15 Short Points to Understanding the Middle East

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Gas Plays an Explosive Role in the War in Syria

Gas as an aspect of the war in Syria is very much underexposed. Actually it's about a pipeline that is of vital interest to Europe and Qatar. It's a game of chess on a global stage

There's another side to the war in Syria that is of strategic importance: at stake are the economic future of the region and its natural resources

In "Build up of the Russian war fleet largest since the Cold War" we have seen that Syria is the battle field in the fight over the hegemony of the Islamic Middle East between Sunni and Shia Islam. The Russians are not the only ones building up their presence in the region. An American marine vessel just arrived in the Israeli port of Eilat; the Russian Pacific Fleet just passed the Suez Canal and has arrived in the East Med. It seems the stage is now set for a major confrontation. 

BREAKING! OBAMA AND CAMERON AGREE MILITARY ACTION AGAINST SYRIA

The Sunday People have reported that David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria

Photo from SANA.sy by M. Ismael/Mazen: chemicals uncovered by the Syrian army disproving the claim (Source)

"David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria. The US president sealed the deal in a 40-minute phone call to the Prime Minister at his holiday retreat in Cornwall. The two leaders agreed that Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was responsible for using chemical weapons against children. Mr Obama and Mr Cameron will discuss the military options in the next few days. They include missile strikes, ­disabling the Syrian air force or ­enforcing a no-fly zone across the country".

Opposition in Tunisia Calling for Mass Protests

The Islamists have shown the world a great con trick. But the people of Tunisia and Egypt are on to it and are no longer buying. When will Western politicians and the media catch on?

Jellez: the funeral of Mohammed Brahmi.

UPDATE: Tunisia’s opposition coalition on Friday rejected proposals by the ruling Islamist Ennahda for ending a month-long political crisis, saying their offer to enter talks on a government of technocrats was insufficient. “All negotiations without the (immediate) dissolution of the government are a waste of time,” said Taieb Baccouche, a representative of the National Salvation Front. (...) Ennahda indicated on Thursday, for the first time since the start of the crisis triggered by the assassination of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, that it might agree to the resignation of the coalition government which it heads. But the Islamists stressed that a “national dialogue” bringing together supporters and opponents of the ruling coalition needed to take place first. (...) The opposition has called for nationwide anti-government demonstrations, starting on Saturday, with the first big gathering to take place outside the national assembly. (Source)

Anti Frackers: "Resistance Is Justified, As Democracy Just Isn't Working"

The shale gas test drilling sites have been the target of sabotage by a bunch of eco activists who have no respect for the democratic process

Balcombe residents stand up to fracking.

The mouthpiece of the Dutch Green party and the cause of sustainability, the newspaper Trouw, is once again skirting the edges of responsible journalism while reporting on the "war on fracking": the protests at the site of the shale gas test drilling by the Cuadrilla corporation at the British town of Balcombe. According to Trouw anti fracking protests reached boiling point this week, culminating in the arrest of a great number of eco activists, among them Caroline Lucas, MP for the British Green Party.

Trouw is reporting that the MP was released on bail, while declaring "she isn't wont to participate in these sort of activities", but simply had no choice. Well, what do you know?! A member of parliament, with all the resources of democracy at her disposal, is forced to take recourse to extraparliamentary activism. That's sad!

They are really sensitive human beings too, these green democrats: "I have the feeling that the government just isn't listening to the people". At that point in the article Trouw is really going overboard. Lucas:

"At some stage the democratic means at our disposal have been exhausted and one feels obliged to resort to non-violent, direct action".

Stop! Democratic means exhausted? Ms Lucas has a seat on the left side of the aisle in the British parliament, where the debate on fracking is still ongoing. Her declared legitimacy of extraparliamentary 'direct action' is highly debatable.

But is Trouw's reporting correct? No, it isn't. Lucas MP, the activist democrat was actually declaring something quite different. She said: "Resistance is justified, because democracy isn't working." Which is an extraordinary approach. Hypocrisy is rife at the green front; stretching the truth for a good cause isn't considered a big deal. Fact-free alarmism and sabotage are dominating the debate on fracking. Trouw is really piling it on:

"Lucas understands that fear and hyperbole are part and parcel of the debate on fracking and she refuses to participate in the politics of fear. What annoys her, is that there has never been a proper debate". 

And that coming from a MP who has the entire democratic tool kit at her disposal! At this time British PM David Cameron is speaking of an ongoing national debate. The shale gas test drilling sites have been the target of sabotage by a bunch of eco activists who have no respect for the democratic process whatsoever. A couple of Dutch MPs prove that these actions have nothing to do with a public debate either.

Marianne Thieme MP is tweeting that "We can learn a thing or two from the British protests against fracking." 

It's really sad that parliamentarians should opt for extraparliamentary activism instead of open debate. The former director of Greenpeace Netherlands, Liesbeth van Tongeren MP is even worse:

"British protests against fracking are reaching boiling point. I was there and I made this video."

So the member of the Green party was in attendance when the Balcombe protests exploded, citing something about getting experience in "tactics & strategics" in the war on fracking.  It's an outrage that members of parliament are engaging in such activities when the democratic means have not even been exhausted!

But even then. The green minority wants to have their cake and eat it too. They are just as democratic as the D in GDR. This is on par with dumping cement blocks in the North Sea against fishing, and the undermining of railtracks during transports of nuclear waste. These actions are potentially very dangerous and damaging to society as well as the economy.

To the green wing nuts democracy is just another railway track to undermine and an ethics program in which the end justifies the means. Because to them, democracy just isn't working.

For Gerton van Unnik

Manning Says He's Chelsea and Wants Sex Change

The trial of Wiki leaker Private Manning is entering the final phase. He's facing up to 136 years in prison. Sentencing could take over a month

US Army soldier Bradley Manning was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified information to Wikileaks

UPDATE: Bradley Manning plans to live as a woman named Chelsea and wants to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible, the soldier said Thursday, a day after being sentenced to 35 years in prison for sending classified material to WikiLeaks. Manning announced the decision in a written statement provided to NBC’s “Today” show, asking supporters to refer to him by his new name and the feminine pronoun. The statement was signed “Chelsea E. Manning.” “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,” the statement read. (Source)


Aug. 21, 2013

Manning handed 35-year prison sentence

Amazon, Google, Outlook Go Offline

Amazon.com has become the latest high-profile website to go offline in recent days. Google was down 2 minutes on Friday causing a 40% dip in worldwide internet traffic

500 Service Unavailable Error report

Amazon.com has become the latest high-profile website to go offline in recent days. Visitors to the US shopping site were greeted with a message saying: "Oops! We're very sorry," alongside a "500 Service Unavailable Error" report. The site returned online about half an hour after the problem was first flagged by users of the news site Reddit. Amazon could not be reached for comment at this time. The firm's UK site was not affected by the issue, however its Canadian home page also showed an error message.

White-Washing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

The narrative of the meanstream media and the politically correct classes on the situation in Egypt has now started to chrystalize. And lo and behold.. it's a worn out template

Some of the new media, like Sun News of Canada, offer a sound perspective. But they are the exception to the rule. 

After the Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia governments ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood came to power by democratic means. But as much as democrats have sanctioned them, the Ikhwan or the Muslim Brotherhood, is not a normal political party. It isn't, because it's subversive in nature and aims to use democracy (i.e. the ballot box) to come to power, and then use that power to replace democratic values with Islamic ones. 

Nigel Farage in Row Over 'Revolution in Europe'

The pomo world unable to distinguish warning from incitement Nigel Farage finds himself at the centre of a row over 'his suggestion' the EU might be 'violently overthrown'



Nigel Farage Infowars Interview November 28, 2012

Nigel Farage is at the centre of a row last night after appearing to suggest ‘violence’ could be justified to overthrow Brussels bureaucrats. The Ukip leader warned that the EU was heading for ‘revolution’ and said violent protest could be the only way for southern European nations to save their democracies. He also compared ‘emergency powers’ adopted by EU leaders during the euro crisis to Adolf Hitler’s suspension of democracy in 1930s Germany.

Democrats Must Support Regime Change in Egypt

The military in Egypt responded to the will of the people, the source of authority, when they deposed MusBro kingpin Morsi, who had violated inalienable rights and the Constitution



Since rights are primary and the military acted on the will of the people, the MusBro claim to power is illegitimate. H/t @ragaiys

As for the rest, apathy and demands on the military to abstain from violence is a position of neutrality in the face of evil and developing genocide. @AACONS make mince meat out of that argument:

8 Million Egyptian Christians targeted for death by the Muslim Brotherhood as Obama declares US neutrality http://t.co/oL0ucMakAO #tcot
— AACONS (@AACONS) August 17, 2013

There's a good chance that the world's 'democrats' do not need any argument: they're in the tank for the MusBro no matter what. The reason is in plain view and has been for decades: they are against liberty and all the values the West stands for.

They'll always support the enemy, be they Nazis, Soviets, North Vietnamees, Cambodians, Iranian Khomeinists, secular or Islamic terrorists, or the Muslim Brotherhood. They are just made that way.