Syrian Civil War: News

Africa wasn't held in the state of artificial underdevelopment - let's begin with that.

Most African countries had been developing quite fast during colonial times and that growth had continued for some time after decolonization - until local warlords began replacing western-educated administration with graduates from Lumumba University in Moscow...

Seecondly - ethnic or religious conflict in Europe are an exception, not a norm. Since 1945 there has not been any major war with an exception of the war in Yugoslavia.

I think it's enough to look at wikiepdia list of ongoing wars - roughly three quarters of all wars currently waged involve Muslims as at least one side.I think that means something.

Anyway:

Can anyone translate whaa they are sayin'?

As Sa'iqa wrote:Africa wasn't held in the state of artificial underdevelopment - let's begin with that.

Most African countries had been developing quite fast during colonial times and that growth had continued for some time after decolonization - until local warlords began replacing western-educated administration with graduates from Lumumba University in Moscow...

So since the African countries established contact with Europe; they had the oppurtunity to trade with them and benefit from technological advances in Europe? Actually, they were in an absolute state of stagnation while under Europe; limited infastructure was built such as railroads, local political elites were educated and religious missions & schools were established but all this was done with the intention of keeping these territories as raw material and manpower suppliers to their respective European empires; and for the most part this is all that these policies achieved.
In terms of African doctors, engineers, industrial specialists, politicians, military officers, etc... well simply put - a huge amount of them were educated exactly in countries like the USSR, China, Cuba, Poland, etc.. and for free.
There was very little economic growth, technological advancement, progress in education levels in these places from the 18th-20th centuries compared to Europe, and compared to what they could have achieved by themselves even if they'd just remained as independent tribes and started trade with Europe and gradually started organizing themselves into statehood at their own pace. In fact there were actually countries/empires in Africa yet they were all absorbed too with the exception of Ethiopia.

Seecondly - ethnic or religious conflict in Europe are an exception, not a norm.

Religious conflict in Europe was pretty much non-stop since the fall of the Rome - starting with campaigns against pagans (and conversely, pagan raids against Christians), wars between Catholics & Orthodox, then later Catholics and Protestants, oppression and forced conversion of Jews flared up from time to time all over Europe, and of course the crusades and wars against Muslim empires in the Middle East, Balkans, Iberian peninsula, etc...
Ethnic conflict was non-stop too albeit it wasn't called ethnic conflict back then, it was just the standard way of waging war; burning villages, killing villagers, raping, plundering, etc... Suffice to say people's homelands and borders changed very rapidly back then, and many were wiped of the map completely, assimilated or otherwise forgotten to history.

Sometimes the two were mixed together; such as when Oliver Cromwell campaigned in Ireland in the mid-17th century.

True that such warfare took a hiatus in the 18-19th centuries in Europe with the advent of more civilised conduct in warfare as well as the expulsion of the Ottomans from Europe for the most part. Instead, countries in Europe started to wage war in Europe more for territory for the sake of it and eventually the ruling Imperial monarchies there gobbled up just about every independent country that was still left in Europe.

However, just because ethnic and religious conflict took a break in Europe (oh yeah except against the Irish and a couple others); don't assume that the Europeans stopped fighting that way in the rest of the world. In North & South America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, etc... religious warfare, forced conversion, even genocide and biological warfare was as high on the agenda as ever.
And it was all without exception - the Europeans doing it to the natives. Never the other way 'round.

Since 1945 there has not been any major war with an exception of the war in Yugoslavia.

And what about not since 1945? Who else compares to Europe if we judge by what happened there from 1939-1945?
The Japanese in China/Korea/Southeast Asia, Khmer Rogue in Cambodia, Mao's Great Leap Forward and Rwandan Genocide did reach the general same levels of brutality & inhumanity mind you; albeit without quite the same amount of industry, collateral damage and scale.

Anyway, if we leave out the Caucasus/Moldova/Northern Ireland/Cyprus than I guess it's true but then of course you're forgetting the multitudes of wars across the world since 1945, most of which involved European empires/countries trying to maintain their territorial holdings outside Europe or maintain their influence/install friendly elites in states that declared independence from them.
Perhaps one of the most successful was France, which fought a non-ending series of brutal wars and interventions stretching from West Africa to Indochina and successfully managed to entrench their military and political influence in these countries; the most recent example being Mali where the French sponsored a coup d'etat against the government some years back and then last year intervened again, this time to protect their new friendly government there from an invasion by the very same people that they aided against Gaddaffi with military airstrikes in Libya just a short while before.

I think it's enough to look at wikiepdia list of ongoing wars - roughly three quarters of all wars currently waged involve Muslims as at least one side.I think that means something.

How many wars currently being waged involve a Western power?

There is no need to protect muslims in Europe. Most of them get asylum after they really ef up in their countries. They could be murderers, thieves, what ever, they can fake their ID with ease. Hell look at Russians in London, they claim they run from government oppression while they have blood on their hands or money in their pockets. Genuine asylum seekers have harder time to leave the hotspot and to do so they have to pay money to human smugglers. Some of them take money even after they settle in UK and start living there. Victims don't risk their goodbeing in new country by doing extremist activities. To be honest real victims are still in their countries and suffering when their brethren who live easy life on benefits and council house find time to go and play war in middle east. Sometimes they go out and cause mayhem in name of their religion. But to make things fair I now reside in Northern Ireland(UK) and we have same thing with Catholic and Protestant Youth. Only thing can be noted that muslims are more prone to extremities, but it could be traced to their home countries not religion.

Guess why radicals in Soviet union were quiet. You could probably use Koran as toilet paper and no one couldn't do a squat. Same as with bible. But no one was doing it as it was no need to even talk about religion.  I was never baptised and was taught to shun religious people and their deities with no respect. Jews, muslims, orthodox, catholics all were under the boot, had to practice it in secret and keep it private. Same as with Your sex life back then.

Back to Syria (I don't know if I should reply to fp and regular, derailing the thread further)

Several days ago an Israeli ambassador to the USA said that Israel would welcome Assad's ousting.

It could've been used to setback rebel PR effots... showing them as "Zionist puppets" - the easiest way to discredit someone in the Middle East

As Sa'iqa wrote:Back to Syria (I don't know if I should reply to fp and regular, derailing the thread further)

Several days ago an Israeli ambassador to the USA said that Israel would welcome Assad's ousting.

It could've been used to setback rebel PR effots... showing them as "Zionist puppets" - the easiest way to discredit someone in the Middle East

Sorry for the long and off-topic reply.

I just find it funny when I see European and 'civilized' used in the same sentence. As a Russian I myself am European, but I honestly don't give 2 shits about Europe, and I don't see it as any more civilized than anywhere else in the world. Every European achievement in the arts, literature, science, industry, philosophy, citizen's rights, etc... has been negated and equaled by an equal achievement in conquest, colonisation, industrialization of warfare, foreign interference, ethnic cleansing and so on.
And I'm not excluding Russia either; after all we were also a European empire basically from the 16th century to the 20th and also had our share of wonderful achievements and blood on our hands.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/syr...ry?id=20296936

Fighting the Syrian Regime: There's an App For That

Sept. 19, 2013
By JON M. CHANG

Resourceful Syrian rebels have apparently found or devised an app to aim a homemade mortar that lacked a sighting component, according to a photo taken this week.

A photo taken on Sept 15 in Damascus shows a member of the Free Syrian Army using an iPad to help fire the mortar.

Paul Szoldra, a former mortar instructor to the school of infantry of the U.S. Marine Corps, speculated that the iPad is acting like a sight unit on standard issue mortars.

They should develop an app with gps showing where a fired shell will land... That would be a thing.

Drums of war
The Russian grandmaster
Blood for oil

As Sa'iqa wrote:Back to Syria...
Several days ago an Israeli ambassador to the USA said that Israel would welcome Assad's ousting
...

If they didn't want that, none of this would've happen in the first place

flamming_python wrote:I just find it funny when I see European and 'civilized' used in the same sentence. As a Russian I myself am European, but I honestly don't give 2 shits about Europe...

As a Macedonian, I feel I'm a convict in the European prison, with all its 'European' and 'civilized values' which always manage to change their 'civility' to the diametrically opposite when needed...We have a folk song here (written around the 19th century I think) with this line in it:

"...Проклета и триклета да бидиш, ти, Европо,
блуднице вавилонска..."

Roughly translated by me, goes something like:
"Curse and three-times curse
shall fall upon you Europe
You Idolatress of Babylon..."

Have a listen if you want:
http://www.1903.musicofmacedonia.com/2011/12/od-vrv-pirin-planina.html
Pretty much sums-up on how I feel about 'Europe'...

Anyway, back on topic:
RT breaking news:

RT wrote:Lavrov: US pressuring Russia into passing UN resolution on Syria under Chapter 7

http://rt.com/news/us-russia-syria-resolution-pressure-202/

Lavrov wrote:“Our American partners are starting to blackmail us: ‘If Russia does not support a resolution under Chapter 7, then we will withdraw our support for Syria’s entry into the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This is a complete departure from what I agreed with Secretary of State John Kerry',” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel 1's Sunday Time programme.

Ain't that just like the Empire...

US ‘overtly blackmailing’ Moscow on Syria - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

The US is trying to blackmail Russia and the world by forcing its upside-down Syria peace scenario on the international community, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday in an interview to the country’s main TV channel, Channel One.

The foreign chief accused Washington of excessively politicking the Syrian crisis. He said the US was using the civil was in the Middle East to “assert its supremacy” in order to make the region “dance to their tune.”

Mr. Lavrov stressed this approach had nothing to do with the long-overdue peace process and the Russia-backed plan to take away chemical weapons from the Assad regime.

The foreign minister called on the US to come to terms with the fact that the world had become “polycentric” and it was not good forcing America’s opinions onto it.

It is the first time that the usually unruffled Russian foreign minister has lashed out at Moscow’s western partners. The tone of Lavrov’s comment in his interview with Russia’s Channel One shows how deep the tensions seem to run between Russia and China on the one hand and the US-UK-France coalition on the other.

Lavrov’s interview came ahead of his trip to New York where he is to attend the UN General Assembly. The upcoming days are described as a “ministerial week,” during which the Russian foreign chief is expected to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior diplomats. The anticipation is that the trilateral talks between Sergei Lavrov, John Kerry and UN head Ban Ki-moon will kick-start a new peace conference on Syria, dubbed Geneva 2.

The recent publication of UN inspectors’ report on Syria’s chemical toxins have given way to a large number of insinuations, proving that the West never genuinely needed a probe in the first place, Mr. Lavrov said.

“The US and France never actually pretended to make too much of this report. They claimed to know everything beforehand, saying their intelligence was flawless, although we were never presented with full data, while the evidence they chose to show us didn’t prove that chemical weapons had been involved,” Lavrov told Channel One.

The Russian foreign minister noted that an open letter by CIA and Pentagon veterans to the US President that was published before the UN probe, on September 8, said that the alleged August 21 chemical attack near Damascus was a provocation.

The letter accused CIA Director John Brennan of trying to repeat the Iraq scenario by misleading the Americans and Congress once again. The concerned American vets cited Britain’s intelligence as saying that the Syrian government was not implicated in the gassing of civilians. The call went unnoticed.

Mr. Lavrov has claimed that the US intentionally span the UN report to force its approach onto Russia and the international community.

“Our Western partners are starting to blackmail us: if we don’t endorse UN Security Council’s Chapter 7 resolution we will effectively annul OPCW’s work in The Hague. It runs against everything we agreed with John Kerry – that is we wait for OPCW’s decision and then shore it up with a Security Council resolution, though not under Chapter 7.”

Sergei Lavrov suggested that the West saw the Russia-US brokered deal on Syria’s chemical weapons not as an opportunity to rid the world of the existing toxic arsenal, but as “a chance to push through the Russian-Chinese block a brute-force resolution that aims to topple the regime and gloss over opposition’s actions, to assign the blame to Bashar Assad and get a free hand for military scenarios.”

“They [the West] can’t admit their mistake. They made a mistake in Libya when they bombed the country and pushed it on the brink of fallout, they made a mistake in Iraq where they did all the same things in addition to launching a land operation and wreaking havoc in the country which sees dozens of innocents die every passing day at the hand of terrorists. It’s no one’s concern anymore. Now everyone is saying that Bashar Assad must go. Of course, they don’t want to talk about a catastrophe that that series of military operations has caused in the region.”

The Russian foreign policy vet underscored that two in three opposition militants are jihadists bent on turning Syria into an Islamic Caliphate. This can unleash a disaster in the entire Middle East. He also fought back the recent attempts to pile responsibility for elimination of Syria’s chemical arsenal on Russia.

“I’d like to point out that we cannot guarantee that Syria will give up its chemical weapons. We saw to it that Syria joined the anti-chemical weapons convention without any reservations, as the Americans did once. Now Syria is a liable party to this document, meaning that the international community – or the OPCW for this matter – is to guarantee that Syria complies with it.”

Sergei Lavrov also pointed out that international community didn’t need to send its troops to Syria to monitor the process of chemical weapons disposal. He said that police were enough to secure OPCW inspectors and offered Russian security forces to take up this task.

Terrorists linked to the Al-Qaeda beheaded tens of armed rebels affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Northern Syria.
The terrorists of the Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant beheaded 40 FSA armed rebels in Al-Ba’ab region in the
Eastern parts of Reef (countryside of) Aleppo on Saturday, FNA
dispatches said.

After more than two years of fighting side-by-side and leading one of
the bloodiest conflicts in the recent history of Middle-East, FSA and
al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been making some moves against each
other following reports of West’s alleged concerns over sending more
arms to Syria and possibility of them falling into the hands of the
terrorists.

AQ taking control.

Unfortunately, ISIS is the most well armed faction and most foreign fighters who fight in Syria (often veterans from Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.) fight in its ranks.

Drums of war
The Russian grandmaster
Blood for oil

For once just once ,
Inspite of all odds, deep sh@# recession , I am proud that India showed the BOOT to Obama admin at the G20.

Austin wrote:Drums of war
The Russian grandmaster
Blood for oil

Pardon my ignorance, but how well respected is the 'Frontline' magazine in India?
I just want to put things in perspective here and sense the prevailing feelings of Indian intellectuals, nothing to do with the actual mag itself...

gaurav wrote:
For once just once ,
Inspite of all odds, deep sh@# recession , I am proud that India showed the BOOT to Obama admin at the G20.

Hear hear
(Wish 'my' government would show the same bravery - not that I expect ANY European government to do so)

gaurav wrote:

Drums of war
The Russian grandmaster
Blood for oil

For once just once ,
Inspite of all odds, deep sh@# recession , I am proud that India showed the BOOT to Obama admin at the G20.

Joint defence declaration brings India at par with closest US allies

WASHINGTON: Taking their defence ties to a new level, India and the US have decided to undertake joint development and production of military hardware, involving transfer of high-end technology from America, a move aimed at matching Russia's co-operation with India in this field.

After the summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office the two sides yesterday issued a joint declaration on defence co-operation spelling out the principles of cooperation in this area.

In the declaration, the US expressed its support to India's full membership in the four international export control regimes that would further facilitate technology sharing.

According to the joint declaration on defence co-operation, the US and India share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners.

"This principle will apply with respect to defence technology transfer, trade, research, co-development and co-production for defence articles and services, including the most advanced and sophisticated technology," the declaration said.

"They will work to improve licensing processes, and, where applicable, follow expedited license approval processes to facilitate this cooperation," the declaration said, adding that the US and India are also committed to protecting each other's sensitive technology and information.



http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-28/news/42481632_1_defence-ties-defence-co-operation-declaration


So the so-called Hindus don't trust their super duper world-class DRDO a tiny bit after all, selling themselves to the highest bidder while backstabbing the Russians on their way? Again and again.

Saudi black op team behind Damascus chem weapons attack – diplomatic sources

According to RT.

So maybe the claim of a warning to bomb Saudi Arabia wasn't that far off.

Surely THIS place is the most evil, tyrannical cesspool of a regime in the whole world... Along with the Neo-Con side of America.

I wonder how much will become public knowledge about the Sauds interfering ie commiting mass murder in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Maybe its time for a Topol M to visit downtown Riyadh and Mecca?

(The Saudis have already ruined Mecca with that Las Vegas meets Star Wars villain style monstrosity that they've built).

Its clear the Wahhabist cult is just scum. I wonder how much Saudis political class are behind it all. Quite I bit I suspect...

What else are these nutters capable of? Its shows how perverted the Americans priorities were...

RT is the TV version of pravda.ru, or at least it gets there sometimes.

Syrian government forces have achieved new victories as they continue to implement an offensive strategy for encircling insurgents in the eastern countryside of Damascus. From Damascus airport highway, we accompanied the Syrian army deep into al-Ghouta. Sakka, a small town on the road to Ghouta, was secured recently along with its orchards, and people are now able to return to their homes.


Almost every town on the road to Ghouta has witnessed militants’ attacks. Dilbeh, another town was the scene of heavy fighting.

This is a five hundred meter trench that foreign backed insurgents dug in al-Dilbeh orchards in Damascus countryside. The aim was to sneak and attack the Syrian government forces present here.

The army has regained full control of the village. Armed men, who were planning to set up a large number of explosives, had also dug tunnels to facilitate their movement.

The road passes through main towns which make up all together a belt that the army is forming in order to complete its siege on militants.

Al-Baharia is a small village, but strategic for both the army and al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front. According to army commanders, nearly one hundred militants were killed when they were trying to enter Baharia last week.

The Security belt passes through several villages such as al-Abbadeh, al-Qassimia, al-Otaiybeh, Jarba, Harran al-Awamid which were taken by Syrian government’s forces after fierce clashes led to their huge destruction. The aim of laying this siege is to cut off all militant supply lines in preparation for attacking and finally eliminating them. HERE IS THE LINK http://presstv.com/detail/2013/10/13/329106/syrian-army-advances-in-eastern-suburbs-of-damascus/ .

YPG destroy an ISIS tank. What's surprising(?) - no Allah Akbaring on the video.

Here's some footage from the ANNA crew.



The fight at 9:30 is one clip you don't want to miss.

What's surprising(?) - no Allah Akbaring on the video.

You're surprised by that?

It also sounds like women are in that video.

Syrian army took full control of al-Buwaidah town, south west of BIBI Zainab (S.A) area in Damascus countryside.Syrian army soldiers

Al-Manar correspondent reported the event, saying that the area of regions regained by the Syrian army reaches 18 km2 so far this week.
These regions are Thiyabiya and Husseinia.

Control over these points, located between the main motorways leading to Jordan - strengthens the grip of the Syrian army on the basic supplies routes and constitutes a pressure on the insurgents fighting the Syrian government.

Syrian state television said the army had "restored safety and stability to the Buwaidah area of Damascus province after it defeated the terrorists and destroyed their criminal equipment."

"The army's advance is part of an attempt to crush the rebels' positions in the countryside south of Damascus, in order to isolate those operating within the southern belt of the capital,"

The Syrian national military launched a wide-scale military operation in May 2013 in the country's main provinces to restore security and release citizens from terrorist threats.  HERE IS THE LINK http://almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=116258&cid=23&fromval=1&frid=23&seccatid=20&s1=1  .

Can you post all news in one topic?

First photo is awesome.

A massive blast has reportedly destroyed a a Syrian air defense base near the coastal city of Latakia with multiple Syrian and Lebanese sources speculating that an Israeli strike from the Mediterranean was to blame.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a loud explosion in a Syrian army base, and Twitter users quoted eyewitnesses who said the blast occurred near Snobar Jableh, just south of the city,The Times of Israel reports.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the explosion was the result of a missile strike from the sea. And social media came alight with posts alleging that Israel was responsible.

Daily Telegraph

http://www.yalibnan.com/2013/10/31/huge-blast-destroys-syrian-air-defense-base-near-latakia/

 

I wish you had the first photo in 1080p resolution, would have been looking great on my desktop.