Posts tonen met het label Syria. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label Syria. Alle posts tonen
woensdag 12 oktober 2016
dinsdag 2 augustus 2016
maandag 7 april 2014
Unique Mysterious Figurines With Enormous Eyes - A Legacy Of Tell Brak Now On Emergency Red List
MessageToEagle.com - These remarkable statues with over-seized eyes raise some very intriguing questions?
Why have no similar eye idols been found in any other region?
Who were these strange beings with huge staring eyes?
The eye idols of Tell Brak have no parallels, in either Syria or Mesopotamia and they could help us answer important questions of the history of the region.
Unfortunately, due to the troubled situation in Syrian, the eye idols are now on the emergency red list of Syrian cultural objects at risk.
Image credit: Christies.com
Not much is known about the origin and nature of these remarkable eye idols.
The figures made of stone and having incised eyes, were excavated at Tell Brak, where hundreds were found in a building now called the Eye Temple.
The idols vary in size from about 3 to 6 cm in height, and are made of either white or black alabaster.
Image credit: Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
In ancient times, Tell Brak was considered an international city. It was home to several civilizations over the centuries, including the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians and the Mittani's. The city was finally abandoned in c.2000 BC.
Tell Brak Image credit: University of Cambridge
"Although Tell Brak is in north-eastern Syria, both the decoration and plan of the Eye Temple resemble that of south Mesopotamian temples, such as those in Uruk and Eridu.
Eye symbolism was also popular in Mesopotamia around this time, and eye designs have been found on objects from the Royal Cemetery from Ur as well as in temples.
The Eye Idols of Tell Brak, however, are completely unique and have no parallels, in either Syria or Mesopotami," the Fitz William Museum informs.
Image credit: metmuseum.org
The eye idols discovered at the site date to about 3,300 BC. Many of them are incised with multiple sets of eyes, others with jewelry, and still others with representations of "children"-smaller eyes and body carved on the body of the larger idol.
Eye idols of Tell Brak
According to historians and archaeologists the idols are thought to be offering. It is believed that wide eyes demonstrate attentiveness to the gods in much Mesopotamian art. There reason why so many of these figures were left in the temple, was that they were considered gifts to the gods.
The decoration of the idols varied, and it seems that they may have been personalizedSome of the figures have carved lines and zig-zags on their bodies depicting clothes. There are even examples of group idols representing more than one figure, some of which have a smaller 'child' figure carved onto the front.
Image credit: collector-antiquities.com
The sad part of this story is that the magnificent Tell Brak eye idols are now on the emergency red list of Syrian cultural objects at risk.
Several archaeological sites in Syria have been damaged due to bombing and ancient museum's artifacts are looted and burned.
On top of the loss of artifacts, all six of Syria's UNESCO World Heritage Sites have reportedly been damaged or destroyed since the conflict began in the spring of 2011!
Image credit: collector-antiquities.com
"Museums, auction houses, art dealers and collectors are encouraged not to acquire such objects without having carefully and thoroughly researched their origin and all the relevant legal documentation. Due to the great diversity of objects, styles and periods, the Emergency Red List of Syrian Cultural Objects at Risk is far from exhaustive. Any cultural good that could have originated from Syria should be subjected to detailed scrutiny and precautionary measures," the world museum community warns.
Image credit: collector-antiquities.com
The destruction of the eye idols of Tell Brak, other artifacts and archaeological sites is a sad part in human history.
Once ancient history is lost or permanently damaged, we will never be able to learn the truth about our ancestors and life on this planet in prehistoric times.
Are we witnessing the end of the Syrian cultural heritage?
© MessageToEagle.com
Read more: http://www.messagetoeagle.com/eyeidolstellbrak.php#ixzz2yDylMClC
Why have no similar eye idols been found in any other region?
Who were these strange beings with huge staring eyes?
The eye idols of Tell Brak have no parallels, in either Syria or Mesopotamia and they could help us answer important questions of the history of the region.
Unfortunately, due to the troubled situation in Syrian, the eye idols are now on the emergency red list of Syrian cultural objects at risk.
Not much is known about the origin and nature of these remarkable eye idols.
The figures made of stone and having incised eyes, were excavated at Tell Brak, where hundreds were found in a building now called the Eye Temple.
The idols vary in size from about 3 to 6 cm in height, and are made of either white or black alabaster.
| Tell Brak, located in the Upper Khabur region of northeast Syria on the fertile plains near the Tigris river, is one of northern Mesopotamia's largest ancient sites and among the world's earliest cities.It was first photographed from the air by Fr Pierre Poidebard in the 1920s and was first excavated by Sir Max Mallowan in 1937-8. From 2011, archaeological research at Tell Brak was funded by a British Academy Research Development Award (BARDA). |
Tell Brak Image credit: University of Cambridge"Although Tell Brak is in north-eastern Syria, both the decoration and plan of the Eye Temple resemble that of south Mesopotamian temples, such as those in Uruk and Eridu.
Eye symbolism was also popular in Mesopotamia around this time, and eye designs have been found on objects from the Royal Cemetery from Ur as well as in temples.
The Eye Idols of Tell Brak, however, are completely unique and have no parallels, in either Syria or Mesopotami," the Fitz William Museum informs.
The eye idols discovered at the site date to about 3,300 BC. Many of them are incised with multiple sets of eyes, others with jewelry, and still others with representations of "children"-smaller eyes and body carved on the body of the larger idol.
Eye idols of Tell BrakAccording to historians and archaeologists the idols are thought to be offering. It is believed that wide eyes demonstrate attentiveness to the gods in much Mesopotamian art. There reason why so many of these figures were left in the temple, was that they were considered gifts to the gods.
The decoration of the idols varied, and it seems that they may have been personalizedSome of the figures have carved lines and zig-zags on their bodies depicting clothes. There are even examples of group idols representing more than one figure, some of which have a smaller 'child' figure carved onto the front.
The sad part of this story is that the magnificent Tell Brak eye idols are now on the emergency red list of Syrian cultural objects at risk.
Several archaeological sites in Syria have been damaged due to bombing and ancient museum's artifacts are looted and burned.
On top of the loss of artifacts, all six of Syria's UNESCO World Heritage Sites have reportedly been damaged or destroyed since the conflict began in the spring of 2011!
"Museums, auction houses, art dealers and collectors are encouraged not to acquire such objects without having carefully and thoroughly researched their origin and all the relevant legal documentation. Due to the great diversity of objects, styles and periods, the Emergency Red List of Syrian Cultural Objects at Risk is far from exhaustive. Any cultural good that could have originated from Syria should be subjected to detailed scrutiny and precautionary measures," the world museum community warns.
The destruction of the eye idols of Tell Brak, other artifacts and archaeological sites is a sad part in human history.
Once ancient history is lost or permanently damaged, we will never be able to learn the truth about our ancestors and life on this planet in prehistoric times.
Are we witnessing the end of the Syrian cultural heritage?
© MessageToEagle.com
Read more: http://www.messagetoeagle.com/eyeidolstellbrak.php#ixzz2yDylMClC
donderdag 20 maart 2014
Putin puts fear of God in New World Order_Dr. Kevin Barrett
PressTV - Putin puts fear of God in New World Order: Barrett
By Dr. Kevin Barrett
In the wake of Crimea's independence referendum, Hillary Clinton says Russian President Putin is a "new Hitler." Zbigniew Brezezinski, former National Security Advisor agrees, calling Putin not just another Hitler, but also a thug, a menace, a Mafia gangster, and a Mussolini. The Western mainstream media echoes this childish name-calling.
Why is the whole Western foreign policy establishment so afraid of Putin?
Because Putin is standing up against Western aggression – not only in Ukraine, but also in Syria and Iran. Ongoing Western attempts to destabilize these and other countries are just the most recent examples of a decades-old pattern of aggression. The long-term goal: Total destruction of traditional nations and values, and the creation of a New World Order global dictatorship.
Since the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup in Iran, the West has been using the same formula to overthrow legitimate but uncooperative leaders: First, sabotage the country's economy. Then bribe corrupt military officers and thugs and pay rent-a-mobs to create chaos in the streets. Next (this step is optional) incite violence by paying snipers to fire into crowds – and maybe set off some bombs. Finally, send the corrupt military units and gangsters to overthrow the target nation's legitimate leader, murder or imprison his supporters, install a Western puppet in his place – and announce that "order has been restored."
The CIA did it to Iran's democratically-elected Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953, to Indonesia's President Sukarno in 1965, and to Chile's Prime Minister Allende on September 11th, 1973. They did the same thing to Ukraine's legitimate president, Viktor Yanukovych, a few weeks ago. Neocon regime-change apparatchik Victoria Nuland (The assistant US secretary of state,) got caught admitting that the US had spent five billion dollars to overthrow Ukraine's democratically-elected government; and EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton was heard on tape discussing the "news" that the Maidan Square snipers were part of the US-sponsored coup.
The people of Ukraine should be worried. US-sponsored coups can turn very bloody very quickly.
The CIA's 1965 Indonesia coup was one of the biggest holocausts in history. According to Princeton history professor Bradley Simpson, as cited by the Jakarta Globe: "The US and British governments did everything in their power to ensure that the Indonesian army would carry out the mass killings" of more than one million people following the coup against Sukarno. Most of the victims were tortured before they were murdered. The list of names of people to be tortured and murdered was provided by the CIA to their hired Indonesian thugs. While this was going on, five-year-old Barrack Obama was living in Indonesia with his stepfather Lolo Soetoro, who was working for the American mass murderers.
That's right: Obama's stepfather was a holocaust perpetrator.
In 1971, following the CIA's coup in Chile, the American stooge Pinochet murdered 3,000 people and tortured 30,000. These actions were fully supported by Pinochet's American sponsors, who trained and paid the thugs and torturers.
The hecatomb in Syria, too, is best understood as yet another US-sponsored coup attempt.
The NWO-driven Americans and their Western allies have killed tens of millions in these coups, interventions, destabilization campaigns, and undeclared wars. According to André Vltchek and Noam Chomsky's book On Western Terrorism, the total number killed is over 50 million since World War II. If we add to this the number of people tortured, brutalized, falsely imprisoned, forced to become refugees, or who had their lives ruined by Western terrorism, the number of victims reaches the hundreds of millions.
Today, the American terrorists and their NATO allies seem less interested in installing puppet governments than in reducing entire nations to chaos. The CIA-NATO coup against Gaddafi has destroyed Libya as a modern nation-state. Western-backed false-flag terror in Iraq is splitting up that country. Syria is being decimated by a Western-backed attempt to overthrow Assad. Venezuela, too, is being destabilized by a CIA-backed coup effort.
In short, the New World Order – a shadowy group of global banking oligarchs bent on establishing a one-world dictatorship – is trying to overthrow every leader on earth who resists. Russian President Putin is resisting. That is why the Western propaganda machine is calling him names.
It is worth noting that Russia and Iran – the two nations most successfully resisting NWO regime change – are doing so in the name of God.
According to Catholic intellectual E. Michael Jones, the 1979 Iranian Revolution was the opening salvo of a global backlash against secularism's destruction of traditional values. Like the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan (driven by Americans' disgust with the so-called sexual revolution) and the rise of Poland's Solidarity movement (which opposed communist atheism), the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran was a landmark event signaling an end to the 20th-century wave of militant secularism and atheism – and a revival of traditional religion.
President Putin enjoys overwhelming popularity in Russia due to his defense of traditional religious values. In his State of the Nation address last December, Putin said: "Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values… Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan."
Putin's reference to Satanism was a pointed rebuke to the New World Order elites, who – though they push militant secularism on the societies they are trying to undermine – are closet Satanists. Anyone who doubts this should run the name "Lt. Col. Michael Aquino" through a search engine. Aquino, an avowed Satanist and credibly-accused mass child abuser, was rewarded for his crimes against children with an appointment as Chief of Psychological Warfare for the US military. (For background on the satanic international banking elite, and its near-total control of Western institutions, read Nick Bryant's book The Franklin Scandal alongside the work of Canadian scholar Henry Makow.)
The shock troops of the NWO's war against religion and tradition (and Russia and Iran) are the neoconservatives. Operation Gladio terrorist Michael Ledeen explains: "Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace ... We must destroy them to advance our historic mission."
Putin is stopping New World Order "creative destruction" in Syria and Ukraine. He is part of a growing coalition opposing the NWO – not just religious traditionalists, but also progressive anti-globalization forces, including Hugo Chavez inspired anti-imperialists in Latin America.
We are facing an epic struggle between those who espouse sacred values such as justice and decency versus those who wish to destroy all values.
God bless President Putin, who is putting the fear of God into the New World Order.
dinsdag 17 september 2013
Toxic Gas First Used in Syria 1,700 Years Ago
If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has really carried out a chemical attack, it wouldn’t be the first time poisonous gas brought death in the Middle East country.
Indeed, right in Syria archaeologists have found some of the oldest evidence of chemical warfare.
According to University of Leicester archaeologist Simon James, who published his findings back in 2009, poison gas was used in Syria more than 1,700 years ago when a Roman fort at Dura-Europos became the site of a violent siege by the powerful Sasanian Persian empire.
BLOG: Why a Chemical Threat in Syria Is Terrifying
No historical record exists of the battle, which occurred around 256 A.D., but archaeological remains, unearthed by major excavations in 1920-1937 by teams from France and Yale University, and after 1986 by French-Syrian teams, helped James piece together the action.
Trying to enter the city, the Sasanians dug tunnels underneath its walls. Intending to hold their ground at all costs, Roman defenders responded with counter-mines.
In the 1930s, archaeologists unearthed dramatic evidence of the fight. In one of the tunnels, a pile of bodies, still completely fitted with their weapons and armour, testified to the horrors of the battle.
At the time, the researchers believed the trapped Roman soldiers had died after the tunnel collapsed. But according to James, residue of pitch (a resinous substance) and yellow sulfur crystals found in a jar lying near the bodies indicated a much more gruesome reality.
Indeed, the Sasanians placed fire pits strategically throughout the tunnel, and when the Romans broke through, they gassed them by adding sulfur crystals and bitumen to the fire.
BLOG: Why Chemical Weapons Cross the ‘Red Line’
“Defining what constitutes a chemical weapon in antiquity is complex, but this is certainly one of the earliest archaeological finds of the addition of chemical accelerants to a fire to produce toxic fumes,” Adrienne Mayor, a research scholar in classics and history of science at Stanford University, told Discovery News.
Mayor described the skirmish in the tunnel and the presence of burnt residue as an early example of archaeological evidence for a chemical incendiary in her 2003 book “Greek Fire, Poison, Arrows and Scorpion Bombs.”
According to the scholar, a possible contender for the earliest archaeological evidence for a chemical weapon is a charred, manmade fire ball from the archaeological battle site at Gandhara, Pakistan.
“The burning missile had been hurled at Alexander’s besieging army in 327 BC. Chemical analysis revealed the ball’s composition included sulfur, barite, and pitch,” Mayor said.
The ball was certainly ignited in a fire, but whether this was deliberate or accidental is impossible to establish.
NEWS: What Are the Rules of War?
Long before World War I, when 39 different toxic agents — ranging from simple tear gas to mustard gas — were extensively used, it was a mixture of sulfur and pitch that gassed enemies.
Greek historian and Athenian general Thucydides described how, during the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans created a sulfur and pitch (in this case pine resin) fire at the siege of Plateia, Greece, in 429 BC.
The Boeotians, Sparta’s allies, used a similar chemical flame-thrower in 424 BC at Delium, combining burning coal, sulfur and pitch.
Aeneas Tacticus (360 B.C.), one of the earliest Greek writers on the art of war, suggested combining pitch and sulfur to defend against sieges.
“These are the earliest recorded uses of a chemically enhanced incendiary to create a poison gas,” Mayor said.
“The combustion of sulfur creates toxic sulfur dioxide gas. The fumes are lethal if inhaled in large quantities,” she added.
Image: At the Palmyrene Gate, the principal entrance to the city of Dura Europos, toxic gas brought death more than 1,700 years ago. Credit: Heretiq/Wikimedia Commons.
Source: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/toxic-gas-brought-death-in-syria-more-than-1700-years-ago-130904.htm
donderdag 12 september 2013
Deconstructing The Syrian Banking System
Amid the daily turmoil in Syria, it comes as something of a surprise to see the financial statements of 12 of the country’s banks posted, quarter by quarter, on the website of the Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE).
By the end of May, all 12 had published audited financial statements for 2012, complete with detailed accounting notes.
But despite the apparent normality projected by the DSE’s website (daily changes in stock prices stream across the home page; weekly trading reports are easily available and up to date), echoes of the civil war can be detected.
In recent weeks, three banks have had trading in their shares suspended because they did not provide the Exchange with reports on their Annual General Assembly meetings – it is hardly surprising that convening an annual meeting, to be attended by numerous prominent directors and shareholders, is difficult to arrange when large gatherings present easy targets for bombs.
On 17 January, Bank Bemo Saudi Fransi informed the Exchange that it had transferred all funds in its Dair al-Zour branch to its head office in Damascus. (A few days later, rebel forces captured strategic positions around the city.) On 5 March the bank informed the Exchange that a convoy taking money to the Central Bank had been attacked by an armed gang, resulting in lost funds of S£25mn.
Amid the acres of news that have been published about the conflict in Syria, little has been written about how the conflict has affected the financial system. Economic reporting tends to focus on the exchange rate (which has depreciated by more than 100% since the start of the conflict) and the level of the Central Bank of Syria’s foreign exchange reserves (now probably down to around $2bn-3bn).
Banking Activity Has Declined DramaticallyCash, of course, is playing a much greater role in the economy than before. Banking activity is at a minimum as banks run down existing credit facilities while continuing to fund basic imports such as food and medicine. Banks say that they are able to get dollars as well as local currency to stock their ATMs (in areas under government control), although money exchangers are playing an increasingly important role in the distribution of cash.
Banks’ financial statements should give a reasonable impression of the broad trends in a country’s financial system. Those published in Syria – one of the least developed banking systems in the Middle East, even before the civil war – need to be treated with considerable care, although the figures published by subsidiaries of overseas banks are likely to be more reliable since overseas head offices are subject to supervision and auditing standards that are more robust than those applied in Syria.
With that caveat in mind, the financial statements of the 12 banks that report to the DSE show an aggregate 28% decline in loans extended in the two years to the end of 2012 and a 29% decline in customers’ deposits. In both cases the figures under-state the effective shrinkage in the banking system. Syrian banks report their financial results in Syrian pounds but have, at least in the past, extended some loans and taken some deposits in foreign currency.
A 50% devaluation in the Syrian pound will increase the reported value of a foreign currency loan by 50% on a bank’s local currency-denominated balance sheet. Without that effect, the banks’ loan portfolios would have shown a much greater decline.
As the crisis has deepened, banks have been converting foreign currency loans into local currency loans in the hope of improving their borrowers’ ability to repay. Again, the accounting treatment around such transactions has a big effect on the banks’ balance sheets, inflating the apparent size of their loan portfolios.
Well-placed observers comment that the assets and liabilities of the banking system have fallen dramatically since the end of 2012.
By the end of May, all 12 had published audited financial statements for 2012, complete with detailed accounting notes.
But despite the apparent normality projected by the DSE’s website (daily changes in stock prices stream across the home page; weekly trading reports are easily available and up to date), echoes of the civil war can be detected.
In recent weeks, three banks have had trading in their shares suspended because they did not provide the Exchange with reports on their Annual General Assembly meetings – it is hardly surprising that convening an annual meeting, to be attended by numerous prominent directors and shareholders, is difficult to arrange when large gatherings present easy targets for bombs.
On 17 January, Bank Bemo Saudi Fransi informed the Exchange that it had transferred all funds in its Dair al-Zour branch to its head office in Damascus. (A few days later, rebel forces captured strategic positions around the city.) On 5 March the bank informed the Exchange that a convoy taking money to the Central Bank had been attacked by an armed gang, resulting in lost funds of S£25mn.
Amid the acres of news that have been published about the conflict in Syria, little has been written about how the conflict has affected the financial system. Economic reporting tends to focus on the exchange rate (which has depreciated by more than 100% since the start of the conflict) and the level of the Central Bank of Syria’s foreign exchange reserves (now probably down to around $2bn-3bn).
Banking Activity Has Declined DramaticallyCash, of course, is playing a much greater role in the economy than before. Banking activity is at a minimum as banks run down existing credit facilities while continuing to fund basic imports such as food and medicine. Banks say that they are able to get dollars as well as local currency to stock their ATMs (in areas under government control), although money exchangers are playing an increasingly important role in the distribution of cash.
Banks’ financial statements should give a reasonable impression of the broad trends in a country’s financial system. Those published in Syria – one of the least developed banking systems in the Middle East, even before the civil war – need to be treated with considerable care, although the figures published by subsidiaries of overseas banks are likely to be more reliable since overseas head offices are subject to supervision and auditing standards that are more robust than those applied in Syria.
With that caveat in mind, the financial statements of the 12 banks that report to the DSE show an aggregate 28% decline in loans extended in the two years to the end of 2012 and a 29% decline in customers’ deposits. In both cases the figures under-state the effective shrinkage in the banking system. Syrian banks report their financial results in Syrian pounds but have, at least in the past, extended some loans and taken some deposits in foreign currency.
A 50% devaluation in the Syrian pound will increase the reported value of a foreign currency loan by 50% on a bank’s local currency-denominated balance sheet. Without that effect, the banks’ loan portfolios would have shown a much greater decline.
As the crisis has deepened, banks have been converting foreign currency loans into local currency loans in the hope of improving their borrowers’ ability to repay. Again, the accounting treatment around such transactions has a big effect on the banks’ balance sheets, inflating the apparent size of their loan portfolios.
Well-placed observers comment that the assets and liabilities of the banking system have fallen dramatically since the end of 2012.
Syrian Banks’ Exposure To Key Foreign Banks Now MinimalThe decline of international lending and borrowing by Syrian banks can be seen in figures published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an institution that tracks overseas exposures of banks in the major world economies. According to the BIS, banks in major economies had placed $264mn with banks in Syria (including the Central Bank) at the end of 2009. This figure halved by the end of 2010 and at the end of 2012 was down to $42mn. Placements by Syrian banks (including the Central Bank) with banks in the major economies stood at $16.31bn at the end of 2009, remained steady through 2010 before falling to $2.33bn at the end of 2012. The fall in placements by Syrian banks reflects both the repatriation and spending of much-needed foreign currency, as well as the redeployment of funds out of the major international banking systems and into others where the reach of international sanctions is less keenly felt.
The Syrian banking system was one of the smallest in the Middle East even before the civil war. Assets of $47.7bn at the end of 2010 represented 2.1% of the assets of commercial banks in the Arab Middle East. Private sector deposits of $23.5bn represented about 2.2%. This was a little more than Oman and Tunisia. Private sector credit was equivalent to 23% of Gross Domestic Product – a very low figure in a region where banks dominate financial intermediation.
Non-Performing Loans Double or TrebleIncome and net profit figures of the 12 listed banks have been fluctuating wildly as a result of revaluations of assets and as a result of loan loss provisioning. All 12 of the listed banks reported a doubling of non-performing loans (NPLs) in 2012 and in some cases a trebling or even quadrupling. Eight banks showed NPLs as more than 20% of their total loan portfolio.
Three of the 12 listed banks declared net losses for 2012, but income statements carry little meaning in the current Syrian environment. Quite apart from the exchange rate, which can turn revenue streams into losses, or vice versa, from one reporting period to another, the physical destruction of a client’s businesses can render loans which were performing yesterday uncollectable today.
(Although the exchange rate has depreciated considerably during the last two years, it is interesting to note that the unofficial rate shows big fluctuations and at times can show significant appreciation as well as depreciation. The collapse of a country’s exchange rate during a time of civil war cannot be assumed. For example, the Lebanese pound remained around $1=LL3 for the first seven years of the Lebanese civil war and only started to slide after the Israeli invasion of 1982, with the really big devaluations happening in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As any seasoned Lebanese banker will tell you, militias expect to be paid in cash, and usually in dollars, so civil wars bring a lot of foreign currency into a country, regardless of whether the official sector is running low on its own foreign reserves.)
The State-Owned Banks Dominate the Banking SystemThe 12 listed banks account for about a quarter of banking assets and liabilities in Syria. The state-owned banks dominate the system but their financial statements for recent years are not available.
The Central Bank of Syria’s public disclosure of aggregate banking statistics peters out in early 2011. Statistics for year-end 2010 show aggregated assets for the 20 banks at $47.7bn (converting the Central Bank’s Syrian pound figures into dollars at a rate of $1=S£45.79). State banks account for 71% of this. Note that not all private sector banks are listed on the DSE - Cham Bank and al-Baraka Syria are not.
Physical Safety and Hard Cash Crucial for Banking ActivityLooking ahead, the most obvious threats to the continuation of banking services in Syria are physical – the destruction of bank branches or security threats that prevent banks restocking their ATMs or prevent their staff from going to work. (In mid-June, the website of Arab Bank Syria announced that banking services had been discontinued at eight of its branches (out of 19), most of them in the south western corner of Syria, near the Lebanese border.)
The availability of physical cash in government-controlled areas will be another challenge for the banks. Much will depend on the willingness of the regime’s foreign backers to facilitate the printing of local-currency bank notes and the provision of foreign currency notes. (It is assumed that rebel-held areas will continue to receive cash dollars from their foreign benefactors.)
The state-owned banks will continue to support local industries, providing loans and not calling-in bad debts. They will be able to do this because the Central Bank of Syria will not enforce its own regulations. And because state-owned banks account for such a large part of the banking system, a significant part of the economy will be able to continue to operate as if all is well and everyone is paying everyone else on time. Again, it is when banking gets “physical” – for example, when wages have to be paid in cash, or foreigners paid in Dollars or Euros – that problems arise. If confidence in the regime declines, then, in regime- controlled areas, cash will become even more important than it is now.
*Andrew Cunningham has spent more than 25 years writing, training and consulting on banking and finance, both in the Middle East and in Europe and the U.S.
Darien Middle East advises clients on international financial regulation and best practices in risk management and corporate governance. The firm was founded in 2010 by Andrew Cunningham and is based in London. The firm publishes regular briefings on financial markets under the title, Darien Analytics.
woensdag 11 september 2013
Chemical attack was Syria rebel provocation, former hostages say
In a number of interviews to European news outlets, the former hostages - Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin and Italian journalist Domenico Quiric - said they overheard an English-language Skype conversation between their captors and other men which suggested it was rebel forces, not the government, that used chemical weapons on Syria’s civilian population in an August 21 attack near Damascus.
“It is a moral duty to say this. The government of Bashar al-Assad did not use sarin gas or other types of gas in the outskirts of Damascus,” Piccinin said during an interview with Belgium's RTL radio station.
Piccinin stressed that while being held captive, he and fellow prisoner Quirico were secluded from the outside world and had no idea that chemical weapons were deployed. But the conversation which both men overheard suggested that the use of the weapons was a strategic move by the opposition, aimed at getting the West to intervene.
"In this conversation, they said that the gas attack on two neighborhoods of Damascus was launched by the rebels as a provocation to lead the West to intervene militarily,”Quirico told Italy’s La Stampa. "We were unaware of everything that was going on during our detention in Syria, and therefore also with the gas attack in Damascus."
While stating that the rebels most likely exaggerated the accident’s death toll, the Italian journalist stressed that he could not vouch whether “the conversation was based on real facts." However, he said that one of the three people in the alleged conversation identified himself as a Free Syrian Army general, La Stampa reported.
Based on what both men have learned, Peccinin told RTL that it would be “insane and suicidal for the West to support these people.”
“It pains me to say it because I've been a fierce supporter of the Free Syrian Army in its rightful fight for democracy since 2012," Piccinin added.
“I am extremely surprised that the United States could think about intervening, knowing very well how the Syrian revolution has become international jihadism – in other words Al-Qaeda," Quirico said, as quoted by Italy’s Quotidiano Nazionale.
The 62-year-old La Stampa journalist believes that radical Islamic groups operating in Syria to topple Assad “want to create a caliphate and extend it to the entire Middle East and North Africa.”
In a number of news appearances, both Quirico and Piccinin shared stories of how they were subjected to two mock executions, beaten, and starved during their five-month captivity.
"These have been very tough months. We were beaten on a daily basis, we suffered two mock executions," Quirico told reporters upon his arrival in Rome, AFP reported.
"There was sometimes real violence...humiliation, bullying, mock executions...Domenico faced two mock executions, with a revolver," Piccinin told RTL.
Both men were kidnapped in Syria last April by a group of armed men in pickup trucks who were believed to be from Free Syrian Army.
According to Piccinin, the captors soon transferred them over to the Abu Ammar brigade, a rebel group "more bandit than Islamist."
"We were moved around a lot...it was not always the same group that held us, there were very violent groups, very anti-West and some anti-Christian," Piccinin said.
Both men tried to escape twice but their attempts were unsuccessful, prompting the rebel group to punish them for their actions.
The Italian government announced on Sunday that both men had been freed after Rome intensified negotiations with the rebels for the release of the prisoners ahead of an anticipated US strike on Syria.
Another 13 journalists are still believed to be missing in Syria, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Source: http://rt.com/news/chemical-weapons-rebels-captives-632/
maandag 9 september 2013
Syrians: NATO-backed Militants Seen Donning Gas Masks
Reports of Libyan chemical weapons brought in through Turkey, caches discovered in Damascus point to possible false flag.
by Tony Cartalucci
July 27, 2012 - For a Western media so fond of reporting "activist" accounts, rumors, and even fabrications, and with all the talk of an impending "massacre" in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, reports of so-called "Free Syrian Army" militants seen trying on gas masks, along with reports of Libyan chemical weapon caches & equipment being discovered in Damascus is surely headline news.
Images: (Top) FSA fighters, one on the left wearing a "Jihadist" headband, another on the right trying on a military-grade gas mask, were reportedly photographed in Aleppo, Syria. (Bottom) Chemical weapons and equipment from Libya have been reportedly discovered as troops search areas of Damascus after quelling last week's militant attack.
Many Syrians and outside observers alike, fear that militants may deploy chemical weapons in one or more locations around Syria, creating a mass-casualty event to subsequently be blamed on the government by a coordinated Western media disinformation campaign. The so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) has already been conducting strings of devastating, indiscriminate mass-casualty bombings across the country, as reported by Reuters', "Outgunned Syria rebels make shift to bombs."
Libyan weapons, cash, and fighters have also all been confirmed to have made it into Syria in an effort to undermine, divide and destroy Syria.
The London Telegraph reported in its article, "Libya’s new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels:"
Why Isn't the Western Media Investigating These Claims?
It should be remembered a single "tweet" from BBC's Ian Pannell in Aleppo claiming "fighter jets have bombed eastern Aleppo," triggered media hysteria. Pannell would expand on his earlier, unconfirmed, unsubstantiated claim by declaring, "what appeared to be Russian-made MiG planes arced through the sky. We watched as they dropped in, bombing and strafing rebel positions."
It would later turn out that the planes Pannell observed were not "MiG planes," where not "Russian-made," and were not even "bombing" rebel positions. They were trainer planes carrying out reconnaissance and at most, deploying gun-fire on rebel trucks mounted with heavy weapons.
Image:
A sole"tweet" from BBC's Ian Pannell, now a confirmed fabrication, immediately
made headlines across the Western media.
July 27, 2012 - For a Western media so fond of reporting "activist" accounts, rumors, and even fabrications, and with all the talk of an impending "massacre" in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, reports of so-called "Free Syrian Army" militants seen trying on gas masks, along with reports of Libyan chemical weapon caches & equipment being discovered in Damascus is surely headline news.
Images: (Top) FSA fighters, one on the left wearing a "Jihadist" headband, another on the right trying on a military-grade gas mask, were reportedly photographed in Aleppo, Syria. (Bottom) Chemical weapons and equipment from Libya have been reportedly discovered as troops search areas of Damascus after quelling last week's militant attack.
....
Many Syrians and outside observers alike, fear that militants may deploy chemical weapons in one or more locations around Syria, creating a mass-casualty event to subsequently be blamed on the government by a coordinated Western media disinformation campaign. The so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) has already been conducting strings of devastating, indiscriminate mass-casualty bombings across the country, as reported by Reuters', "Outgunned Syria rebels make shift to bombs."
Libyan weapons, cash, and fighters have also all been confirmed to have made it into Syria in an effort to undermine, divide and destroy Syria.
The London Telegraph reported in its article, "Libya’s new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels:"
"There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria," said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see."
Albawaba reported in its article, "Libyan fighters join "free Syrian army" forces," that:The Telegraph has also learned that preliminary discussions about arms supplies took place when members of the Syrian National Council [SNC] – the country's main opposition movement – visited Libya earlier this month.
Libyan sources conveyed in recent days that 600 rebel fighters have already gone from Libya to Syria in order to support the Syrian opposition.Albawaba's report would later be confirmed by multiple Western media representatives now on the ground in Aleppo, Syria, including CNN which reported:
Meanwhile, residents of the village where the Syrian Falcons were headquartered said there were fighters of several North African nationalities also serving with the brigade's ranks.
CNN also added:A volunteer Libyan fighter has also told CNN he intends to travel from Turkey to Syria within days to add a "platoon" of Libyan fighters to armed movement.
On Wednesday, CNN’s crew met a Libyan fighter who had crossed into Syria from Turkey with four other Libyans. The fighter wore full camouflage and was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle. He said more Libyan fighters were on the way.Clearly Libyan terrorists and their weapons have made it into Syria with the explicit backing of NATO's recently installed client Libyan regime. The London Guardian had reported that Libya possessed some "25 metric tonnes of bulk mustard agent and 1,400 metric tonnes of precursor chemical used to make chemical weapons." The Guardian also reported:
The foreign fighters, some of them are clearly drawn because they see this as … a jihad. So this is a magnet for jihadists who see this as a fight for Sunni Muslims.
The abandonment or disappearance of some Gaddafi-era weapons has prompted concerns that such firepower could erode regional security if it falls into the hands of Islamist militants or rebels active in north Africa.Clearly those "Islamist militants" as well as "rebels active in north Africa" are now on the ground in Syria. These militants bringing pilfered chemical weapons with them is entirely plausible, as is the possibility that these weapons were purposefully placed into their hands by either NATO or Libya's current ruling regime. This very scenario was warned against last month in an article published by Russia Today titled, "Syrian rebels aim to use chemical weapons, blame Damascus – report."
Why Isn't the Western Media Investigating These Claims?
It should be remembered a single "tweet" from BBC's Ian Pannell in Aleppo claiming "fighter jets have bombed eastern Aleppo," triggered media hysteria. Pannell would expand on his earlier, unconfirmed, unsubstantiated claim by declaring, "what appeared to be Russian-made MiG planes arced through the sky. We watched as they dropped in, bombing and strafing rebel positions."
It would later turn out that the planes Pannell observed were not "MiG planes," where not "Russian-made," and were not even "bombing" rebel positions. They were trainer planes carrying out reconnaissance and at most, deploying gun-fire on rebel trucks mounted with heavy weapons.
....
If one "tweet" is worth 3 news cycles, even when
the report was both difficult to believe at face-value, and quickly turned out
to be a fabrication - why isn't the Western media covering pictures and witness
accounts of FSA militants apparently preparing to deploy chemical weapons inside
and around Syria's major cities?
The answer is simple, reporting bombers that don't
exist allowed
the White House to claim, "the Syrian government's assault on the city of
Aleppo with tanks and airplanes illustrates "the depth of depravity" by the
regime of President Bashar Assad."
Similarly, by allowing claims of FSA militants
preparing to deploy chemical weapons to go unreported, affords the West an
opportunity to then blame the mass-casualty event that may follow on the Syrian
government, thus providing an attractive opportunity for militarily intervene.
That the media and governments of the West have not publicly looked into recent
claims that the FSA is contemplating a false flag, weapons of mass destruction
attack, makes them complicit should such an attack unfold. It will also make it
all but impossible for the US to attempt to blame Libya and "Al Qaeda" alone if
their dark deed is carried out, but subsequently exposed.
vrijdag 6 september 2013
US deployed nuke force before Syria crisis
File photo shows foreign-backed militants in Syria.
With the imminent threat of nuclear war and a preliminary decision by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support, not just a missile campaign, but act directly in support of al-Qaeda forces inside Syria, a significant number of military leaders have lost all faith in their command structure.
Strangely, moves against pro-democratic forces in the military were actually made prior to what has been the most drastic turnaround in US policy since 9/11.
Solid evidence from within the intelligence community confirms that the US, Britain and France knew of the August 21 Sarin attacks in advance. More evidence, including intercepted emails, show that top Pentagon intelligence officials were actively involved in planning the attacks.
Israel’s July submarine attack, one mirrored this week as a “test,” was intended to disable Syria’s advanced P800 Yahont anti-ship missiles, capable of destroying America’s guided missile destroyers.
This is far from the only curious coincidence.
America hides its nuke arsenal
There is clear evidence that the US moved and restructured major nuclear commands predicting both the nuclear confrontation we see with Russia over Syria and a possible mutiny within US forces.
This was done before the Syrian gassing incident, evidence that a “retaliatory” missile attack on Syria was planned before there was anything to retaliate against.
We have seen two nuclear bomber wings relocated and put directly under White House command. Over 2000 nuclear weapons have been illegally moved, stored now in an old submarine base.
One wing of B2 bombers has actually “gone missing.” No one knows where they are. As Jim W. Dean so often says, “You just can’t make things like this up.”
Sarin through Turkey
This week, investigative journalists from Press TV, were able to trace shipments of Sarin gas moving through Turkey into Syria.
Local officials from Hatay Province in Turkey were interviewed and confirmed that their border crossings were used as transit points. They also pointed out that they had been inundated with Mossad, CIA and other western intelligence agencies.
Our contacts within the region have told us that local rental prices for luxury properties have doubled as intelligence agencies, mercenary companies (one running the Internet’s largest search engine) and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) supposedly providing aid to refugees are “spending money like water.”
Press TV cites the use of ambulances and emergency supply vehicles in the transit of poison gas and other weapons.
Pentagon “caught” running gas attacks
Top Pentagon officials in unclassified emails actually bragged about planning and executing the August 1, 2013 Syrian attack which is said to have killed 1400.
Redacted excerpts from these documents supplied by sources in Russia:
From: AJxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxx83@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2013 2:31 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxx CIV (US)
Subject: Re: Follow-up, xxxxxxxxxx
As you see I'm far from this now, but I know our guys did their best.
I enjoyed catching-up with you. Hope to see you soon again.
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxx
On Aug 22, 2013, at 2:14 PM, "xxxxxxxx CIV (US)"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.civ@mail.mil> wrote:
You're exactly right. We have to work with both theater on the requirement and the organization that owns the contract to ensure we don't have too few or too many contractors.
CIxx - Rock xxxxxx Contract
CIxx - DIA Contract
By the way, saw your latest success, my congratulations. Good job.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrian-activists-accuse-governmen
t-of-deadly-chemical-attack-near-damascus/2013/08/21/aea157e6-0a50-11
e3-89fe-abb4a5067014_story.html
Regards,
xxxxxx
Following this exchange, broad detailed discussions followed on how these operations were listed in the Congressional Justifications Book (CJB). The military did not act alone.
A read of the unredacted, openly available on the Internet, version of these emails can only lead to one conclusion. Noting the source, at the highest levels of Army Intelligence, these represent an admission of an official operation using both contractors and Army personnel in planning and executing what is more than simply a war crime but high treason.
These emails and hundreds more have been totally censored from all news reports. We have confirmed the identities of those listed, their positions and have on staff people who have worked with them for years.
Syria’s side
Syria has its own collection of leaked documents. In January 2013, documents from Britain Defense, specifically from their Business Development Manager, David Goulding (dgoulding@britamdefense.com), outlined plans made in concert with the government of Qatar to launch false-flag chemical attacks and blame them on the Syrian government.
This is the text of the email, dated Christmas Day, 2012. It and thousands of others have been cleansed from the Internet and every attempt has been made to discredit them:
“Phil, We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear the idea is approved by Washington. We’ll have to deliver a CW (chemical weapon) to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea, but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
Kind regards
David”
Goulding was communicating with Britam founder Phillip Leonard Doughty. (DOB 13 Aug 1953)
There is no proof Britam accepted the deal but, in light of recent events, those who claim the idea is a conspiracy theory must accept the fact that over 200 members of the US Congress believe the same thing.
America steeped in fear
Never have Americans been as afraid of nuclear annihilation at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
America is at DEFCON 3.
Over 200 members of Congress acknowledge that our own government has been involved in false-flag terrorism. Even radio personalities from the extreme right now openly admit that we are supporting al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria.
We wonder if they might move the clock back a bit and take another look at 9/11.
As things now sit, America’s nuclear capability is in question. Weapons have been moved without authorization and a fleet of bombers has disappeared, probably to an overseas location.
Never has America had poorer intelligence than it has today. All information used regarding Syria is 2nd and 3rd tier intercepts or downloaded off the Internet.
Secretary of State Kerry has been distributing one “victim” photo that has been verified as having been taken in 1993.
President Obama’s promises to the American people are false. America has active plans to land troops in Syria.
Russia will not allow it. America and Israel depend on the “Samson Option,” a nuclear attack on Iran in order to save Israel from massive retaliation. However, Russia has offered to extend an air defense umbrella over that nation that would render any Israeli attack harmless.
Tel Aviv would be a smoldering ruin in hours. The Iron Dome would be overwhelmed quickly.
Who benefits, who is doing this? When the Project for a New American Century arranged for the 2000 coup d'état and the 9/11 attacks, we knew they had put a plan in motion for America to destroy seven nations.
It is now clear that the “New American Century” was never intended to include America.
We have our plans if US launches war on Syria, Putin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow has its own plans to deal with a possible US military offensive against Syria.
Putin made the remarks on Tuesday night at his country residence outside Moscow during an interview with The Associated Press and Russia's state Channel 1 television published on Wednesday.
"We have our own ideas about what we would do and how we would do it if the situation develops toward the use of force or otherwise," he said. "We have our plans, but it's too early to talk about them."
The war rhetoric against Syria intensified after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.
Damascus has vehemently denied the accusations, saying the chemical attack was carried out by the militants themselves as a false-flag operation.
On August 31, US President Barack Obama said he has decided that Washington must take military action against the Syrian government, which would mean a unilateral military strike without a UN mandate.
Obama said that despite having made up his mind, he will take the case to US Congress. But he added that he is prepared to order military action against the Syrian government at any time.
The US president once again held the Syrian government responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus.
On August 29, a meeting of the Security Council's permanent members ended without reaching an agreement on Syria.
The Western members of the council have been pushing for a resolution on the use of force while Russia and China are strongly opposed to any attack on Syria.
Since March 2011, Russia and China have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions proposed by European states threatening military action and sanctions against Damascus.
The two countries are also opposing the current push by the United States and France to launch a war on Syria, vowing to veto any resolution that paves the way for the military action.
GJH/AS
donderdag 5 september 2013
Russia releases key findings on chemical attack near Aleppo indicating similarity with rebel-made weapons
A statement released by the ministry on Wednesday particularly drew attention to the “massive stove-piping of various information aimed at placing the responsibility for the alleged chemical weapons use in Syria on Damascus, even though the results of the UN investigation have not yet been revealed.”
By such means “the way is being paved for military action”against Damascus, the ministry pointed out.
But the samples taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests, outlining the 100-page report handed over to the UN by Russia.
The key points of the report have been given as follows:
• the shell used in the incident “does not belong to the standard ammunition of the Syrian army and was crudely according to type and parameters of the rocket-propelled unguided missiles manufactured in the north of Syria by the so-called Bashair al-Nasr brigade”;
• RDX, which is also known as hexogen or cyclonite, was used as the bursting charge for the shell, and it is “not used in standard chemical munitions”;
• soil and shell samples contain “the non-industrially synthesized nerve agent sarin and diisopropylfluorophosphate,” which was “used by Western states for producing chemical weapons during World War II.”
The findings of the report are “extremely specific,” as they mostly consist of scientific and technical data from probes’ analysis, the ministry stressed, adding that this data can “substantially aid” the UN investigation of the incident.
While focusing on the Khan al-Assal attack on March 19, in which at least 26 civilians and Syrian army soldiers were killed, and 86 more were injured, the Russian Foreign Ministry also criticized the “flawed selective approach” of certain states in reporting the recent incidents of alleged chemical weapons use in August.
The hype around the alleged attack on the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta showed “apparent attempts to cast a veil over the incidents of gas poisoning of Syrian army soldiers on August 22, 24 and 25,” the ministry said, adding that all the respective evidence was handed to the UN by Syria.
The condition of the soldiers who, according to Damascus, suffered poisoning after discovering tanks with traces of sarin, has been examined and documented by the UN inspectors, the ministry pointed out, adding that “any objective investigation of the August 21 incident in eastern Ghouta is impossible without the consideration of all these facts.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the UN investigators are set to return to Syria to investigate several other cases of alleged chemical weapons use, including the March 19 incident in Khan al-Assal.
Source: http://rt.com/news/chemical-aleppo-findings-russia-417/
woensdag 4 september 2013
maandag 2 september 2013
Hacked Documents Appear to Link U.S. Intelligence Agencies to Chemical Attack in Syria
When dealing with intelligence – it is very difficult to discern fact from fiction. One important life lesson that every human being should learn at some point in their life is that propaganda, lies, and disinformation are directed at all of us … in every country to every person. In the U.S. – we hear about “state sponsored” media in other countries … countries that aren’t to be trusted or so they would have us believe. The inference of course is that Americans are free from this augmented reality; well I’m here to tell you – we aren’t.
The U.S. – like many other countries – has been involved in false-flag operations many, many times. This requires our government telling us the “Big Lie” … a lie so horrible that one should never question it lest they appear to be foolish or unpatriotic. If you think that’s impossible you should reference the Reichsteig, the Lavon Affair, the attack on USS Liberty, Operation Northwoods, the Gulf of Tonkin, and a whole host of other false-flag operations that were manufactured to give pretext for an attack.
And it doesn’t help when CNN is caught trying to staging a fake news interview recently in Syria HERE.
We’ve been in a covert war with Syria for 2 years
Most Americans do not understand that we have spent the past two years trying to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad. I wrote about the U.S. covert war with Syria HERE in February 2012. We wrote about a terrorist attack on a Syrian oil pipeline and the resulting currency inflation in March 2012 HERE. About huge bombs taking out military installations in March 2012 HERE. And that’s not even the unsuccessful assassination attempts of Bashar Al-Assad over the past two years. The U.S. and Sunni countries funding the overthrow of the Syrian dictator in April 2012 HERE. And about a car bomb in May 2012 HERE.
In short – we’ve been operating a covert proxy war in Syria for the past two years and it hasn’t been working. If you want to understand the geopolitics behind why – you can read that HERE.
Anonymous hacks the militaryA hacker by the name of €Wagn3r claims to have hacked into approximately 20 members of the Pentagon and some of their spouses. I’ve looked through some of these emails and there is an incredible amount of personal correspondence that would be very hard to replicate or falsify. Another very important thing to note. The emails between the Colonel and his army buddy utilize an intense amount of military acronyms which when looked up – point to a conversation about intelligence budgets and how to fund operations. These people in the email understand military language.
The hacker points us to a treasure trove of emails with a promise to share more later. But he points us to these three emails which you can download and see for yourself below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3g8rt2l3do33pgr/the-best.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/download/k3dymq2iz5f8uis/the-best.rar
http://depositfiles.com/files/30qx9o4wc
The correspondence below shows an email between Colonel Anthony J. MacDonald and Gene Furst – Program Manager at the Department of the Army. Gene says ”congratulations” on “your latest success” and then references the Washington Post article on the chemical attack in Damascus HERE. Two other emails go back and forth from Jennifer MacDonald (the Colonel’s wife) and their neighbor Mary Shapiro. As she puts it, “He said the kids weren’t hurt, it was done for cameras.”
If you can’t read this – you can see a larger version HERE.
Regarding the authenticity of these emails – someone actually took the time to contact Mary Shapiro – the person who was on the other end of these emails. And according to that person – during the phone call she acknowledged receipt of these emails and said they were authentic. The only question is whether or not Colonel MacDonald’s wife actually sent these emails; however – they were laced with so many personal details … it’s hard to think they weren’t.
The U.S. – like many other countries – has been involved in false-flag operations many, many times. This requires our government telling us the “Big Lie” … a lie so horrible that one should never question it lest they appear to be foolish or unpatriotic. If you think that’s impossible you should reference the Reichsteig, the Lavon Affair, the attack on USS Liberty, Operation Northwoods, the Gulf of Tonkin, and a whole host of other false-flag operations that were manufactured to give pretext for an attack.
And it doesn’t help when CNN is caught trying to staging a fake news interview recently in Syria HERE.
We’ve been in a covert war with Syria for 2 years
Most Americans do not understand that we have spent the past two years trying to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad. I wrote about the U.S. covert war with Syria HERE in February 2012. We wrote about a terrorist attack on a Syrian oil pipeline and the resulting currency inflation in March 2012 HERE. About huge bombs taking out military installations in March 2012 HERE. And that’s not even the unsuccessful assassination attempts of Bashar Al-Assad over the past two years. The U.S. and Sunni countries funding the overthrow of the Syrian dictator in April 2012 HERE. And about a car bomb in May 2012 HERE.
In short – we’ve been operating a covert proxy war in Syria for the past two years and it hasn’t been working. If you want to understand the geopolitics behind why – you can read that HERE.
Anonymous hacks the militaryA hacker by the name of €Wagn3r claims to have hacked into approximately 20 members of the Pentagon and some of their spouses. I’ve looked through some of these emails and there is an incredible amount of personal correspondence that would be very hard to replicate or falsify. Another very important thing to note. The emails between the Colonel and his army buddy utilize an intense amount of military acronyms which when looked up – point to a conversation about intelligence budgets and how to fund operations. These people in the email understand military language.
The hacker points us to a treasure trove of emails with a promise to share more later. But he points us to these three emails which you can download and see for yourself below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3g8rt2l3do33pgr/the-best.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/download/k3dymq2iz5f8uis/the-best.rar
http://depositfiles.com/files/30qx9o4wc
“Then a friend of Anthony MacDonald’s wife Jennifer writes she was shocked seeing on TV the children died after chemical attack in Syria. Jennifer answers she saw the story but Tony calm her down saying children were alive and the scene was staged.”~€Wagn3rYou can read the message and pastebin from the hacker HERE.
The correspondence below shows an email between Colonel Anthony J. MacDonald and Gene Furst – Program Manager at the Department of the Army. Gene says ”congratulations” on “your latest success” and then references the Washington Post article on the chemical attack in Damascus HERE. Two other emails go back and forth from Jennifer MacDonald (the Colonel’s wife) and their neighbor Mary Shapiro. As she puts it, “He said the kids weren’t hurt, it was done for cameras.”
If you can’t read this – you can see a larger version HERE.
If you can’t read this email – you can see the larger version HERE.
If you can’t read this email – you can see the larger version HERE.
A simple Google search for Colonel Anthony J. MacDonald leads one to his LinkedIn account. Unfortunately – it has been taken down. Fortunately – there is a cache version on the internet. You can view that HERE or see below. He has a very impressive resume but most importantly – it is based in intelligence. His entire history is intelligence. That includes PSYOP missions and propaganda; that’s what they do.
The evidence from the Obama administration
It is very important to remember that up until this point – we have not seen any independent verification of the chemical attacks. We have seen horrible, gruesome and heart-wrenching videos showing lifeless children but there has been no independent verification of these attacks nor any credible evidence to prove that the Assad government was responsible for these attacks. It is very hard to discern truth from fiction when it comes to intelligence PSYOP campaigns. It is important to note that this is the THIRD accusation that Assad has used chemical weapons despite actually being in the strongest position currently; the first two were proved to be false. So far – the evidence presented by the Obama administration is “trust us”. Up until the UK government voted not to attack Syria – the Obama administration seemed intent to attack Syria as quickly as possible before any potential UN report could be presented.
And remember – the American government is currently supporting – indirectly or directly – the Al Qaeda rebels who literally rip out the heart of Syrian soldiers and eat them. You can see that graphic video HERE. That’s OUR side.
The evidence against the Obama administration’s claims
There were some actual journalists on the ground however to talk to witnesses and get first hand accounts of what actually happened. Dale Gavlak is a veteran journalist who has written for the Associated Press for a long time; he assisted with a story that eyewitness accounts actually claimed the Saudis supplied the “rebel forces” with chemical weapons and they mishandled them. Mintpress News had that exclusive story HERE:
As a local Israeli newspaper wrote recently – Israel gave EXCLUSIVE rights to an American-Israeli corporation to drill for oil in the Golan Heights (source). The problem with that is the Golan Heights is occupied Syrian territory that Israel does not have legal claim to; they won this land in the 1967 war and according to international law may not annex it.
There are a few interesting footnotes about this American-Israeli corporation named Genie Energy.
Another interesting footnote – the American supported Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on Iran for four years and the American government did nothing. The Atlantic wrote about that HERE:
It is very important to remember that up until this point – we have not seen any independent verification of the chemical attacks. We have seen horrible, gruesome and heart-wrenching videos showing lifeless children but there has been no independent verification of these attacks nor any credible evidence to prove that the Assad government was responsible for these attacks. It is very hard to discern truth from fiction when it comes to intelligence PSYOP campaigns. It is important to note that this is the THIRD accusation that Assad has used chemical weapons despite actually being in the strongest position currently; the first two were proved to be false. So far – the evidence presented by the Obama administration is “trust us”. Up until the UK government voted not to attack Syria – the Obama administration seemed intent to attack Syria as quickly as possible before any potential UN report could be presented.
And remember – the American government is currently supporting – indirectly or directly – the Al Qaeda rebels who literally rip out the heart of Syrian soldiers and eat them. You can see that graphic video HERE. That’s OUR side.
The evidence against the Obama administration’s claims
There were some actual journalists on the ground however to talk to witnesses and get first hand accounts of what actually happened. Dale Gavlak is a veteran journalist who has written for the Associated Press for a long time; he assisted with a story that eyewitness accounts actually claimed the Saudis supplied the “rebel forces” with chemical weapons and they mishandled them. Mintpress News had that exclusive story HERE:
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”
As I wrote earlier – this is the third claim that the Assad government used chemical weapons; however – we already know the first two claims were lies. The first attempt happened in January of 2013 and leaked documents showed an attempt to frame Assad for using chemical weapons. Yahoo News writes HERE:
Background ContextWe have to acknowledge that the United States is an imperialist country. That’s what we do. Being imperialist is as American as apple pie and most Americans don’t really seem to comprehend that truth. An objective analysis of American history since the 19th century has demonstrated time after time that the American government wields its vast military and intelligence resources on behalf of the interest of wealthy donors and corporate interests. This was true when we instituted a coup of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran in 1953 on behalf of oil interests (source) and it was true in the 1954 coup of the democratically elected President of Guatemala on behalf of the United Fruit Company (source). This was true when the Obama administration pressured the government of Haiti not to raise their minimum wage to $.61 an hour on behalf of corporate interests here in the U.S. (source). Just like apple pie.The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown.A new report, that contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence, showed a scheme ‘approved by Washington’.As per the scheme ‘Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to usechemical weapons,’ the Daily Mail reports.
As a local Israeli newspaper wrote recently – Israel gave EXCLUSIVE rights to an American-Israeli corporation to drill for oil in the Golan Heights (source). The problem with that is the Golan Heights is occupied Syrian territory that Israel does not have legal claim to; they won this land in the 1967 war and according to international law may not annex it.
There are a few interesting footnotes about this American-Israeli corporation named Genie Energy.
#1 – Former Vice President Dick Cheney is a paid adviser to this project (source).
#2 - News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and former Exxon Mobil executive Gene Renna have joined its strategic advisory board (source).
#3 - Jacob Rothschild is involved in the deal and on the board. This guy is as connected to the world stage as any non-President.
From 1983 until 1987, the U.S. more or less sat on (and internally discussed) intelligence containing strong evidence of Iraq’s chemical weapons use — early on, that meant mustard gas. Retired Air Force Col. Rick Francona told the magazine that he first learned of Iraq’s chemical weapons use in 1984. All that time, Iran was publicly saying that Iraq had used chemical weapons against them. They just didn’t have any evidence to take to the U.N. Then, Iran concentrated a large number of troops near the Iraqi city of Barash, near a vulnerability in Iraq’s defenses:
Source: http://www.classwarfareexists.com/hacked-documents-appear-to-link-u-s-intelligence-agencies-to-chemical-attack-in-syria/
zondag 1 september 2013
CNN Caught Staging News Segments on Syria With Actors
Anderson Cooper and CNN have been caught staging fake news about Syria to justify military intervention.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
August 30, 2013
The primary “witness” that the mainstream media is using as a source in Syria has been caught staging fake news segments. Recent video evidence proves that “Syria Danny”, the supposed activist who has been begging for military intervention on CNN, is really just a paid actor and a liar.
While Assad is definitely a tyrant like any head of state, a US invasion of the country is a worst case scenario for the people living there.
By pointing out that the mainstream media is orchestrating their entire coverage of this incident, we are not denying that there is a tremendous amount of death and violence in Syria right now. However, we are showing that the mainstream media version of events is scripted and staged propaganda.
The following video shows him contradicting himself while off air, and even asking crew members to “get the gunfire sounds ready” for his video conference with Anderson Cooper on CNN.
“Syria Danny” has also appeared on many other news programs, and every single time his story on specific events has changed.
This is not the first time that mainstream media has been exposed as propaganda, it happens all the time, especially during times of war.
Some of the most hyped up news images of our time surrounding war were not actually real but were simply public relations stunts, designed as psychological warfare operations.
No one in America can forget the image of Saddam Hussein’s statue being toppled and covered with an American flag, yet few people realize that this was a hoax, a staged psychological operation coordinated between the military and the media. In July of 2004 journalist Jon Elmer exposed an internal army study of the war showing that this whole statue scenario was indeed a set up.
In the article Elmer writes “the infamous toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square in central Baghdad on April 9, 2003 was stage-managed by American troops and not a spontaneous reaction by Iraqis. According to the study, a Marine colonel first decided to topple the statue, and an Army psychological operations unit turned the event into a propaganda moment… The Marines brought in cheering Iraqi children in order to make the scene appear authentic, the study said. Allegations that the event was staged were made in April of last year, mostly by opponents of the war, but were ignored or ridiculed by the US government and most visible media outlets. “[1]
The statue hoax was just one example in a long list of lies and psychological operations surrounding the multiple wars in Iraq. At the onset of Operation Desert Storm in 1990 a public relations firm by the name of Hill and Knowlton spent millions of dollars on the government’s behalf, constructing news pieces that would sell the war to the American public. One of the most moving pranks to come from this push to war was the testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name of Nayirah. In a videotaped testimony that was later distributed to the media she said “I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital, While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.”
Sounds horrible huh? Well, luckily it never happened, this too was a fabricated event designed to dehumanize the Iraqi people. The whole thing was exposed when the journalists discovered that the witness Nayirah was actually the daughter of a US ambassador who was being coaxed by military psychological operations specialists. If the government and media cooperate to deceive the American public during times of war then there should be no doubt in your mind that the same techniques are used during times of peace, and especially elections.
The following clip is another classic staged news segment that was aired by CNN:
Source: http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/08/cnn-caught-staging-news-segments-on-syria-with-actors-2750918.html
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