh, getting a large group of people back online quickly.
Meinrath and his group have tested Commotion in American communities, including Detroit and Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, where locals used it to get back online after Hurricane Sandy. Now OTI is working on a mesh that will provide secure local communications for communities in Tunisia.
Even voice calls can be meshed. Commotion includes Serval, software that lets you network Android phones and communicate directly via wifi without going through a wireless carrier–sort of like a high-tech walkie-talkie network. Created by Paul Gardner-Stephen, a research fellow at Australia’s Flinders University, Serval also encrypts phone calls and texts, making it extremely hard for outsiders to eavesdrop. When OTI employees tested it this spring using external “range extenders,” they were able to text one another from nearly a mile away on the National Mall. Hopping onto the DC Metro, they found they could trade messages while riding six cars apart. “We now know how to make a completely distributed phone system,” Gardner-Stephen says. Despite the modest ranges now possible, there are plenty of potential uses. After an earthquake, he notes, Serval could help citizens and aid agencies make local calls instantly. In an Occupy-style scenario, police may try to shut down texting via Verizon and AT&T only to discover that activists have their own private Serval channel. In an Occupy-style scenario, police may try to shut down texting via Verizon and AT&T only to discover that activists have their own private Serval channel.
Granted, Meinrath points out even encrypted systems like Commotion aren’t a privacy panacea. Encryption can be broken, and if the mesh hooks up to the regular internet–via satellite, for instance–then you’re sending signals back out to where the NSA and others have plenty of taps.
Even so, alternative networks are a pretty subversive idea, one that has attracted some strange bedfellows. The State Department recently ponied up almost $3 million to support Commotion, because officials think it could help freedom of speech abroad. But given the revelations about NSA spying (Commotion’s developer, OTI, is considering joining a lawsuit to challenge the agency’s surveillance program), the software is likely to gain traction among activists here at home. “It makes all the sense in the world,” Meinrath says.
THE RISE OF community meshes suggests a possibility that is considerably more radical. What if you wanted a mesh that spanned the globe? A way to communicate with anyone, anywhere, without going over a single inch of corporate or government cable? Like what Joseph Bonicioli has in Athens writ large–a parallel, global internet run by the people, for the people. Could such a beast be built? Down in Argentina, meshers have shot signals up to 10 miles to bring together remote villages; in Greece, Bonicioli says they’ve connected towns as far as 60 miles apart.
On a purely technical level, mesh advocates say it’s super hard, but not impossible. First, you’d build as many local mesh networks as you can, and then you’d connect them together. Long-distance “hops” are tricky, but community meshes already use special wifi antennas–sometimes “cantennas” made out of Pringles-type containers–to join far-flung neighborhoods. Down in Argentina, meshers have shot signals up to 10 miles to bring together remote villages; in Greece, Bonicioli says they’ve connected towns as far as 60 miles apart. For bigger leaps, there are even more colorful ideas: Float a balloon 60,000 feet in the air, attach a wifi repeater, and you could bounce a signal between two cities separated by hundreds of miles. It sounds nuts, but Google actually pulled it off this past summer, when its Project Loon sent a flotilla of balloons over New Zealand to blanket the rural countryside with wireless connections. There are even DIY satellites: Home-brewed “cubesats” have already been put into orbit by university researchers for less than $100,000 each. That’s hardly chump change, but it’s well within, say, Kickstarter range.
For stable communications, though, the best bet would be to snag some better spectrum. The airwaves are a public resource, but they are regulated by national agencies like the Federal Communications Commission that dole out the strongest frequencies–the ones that can travel huge distances and pass easily through physical objects–to the military and major broadcasters. (Wifi uses one of the rare public-access frequencies.) If the FCC could be convinced to hand over some of those powerful frequencies to the public, meshes could span huge distances. “We need free networks, and we need free bandwidth,” says Eben Moglen, a law professor at Columbia University and head of the Software Freedom Law Center. But given the power of the telco and defense lobbies, don’t hold your breath.
The notion of a truly independent global internet may still be a gleam in the eye of the meshers, but their visionary zeal is contagious. It harkens back to the early days of the digital universe, when the network consisted mostly of university scientists and researchers communicating among themselves without corporations sitting in the middle or government (that we know of) monitoring their chats. The goal then, as now, was both connection and control: an internet of one’s own.
Clive Thompson is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired. Column originally published inMother Jones.