Would The Media Be Interested If Assad Set Up Re-Education Labor Camps For Political

[Robodoon]

Would The Media Be Interested If Assad Set Up Re-Education Labor Camps For Political Dissidents?

A couple of months ago, the mainstream media got all excited about leaked emails from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ‘bombshell’ revelations such as the fact that Assad’s wife likes to spend a lot of money on expensive furniture.

Would that same corporate press be interested if documents were leaked showing that Assad’s military forces had set up detention camps in which they planned to incarcerate political activists and subject them to re-education programs and slave labor?

Of course it would, the story would be all over CNN, ABC and Fox News. The documents would be heralded as chilling evidence that Assad is in charge of a dictatorial regime that plans to kidnap demonstrators and imprison them in North Korean-style gulags.

Continued

Comment: But that is happening here and the MSM isn't talking abou it. Those happy talking heads on the TV sell us out for their job and the corps whos owners are planning to round us up.

 

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Could Syria’s Assad Face Indictment?...

Is Syria’s Bashar al-Assad Guilty of War Crimes?
May 31, 2012 - The images from Houla in Syria had a sickening familiarity: bodies wrapped in white shrouds, lined up in a large pit in the center of town while grieving relatives cried and wailed. In all, a reported 108 people, all victims of last week’s Houla massacre, were being buried, 49 of them children.

The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights’ representative has said only about 20 of the victims were killed by artillery or mortar fire. The rest had been shot in what appear to have been summary executions. Syria has denied its forces had anything to do with the massacre and says the killings were the work of “terrorists.” The ditch reminded the world of others it has seen - in Nazi Germany, in the former Yugoslavia, in Cambodia, in Vietnam, in Libya and Iraq. In many cases, the atrocities committed there were ruled war crimes. But is what happened in Houla a war crime? If it is, how can Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and others be held accountable?

War crime?

War by its very nature involves the violent taking of life. But there are rules established in what are called the laws of armed conflict. Some of the rules were codified in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The Conventions are considered to be part of international law and are applicable to all armed conflicts worldwide. Cherif Bassiouni is the Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University in Chicago. He has also served on five U.N. Commissions that investigated war crimes and was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the U.N.’s Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of the International Criminal Court.

“Basically, the Geneva Conventions and the customary laws of armed conflict are very simple,” he said. “You cannot use force against non-combatants; you cannot kill or attack civilian populations; you cannot attack Red Cross, hospital, or religious establishments; you cannot torture POWs,” said Bassiouni. “In this case, quite obviously, when the Bashar al-Assad forces bombarded civilian places, this is considered excessive use of force and, as such, if civilians are killed it is considered a war crime,” he added.

Sarah Leah Whitson is the Middle East and North Africa Director with Human Rights Watch in New York. “It absolutely does constitute a war crime,” she said. “Summary executions, executions of detainees, executions period - unprovoked executions, targeted attacks on civilians are indeed war crimes,” Whitson said.

Libyan parallel?

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UN Says Civilian Death Rate in Afghanistan is Unacceptable
May 31, 2012 - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says civilian casualties from the Afghan conflict remain at "unacceptably high levels" despite a 21-percent drop in conflict-related deaths during the first four months of this year.

In a report released Thursday, UNAMA said 2011 marked the fifth year in a row in which civilian casualties increased in Afghanistan. The group said it documented more than 3,000 civilian deaths last year, three-quarters linked to violence by anti-government forces. The continued violence has raised concerns about the ability of Afghan forces to handle security beyond 2014, when most NATO forces are planning to conclude their combat role.

Brookings Institution Foreign Policy Senior Fellow Michael O'Hanlon says he does not expect a significant decrease in the conflict-related deaths in the near future. "I am just not persuaded that there is any realistic hope that the numbers are going to go down that much in the next two or three years," said O'Hanlon. "I think that unless the Taliban decides to be serious about peace talks, we are probably going to have to hope the numbers just don't get much worse as we carry out a transition to primary Afghan responsibility for security throughout the country."

UNAMA said improvised explosive devices (IED's), used by anti-government forces, were the single largest killer of civilians, accounting for one-third of the deaths. On Wednesday, the group said it had documented 579 civilian deaths for the first four months of 2012, a one-fifth decrease compared to the same time last year. However, it said the region's harsh winter may have contributed to the decrease.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials say explosions killed at least seven police officers on Thursday. A spokesman for the provincial governor in Kandahar province says a car bombing at a police checkpoint in Argistan killed at least five officers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, which earlier this month announced the start of a spring offensive. Afghan officials say a second explosion at a checkpoint in Jalalabad killed two police officers.

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Russia proppin' up Assad...

Why Russia is standing by Syria's Assad
15 June 2012 - Russia is not motivated to support Bashar al-Assad by arms sales alone

As the United Nations warns that Syria has descended into civil war, Russia continues to back President Bashar al-Assad in the face of growing international condemnation. Konstantin von Eggert, political commentator for Kommersant FM radio in Moscow, looks at why the Kremlin is steadfastly supporting the beleaguered Syrian government. Foreign policy analysts usually tend to explain Moscow's inflexible stance on Syria by evoking arms sales to Damascus (Bashar al-Assad's regime is said to have placed orders for Russian hardware to the tune of $3.5bn) and the Russian naval station in the Syrian port of Tartous.

But this alone does not account for Russia's seeming indifference to the adverse effect that its international advocacy of the Assad government has on its relations with the United States, the European Union and the majority of the Arab states. The explanation has a lot to do with Russia's domestic policies and the obsessions of the Russian political class. By standing up for Damascus, the Kremlin is telling the world that neither the UN, nor any other body or group of countries has the right to decide who should or should not govern a sovereign state. If one looks at the Syrian crisis from this angle, many of Moscow's previously inexplicable actions take on a new, clearer meaning.

Sovereignty is king

Ever since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, but especially after the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, the Russian leadership has been obsessed with the idea of America and the EU engineering the overthrow of governments that, for whatever reason, they find unsuitable. President Vladimir Putin and his team seem to be convinced that something like that could happen to Russia. Russia's political class never accepted concepts like "responsibility to protect", which aim to limit the ability of authoritarian governments to repress their own people. Sovereignty, to the Russian leadership, means an unlimited licence for governments to do as they please within their national borders.

Ever since the Nato operation against former Yugoslavia in 1999, Moscow has deeply mistrusted Western humanitarian rhetoric and sees it as nothing but a camouflage for a policy of regime change. The 2011 Libyan crisis revived these fears. Many Russian leaders, and Mr Putin himself, see then President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to abstain during a vote on UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorised a "no-fly zone" over Libya, as a disaster. In Mr Putin's view, it opened the way for external intervention on behalf of one of the sides, in what was essentially a civil war, and the eventual removal of Col Muammar Gaddafi from power.

More BBC News - Why Russia is standing by Syria's Assad

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Russia says no talk on Syria's post-Assad future
15 June`12 — Russia's foreign minister said Friday that Moscow isn't discussing Syria's future without President Bashar Assad as Washington has claimed, in the latest volley in a contentious back-and-forth on how to end the bloody conflict.

Sergey Lavrov denied Thursday's statement by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland that Moscow and Washington "are continuing to talk about a post-Assad transition strategy." Lavrov, who met with the State Department's No. 2 official William Burns in Kabul on Thursday, maintained that Russia believes it's up to the Syrians to determine their country's future and said foreign players shouldn't meddle. "It's not true that we are discussing Syria's fate after Bashar Assad," Lavrov said following talks in Moscow with his Iraqi counterpart. "We aren't dealing with a regime change either through approving unilateral actions at the United Nations Security Council nor through taking part in some political conspiracies."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has issued increasingly harsh words over Russia's refusal to take tougher measures on Syria, though her accusation that Russia "dramatically" escalated the crisis in Syria lost steam Thursday when the State Department acknowledged the helicopters she accused Moscow of sending were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Assad regime. The claim had complicated the Obama administration's larger goals for Syria and U.S.-Russia relations. Despite pressure from the West, Russia, along with China, has twice shielded Syria, its last remaining ally in the Arab world, from international sanctions over Assad's violent crackdown on protests that have left 13,000 people dead, according to opposition groups.

Lavrov argued that an international conference on Syria that Russia has proposed should focus on persuading the Syrian parties to sit down for talks. He said that a June 30 meeting on Syria in Geneva proposed by U.N. and Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, should pursue the same goal, warning that Russia would oppose any attempt to use the conference to determine Syria's future. "This meeting should be aimed at mobilizing resources that foreign players have to create conditions needed to start an all-Syrian political process, not to predetermine its direction." He warned against using the conference to "justify any future unilateral actions." Lavrov said that Russia believes that a conference on Syria it's proposing should bring together the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council along with all Syria's neighbors, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Arab League, the European Union and Iran.

In an apparent reference to the U.S. objections against Iran's participation, Lavrov said the conference organizers should be driven by a desire to settle the conflict, not "ideological preferences." In an opinion piece in the Huffington Post, Lavrov insisted that "Russia is not a defender of the current regime in Damascus and has no political, economic or other reasons for becoming one." He also reaffirmed criticism of Assad, saying that "the main responsibility for the crisis that has swept over the country lies with the Syrian government, that has failed to take the course of reform in due time or draw conclusions from the deep changes unfolding in international relations." But Lavrov also argued that a push for an immediate ouster of Assad would plunge Syria into an all-out war. "Pressing for an immediate ousting of Bashar al-Assad, contrary to the aspirations of a considerable segment of Syrian society that still relies on this regime for its security and well-being, would mean plunging Syria into a protracted and bloody civil war," Lavrov wrote.

Russia says no talk on Syria's post-Assad future - Yahoo! News

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US believes Russia has ship with weapons, troops en route to Syria
June 15th, 2012 - The United States says it is tracking a Russian military cargo ship as it makes its way to Syria carrying weapons, ammunition and a small number of Russian troops.

U.S. intelligence believes the Russians are sending the ship to help fortify its naval base in Syria as the situation in country continues to spiral out of control, Pentagon officials told CNN Friday. The presence of the ship was first reporting by NBC News. Classified U.S. imagery shows the ship, called the Nikolay Filchenkov, began loading in the port of Sevastapol on the Black Sea on June 7 and is headed for the Syrian port of Tartus, where the Russians have a naval faciility. The port is vital for Russian naval access to the entire Middle East. Under martime rules, Russia should declare what the ship is carrying when it enters the Mediterranean, U.S. officials said.

The sources could not say how many troops are on board, though it is not believed to be a large number. In addition, the officials said, it is not clear if the troops are only to help secure and transport the weapons and equipment or if they will stay in Syria. For now, the United States believes Russia's intention is to defend its naval base. But it is not clear how much of a threat the Russians really are facing from Syrian opposition forces. There have been no reports of significant fighting in the area lately. U.S. officials are worried there could be other plans for the troops and military gear should the Russians offload the ship in Tartus.

The Nikolay Filchenkov is a large landing ship capable of carrying up 1,700 tons and 300 troops, according to Human Rights Watch, which monitors ship activity in relation to Syria. Russia has already been in a fierce back-and-forth with the United States, after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Russians were shipping attack helicopters to Syria. The Russian government has said the helicopters are not new, but rather were refurbished under an existing contract with Syria. "As we said before, there are no new combat helicopters supplies to Syria. Our military and technical cooperation with Syria is limited to delivery of defensive arms. As for helicopters, earlier we did a planned maintenance of equipment that had been supplied to Syria many years ago," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website Friday.

A former Russian presidential adviser tells CNN that it does not make sense for Moscow to send troops to offload at the port. Andranik Migranyan, director of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation in New York, a Kremlin-backed non-governmental organization, said Russia has opposed introducing any outside troops into Syria because, Russian officials argue, it would create more problems in the violence-torn country. "I don't see any logic in it," Migranyan told CNN, referring to the reports of troops on their way. "If Russia did that it would invite other countries to send forces to Syria."

Source

 

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Obama `fraid new boss gonna be the same as old boss...

Obama Concerned Assad Will Be Replaced with Extremists
March 22, 2013 – President Barack Obama repeated his call for regime change in Syria, but stressed he does not want to see Syrian President Bashar Assad replaced by another despot.

“What I am confident about is ultimately what the people of Syria are looking for is not replacing oppression with a new form of oppression,” Obama said Friday during a joint press conference with Jordan King Abdullah II in Amman, Jordan. “What they’re looking for is replacing oppression with freedom and opportunity and democracy and the capacity to live together and build together, and that’s what we have to begin planning for now, understanding that it is going to be difficult,” he added. “Something has been broken in Syria, and it is not going to be easy to put back together perfectly, immediately anytime soon even after Assad leaves,” Obama continued. “But we can begin the process of moving it in a better direction and having a cohesive political opposition is I think is critical to that.”

Earlier in the press conference, Obama said that the State Department has been working to form a credible opposition to take over upon the removal of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has spent months killing thousands of political opposition in the country’s civil war. Obama said that if Assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game changer, but in response to a reporter’s question about heavier involvement, Obama said the United States is criticized when it intervenes militarily and is criticized when it doesn’t. He further said he wanted to work with the international community to diplomatically press Assad to step down.

President Barack Obama walks with Jordan's King Abdullah II to participate in an official arrival ceremony, Friday, March 22, 2013, at Al-Hummar Palace, the residence of Jordanian King Abdullah II, in Amman, Jordan.

The Syrian crisis began in March 2011, part of the Arab Spring, as a peaceful protest against Assad, but it turned into a civil war when opposition supporters took up arms to defend against the regime’s crackdown. More than 70,000 people have been killed since, according to the United Nations. The U.N. Human Rights Council recently voted 41-1 to extend a probe into suspected human rights abuses in Syria to March 2014, six months longer than initially planned. The probe began in August 2011. The U.S. was among countries in favor. Venezuela cast the lone dissenting vote to the extended probe. Earlier this month, the investigative panel announced it was collecting information in 20 alleged massacres in Syria.

During the press conference in Jordan Friday, a reporter asked Obama, “How concerned are you at this point that extremists or jihadists could actually take over in Syria and perhaps be even worse than Assad?” Obama responded, “I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremists, because extremists thrive in chaos. They thrive in failed states. They thrive in power vacuums. They don’t have much to offer when it comes to actually building things, but they’re very good about exploiting situations that are no longer functioning. They fill that gap.

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Obama warns of 'enclave for extremism' in Syria
March 22, 2013 — President Barack Obama warned Friday that an "enclave for extremism" could fill a leadership void in war-torn Syria, a chilling scenario for an already tumultuous region, especially for Jordan, Syria's neighbor and a nation at the crossroads of the struggle for stability in the Middle East.

In a significant step toward easing regional tensions, Obama also brokered a phone call between leaders from Israel and Turkey that resulted in an extraordinary apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla. The call marked a diplomatic victory for the president and a crucial realignment in the region, given Israel's and Turkey's shared interests, in particular the fear that Syria's civil war could spill over their respective borders. Obama said he remains confident that embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad's government will ultimately collapse. But he warned that when that happens, Syria would not be "put back together perfectly," and he said he fears the nation could become a hotbed for extremists. "I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism, because extremists thrive in chaos," Obama said during a joint news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II. "They thrive in failed states, they thrive in power vacuums."

More than 70,000 people have been killed during the two-year conflict in Syria, making it by far the deadliest of the Arab Spring uprisings that have roiled the region since 2011. Longtime autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya have been ousted, ushering in new governments that are sometimes at odds with the Obama administration and its Mideast allies. Obama's 24-hour stop in Jordan marked his first visit to an Arab nation since the 2011 Mideast protests began. Jordan's monarchy has clung to power in part by enacting political reforms, including parliamentary elections and significant revisions to the country's 60-year-old constitution. Still, tensions continue to simmer, with the restive population questioning the speed and seriousness of the changes.

Protecting Abdullah is paramount to U.S. interests. The 51-year-old king is perhaps Obama's strongest Arab ally and a key player in efforts to jumpstart peace talks between Palestinians and Israel. Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel, and that agreement has become even more significant given the rise of Islamist leaders in Egypt, which was the first Arab country to ink a treaty with the Jewish state, in the 1970s. Egypt's new leaders have so far pledged to uphold the treaty, though there are strong concerns in Israel and the U.S. about whether that will hold.

By virtue of geography, Jordan's future is particularly vulnerable to the turmoil in the Middle East. It shares borders with Iraq, Israel and the West Bank, in addition to Syria. More than 460,000 Syrians have flowed across the Jordanian border seeking refuge since the civil war began, seeking an escape from the violence. The flood of refugees has overwhelmed the country of 6 million people, straining Jordan's resources, including health care and education, and pushing the budget deficit to a record high $3 billion last year. Abdullah also fears the half-million refugees could create a regional base for extremists and terrorists, saying recently that such elements were already "establishing firm footholds in some areas." Obama announced that his administration planned to work with Congress to allocate $200 million to Jordan to help ease the financial burden.

More http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-warns-enclave-extremism-syria