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Return to Ma’loula
Franklin Lamb
Ma’loula, Syria
As of today, approximately 900 Christians and 50 Muslims from the pre-2011 population of 5000, of whom 80% were Christian and 20% Muslim, have returned to Ma’loula, their 90 AD ancient village that many consider the second most historic Christian village, after Jerusalem.
Over the past five weeks, this observer has been surveying and updating data as part of an archeological research project, on a modest selected number of the 152 archeological sites here in Syria that have been severely damaged over the past four years. Ma’loula, is among the nearly 7000 historic places in Syria that have been looted, burned, or bulldozed or subjected to mindless jihadist iconoclasm as being ‘un-Islamic,” or which have sustained war damage from more than one source.
In some ways it has been a daunting task to visit some sites, given the security situation and need for securing various required permissions-which takes time, given currently conditions in Syria. Plus issues such as intense heat, finding a driver willing to make the trip for a reasonable fee, lining up crucial local experts at the site so one gets solid information and related matters. On 7/27/2015, this observer and his friends and guides/historians from Ma’loula, Jesus and Moses (Issa and Musa) were delayed for two hours as we sat at the Ministry of Information waiting a green light from the Syria army that the road was now safe, following a night (7/26/2015) of heavy jihadist shelling from the East Gouta\Jobar suburb of Damascus with some mortars hitting near our planned M-5 route north.
Iran's Longstanding US-Inflicted Nightmare
by Stephen Lendman
It began in August 1953 - replacing democratically elected Mohammad Mossadeq (Iran's most popular politician at the time) with a generation of brutal US-installed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi dictatorship.
A 2013 declassified CIA document (marking the coup's 60th anniversary) publicly acknowledged the agency's involvement (Operation TPAJAX) - what's been well-known for decades.
Kermit Roosevelt (Theodore's grandson, Franklin's cousin) engineered the CIA's first coup. Harry Truman established the agency in 1947, saying he "considered it very important…to have a sound, well-organized intelligence system…(but) no Gestapo under any guise or for any reason." Things have a way of not evolving as planned.
More Illegal US Sanctions on Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Unilateral or jointly imposed sanctions by one or more countries against others are illegal. Authority rests solely with Security Council members.
They must first “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression,” as UN Charter, Chapter VII, Article 39 stipulates.
They may then “decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures,” as authorized under Article 41.
Zoo Animals May Starve in Greece
by Stephen Lendman
Economist Joseph Stiglitz says Troika demands for more bailout funds “make no sense either for Greece or its creditors.” The so-called “third memorandum” will devastate economic and financial conditions more than already.
The entire scheme is misguided, Stiglitz explains. Structural adjustment programs loot countries instead of helping them - “turning downturns into recessions, recessions into depressions,” wherever they’re imposed, says Stiglitz.
Greece’s future includes increasingly unrepayable debt peonage, greater unemployment and poverty with diminishing resources for vital public services.
Anti-Iranian Nuclear Deal Blitzkrieg in Full Swing
by Stephen Lendman
Administration officials answered questions on the agreement asked by House and Senate Foreign Relations Committee members. Classified private meetings were held. They’ll be more in the weeks ahead.
Israel, its lobby and bipartisan congressional Iran-haters aim to undermine the nuclear deal years in the making. It includes the most intrusive inspections of any country’s nuclear program.
Known nuclear weaponized states aren’t held to account like Iran. America and Israel prohibit inspections of their thermonuclear weapons research, development and production facilities. No IAEA complaints are lodged - only against Iran despite its known peaceful activities.
Israeli State Terror Without Mercy
by Stephen Lendman
Daily state-sponsored terror against millions of Palestinians is official Israeli policy - settler violence and vandalism an extension of how soldiers, police and other security forces ruthlessly abuse them.
The vast majority of incidents go reported - nor pain and suffering of people deserving better, terrorized by a brutal occupying force, stealing their land, denying them all rights, cracking down hard on legitimate resistance.
The immolation of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha by soldier-protected settlers shows why no Palestinians are safe from Israel’s murder and mayhem regime - a terror machine masquerading as democratic governance.
Russia Challenges America’s Orwellian National Endowment for Democracy
by Stephen Lendman
NED’s duplicitous mission statement indicates a “dedicat(ion) to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.”
Its practices are polar opposite - a State Department-funded agency created to undermine democracy wherever it exists.
It’s a global mischief-maker - a rogue agency financing anti-democratic groups and initiatives in scores of countries worldwide. Its objective is regime change - notably in independent nations like Russia. It subversively interferes in its electoral practices among other ways of targeting its sovereignty.
Moscow’s mid-year 2015 enacted Law on Undesirable Organizations justifiably targets foreign organizations posing a “threat to the constitutional order and defense capability or the security of the Russian state” - subversive groups no governments should tolerate.
Milquetoast Bernie Sanders, Senator From Lockheed-Martin and left Gatekeeper for the Democratic Party
By United Front Against Austerity/Tax Wall Street
http://againstausterity.org/ufaa
As Bernie Sanders gains traction against Hillary in the Democratic primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, his utility to the Democratic elite is becoming more evident. Much like how Rand Paul’s legions of Libertarian lemmings are leaving en masse from his campaign, the left liberal mushheads of Bernie’s audience have been reflecting on the reality of Sanders’ time in office and commitments to the Democratic and military establishment. (Image)
The first cause for concern is the Lockheed Martin F – 35 fighter plane, the construction of which takes place in Sanders's home state of Vermont. Bernie, who opposes a large military budget when it's convenient for him, was questioned by Carl Gibson in New Hampshire about the F – 35 program:
CG: “You mentioned wasteful military spending. The other day ... I’m sure you’ve heard about the F-35 catching fire on the runway. The estimated lifetime expense of the F-35 is $1.2 trillion. When you talk about cutting wasteful military spending, does that include the F-35 program?”
Bernie Sanders: “No, and I’ll tell you why – it is essentially built. It is the airplane of the United States Air Force, Navy, and of NATO. It was a very controversial issue in Vermont. And my view was that given the fact that the F-35, which, by the way, has been incredibly wasteful, that’s a good question. But for better or worse, that is the plane of record right now, and it is not gonna be discarded. That’s the reality.”
The Greek Coup: Liquidity as a Weapon of Coercion
by Ellen Brown
“My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract.” — The Godfather (1972)
In the modern global banking system, all banks need a credit line with the central bank in order to be part of the payments system. Choking off that credit line was a form of blackmail the Greek government couldn’t refuse. Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is now being charged with treason for exploring the possibility of an alternative payment system in the event of a Greek exit from the euro. The irony of it all was underscored by Raúl Ilargi Meijer, who opined in a July 27th blog:
Erodoğan and Netanyahu Declare War
James Petras
Introduction
The rulers of the two most powerful authoritarian regimes in the Middle East are launching major wars to reconfigure the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared war by proxy on Iran, announcing full-scale military mobilization within Israel (July 27 -29) and organizing the biggest political campaign of ultra Zionist Jews in Washington. The purpose of this two-pronged propaganda blitz is to defeat the recently signed US-Iranian agreement and start another major Middle East war. Ultimately, Netanyahu intends to take care of his ‘Palestinian Problem’ for good: complete the conquest and occupation of Palestine and expelling the Palestinian people from their homeland – the single most important foreign policy and domestic goal of the Jewish state. In order to do this, Israeli leaders have had to systematically campaign for the destruction of the Palestinians regional supporters and sympathizers – Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
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