Refugees as Weapons in a Propaganda War

By= ERIC DRAITSER

Few empires can match, let alone surpass, the olympian cold-blooded cynicism of the criminal American empire.

In the wake of the horrific terror attacks in Paris, world attention will once again be focused on the issue of refugees entering Europe. While much of the spotlight has been rightly pointed at Syrian refugees fleeing the western-sponsored war against the Syrian government, it must be remembered that the refugees come from a variety of countries, each of which has its own particular circumstances, with many of them having been victims of US-NATO aggression in one form or another. Syria, Afghanistan and Libya have of course been targeted by so-called ‘humanitarian wars’ and fake ‘revolutions’ which have left the countries fractured, divided, and unable to function; these countries have been transformed into failed states thanks to US-NATO policy.

What often gets lost in the discussion of refugees however is the fact that a significant proportion of those seeking sanctuary in Europe and the US are from the Horn of Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea primarily. While there is some discussion of this issue in western media, it is mostly ignored when it comes to the first three countries as news of fleeing Sudanese, Somalis, and Ethiopians does not bode well for Washington’s narrative as the US has, in one way or another, been directly involved in each of those countries.

“The flow of refugees is an outgrowth of the policies of the Empire – the same Empire that continues to transform this crisis into a potent weapon of destabilization and war…”

However, in the case of Eritrea, a fiercely independent nation that refuses to bow to the diktats of the US, the country is presented as a seemingly bottomless wellspring of refugees fleeing the country. Were one to read solely the UN reports and news stories, one could be forgiven for thinking that Eritrea has been mostly depopulated as hordes of Eritrean youth flee the country in droves. But that narrative, one which is periodically reinforced by distorted coverage in the media, is quickly being eroded as increasingly the truth is coming out.

Countering the Eritrean Refugee Propaganda

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he popular understanding of Eritrea in the West (to the extent that people know of the country at all) is of a nation, formerly ruled by Ethiopia, which has become the “North Korea of Africa,” a systematic violator of human rights ruled by a brutal dictatorship that uses slave labor and tortures its citizens. As such, Eritrea is immediately convicted in the court of public opinion and, therefore, becomes a convenient scapegoat when it comes to migration. In fact, it seems that the propaganda against Eritrea has been so effective, with the US and Europe so keen to take in anyone fleeing the country, that it has become the stated country of origin for thousands upon thousands of refugees from a number of countries. It seems that African refugees, regardless of their true country of origin, are all Eritreans now.

Take for instance the comments by the Austrian ambassador to Ethiopia who unabashedly explained that, “We believe that 30 to 40 percent of the Eritreans in Europe are Ethiopians.” Depending on who you ask, the numbers may actually be even higher than that. Indeed, being granted asylum in Europe is no easy feat for African refugees who, knowing the political agenda of Europe and its attempts to isolate and destabilize Eritrea through promoting the migration of its citizens, quickly lose their passports and claim to be Eritreans fleeing political persecution.

But who can blame these people when the US itself has established specific policies and programs aimed at luring Eritrean youths away from their country? As WikiLeaks revealed in a 2009 diplomatic cable from the US Embassy entitled “Promoting Educational Opportunity for Anti-Regime Eritrean Youth,” the former US ambassador to Eritrea Ronald K. McMullen noted that the US:

…intends to begin adjudicating student visa applications, regardless of whether the regime is willing to issue the applicant an Eritrean passport and exit visa …With an Eritrean passport and an F1 visa in a Form DS-232, the lucky young person is off to America. For those visa recipients who manage to leave the country and receive UNHCR refugee status, a UN-authorized travel document might allow the young person to travel to America with his or her F1 in the DS-232.…Due to the Isaias regime´s ongoing restrictions on Embassy Asmara, [the US] does not contemplate a resumption of full visa services in the near future. However, giving young Eritreans hope, the chance for an education, and the skills with which to rebuild their impoverished country in the post-Isaias period is one of the strongest signals we can send to the Eritrean people that the United States has not abandoned them…

Using the twin enticements of educational scholarships and escape from mandatory national service, the US and its European allies have attempted to lure thousands of Eritreans to the West in the hopes of destabilizing the Asmara government. As the Ambassador noted, the US intention is to usher in a “post Isaias [Afewerki, president of Eritrea] period.” In other words: regime change. And it seems that Washington and its European allies calculated that their policy of economically isolating Eritrea through sanctions has not effectively disrupted the country’s development.

And it is just such programs and guidelines which look favorably on Eritrean migrants which have motivated tens of thousands of Africans to claim that they all come from the relatively small Eritrea. The reality however is that a significant number of these refugees (perhaps even the majority) are actually from Ethiopia and other countries. As Eritrea-based journalist and East Africa expert Thomas Mountain noted in 2013:

Every year for a decade or more a million Ethiopians, 10 million and counting, have left, or fled, their homeland… Why, why would ten million Ethiopians, one in every 8 people in the country, risking their lives in many cases, seek refuge in foreign, mostly unwelcoming, lands? The answer lies in the policies of the Ethiopian regime which have been described by UN investigators in reports long suppressed with words such as “food and medical aid blockades”, “scorched earth counterinsurgency tactics”, “mass murder” and even “genocide”…Most of the Ethiopians refugees are from the Oromo nationality, at 40 million strong half of Ethiopia, or the ethnic Somalis of the Ogaden. Both of these regions in southern Ethiopia have long been victims of some of the most inhumane, brutal treatment any peoples of the world have ever known.

Oromo refugees in Egypt, demonstrating before the UNCHR offices. The US cynical support for Eritrean refugees” fleeing a dictatorship resembles the treatment accorded anti-Castro Cubans, the justly nicknamed “gusanos”, most of whom fled the island nation in search of the consumer paradise promised by America, not political persecution.

There is little mention of this Ethiopian exodus which, for a variety of reasons, is suppressed in the West. Many of the refugees simply claim to be Eritrean knowing that they stand a far greater chance of being admitted into Europe or the US if they claim origin from a blacklisted country like Eritrea, rather than an ally such as Ethiopia, a country long seen as Washington’s closest partner in the region.

“Is it any wonder that Afewerki and his government are demonized by the West? What is the history of US and European behavior towards independent African leaders who advocated self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist ideology…?”

In fact, Ethiopia is consistently praised as an economic success story, with the World Bank having recently announced that the African nation is the world’s fastest growing economy for 2015-2017. Despite this alleged ‘economic miracle,’ Ethiopia is still hemorrhaging population as citizens flee in their thousands, providing further evidence that outside the glittering capital of Addis Ababa the country remains one of the most destitute and violent in the world.

The same can be said of South Sudan, a country created by the US and Israel primarily, and which has now descended into civil war sending more than 600,000 refugees streaming out of the newly created country, with another 1.5 million internally displaced. Somalia remains a living nightmare for the poor souls unfortunate enough to have been born in a country that is a nation-state in name only. According to the UN, Somalia boasts more than 1.1 million internally displaced refugees with nearly 1 million refugees located outside the country. Taken in total, Ethiopian, South Sudanese, and Somali refugees comprise a population greater than the entire population of Eritrea.

However, Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan are all strategic allies (read clients) of the United States and its western partners; Eritrea is considered persona non grata by Washington. This fundamental fact far more than anything else accounts for the completely distorted coverage of the refugee issue in Eritrea. Put another way, refugees and human trafficking are a convenient public relations and propaganda weapon employed by the US to demonize Eritrea, and to tarnish its project of economic and political self-reliance.

Refugees as Pretext, Independence Is the Real Sin

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ritrea has been demonized by the US and the West mainly because it has refused to be subservient to the imperial system. First and foremost among Eritrea’s grave sins is its stubborn insistence on maintaining full independence and sovereignty in both political and economic spheres. This fact is perhaps best illustrated by Eritrean President Afewerki’s bold rejection of foreign aid of various sorts, stating repeatedly that Eritrea needs to “stand on its own two feet.” Afewerki’s pronouncements are in line with what pan-Africanist leaders such as Thomas Sankara, Marxists such as Walter Rodney, and many others have argued for decades: namely that, as Afewerkie put it in 2007 after rejecting a $200 million dollar “aid” package from the World Bank, “Fifty years and billions of dollars in post-colonial international aid have done little to lift Africa from chronic poverty… [African societies] are crippled societies…You can’t keep these people living on handouts because that doesn’t change their lives.”

Of course, there are also other critical political and economic reasons for Eritrea’s pariah status in the eyes of the so called “developed world,” and especially the US. Perhaps the most obvious, and most unforgiveable from the perspective of Washington, is Eritrea’s stubborn refusal to have any cooperation, formal or informal, with AFRICOM or any other US military. While every other country in Africa with the exception of the equally demonized, and equally victimized, Zimbabwe has some military connections to US imperialism, Eritrea remains stubbornly defiant. I suppose Eritrea takes the notion of post-colonial independence seriously.

Is it any wonder that Afewerki and his government are demonized by the West? What is the history of US and European behavior towards independent African leaders who advocated self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist ideology? The answer is self-evident. Such ideas as those embodied by Eritrea are seen by Washington, London, and Brussels as not only defiant, but dangerous; dangerous not only because of what they say, but dangerous because they’re actually working.

Naturally there are legitimate concerns to be raised about Eritrea and major strides still to be made in the political and economic spheres. Social progress is an arduous process, especially in a part of the world where nearly every other country is racked with violence, genocide, famine, and a host of other existential crises. But the progress necessary for Eritrea will be made by and for Eritreans; it cannot and must not be imposed from without by the same forces that, in their humanitarian magnanimity, rained bombs on Libya and systematically undermined, destabilized, and/or destroyed nations in seemingly every corner of the globe.

Refugees should be treated with dignity and respect. Their suffering should never be trivialized, nor should they be scapegoated as terrorists. But equally so, their tragedies should not be allowed to be cynically exploited for political gain by the West. The flow of refugees is an outgrowth of the policies of the Empire – the same Empire that continues to transform this crisis into a potent weapon of destabilization and war.

This is a crosspost with Journal NEO

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At Night I Hear Victims Shouting

by ANDRE VLTCHEK

It sometimes happens in the middle of a dark night, when I don’t expect it, when I think that I am sound asleep but am not, or when perhaps I really am but not completely. I don’t know. All that I witnessed and overheard, all that I thought I forgot but couldn’t, all that I tried so desperately to forget comes back, first in spasms, then in full force.

I often think that the West went mad. Totally, irreversibly! It turned into a monster, and it keeps manufacturing new, smaller but equally toxic brutes all over the world. It rolls, smashing all that stands on its way. And I am not sure whether it still could be stopped.

Those horrid US military bases on Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands… those Israeli occupation forces choking the Syrian Golan Heights, those helicopter gunships firing at civilian vehicles in Gaza… bombed and burned villages near Mosul, Iraq… images of people slaughtered by pro-Western terrorists in Iran… men who were tortured savagely, and whose wives and daughters were brutally raped in “India-administered” Kashmir, clinging to each other desperately, whispering their stories in some godforsaken villages near the border with Pakistan.

Here, in this essay, I will not, cannot go through the entire catalogue of horrors that has already penetrated my brain, deciding to stay, most likely, forever. The list is too long – almost endless.

Except that it’s not just a list, but a mosaic of true events that occurred to hundreds and thousands of human being in all corners of the world, often in front of my own eyes.

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ometimes, in the middle of the night, I hear people screaming.

I try to work, write books and essays, and make films. I usually don’t allow myself a luxury of talking to others about those nights.

But this time I will. Many of you asked what is fueling my writing; what keeps me going. And why do I dare doing what others don’t, and going where almost no one goes.

Let me reply once and for all. Let me share at least a few personal moments with my readers.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] met a Syrian girl inside a small, informal and unnamed refugee camp, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, near the city of Zahlah. She was a refugee, perhaps five or six years old. At first she was scared when I tried to take her photograph, but then she smiled. Eventually, she showed me her tongue, and moved it, cheekily, to one side of her mouth. She was standing there, in the middle of anonymous camp, with her older sister.

Then, a few moments later, she cautiously came closer to me and touched my hand.

Winter was approaching. Some refugees were freezing, and the girl was suffering from malnutrition. Her natural behavior, her innocence and her obvious oblivion of the war touched me tremendously.

A few weeks later, I drove back with sweets and toys. But the girl had already left. I was told that her family took her north to Aarsal, near the Syrian border where Hezbollah is locked in an epic battle with ISIS. Yes, the same ISIS that were originally trained and armed by NATO in Turkey and Jordan.

I printed her photo and glued it to my refrigerator. I think about her often, almost every day. I don’t know why.

In a way, her image, that of a simple girl, of a child standing in the middle of some horrid refugee camp near a war zone, is a symbol of insanity of the world in which we are forced to live.

In a way, she is a symbol of resistance against savagery of the Empire, a symbol of longing for something normal, longing for sanity in the middle of lunacy.

The conflict, the war in her country, Syria, is so “unnecessary”, so bizarre, so obviously triggered by the West and its vile allies and interests.

Through her youth and eyes full of curiosity and hope, life was managing to prevail over death and dark destructive nihilism. But for how long could it last? In Zahlah the girl was still winning, with her smile and her determination to live, to stay alive. But she is in Aarsal now, where war is ranging, mercilessly. I worry about her. I worry about her so much. And I curse the Empire.

Of course I saw plenty of things that could not be allowed to appear even on the pages of the publications with “tough”, “hardened readership. Some things were so horrible that they would break in half even someone as strong as a bull; things that should not have been seen by anyone, and especially happen to anyone.

Imagine a “refugee camp” near Goma, East Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an insane, stoned militia armed and supported by two closest allies of the West in the region – Rwanda and Uganda – had already raped almost all female inhabitants, from tiny babies to old grandmothers.

Imagine coltan and uranium and diamonds being smuggled from the DRP, shamelessly, under the direct supervision of the UN soldiers, so called “peacekeepers”.

Imagine visiting several villages in Iraq, near Mosul, villages that were first attacked by the ISIL and then bombed, mercilessly, by the USAF. Imagine that you have photographs, as you had photographs of those plundered and raped East Timor villages two decades ago, but frankly, nobody gives a fuck.

And you live with all this, day and night.

Say you saw several Palestinian men after being shot in their balls by Israeli soldiers. You have those images, too, from Shifa Hospital in Gaza. You have plenty of things like that, in your memory drives and in your head.

People without faces, people burned beyond recognition, still alive, still moving, still clinging to life.

It is an “all you can eat” medley of horrors and misery, brought to you by global capitalism, Western imperialism, and Christian fundamentalism!

Then what do you do with it, at night?

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen you are very young and see all this shit for the first time, you simply want to puke. And you puke, actually. Later, you stop puking and if you have balls or ovaries, you fight!

As time passes and most battles are becoming “uphill ones”, you desperately want to be able to trust people or at least one person, one that had earlier came to you, offering to “share all this, and to fight by your side, forever”. But your courage, as well as your dedication, outrage, zeal, desperation and longing gain you nothing, really. You are betrayed, again and again, perhaps because the stakes are too high, the burden too heavy, or simply because your life is actually excessively intense and totally different from the lives of other people.

The lonelier it gets, the more determined you become. There is no going back. The world is in flames. You know it. Not many others realize it. You understand how things are functioning. You have to fight; it is your duty and obligation. And you fight. But there are those nights…

You may be tough as a stone in the middle of terrible battlefields and other most horrendous situations, but at night, you are totally vulnerable and most likely alone.

“In a way, her image, that of a simple girl, of a child standing in the middle of some horrid refugee camp near a war zone, is a symbol of insanity of the world in which we are forced to live…”

When I reached the Eritrean port city of Massawa, almost one year ago, I felt thoroughly exhausted and burned out. I could hardly move, after working a few days earlier just a few kilometers from Mosul, Iraq, and right after that in Lebanon. I felt confused after being crashed and insulted by someone I trusted and fully relied on.

My Eritrean hosts got me a room in some old and terribly run down hotel.

Then, close to midnight, the electric generator gave up the ghost for the rest of the night. No one else was staying on my floor.

I clearly realized that real hell was ahead of me.

For 2 hours I was using the screen of my Mac Book Pro. After it went blank, my phone lasted a little bit longer. Then it was around 3:30AM and pitch dark.

The “procession” began.

I already described such situations in what will be, one day, my 1,000-page novel. But in my book, the victims are passing, night after night, through the secondary border post covered by deep snow, high in the mountains, between Argentina and Chile. They are passing on board old trucks, and in the morning, only deep holes in the virgin snow, holes created by warm streams of blood, could remain the main character about the events of the previous night.

In Eritrea, the victims of the Empire were passing only through in my mind, in my memory. They were passing one by one. Peruvian victims, Colombian victims; victims from Indonesia, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Philippines, the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Serbia, Nicaragua, Honduras… victims from dozens of other countries, mainly women; because women always suffer the most. Unnecessary deaths – people who just perished for no particular reason; only because the Empire could not stop looting, murdering, aiming at absolute control over the world.

At some point I gave up: I opened my eyes, staring into the darkness, fists clenched.

Everything inside the room was static. Only my memory was alive.

This was the price of knowing.

I was willing to pay anything; I was never known to be stingy. No price was too high for me.

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ighting against the Empire, exposing its barbarity, learning about its deeds – it all is tremendously overtaxing. Because the Empire is sick, because Western culture turned a long time ago into a pathology, because too many human beings are dying or are having their lives ruined, just so the excessive needs and appetites of the rulers of the world, of their global regime, are satisfied.

A few months after that dreadful night on the coast of Eritrea, I was invited to speak at the 14th International Symposium on the Contributions of Psychology to Peace, in Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa.

A few hours after delivering my presentation on the topic of absolute destruction of the African continent by Western imperialism, I found myself facing several top psychologists from all corners of the globe:

“How do you manage to survive all that you just described, psychologically and physically?”

I told them that I am not managing at all, but I have no choice. Someone has to do what I am doing. Otherwise no alternative, no real information could flow.

They asked me to take a break, to rest, for at least several months. I nodded. Then we all began to laugh. Psychologists are known to have a great sense of humour.

A SMALL DIGRESSION
Where do great revolutionary journalists, great truth tellers like the author of this essay, find the energy, the inspiration to go on despite so many horrors, setbacks and frequent disappointments? Despite the many lonely nights, when tears are often the only companions? They follow the example of great men. The heroes, visionaries, and martyrs who show the way.

Don Salvador Allende, the late president of Chile, was one of these heroes. And it is a measure of his character that in the extreme circumstances in which he found himself on that fateful day, 11 September 1973, betrayed by the military and a substantial segment of the middle class, amotinada, with his government palace surrounded and under heavy bombardment, victim of a sordid coup organized by US imperialism, he retained the dignity and composure to give the people of Chile, and the world, a brave and poetic message of farewell and hope.

sooner rather than later, great avenues —grandes alamedas—would open again… where free men would walk to build a better society.” ⁽¹⁾ Grandes alamedas…Yes, mobilizing the masses through education and correct information is part of building those alamedas Allende spoke about. And as Andre Vltchek says, someone has to do it. It has to be done. —PG

Lizard

“I am absolutely devastated”, my dear friend Binu Matthew, a legendary editor of the most important Indian left wing news site, Countercurrents, told me couple of months earlier, as we were driving through his state of Kerala. “I am coping with all those horrors that imperialism is spreading all over the world. It all goes through me. I suffer because of each piece of terrible information that is published by my site. It puts me through tremendous psychological strain.”

When things get tough, I imagine a few people; men, women and children, from all corners of the world; people who touched me, who suffered immensely, and who are still most likely in distress.

Their faces, their tears, even their screams, motivate me to keep working.

The Syrian girl from a refugee camp in Bekaa Valley is one of them. I have no right to stop, to back down and to fail her.

It is tremendous shame, disgrace, the hard bottom that our civilization has managed to hit: profits over people, superiority dogmas, and above all – Western fascism.

But the battle is on.

My 1,000-page novel had been, for some time, delayed, but I incorporated many of its stories into my huge 820-page book, Exposing Lies Of The Empire.

One day, hopefully soon, humanism will win over dark nihilism; people will live for other people and not for some cold profits, religious dogmas and “Western values”. Imperialism will be defeated once and for all.

One day we will be building enormous monuments to those who vanished, to those who suffered immensely, to “un-people” whose tears most of us do not even see, whose screams of horror and pain are muzzled by horrendous lies, deranged pop music and movie soundtracks, by whoring mass media, and by a formal education which is distributed to everyone like a poison, like sedatives, like a tool that makes most of the people on this scarred Earth disappear from our consciousness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”. Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

ADDENDUM

⁽¹⁾ Last words to the nation of Salvador Allende.

“Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the towers of Radio Portales and Radio Corporación.

My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [national police].

Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign!

Placed in a historic juncture, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seed which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.

They have strength and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested neither by crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.

Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector which will today be in their homes hoping, with foreign assistance, to retake power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.

I address, above all, the modest woman of our land, the farmer who believed in us, the worker who labored more, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals, those who days ago continued working against the sedition sponsored by professional associations, class-based associations that also defended the advantages which a capitalist society grants to a few.

I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to protect them. They were committed. History will judge them.

Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to [inaudible] the workers.

The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.

Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.

Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!

These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.”

………..

Último discurso de Salvador Allende traducido al inglés por: Felipe Henríquez Ordenes @PipeHenriquez

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Lebanon: ‘A land divided and subservient to outside forces’

= By Andre Vltchek=

Explosion in Beirut's Hezbollah quarter.

Explosion in Burj al-Barajneh, Beirut’s Hezbollah quarter.

For years it was a well known fact that ISIS had managed to infiltrate Beirut. It was not promenading its soldiers through the capital – far from it! It was lying low, appearing dormant, but ready to strike at any moment.

…

While Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army have been locked in what could only be described as “epic battles” with ISIL in the north of the country near the border with Syria, countless deadly cells of this Sunni Muslim terrorist organization (ISIL) were increasing their presence in all major Lebanese cities, including the country’s capital Beirut.

“ISIL militants are living not only in the Sunni Muslim parts of the city,” a local academic explained to me. “They are residing even in some of the upscale Christian neighborhoods. They managed to infiltrate the entire country. They can strike anytime and anywhere they want.”

And on November 12, 2015 they did strike with full force. Three suicide bombers penetrated Burj al-Barajneh, a suburb of Beirut and a predominantly Shia neighborhood, a stronghold of Hezbollah.

One suicide bomber rode on a motorbike through the Ain al-Sikke neighborhood, and then blew himself up in the middle of the road, in front of a popular coffee stand, during rush hour. As people ran to the site, trying to help the victims, the second blast was suddenly heard. The third bomber was unable to detonate his device, as one of the explosions tore him apart.

The carnage could have been worse. Allegedly, the suicide bombers were trying to enter a Shia mosque during prayers, but were stopped.

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the night of the attack, to get to the site was almost impossible. Hezbollah volunteers cordoned the area and the Lebanese security forces, both police and the army supported them. It felt like a war and in a way, it was a war.

“Suddenly, the war in Syria came to Beirut…through the deeds of ISIL – the deadliest terrorist organization in the region that has clearly detectable links with both Saudi Arabia and the West…”

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement they posted online: “A soldier of the caliphate blew himself up in the stronghold of the heretics, and after the apostates crowded around the site of the explosion, a second martyr blew himself up using his explosive belt.”

In the language of Wahhabi Sunni fundamentalists, Shia Muslims are defined as ‘apostates’ and legitimate targets.

This was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the modern history of Lebanon. At least 43 people lost their lives and over 200 were injured.

Residents and Lebanese army members inspect a damaged area caused by two explosions in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon November 12, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan

Something fragile got broken. Something terrible was put in motion.
But many Lebanese people are not yet willing to give up. In her emotional discourse, Ms. Zeinab Al Saffar, a prominent socio-political talk show anchor and producer (Al-Mayadeen TV), declared one day after the carnage: “I think that after what we’ve seen and witnessed yesterday, apart from the huge losses of our dear ones and the pain of the injured and all the families, especially the mothers, our people are now more deeply rooted in their national resistance; they are standing firm in face of any schemes that targets the resistance! It is now clear that defending our land and people, even with our own bodies and our own children if necessary, is something that is inculcated in our blood since our inception. Believe me: we are strong! And we will remain steadfast and strong!”

Lebanon declared 13 November a day of national mourning.

On the streets and in the offices of Beirut, people have been speaking about insecurity and fear. Suddenly, the war in Syria came to their doorsteps. And this time it was not only through more than two million Syrian refugees who are already scattered all over this tiny country, but through the deeds of ISIL – the deadliest terrorist organization in the region that has clearly detectable links with both Saudi Arabia and the West.

Ms. Rania, who works for an international organization in Beirut, exclaimed: “We had been feeling increasingly very unsafe in Beirut, but what happened last night shocked me and my family. But thinking about it, we shouldn’t be really surprised because a battle with ISIS and Al Nusra has been waged on our Lebanese soil for some time. It was perhaps only the matter of time when we would be stricken here in Beirut.”

Residents inspect a damaged area caused by two explosions in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 12, 2015. © Khalil Hassan

A local financial expert, Mr. Mahmoud: “Those who are fighting on our territory know that Lebanon has a huge vacuum now, politically and militarily. Imagine that we have not even been able to find solutions to our garbage problem, for more than three months now! Lebanon is so weak now. Anyone can move in and exploit the situation!”

Lebanon has practically no functioning government, and it is now experiencing total collapse of its infrastructure. It feels that everyone gave up on the country. The nation is divided and fully subservient to the outside forces (politically), be it the West, Saudi Arabia or Iran. Economically it mainly depends on remittances, production of drugs, foreign handouts and shady investments in West Africa.

Many of the two million refugees who are now living in Lebanon are not even registered, and the strain on the country’s sanitation, electric utilities, medical care and other basic services is tremendous.

Hezbollah, a Shia movement with strong links to Iran, is the only solid social force in the country, which extends its hand well beyond its religious realm. It is also the main adversary to ISIL. It has already lost more men in the fight against ISIL than it did when fighting against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Hard hit by Russian air power and by the advancing army in neighboring Syria, both principal regional terrorist groups – ISIL and Al Nusra – are becoming increasingly desperate. ISIL never abandoned their dream of establishing a caliphate in northern Lebanon, as both expansion and back-up plan.

Lebanon is weak, the border with Syria is porous, and tens of thousands of potential fighters are now said to be hiding among the multitude of refugees. And refugees do not come in a homogeneous group: even in Burj al-Barajneh, there is an old Palestinian refugee camp with many of those who are sympathizing with the Sunni extremist groups.

It is even possible that, should ISIL and Al Nusra be defeated in Syria, they could regroup and rise again here in Lebanon.

Suicide attacks in Burj al-Barajneh on November 12 are a chilling preview of the horrors that may soon become a norm in this split and confused country.

Of course it is time for Lebanon to unite, but could it? It is time for the West, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to stop supporting terrorist groups in Syria. For as long as the war in Syria is raging, there is increasing danger that Lebanon, this small but spectacular country, this tiny sister of Syria, could be infested with brutal outside forces and then, once again, go up in flames.

Born in St. Petersburg, Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”. Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter. Reach him at andre.vltchek@greanvillepost.com

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The Saudi Prince and Two Tons of Narcotics

Breaking News…

by ANDRE VLTCHEK

saudi-prince-drug-bust

Saudi Prince Abdulmohsen bin Walid bin Abdulmohsen bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was obviously not fully satisfied with his life. A private jet, several luxury cars and a mansion were not enough to make him feel a truly fulfilled and respected member of the Gulf ruling “elites”. Others had more, like those double-decker Airbus 380’s, or tremendous duplexes overlooking Karbala.

Perhaps that was the reason why he tried so hard to catch up, by smuggling from Beirut, Lebanon to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (KSA), some 40 suitcases and boxes neatly packed with Captagon pills, with some cocaine thrown in for good measure.

I say “perhaps”, because there are, of course, some other options and possibilities…

In fact there are many different first-hand takes on every aspect and detail of the story.

According to various reports, a simple and honest security guard at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport stopped the Prince and asked him to open his suitcases.

“I have a diplomatic passport!” protested the Prince.

“You do, but your luggage doesn’t”, explained the guard, phlegmatically.

What followed was described by several mainstream media outlets.

On November 2, Reuters reported:

“Lebanese authorities detained five Saudi citizens at the airport last week after finding two tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills bound for Saudi Arabia on a private jet, security sources and the NNA said, the biggest smuggling operation ever discovered at the airport. On Monday the prince and four other people in custody were accused of the crime, the NNA cited Claude Karam, public prosecutor for the Mount Lebanon area, as saying. The charges were also leveled at five other people in absentia, he added…. Consumption of Captagon outside the Middle East is negligible, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said last year, but it is a significant drug in the Gulf. Lebanon and neighboring Syria are conduit routes for the drug.”

The Guardian (UK) captioned this photo rather matter-of-factly: “Free Syrian Army fighters in Aleppo … many in the conflict are using the drug to keep going…The drug [Captagon], widely used in the Middle East but unknown elsewhere, is keeping fighters on their feet during grueling battles and generating money for more weapons.” Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

According to other sources, the interception was prepared well in advance and the security officers at the checkpoint that had been set up for the passengers coming and leaving Beirut on their private jets, knew well in advance about the content of the cargo, which was covered with Saudi Arabian official emblems. An x-ray machine that was hardly used at that particular section, suddenly and miraculously became operational.

The prince and his cohorts were thoroughly checked, and then detained.

This was the biggest contraband ever discovered at this already notorious airport. Just to put things into some visual perspective: imagine a full-sized hippopotamus, weighing around 2 tons. This is how heavy the narco-contraband was in possession of His Highness, and his 4 chums. What an appetite! All that stuff has a value of around US$280 million at the “market price”.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he prince could not be truly so daring, could he? Princes are usually not… 2 tons of drugs leaving Beirut, and the same 2 tons arriving at Riyadh airport! In his country, some poor Philippine maid or a Bangladeshi guest worker would be chopped to pieces for just a few grams of cocaine. And in some Saudi ideological, Wahhabi colonies, like Indonesia, any foreigner or non-elite citizen would be shot like a stray dog for trafficking almost any amount of drugs. 2 tons would put anyone in the KSA or Indonesia into a giant, slowly rotating blender!A prince of one of the closest allies of the West would surely not break the law in such an outrageously extreme manner. Unless…

Unless he knew something, was told something, or was on a mission!

“Yes, they will let him go”, lamented a prominent Lebanese political analyst who did not want to be identified (out of fear that Saudis would retaliate). “They have a license to kill, rape, smuggle with complete impunity, and yet still couldn’t manage to let women get a drivers license because of ‘norm-wise’ and religion-wise it is not advisable, yet raping and killing innocent people and dealing with and smuggling drugs is fair and square in their own interpretation of religion. Their royalty is acting very un-regally. And what is happening here: This is Lebanon and everything here is a matter of ‘give and take’.

It means: Saudis give. They give to the local Sunni “elites”. And then they take…

There has been no comment from Saudi authorities on the case. Several of my colleagues in Lebanon tried to extract at least some comment, some explanation, but found nobody who would be willing to speak at the Saudi embassy in Beirut.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Saudi Royal Family has a truly ‘colorful’ history, from ancient to modern times. Let’s forget, for now, how they and their British allies and handlers, infested the entire region with the Wahhabi teaching.

Earlier this year, while his country was bombing and murdering thousands of innocent people in Yemen, another Saudi prince was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly trying to force a woman to perform oral sex on him at a Beverly Hills mansion. A news agency, Sputnik, reported:

“Last month, another Saudi prince was arrested in Los Angeles accused of taking cocaine, sexually assaulting a maid, threatening to kill women who refused his sexual advances and having sex with his male aide.”

But the US authorities decided not to pursue the charge, citing a lack of evidence. Perhaps the same reason why the UN decided not to pursue the charges against Saudi acts of terror against Yemen.

In 2013, a Saudi princess was accused in Los Angeles of enslaving a Kenyan woman as a housemaid, but the charges were also eventually dropped.

After all, the Saudi Royal family is one of the closest allies of the West. A Saudi prince can definitely count on a very different treatment than Julian Assange, when it comes to some sexual allegations.

***

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile several Western mass media outlets commented abstractly that Captagon pills are mainly used in the Gulf and in Syria, local sources concretely confirmed that it is a drug of choice for so-called “Syrian rebels”, including the ISIS. The India Times ran a story with the title: “Saudi Prince Caught With 2 Tons Of ISIS’s Favorite Drugs In Lebanon”.

Not surprisingly, most European and US mainstream newspapers and television channels decided not to investigate any further, most of the latest reports date back to 2 November 2015. It was all getting “just too risqué”.

Perhaps the most colorful report went to print on October 28, written by Robert Fisk and published by The Independent:

“…The Lebanese who grabbed them must regret that their customs scanner ever picked up the cargo… The eloquent Lebanese Minister of the Interior Nouhad Machnouk has already denied knowledge of any details of the affair – a likely story – saying that it is “in the hands of the justice [ministry]… ”.

Fisk concludes in the most appropriately sarcastic manner:

“But let’s rely on Lebanese justice. Innocent until proved guilty. Lebanon’s large Sunni Muslim community loves Sunni Saudi Arabia. Indeed, two of its prime ministers (Hariri, father and son, both good men) have been Saudi as well as Lebanese citizens. All just one big mistake, surely. Wrongly labeled boxes. Or perhaps a fiendish conspiracy by Saudi’s Hezbollah enemies in Beirut to embarrass the most respected royal family in the Middle East.”

The diplomatic community in Lebanon is entertaining several theories, but all of them are presented on “off the record” bases. One is linking the arrest of the Prince to a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who is facing a death sentence in Saudi Arabia, for political dissent.

As Press TV reported on October 28:

“On October 25, Mohammed said in a message on social media that the Saudi Supreme Court and an appellate court had approved the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and authorized the Saudi Interior Ministry to carry out the sentence previously handed down to the eminent cleric.”

Mohammed al-Nimr is a brother of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

And pay attention to the dates!

Several influential Shia politicians in Lebanon, the theory says, are behind the arrest. The prince arrested in Beirut could be, hypothetically, swapped for the cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

***

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is all a very big game. And captagon is not just some recreational drug, intended for underground nightclubs in the Gulf, and for notorious private orgies in Saudi Arabia. It is, as I was told by local experts, a “drug that makes one extremely brutal; a drug, which destroys all fear”. It is a “combat narcotic”, which has been given mainly to the ISIS fighters.

“It could have been destined for Iraq and the ISIS cells there, but most likely the Saudi Prince was bringing it for the Saudi allies in Yemen” I was told on the basis of anonymity. “Or both… Most likely: both.”

It was explained that those countless pills of captagon were produced and purchased in or around the town of Aarsal, in northern Lebanon on the Syrian border, an area controlled by ISIS, only around 15 kilometers from the major archeological site of Baalbek.

This still does not explain the origin or destination of the cocaine which was also found in possessions of the Saudi prince. But perhaps the cocaine was just a personal affair and booty of a member of Royal Family. That we may never find out.

***

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ebanon is a collapsed country, which, apart from narcotics, food and some construction materials, produces hardly anything. Most of the funds come from remittances, and drug trade. There is some blood money pouring in from “investments” in West Africa. Almost everything very ugly, if not outrightly horrifying! For some time now, Lebanon has no truly functional government. It recently experienced unrest over the meltdown of basic infrastructure, corruption and the horrid state of all basic services. It is an extreme capitalist country.

It is also an extremely divided country; divided along religious lines, and social classes, recently inundated by more than 2 million, mainly Syrian, refugees. Syria is destabilized, totally ruined, by the Western imperialist policies. While Lebanon lacking ideology, plays with anyone who pays: be it the West, or all sorts of Christian sects, as well as Sunni and Shi’a Islam.

Saudi Arabian citizens have been using Lebanon as their playground, for decades. This is where they have been historically coming for shopping, “entertainment”, easy sex and yes, narcotics – not unlike Egypt and Indonesia. But big smuggling of narcotics, drug orgies and big political and military games (sometimes all are inter-connected) in which hard drugs play an important role, are reserved exclusively for the “elites”.

Saudi Arabia is playing an extremely important role here, economically and “ideologically”. It fuels the wars and conflicts, from Yemen to Syria and beyond. It pays blood money for secrecy and silence. It pays a lot. Therefore, the recent arrest of the Saudi prince is something absolutely unexpected and extraordinary.

***

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]efore this essay went to print, several deadly explosions devastated a southern Shi’a suburb of Beirut, Burj al-Barajneh, one of the strongholds of Hezbollah on November 12. Dozens of people were killed and around 200 wounded. Most likely ISIS or the al-Nusra Front performed this carnage. Both terrorist groups are backed by Saudi Arabia and are fighting against the government of al-Assad in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Further investigation will show to what extend are these two stories directly or indirectly related.

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”.Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

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Conversation with Noam Chomsky on Syria

annal of the anti-communist left

SURELY THE GREAT INTELLECT REALIZES HE IS OBJECTIVELY HELPING IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA?

What Gives?

By Jay Tharappel

Jay Tharappel on Facebook

My Email Correspondence With Noam Chomsky: 1/1/15 – 3/1/15

[Originally] 3 January 2015 at 11:13
SPOTTER: VANESSA BEELEY

Note: As I understand legal principles. This transcript has not been altered to the extent that it constitutes a misrepresentation of the original source. All alterations are purely cosmetic, i.e. the removal of repetitive back correspondence. Disclosing this correspondence is ONLY an invasion of privacy if the publication contains material that a reasonable person would expect the author (of the said material) to remain private. This is highly unlikely given that Mr. Chomsky’s career involves publicly discussing the very topics featured in this transcript.

Jay Tharappel

Hey, in this interview you state at 4:33.

“The major ground forces that are fighting ISIS are apparently the PKK and its allies in Syria…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5meC4Z61qGg

By allies in Syria it’s clear you’re referring to the YPG. Just curious why you didn’t mention the Syrian Arab Army, which has been fighting ISIS since its inception?

Noam Chomsky

The Syrian army appears to be pursuing Assad’s own objectives, fighting ISIS being a secondary concern on the ground.

Jay Tharappel

What’s “Assad’s own objectives” and why are they more important than fighting ISIS, in your opinion?

Noam Chomsky

Assad’s own objectives are to stay in power no matter how many Syrians he kills and how much damage he does to the country

Jay Tharappel

What do you make of the efforts made by the Syrian government, over the past four years, to address the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people with a constitutional referendum removing the Baath party’s political monopoly, the parliamentary elections, and the presidential elections of 2014 in which 15.6 million Syrians were eligible to vote, 11.6 million Syrians voted, 10.3 million for President Assad?

Doesn’t this suggest, at the very least, that the status quo is preferable to Syrians over the alternative, which is for the government to fall to sectarian death-squads?

Noam Chomsky

The efforts were a poor joke, particularly while Syria was slaughtering the Syrian people.

This is an improbable, almost surreal exchange…but we remain in awe of Tharappel’s dogged persistence, and…almost equally impressed with Noam’s civility. How many 86-year-olds are capable of covering the range of intellectual activities that Chomsky surely engages in every day…and still spend time answering notes from a young critic who is clearly out to expose him as an unreliable voice for the left?

Whether the monstrous Assad regime is better than the various possible alternatives – Rojava, ISIS, the now defunct Free Syrian Army, the Syrian democrats who protested repression and then were crushed by violence,… — I leave to you to decide.

Jay Tharappel

There’s much to suggest the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is NOT slaughtering its own people.

Around 30K SAA soldiers have died in this conflict, which would imply that a significantly larger number of rebels have been killed.

Given the uneven casualty-exchange ratios to be expected between a mechanised army and guerrillas, it’s quite possible that up to 3 or 4 times as many rebels have been killed, which would imply that the majority being killed are armed combatants on all sides.

These claims about the SAA mowing down civilians are provided by unreliable opposition sources as Nir Rosen, who you’ve cited as credible in the past, has already pointed out:

“Every day the opposition gives a death toll, usually without any explanation of the cause of the deaths. Many of those reported killed are in fact dead opposition fighters, but the cause of their death is hidden and they are described in reports as innocent civilians killed by security forces, as if they were all merely protesting or sitting in their homes.” [13/02/2012 Al-Jazeera]

The atrocities committed by ISIS, Al-Nusra, the Islamic Front, the FSA etc. are frequent and uncontested, whereas the crimes that the Syrian government has been accused of committing by the US backed SNC opposition i.e. Houla, Banias, Bayda, Tremseh, have been bitterly contested and crushed by different sources.

The Syrian democrats, far from being “crushed by violence”, have won most of their demands.

They wanted, an end to the Baath party’s political monopoly, an objective constitutional criteria for the licensing of new political parties, an end to sweeping security laws, a constitutional referendum parliamentary elections, and presidential elections – ALL of which have been delivered by Assad’s government in the middle of a violent insurgency.

Now the only people fighting the Syrian state are extremist reactionaries.

If you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”?

Again, out of the 15.8 million eligible voters, 11.6 million voted, 10.3 million voted for President Assad. That’s 88 percent of the vote with a participation rate of 73 percent, which is around 20 percent better than US elections which you encourage people to participate in.

I’m just curious as to why you haven’t vocally opposed US support for death-squads in Syria?

Final question.

Are you, at the very least, willing to voice your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?

These sanctions, on top of the effects of war, have contributed to a sharp devaluation of the Syrian pound and potentially may end up being as damaging as the sanctions on Iraq?

P.S. I wanted to thank you personally for your books which really helped me understand the world as a teenager.

Regards,

Jay Tharappel

Noam Chomsky

Some of this is accurate, the exculpation of the vicious Assad regime is not. I haven’t written about the rather ambiguous US role in Syria (sic)

Jay Tharappel

I asked you a few other questions, Noam.

If you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”? Are you, at the very least, willing to voice your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?

Jay

[*THIS IS NOT PART OF THE CORRESPONDENCE: Admittedly I would have been better off asking him “If you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, and given that they largely achieved their demands, is it fair to dismiss the government’s efforts at reform as a “poor joke”?”]

Noam Chomsky

I notice that you depart from the normal practice, and do not include back correspondence so that the recipient can know what you are talking about. I took the trouble to look it up. You wrote: “What do you make of the efforts made by the Syrian government, over the past four years, to address the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people…”

I responded that “the efforts are a poor joke.”

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

I accidentally deleted everything on that email,hence the absent back correspondence. Sorry about that. Yes, I know you answered that question. Thank you.

I also asked two other questions which I was curious to get your answer on.

They are:

1. If you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”?

2. Are you, at the very least, willing to voice your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?

For context, these were the questions I asked in that long email I sent earlier.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

It seems that you don’t read the letters you receive, which makes correspondence impossible. Take a look at my last letter, and your question 1.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Believe you me I’ve read everything you wrote.

I asked you: “What do you make of the efforts made by theSyrian government, over the past four years, to address the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people…”

And you responded with “the efforts are a poor joke.”

The reason I asked you the question, ‘if you sympathise with thoseSyrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”?’, is because earlier you mentioned “the Syrian democrats who protested repression and then were crushed by violence”.

In response to this I pointed out that the demands of the Syrian democrats were all agreed to and implemented by the Syrian government and I cited all the major examples of this.

As such, to suggest (as you did) that they were crushed in any significant political sense is false.

I was also hoping to direct your attention to the irony of you initially expressing sympathy with those “Syrian democrats”, only to then discredit the democratic reforms they demanded and won as a “poor joke”.

If you sympathise with the “Syrian democrats” you have to concede that they got what they wanted, which is good.

If the reforms were a “poor joke” because according to you they were accompanied by the Syrian government “slaughtering the Syrian people”, then I provided separate reasoning for why such a characterisation is false, and am more than happy to provide you with more reasons.

P.S. don’t forget the other question, ‘are you, at the very least,willing to voice your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?’.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

In short, when you asked why I denounce the achievements of the Syrian democrats as a “poor joke,” you knew that I was not referring to them at all, but rather to the Syrian government and your claims about its achievements.

Nothing could show more clearly that your attempt at correspondence is a poor joke.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Well yes, obviously I *know* you weren’t referring to the Syrian democrats as a “poor joke” but rather to my claims about the Syrian government’s reforms.

My point is that the Syrian democrats (who we both sympathise with) ended up getting what they wanted, i.e. the series of constitutional reforms I mentioned to you earlier.

Therefore your original contention that the “Syrian democrats”were “crushed by violence” is clearly false given that their demands for constitutional reform were implemented by the government.

To avoid any semantic confusion, I have assumed that the only political significance the term “crushed by violence” can have, is in referring to the successful suppression of a popular movement.

In Syria this didn’t happen because as I said, the Syrian democrats got what they wanted.

That’s my point.

How about the sanctions question?

‘Are you, at the very least, willing to voice your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?’.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

Since you *know* I wasn’t referring to the Syrian democrats as a “poor joke,” then why did you write: “If you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”?

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Because they’re two completely different claims.

We both know you didn’t refer to the Syrian democrats as a “poor joke”.

However the question I asked was why you appear to denounce their *achievements* as a “poor joke”.

Those *achievements* referring to the series of constitutional reforms I mentioned earlier.

Again, my actual contention was stated in my first long post.

“The Syrian democrats, far from being “crushed by violence”,have won most of their demands.”

Given that the Syrian democrats got the reforms they wanted, clearly your claim that their movement was supposedly “crushed by violence” is plainly false.

Sorry for any ambiguity on my part.

Regards

Jay

Noam Chomsky

“’if you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a “poor joke”?

If you’re not capable of recognizing simple and unambiguous facts, don’t waste your time and mine.

Jay Tharappel

What “simple and unambiguous facts” are you referring to now?

Are they “facts” about Syria’s reforms that validate your “poor joke” claim? If so, why haven’t you detailed any?

Again, my ORIGINAL contention is that the following claim of yours is false:

“the Syrian democrats who protested repression and then were crushed by violence”

In response to this, I am saying that the Syrian democrats were NOT crushed by violence because they ended up getting ALL the reforms they wanted.

You then began accusing me, of accusing you, of referring to the Syrian democrats themselves as a “poor joke”, which I NEVER did.

Please focus on my ORIGINAL contention.

Regards,

Jay

Noam Chomsky

The simple and unambiguous facts are that you claimed that I denounced the achievements of the Syrian democrats as“poor joke,” when you knew perfectly well that I was referring to the Assad regime.

For reasons that are you’re business, you continue to pretend otherwise.

Until you can bring yourself to face simple and unambiguous facts, there’s no point pretend to have a correspondence.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Some clarification.

I asked you: “What do you make of the efforts made by theSyrian government…to address the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people…?”

To which you replied: “The efforts were a poor joke” and followed that up with “the Syrian democrats who protested repression…were crushed by violence”.

In response, I stated that I disagreed with your claim that the Syrian democrats were “crushed by violence” on the basis that their demands were acceded to by the government.

After making this point, I asked you “if you sympathise with those Syrian democrats, why would you denounce their achievements as a”poor joke”?”

The *purpose* of this question was to highlight the contradiction in your argument.

My premise (backed up by facts) is that the Syrian democrats got what they wanted, which, if true, undermines your claim that the government’s efforts were “a poor joke”.

If you’re saying the efforts were a “a poor joke” because of the Syrian government’s military measures, then it’s my contention that one shouldn’t conflate the Syrian democrats with the armed insurgency.

Why? Because the former wanted merely to reform the state (and they succeeded) whereas the latter still want to overthrow the state (and replace it, I’d argue, with something worse than the existing government).

As such, your claim that the “Syrian democrats” were “crushed by violence” is wrong for TWO reasons.

Firstly because the Syrian democrats got the reforms they wanted.

Secondly because the Syrian democrats were NOT the targets of the government’s military operations. This source details my reasoning: http://www.premshankarjha.com/2014/02/27/syria-who-fired-the-first-shot/

I appreciate your willingness to discuss these issues.

Regards,

Jay

Noam Chomsky

Sorry, but there isn’t the slightest contradiction, just your falsification, which is, again, simple and unambiguous. As you now recognise, my statement that “The efforts were a poor joke” referred to your claims about the Syrian government. You then asked why I denounce the achievements of Syrian democrats as a poor joke.

That’s straight, simple, unambiguous falsification. If you can’t accept that much, there’s no point pretend to have a correspondence.

Jay Tharappel

Yes, we’ve clarified this a few times now.

I accept that there’s a difference, at least semantically between your denouncing the government’s reform efforts as a”poor joke”, and my inference that this in turn amounted to you denouncing the achievements of Syrian democrats.

However, the underlying*substance* of my inference was that the Syrian democrats got the reforms they wanted, and as such, the government’s efforts cannot be considered a “poor joke”.

My main point however was that your claim that the “Syrian democrats” were “crushed by violence” is wrong.

You seem unwilling to address this point.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

I’m sorry, it’s not a difference “at least semantically.” It’s simply a straight falsehood. And there’s no possible inference of the kind you mention.

Since you don’t want to enter into a discussion, I shouldn’t bother answering your “main point,” which is incorrect, severely, as you can easily learn from the correspondents who do the best working the area: Patrick Cockburn, Charles Glass, Jonathan Steele, others. If you want to debate them, contact them. But I think I can predict that if you refuse to acknowledge simple and unambiguous facts, they won’t even bother responding.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

It’s not a falsehood if you accept the argument that the Syrian democrats got what they wanted, and as such, that their ”achievements” match the efforts of the Syrian government.

This would also mean you can’t simply write off the Syrian government’s efforts as a “poor joke” if those efforts matched the demands of the Syrian democrats.

Whether I believe I adequately qualified my statement or whether it’s a falsehood as you allege is entirely peripheral to my main point, and as such doesn’t preclude entering into a discussion about my main point.

In response to my main point, you’ve merely asserted that I’m wrong, and then appealed to the authority of three correspondents who apparently disagree with me, although I doubt you know their arguments.

That you couldn’t, and still can’t provide any reasons of your own suggests that you’re really not familiar with this topic.

Do you even know what the new constitutional laws are for the licensing of new political parties?

Jay

Noam Chomsky

If you were capable of rising to a minimal level of honesty, a discussion would be possible. And I would then suggest that you learn something about the topic, referring you to sources. But until you can accept the first condition, don’t waste your time and mine any further.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Fine, we both accept that you referred to the Syrian government’s efforts as a”poor joke”, not the achievements of the Syrian democrats.

That still takes nothing away from my MAIN point.

When you finally got around to addressing my main point all you could do was name three journalists, whose reports I read avidly by the way, as if that constituted an argument.

The point, which I will repeat again, is that your claim that Syrian democrats, referring more broadly to the reform movement, was “crushed by violence” is false for two reasons.

Firstly, it was not crushed in any serious political sense because all the major demands of this movement were addressed through major constitutional reform.

Secondly, those Syrian democrats cannot be conflated with the armed insurgency. The Syrian state has targeted the latter, not the former.

To be sure, there was a well-documented incident in Maarat Al-Nu’man in Idlib where state security was allegedly responsible for killing protestors.

The local government then struck a deal with the protestors and removed four hundred security personnel from the town and confined the remaining 90 police/army personnel to their barracks.

Five thousand people marched in peacefully, but this time they were joined by armed men, initially with pistols, then with ”rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers held by men with heavy beards in cars and pick-ups with no registration plates”

[See ‘Syria caught in crossfire of extremists: Pro-democracy demonstrators in Syria fear that armed jihadis are provoking much of the latest bloodshed’ by Hala Jaber, Sunday Times, 26/06/14]

This incident, and many others like it, of peaceful protests calling for reforms being infiltrated by armed insurgents who used them to stage attacks against state forces, which then elicits a predictable violent military response, have definitely happened, but the Syrian democrats were not the targets.

Again what was your response to me?

To tell me to go read the works of Patrick Cockburn, Charles Glass, and Jonathan Steele, as if that constituted an argument.

So yes, to borrow your own words, if you were capable of rising to a minimal level of honesty, a discussion would be possible.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

Glad to know that you accept the unambiguous fact.

If you don’t agree with the few people who are following the situation closely, and have excellent reputations for accuracy, then by all means communicate with them to explain to them why they are wrong.

Jay Tharappel

When did I say I don’t agree with them?

Again, all you’ve done is allege that they disagree with me without so much as pointing to an article of theirs to back up your argument that ”the Syrian democrats who protested repression then were crushed by violence”.

As I said before, I’ve read their reports, especially those of Cockburn and Glass, and none of them come close to implying, as you have, that the Syrian government’s reform efforts are a “poor joke”.

Take for example the reforms that led to last year’s Presidential elections, Cockburn writes:

“The presidential election – which Mr Assad will inevitably win –is a public rejection of demands by the opposition and its foreign backers that he should leave power.”

The implication from Cockburn being that the elections demonstrate the will of the Syrian people. If he thought they were a “poor joke” as you’ve done, he would have questioned the election’s relevance if not its validity.

So no, I don’t need to communicate with them to disagree with you.

What *are* your opinions regarding the reforms implemented by the Syrian government?

Surely you’ve got a better answer than “poor joke”.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

When Cockburn says that he will “inevitably win” he means that they’re a poor joke.

If you think you agree with them about the “reforms,” then write to them to express your thanks for their praise for Assad and his reforms.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

How can you infer such an interpretation from Cockburn?

Especially given that he follows “which Mr Assad will inevitably win” with “is a public rejection of demands by the opposition and its foreign backers that he should leave power”.

For an election result to represent a “public rejection” of anything implies that it represents the will of the electorate.

Syria’s presidential election was the culmination of the reforms in that it necessarily had to come after a constitutional plebiscite and parliamentary elections.

So as I said before, if Cockburn thought the reforms (which culminated in presidential elections) were a “poor joke” as you’ve done, he would have questioned the election’s relevance if not its validity.

You said: “If you think you agree with them about the “reforms,” then write to them to express your thanks for their praise for Assad and his reforms.”

Why should I?

Also, I never stated that these journalists praised Assad, only that, unlike you, they don’t view the Syrian government’s reform efforts as a “poor joke”.

So tell me, will you be voicing your opposition to the sanctions on Syria?

Jay Tharappel

Actually Noam, now that I’ve read it again, I *could* be wrong in my interpretation.

By “public rejection” Cockburn *could* be saying that the presidential elections are a means by which the Syrian government publicly repudiates the “demands by the opposition and its foreign backers that he should leave power.”

This secondary interpretation doesn’t however add credence to your interpretation that Cockburn considers the election a “poor joke” so you still have some explaining to do.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

Sorry, but I have no explaining to do. If you’re interested in coming to understand Cockburn’s views, you know how to proceed.

Noam Chomsky

Glad that you began to understand, as your later letter indicates. If you want to proceed, you know how.

Jay Tharappel

Hi Noam,

Still, my secondary interpretation doesn’t validate your interpretation now does it?

You claimed the Syrian government’s reform efforts were a “poor joke” and STILL are unable to back this up with your own reasoning.

I’m happy to leave it there.

Thank you for taking the time to discuss these issues with me, and have a nice day.

Jay

Noam Chomsky

To translate to English, you are unwilling to check the validity either of your belief or of your interpretations of the writings of serious correspondents on the scene. Your problem, not mine.

More than happy to leave it there. And, incidentally, I didn’t discuss these issues with you, for reasons you know.

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