Syria

NOVANEWS   By Jihad Bitar “Protests in Daraa-Syria”; When I read this ticker in my favorite news channel, I can’t honestly say I did not feel goose bumps. As a Lebanese, anything that happens in Syria directly affects my country and probably the entire geopolitical (dis)equilibrium that has characterised the Middle East since the last Israeli-Arab wars of 1973. Four days after the Daraa spark, I counted twelve cities where unrest was happening. Busy with the very rare YouTube videos and the inevitable contradictory death toll, news channels forgot to analyze the essential question: what next for Syria, and what  about the impact on the region. Syria is not Egypt and even less Tunisia. In these two North African countries, the revolts featured distinctive so...

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross   Syria arrested an American national for inciting protests against the regime and spying for the State of Israel, official media reported Sunday. Secretary of state says situation in Syria not the same as in Libya, claims many Congressmen believe Assad is a reformer State-run television ran footage of a young man it said was an Egyptian engineer carrying a United States passport, who had been working in Syria after a secret visit to Israel. The man said on camera that he had “received foreign money for transmitting images and videos about Syria”. He said he had been contacted by a Colombian national and had received 100 Egyptian pounds (17 dollars, 12 euros) for each photo sent, and more per video. He added that he had received “e-mails sent f...

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross   Source–www.thepassionateattachment.com Did Alec Ross and Jared Cohen attempt to sow the seeds of Bashar al-Assad’s downfall during last year’s State Department-led technology delegation to Syria? Perhaps they’re not such “silly Jewish boys,” asMarty Peretz would have us believe. Check out this report from Reuters: The trade mission was led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top technology adviser, Alec Ross, and Jared Cohen, a member of her Policy Planning Staff. U.S. tech companies expect Syria’s population to double in the next 17 years and they want to tap into the youth to promote U.S. businesses and Washington’s human rights agenda. The talks last week represent a new stage in U.S. diplomatic efforts in which the issue of Internet cen...

NOVANEWS   by crescentandcross     Source–New York Times Quote–“Other analysts, however, point to a positive effect of the unrest (in Syria): it could deprive Iran of a reliable ally in extending its influence over Lebanon, Hezbollah and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. That is not a small thing, they said, given that Iran is likely to benefit from the fall of Mr. Mubarak in Egypt, the upheaval in Bahrain, and the resulting chill between the United States and Saudi Arabia. “There’s much more upside than downside for the U.S.,” said Martin S. Indyk, the vice president for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “We have an interest in counterbalancing the advantages Iran has gained in the rest of the region. That makes it an unusual confluence of our va...

NOVANEWS Surprise, Surprise, Surprise–Lieberman Suggests No-Fly Zone an Option in Syria if Violence Escalates by crescentandcross Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks Feb. 3 during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.   Sen. Joe Lieberman suggested Sunday he would support military intervention in Syria if its president resorts to the kind of violent tactics used by Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi. Dozens reportedly have been killed in protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, raising questions about whether the international community would get involved. Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that if Assad starts slaughtering his own people, he will risk other countries imposing a no-fly zone “just as w...

NOVANEWS Posted by: Sammi Ibrahem Chair of West Midland PSC "Searching for a mob By Khaled Saghiyeh. Al-Akhbar Newspaper  Foreigners …Islamists …Israel …Mobs ... even Rats… Erratic and fervent adjectives and terms selected by Arab Rulers to describe the beginnings of popular Intifadas [Uprisings] in their countries. The use of such terms soon acquires unintended consequence; filling the squares with distinct citizens whom publicly declare their National, Arab and Civic Identity. However it seems that the Syrian regime insists upon the use of the same terminology to describe what is occurring in Deraa, as if it has not been witness to what has occurred in Egypt or Tunisia, or what is presently occurring in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain. It has been said that Syria is not an ...

NOVANEWS modernityblog Tags: Attacked, Away with Dictators, Bahrain, Bashar el Assad, Collusion, Deraa, Gadaffi,Gaza, Hamas, Human rights, Hussein Ibish, Jordon, Journalists, Libya, Middle East, Myth of The Arab Street, revolt, Revolts, Syria,UN, Western collusion | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p4XPG-32y   Khaled Abu Toameh has had some thoughts on Syria: "Just as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif ul Islam, was once praised as the new, liberal and democratic hope of Libya, so Bashar was projected eleven years ago as representing a new generation of Arab leaders willing to break away from a dark and dictatorial past. But the events of the last few days in Syria, which have seen unarmed demonstrators gunned down by government forces, prov...

NOVANEWS   Jihad Bitar* Let me start by saying that I do not really have access to any secret plans. Working in communications, I understand the importance of a teasing title in attracting readers. After all, yet another article about Syria and Lebanon can be as exciting as a report on our president Michel Suleiman weekly visitors. That said, this article does compile some secret information: and by secret, I mean information you probably had no time to assess, even though it was all readily available. My job as a media analyst and “dissector” has taught me how to read between the lines of any political event: analyze semantics and cross information. My team and I use tools developed by social and media scientists, and these tools do unveil some secrets: ...

NOVANEWS   "Lawyers allowed into the closed session of the court in Damascus said Ms Mallohi was motionless after hearing her sentence. Her mother, who was waiting outside the court building, burst out crying after being told. The judge did not give evidence or details as to why she was convicted, they added. However, when she was charged, one official claimed that "her spying led to an attack against a Syrian army officer". "Trumping up charges that imply treason as a lesson for others is quite old fashioned," one human rights activist told the Reuters news agency. "Sadly, the regime has not learnt any lessons from Tunisia or Egypt." There has so far been no comment from the Syrian authorities. Ms Mallohi, the granddaughter of a former minister, has already served one year of her sentenc...

NOVANEWS Pain In The Pocket As Charity Sabotages Asda   20 July 2010 Clothes shoppers at Asda (NYSE: WMT - news) could find messages in the pockets of new purchases as a charity attacks the chain's record on pay for foreign factory workers. Campaigners from ActionAid are slipping secret messages into thousands of items of clothing at stores around the country. Their aim is to highlight what they call Asda's "lamentable record on paying poverty wages to factory workers in developing countries". Asda denies the group's accusations, claiming it has taken measures it believes will lead to higher wages, better working conditions, fewer working hours and a more highly skilled workforce in places such as Bangladesh. Under the charity's campaign, any customer who finds a message will receive...