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  1. #26
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I don't think this really matters, given that the GCC will be doing their best to get weapons in via Turkey or the South.

    What will be interesting is how many Russian-made weapons they supply.

    The old Russian arms trade will be doing very well out of Syria right now.


    US not considering arming Syrian opposition

    By Julie Pace

    Associated Press

    Posted: 02/07/2012 0757 PM PST


    WASHINGTON -- The White House said on Tuesday that the U.S. is not considering arming opposition groups in Syria, deflecting calls from some lawmakers to explore such a possibility as one way to quell the violence in Syria.
    However, U.S. officials said no option would be completely ruled out as the Obama administration grapples for a way to end the bloodshed and facilitate a political transition.
    "We are not considering that step right now," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of the prospect of arming the rebels.
    Carney said current deliberations inside the administration are focused on how the U.S. could provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, though he wouldn't say what form such assistance might take.
    At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that while the U.S. never takes any option off the table, "we don't think more arms into Syria is the answer."
    Earlier Tuesday, some congressional lawmakers, including Arizona's Republican Sen. John McCain, called for the U.S. to explore the prospect of arming opposition forces in Syria.
    "We should start considering options, arming the opposition," McCain said. "The bloodletting has got to stop."
    McCain was a staunch advocate last year for the U.S. to arm rebels in Libya in their fight against Moammar Gadhafi and forces loyal to his regime. The U.S. and NATO did ultimately provide military help under the cover of a U.N. mandate.
    The U.S. and other Western powers have met repeatedly with members of Syria's emerging political opposition, but they are leery of engaging closely with would-be rebel forces without the legal protection of a similar U.N. resolution.
    But in the wake of last weekend's defeat of a Security Council resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, western nations have little appetite for another run at the U.N. And there is even less interest in trying to find ways around the U.N. to help anti-Assad forces militarily.
    While the double-veto by Russia and China at the Security Council Saturday put diplomatic efforts at an impasse, the U.S. says it is still loath to consider a military option.
    President Barack Obama pushed back this week on questions about why the U.S. engaged militarily in Libya, but not in Syria.
    "Not every situation is going to allow for the kind of military solution we saw with Libya," Obama said in an interview that aired Monday on NBC. "I think it is very possible for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention."
    Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite and rally against Assad's regime, previewing the possible formation of a group of like-minded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition.
    Speaking in Bulgaria on Sunday, she said the world had a duty to halt the violence and see Assad out of power.
    The contact group is likely to be similar, but not identical, to the one established for Libya, which oversaw the international help for Gadhafi's opponents. It also coordinated the NATO military operations.
    More than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March, according to a U.N. count from early last month.
    Hundreds more are believed to have been killed since then, but the U.N. says the chaos in the country has made it impossible to cross-check the figures.
    Despite the continued violence, the White House insists that sanctions and diplomatic pressure are taking a toll on Assad's regime.
    "Ultimately it needs to result in Assad ceasing the violence, stopping the brutality and allowing for a transition supported by the Syrian people," Carney said.
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    The next post may be brought to you by my little bitch Spamdreth

  2. #27
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    What an erudite piece from a columnist for the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian!

    Syria terror: no peace with a straight face

    Published:
    Wednesday, February 8, 2012


    Tony Fraser






    Once again rival political ideologies amongst the major power brokers in the world community are in the way of peace and good governance in a world inflamed. Based on a range of factors, the ideologies inclusive of race, political economy, self interests revolving around geopolitical, oil and economic considerations held by the US and its western allies on one side, and China and Russia on the other, have prevented a coordinated approach to free the population of Syria from the tyran- nical rule of the Assad family. The US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has called the blocking of a resolution at the UN Security Council by Russia and China a “travesty.” According to Clinton, “faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people’s right to have a better future.”

    The Russians and the Chinese, especially the former, believe there is little hope that the UN resolution can solve the problem of domination and brutality by the Assad regime. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, asked what game plan would the West have with regard to arriving at a resolution: would it go back to the Security Council for another perhaps stronger resolution if the first failed? Ultimately in the mind of the Russians would be the recent experience of Libya, which allowed Nato to bomb Gaddafi into extinction. The Russians have historically been against the intervention by the international community in the sovereign affairs of nations; and so with good reason. Following last year’s rigged parliamentary elections, there are once again protests on the streets of Moscow. The fear is that presidential elections scheduled for March could also be rigged. Moreover, many are saying that present Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should not be contesting for a position that he already held for two terms. 

    Understandably, therefore, the Russians, going back to the Soviet Union period, have always been in direct opposition to any conceived-of plan for regime change in a country. The obvious concern is that intervention becomes the accepted norm and perhaps one day it will work against Russian totalitarianism, however reformed. There is no question though of the historical repression in Syria. The Assad family has been in power since 1970, first through Hafez and now his son, Bashar. Both Assads were “elected unopposed” in a one-party state. Bashar was first put into office in 2000 at the death of his father, and “re-elected unopposed” in 2007 for another seven-year term. Since 1963, the country has been under emergency rule with the army and security forces having complete powers to do as they please. The emergency powers were said to have been amended last April after the outbreak of protests in March last year. The amendment is said to have brought little change.

    Having come to power with control over the civil and military state apparatus, Bashar passed on military control to his brother Mahaer. Since the crisis started, an estimated 7,000 people have been killed, large numbers of them having been brutally murdered by the security forces loyal to Assad and his family. The Syrian President claims that “gangs and terrorists” have killed 2,000 soldiers. There is therefore no question about the brutality of the Assad regime, its lack of democratic credentials and that Assad should suffer the same fate as Gaddafi and the other brutal dictators in the Arab/Muslim world. So there is no question of defending the regime by being critical of the western attempt at regime change in Damascus. What is at contest here are the self-righteous pretensions of the western bloc of countries. Their statements make as if the Russians and Chinese have done anything different from the western practice towards Israel in that country’s relations with the Arab world. UN resolutions blocked by the West against Israel for misdeeds in the Arab world are innumerable; UN declarations that have remained unenforced by the West against Israel are of the same number.

    So what “travesty” is the US Secretary of State talking about? What does the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague mean when he accuses the Russians and Chinese of “turning their backs on the Arab world.” Has the West supported in a meaningful way the quest by the Palestinian people to regain the parts of their homeland that have been permanently occupied by the Israelis? What of the findings of the UN report on human rights violations by Israel in the Gaza strip bombing of 2009? Is it a “travesty” that the international community has done nothing about the recorded violations? Of course we could talk about western powers for decades doing nothing about systematic and entrenched dehumanisation of black South Africans by minority white regimes; in fact, far from doing nothing, Europe and the US corporations benefited from the economic exploitation until it became unpopular to do so. It is more than a little comical to read the US Secretary of State threatening to “work to expose those who are still funding the regime and sending it weapons to be used against defenceless Syrians, including women and children.”

    Read what the UN Human Rights Council Report says of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza when its army claimed to have bombed the administrative buildings of Hamas: “That the attacks on these buildings constituted deliberate attacks on civilian objects in violation of the rule of customary international humanitarian law whereby attacks must be strictly limited to military objectives. These facts further indicate the commission of the grave breach of extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out.” Maybe Secretary of State Clinton will investigate which country/ies have funded Israeli arms build-up in the billions over dec-ades and which countries have looked the other way as Israel acquired nuclear weaponry. The point is that ideology, economic self-interest, geopolitical concerns have all dominated the relations between the large and powerful nations and small helpless countries. Even in instances of an obvious disgrace to the hu-man condition, as Assad’s government so obviously is, the world powers are absolutely lacking in credibility to do something about it; that is with a straight face.


    Link

  3. #28
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    It's rather tiresome when posts on an important subject get abitrarily removed by some pedant with a snit on.

    Still, I'll keep posting anyway.

    Syria continues assault on Homs


    Anti-regime protesters hold a demonstration in Idlib, Syria (AP)


    Wednesday February 08 2012



    Syrian troops have continued shelling residential neighbourhoods in the central city of Homs for a fifth straight day, killing scores of people, activists said.
    The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "tens of citizens were killed" in the shelling of the neighbourhoods of Bayadah, Baba Amr, Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun.
    Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said his neighbourhood had come under "very intense shelling" by tanks, mortars, artillery and heavy machine guns.
    Mr Shaker said he had counted five bodies today in his district.
    The violence comes as President Bashar Assad's regime is increasingly isolated.
    Five European and six Gulf nations have pulled their ambassadors out of Damascus, and the US has closed its embassy in Syria.
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  4. #29
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    Netizens React to Syria Veto
    Reported by Xin Yu for RFA's Mandarin service.
    Translated and written in English with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.
    2012-02-07

    Some draw parallels with Beijing's uncertainty over Libya while others say China should not interfere in Syrian affairs.


    A Syrian anti-government protester holds a poster in Hama city, north of Syria's capital Damascus, April 29, 2011.
    AFP

    Chinese netizens showed a mixed response this week to criticism over Beijing's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an end to nearly a year of bloodshed in Syria and for its leader, Bashar al-Assad, to step down.

    While Chinese political activists and some bloggers condemned Beijing's veto, which came after violence has left about 6,000 people dead since protests began last March, some netizens drew parallels with Beijing's uncertainty over Libya, while others said China should stay out of attempts by other countries to interfere.

    "I predict that in a few months' time, the spokesperson of the [foreign ministry] will stand on their podium and say 'we respect the choice of the Syrian people,'" wrote user @huidi on the popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo.

    User @uncharted_IIII replied: "When will they respect the choice of the Chinese people?"

    "It reminds of of the way they kept changing the way they referred to the opposition forces in Libya," wrote user @chenduomi.

    Ire

    The vetoes from China and Russia drew the ire of the United States, Europe, and much of the Arab world, with Washington saying they could result in escalating violence.

    China has defended its decision, saying it was aimed at avoiding more civilian casualties.

    User @AntiCCTVdandaojidan issued a personal apology to the people of Syria for the decision.

    "Speaking personally, as a Chinese citizen, and speaking for myself, I express the deepest apology to the Syrian people," the user wrote. "That veto did not represent me, and I will always stand with the Syrian people."

    Fujian-based blogger and activist Peter Guo said he thought the Chinese government had acted inhumanely.

    "The Syrian people are being massacred by their government," Guo said. "Soon after the veto, another 200 people died."

    "This goes to show that the Syrian authorities started to kill people without the slightest restraint after they knew the resolution had been vetoed, including women and children," he said.

    Flawed

    But user @woduibuqigongzuokuangdemojiezuo said the U.N. resolution was flawed.

    "Let the people of Syria sort out Syria's problems," the user wrote. "There is no need for American imperialists to concern themselves; they should get Wall Street sorted out first."

    In an anonymous poll on Sina Weibo posted on Sunday, around 85 percent of the 300-odd responses "strongly opposed" the veto, while 10 percent supported it.

    Hong Kong-based current affairs commentator Zhou Bin said China would need to find some way of intervening to prevent bloodshed in Syria, even if no military force were used.

    "There are large numbers of casualties among the Syrian population, so even if China doesn't agree with military intervention, they still need to ... take some action along with the international community," Zhou said.

    'Rubber stamp'

    The ruling Chinese Communist Party's newspaper, the People's Daily, said in an editorial on Tuesday that the international community should respect China's views, and that the U.N. Security Council was more than a "rubber stamp."

    "Because of its rapidly rising power, China has a seat on the high table of international affairs, and it needs to get used to its new environment under the spotlight," the paper said.

    "This means that China must deal with some difficult issues and make some complicated and tough choices, and it should courageously speak its own mind so as to help mold a new political order in the world."

    In an apparent response to widespread criticism of the veto, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Tuesday that Beijing is considering sending officials to the region to push forward a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

    rfa.org

  5. #30
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I knew it! The bastards, they fucked up the football as well.

    Syria disrupts news broadcasts from Al Jazeera

    Rebecca Hawkes ©RapidTVNews | 08-02-2012

    Syria has been jamming the reception of TV signals from the Qatar-based news broadcaster Al Jazeera, satellite operator Eutelsat has confirmed.
    The interference has been traced to a location in Damascus, the capital of the troubled Middle East nation, according to Osama Saeed, Al Jazeera spokesman.
    Viewers affected by the jamming can find alternative frequencies at Al Jazeera Teleport - Frequencies, he added.
    "Geo-localization reports indicate that recent jamming of Al Jazeera satellite signals emanates from Syria," confirmed Paris-based Eutelsat, which operates the Hot Bird satellite on which Al Jazeera is carried.
    Al Jazeera viewers affected by the jamming can find alternative frequencies at Al Jazeera Teleport - Frequencies.
    Since its inception 15 years ago, Al Jazeera has been a regular target of hostility by regional governments – though disruption to its broadcasts have increased since the start of the Arab spring.
    Last month, Iran was accused by Arabsat of jamming the signals its satellites carry for Al Jazeera.
    Egypt's Nilesat suspended the news network after its coverage of the demonstrations against former President Hosni Mubarak back in January 2011.
    A month later, Al Jazeera claimed its satellite transmissions were being jammed by Libya - some months before the regime headed by former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.
    Officials in Syria have been highly critical of Al Jazeera's coverage of the popular uprising against the government, which has escalated the violent crackdown against demonstrators in recent days.
    The anti-regime unrest, which began in March 2011, has now resulted in the deaths of 5,400 people in Syria, according to the United Nations.

  6. #31
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Did you see the Alawite plank being interviewed?

    "Double Veto" was all the chump could mutter with a stupid grin on his face.

    As if it actually matters.

    Meanwhile the slaughter continues.....

  7. #32
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Published on Wednesday 8 February 2012 12:21 Syrian forces have thrust into the rebellious city of Homs, killing dozens of civilians by the accounts of opposition activists, as Turkey appears to be preparing a new push against President Bashar al-Assad.
    Moscow’s foreign minister, however, having viited Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, made clear Russia was still opposed to any peace talks that were conditional on Assad first stepping aside.
    A newspaper close to government said Turkey planned to organise a conference with Arab and Western governments in Istanbul. A NATO member and rising Muslim power in the region, Ankara is sheltering Syrian rebel army commanders and has spoken of creating safe havens for refugees.
    As the diplomatic gears turned, the military offensive in Homs and elsewhere showed no sign of let up, while activists in the city also accused militiamen of slaughtering three families in their homes - the sort of incident that is fuelling fears of descent into more widespread, Iraq-style sectarian killing.
    The day’s total death toll stood at 67, activists said.
    The onslaught on Homs, one of the bloodiest of the 11-month-old revolt against Assad, has not relented despite a promise to end the bloodshed that the Syrian leader gave to Russia, which saved Damascus from UN Security Council action on Saturday.
    In the latest assault on Homs, troops fired rockets and mortars while tanks entered the Inshaat neighbourhood and moved closer to Bab Amro, the district hardest hit by bombardments that have killed at least 150 people in the last two days, activists in the city and opposition sources said.
    “Electricity returned briefly and we were able to contact various neighbourhoods because activists there managed to recharge their phones. We counted 47 killed since midnight,” activist Mohammad Hassan said by satellite phone.
    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said countries with influence over the Syrian opposition should press them to enter a dialogue with Assad, comments that made clear Moscow had no immediate intention of abandoning its long-time ally.
    Lavrov was speaking in Moscow a day after he met Assad in Damascus, where he said both nations wanted to revive an Arab League monitoring effort that was suspended due to violence.
    Syrian opposition figures, who said Lavrov had brought no new initiative, spurn Assad’s promises of reform as meaningless while his troops are killing civilians and say he must go.
    Walid al-Bunni, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Council, dismissed Lavrov’s dialogue proposal.
    “The Arab initiative is clear. Assad must step down and Syrians will then be ready to sit together at a table with whoever succeeds him to discuss a democratic transition,” the head of the SNC’s foreign policy committee said.
    Pro-Assad militiamen shot dead at least 20 civilians in Homs when they stormed their homes on the outskirts of opposition areas overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
    Rami Abdelrahman, who heads the British-based Observatory, said the unarmed victims were a family of five, one of seven and one of eight.
    Activist Hassan said bombardment intensified in the early morning, targeting the Sunni Muslim districts of Bab Amro, al-Bayada, al-Khalidiya and Wadi al-Arab, all hostile to Assad, whose minority Alawite sect has dominated Syria for five decades.
    “Mortar and rocket fire has subsided, but heavy machineguns and anti-aircraft guns are still strong,” he said. “Tanks are in main thoroughfares in the city and appear poised to push deep into residential areas.”
    The state news agency SANA said “armed terrorist groups” had attacked police roadblocks in Homs and fired mortar bombs at the city, with three falling on the Homs oil refinery, one of two in Syria. It gave no details of any damage.
    Army deserters and insurgents, at least nominally commanded by former officers based in Turkey, are fighting back against Assad’s violent response to what began as a mostly peaceful protest movement and now threatens to slide into sectarian civil war.

    Link

    Added:

    ANKARA — Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the situation in Syria in a phone call with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev later on Wednesday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told broadcaster NTV in an interview.
    Erdogan said on Tuesday his country was preparing a new initiative with those countries who oppose the Syrian government and described China's and Russia's veto of a U.N. resolution on Syria a "fiasco."
    Link

  8. #33
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    The old Russian arms trade will be doing very well out of Syria right now.
    US and EU, 1 and 2 in the list of arms trading.

  9. #34
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    What will be interesting is how many Russian-made weapons they supply.
    Two battle groups are of the coast of Iran conducting "maritime security operations and theatre security co-operation efforts"

    With an Amphibious Warfare ship lurks nearby also conducting "maritime security operations and theatre security co-operation efforts"


  10. #35
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    Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs

    "The current Syrian drama is far from the usual, clear-cut "good guys vs bad guys" Hollywood shtick. The suspension of the Arab League observers mission; the double veto by Russia and China at the UN Security Council; the increasing violence especially in Homs and some Damascus suburbs: It is all leading to widespread fears in the developing world of a Western-backed armed insurrection trying to replicate the chaos in Libya - a "liberated" country now run by heavily weaponized militias. Syria slipping into civil war would open the door to an even more horrific regional conflagration.

    Here's an attempt to see through the fog.

    1. Why has the Bashar al-Assad regime not fallen?
    Because the majority of the Syrian population still supports it (55%, according to a mid-December poll funded by the Qatar Foundation. See "Arabs want Syria's President Assad to go - opinion poll" [1], and note how the headline distorts the result.

    Assad can count on the army (no defections from the top ranks); the business elite and the middle class in the top cities, Damascus and Aleppo; secular, well-educated Sunnis; and all the minorities - from Christians to Kurds and Druze. Even Syrians in favor of regime change - yet not hardcore Islamists - refuse Western sanctions and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-style humanitarian bombing.

    2. Is Assad "isolated"?
    As much as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may wish it, and the White House stresses "Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now" and "must step aside" - no. The "international community" proponents of regime change in Syria are the NATOGCC (North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Gulf Cooperation Council) - or, to be really specific, Washington, London and Paris and the oil-drenched sheikh puppets of the Persian Gulf, most of all the House of Saud and Qatar.

    Turkey is playing a very ambivalent game; it hosts a NATO command and control center in Hatay province, near the Syrian border, and at the same time offers exile to Assad. Even Israel is at a loss; they prefer the devil they know to an unpredictably hostile post-Assad regime led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Assad is supported by Iran; by the government in Baghdad (Iraq has refused to impose sanctions); by Lebanon (the same); and most of all by Russia (which does not want to lose its naval base in Tartus) and trade partner China. This means Syria's economy will not be strangled (moreover, the country is used to life under sanctions and does not have to worry about a national debt). The BRICS group is adamant; the Syria crisis has to be solved by Syrians only.

    3. What is the opposition's game?
    The Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group led by Paris exile Barhoun Galyan, claims to represent all opposition forces. Inside Syria, its credibility is dodgy. The SNC is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) - composed of weaponized Sunni defectors, but mostly fragmented into armed gangs, some of them directly infiltrated by Gulf mercenaries. Even the Arab League report had to acknowledge the FSA is killing civilians and security forces, and bombing buildings, trains and pipelines.

    The armed opposition does not have a central command; it is essentially local; and does not hold heavy weapons. The civilian opposition is divided - and has no political program whatsoever, apart from "the people want the downfall of the regime", taking a leaf from Tahrir Square.

    4. How are Syrians themselves divided?
    Those who support the regime see a foreign Zionist/American conspiracy - with Turkey and parts of Europe as extras - bent on breaking up Syria. And they see the armed "terrorist" gangs - infiltrated by foreigners - as solely responsible for the worst violence.

    Dissidents and the fragmented civilian opposition were always peaceful and unarmed. Then they started to receive protection from military defectors - who brought their light weapons with them. They all dismiss the government version of events as pure propaganda. For them, the real armed "terrorists" are the sabbiha - murderous paramilitary gangs paid by the government. Sabbiha (which means "ghosts") are essentially depicted as Alawis, Christians and Druze, adults but also teenagers, sporting dark glasses, white sneakers, colored armbands, and armed with knives, batons and using fake names among them; the leaders are bodybuilder-types driving dark Mercedes.

    Even mass rallies are in conflict. The protest rallies (muzaharat ) were confronted by the regime with processions (masirat). It's unclear whether the people who joined them were constrained civil servants or moved by spontaneous decision. Syrian state media depicts the protesters as agent provocateurs or mercenaries and roundly dismisses the anger of those who live under a harsh police state with no political freedom.

    An extra dividing factor is that the UN death toll of over 5,000 people (so far) does not identify pro-regime and opposition victims, and simply ignores the over 2,000 dead Syrian army soldiers (their funerals are on state TV virtually every day).

    5. What do Christians think about all this?
    The Christian West - who used to love shopping for bargains in the Damascus souq - should pay attention to how most Syrian Christians see the protests. They fear that Sunnis in power will crackdown on minorities (not only themselves but also Druze and Alawites). They view the majority of Sunnis as "ignorant" and "backward" Islamic fanatics, without the slightest idea about democracy, human rights or a slow, negotiated path towards democracy.

    This illiterate bunch, according to them, lives in the periphery, have no respect (or understanding) for life in the big city, support the violence caused by armed gangs, and want an Islamic state (by the way, essentially what the House of Saud wants for Syria.) Secular Sunnis for their part criticize Christians, stressing that most Sunnis are businessmen and entrepreneurs and sport liberal ideas - and certainly don't want an Islamic state. It must be stressed that the opposition is trans-confessional - it does include Christians and even Alawis.

    6. What's the Western strategy on the ground?
    Borzou Daragahi from the Financial Times has just confirmed that militias in Misrata, in Libya, announced the deaths of three Libyan de facto mercenaries in Syria. These Libyan Transitional National Council assets landed in Syria - alongside weapons stolen from Gaddafi's warehouses - courtesy of NATO cargo planes.

    For months now, as Asia Times Online has reported, French and British special forces have been training fighters in Iskenderun, in southern Turkey. The Central Intelligence Agency is involved in intel and communications.

    The FSA uses the ultra-porous Syrian-Turkish border at will. Turkey built several refugee camps; and Ankara hosts the leaders of both the SNC and FSA. There's also the Jordanian front - the connection to the heavy Islamist (and backward) Daraa. But the Syrian-Jordanian border is infested with mines and heavily patrolled; that implies a long 200-kilometer detour in the middle of the desert.

    Most of all FSA fighters go back and forth from Lebanon. The privileged smuggling route is from the northern Bekaa valley in Lebanon toward the opposition strongholds, the Sunni-majority cities of Homs and Hama. There's another route from the central Bekaa valley going south toward the suburbs of Damascus (that explains how both strongholds are being supplied). But the whole thing is very dangerous, because Syrian ally Hezbollah is very strong in the Bekaa valley.

    7. Who's winning?
    Assad has promised - once again this Tuesday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - there will be a new constitution and national elections by summer. Half-hearted or not, this is an attempt at reform.

    Yet the usual, unnamed "government officials" have already leaked to CNN that the White House has asked the Pentagon to simulate game scenarios for a direct US military intervention in favor of the rebels. So a NATOGCC intervention bypassing the UN remains a solid possibility; a false flag operation blamed on the Assad regime might be the perfect casus belli.

    8. And what about the Syria-Iran connection?
    Syria is crucial to Iran's sphere of influence in Southwest Asia/the eastern flank of the Arab nation. BRICS members Russia and China want to keep the status quo - because it implies a regional balance of power that pins down American hegemony. For China, uninterrupted Iranian supplies of oil and gas are a matter of extreme national security. On top of it, if the US is tied up in the Middle East, so the much-touted Obama administration/Pentagon "pivot" towards Asia, and especially the South China Sea, will take much longer.

    The bulk of Washington elites see regime change in Syria as a crucial way to hurt Iran. So this goes way beyond Syria. It's about shattering the Iranian regime, which is not a Western satrapy; energy flows from the Middle East to the West; the West's grip on the GCC and the intersection between the Arab and Persian worlds; and preserving the role of the petrodollar. Syria-Iran is a now a titanic match between NATOGCC and Russia/China - to try to expel them from the Middle East. The Pentagon's Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine is never more alive than when the jackals and hyenas of war are screaming and kicking. "
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  11. #36
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    "An important rule of good blogging is not to comment on matters which you do not understand. An important rule of my own life is not to try to understand everything, as no one man can. I have never tried to master the intricacies of Syrian internal politics, (or Lebanese for that matter). Assad senior perpetrated atrocities on a grand scale without ever getting much attention from the West. Hopes that Assad junior would make things much better seemed to come to nothing. If the revolutionary tide swept away the Assad crew, I should be pleased.

    I do not know in depth why Homs is a hotbed of opposition, and what the tribal divisions are. I do know that Saudi Arabia – the apostle state of repression – is funding and arming the Free Syrian Army, which is anything but a good sign. I am very interested that the BBC reports bombings in Damascus as false flag bombings by the Assad regime, when I found that to note false flag bombings by UK/US ally Karimov in Tashkent was treated as crazed conspiracy theory.

    But what I understand most is the diplomacy. On Libya, NATO took a UN Security Council Resolution authorising a no fly zone, and twisted it as cover to wage all out aerial warfare on one side in a civil war. Long after pro-Gadaffi sources lost any serious offensive capability, NATO were carpet-bombing Sirte, killing many times more people than Assad has killed in Homs to date.

    If given an inch you take 500 miles, you should not be surprised when in future nobody will give you half an inch. That is the context of Russian and Chinese veto of any UNSCR authorising action against Syria. The total disregard for the spirit and precise wording of the resolutions on Libya to which Russia and China agreed, has stymied the chances of future united security council action, perhaps for many years. I actually predicted this, blogging on 5 October 2011

    “Having absolutely abused UNSCR 1973, plainly NATO was seriously damaging the ability of the Security Council to work together in future, and making quite certain that China and Russia would not for many years agree to any SC Resolutions which might be open to similar abuse.”

    All the sham indignation about a consequence the US, UK and France so directly brought upon themselves, and which was so obviously predictable, is pathetic.

    It is fascinating the way this has been presented in the media, with graphics on all the major news channels showing the national flags of the thirteen countries who voted for the resolution, compared to the two against. There is some interest here – Azerbaijan is certainly a surprise and will be causing real heartache in the Kremlin. But the language from Clinton on the irresponsible use of the veto and on need for action outwith the United Nations, is completely out of order.

    The United States has stymied UN action against Israeli aggression on numerous occasions, very often vetoing alone. I do not recall the BBC ever showing a graphic of all the national flags on one side versus just the stars and stripes on the other. Funny that. The threat of a veto is usually enough to stop a motion being tabled, but I am fairly confident in saying that the USA has exercised its veto to protect Israel on over thirty occasions. That US prevention of international action includes over Operation Cast Lead, not so long ago, where again the Israelis were killing far more civilians than are dying in the current – still deplorable – assault on Homs.

    The drive for another war in the Middle East, from the same old suspects who profit from such wars, is relentless and pretty well any war of opportunity will do. What is happening in Syria is sad in its violence, and also hopeful insofar as some of it is motivated by a genuine spark of freedom. Those who purport to believe that internal conflict anywhere is best resolved by us bombing the hell out of a country and/or invading it, are a combination of cranks and cynical profiteers.

    What worries me most is not the turmoil in Syria; it is the vultures circling over it."

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    "Beijing, 7 Feb (Xinhua) — “Proceeding from Syria’s actual conditions, China vetoed the UN Security Council draft resolution on the Syrian issue, to safeguard the fundamental interests of Syria and its people,” Wu Sike, Chinese special envoy on the Middle East issue, said during an interview with Xinhua reporters.

    On 4 February, China and Russia voted against the UN Security Council draft resolution on the Syrian issue submitted by Morocco and drafted by Western countries and some relevant Arab states. This was the second time that China and Russia voted against a draft resolution on the Syrian issue subsequent to their veto of the draft resolution on the Syrian issue submitted to the UN Security Council by France, Britain, and other European countries on 4 October last year.

    Wu Sike said: Respecting a country’s sovereignty is the basic principle of the UN Charter. China has always observed and stressed this principle in dealing with international affairs. The Syrian issue is, in essence, an internal affair of that country. Syria’s development and reforms should be decided by the Syrian people. External forces should not exceed their functions to interfere. Otherwise, this will be violating Syria’s sovereignty and disrespecting the Syrian people.

    He noted that finding solutions to the Syrian issue must proceed from Syria’s actual conditions. He visited Syria after the UN Security Council voted on the Syrian issue on 4 0ctober last year. During his visit, he conducted in-depth conversations with leaders of the two opposition organizations. They said that they understood China’s veto and explained that if external interference was allowed, be it the Iraq type of land attacks or the Libya form of air strikes, the ultimate victims will be Syria and its people. Resolving the Syrian crisis through its own efforts may be a little slow and take longer, but it involves much smaller risks and aftermaths. In the long run, this conforms with the interests of Syria and its people.

    Wu Sike stressed: As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is a responsible country. China supports an “early initiation of an inclusive political process led by the Syrian people and participated by various parties, peacefully resolving conflicts through dialogues and consultations to restore Syria’s situation to normal as early as possible.” He added: “Some Western media reports assert that China and Russia are supporting ‘dictatorship.’ This is misleading and confusing the essence of the issue. On the contrary, China is safeguarding the entire interests of the Syrian people, instead of protecting one side and opposing the other.” Time and history will make a fair judgment, he said.

    Wu Sike said that he held a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Araby in Cairo in the second half of December last year, during which he stressed that China supported the idea of resolving the Syrian issue under the Arab League framework. Syria and its people as well as the Arab League should be the main factors in resolving the Syrian issue, whereas the international community should do something positive and useful to push the work forward and play a constructive role, instead of imposing measures on a country.

    When commenting on China’s veto of the current draft resolution that includes the Arab League’s new proposal, Wu Sike pointed out: China supports the Arab League’s efforts within its framework to promote dialogues between the relevant parties. But the UN Charter and UN regulations must be respected when doing something under the UN framework. It would be unreasonable for the United Nations to accept any proposal just because it is put forth by the Arab League.

    Wu Sike noted that the Syrian crisis involves the stability of the entire region. He called on the relevant parties to sensibly consider problems and respect the civilians’ demands for reforms, development, and progress. He added: In the next step, China will continue to maintain contact s and communication with the Syrian authorities, the opposition factions, Arab states, the Arab League, and various relevant parties, promote dialogues between various Syrian factions to prevent the use of violence, reduce casualties among the innocent civilians, peacefully resolve the crisis, and bring about security and stability in Syria and this region. This is not only conducive to creating welfare for the Syrian and Middle East people, but also greatly beneficial to world peace and development."

  13. #38
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Well it looks like the people of Homs are about to get a serious military battering, and all I can say is my thoughts are with them.

    Five days of shelling and now a massacre to finish it off.

    I hope you are proud of yourselves, you Russian pricks.
    Last edited by harrybarracuda; 09-02-2012 at 01:30 PM.

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    The GCC and NATO lose their leadership [Voltaire Network]




    "On two occasions, 4 October 2011 and 4 February 2012, permanent members of the UN Security rebuffed draft resolutions on the situation in Syria. This showdown has pitted members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against those of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

    The end of the unipolar world

    This quadruple veto seals the end of a period of international relations that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and witnessed the undivided domination of the United States over the rest of the world. It does not signify a return to the previous bipolar system, but the emergence of a new model whose contours are yet to be defined. None of the New World Order projects have been achieved. Washington and Tel Aviv have failed to institutionalize the unipolar governance they intended to impose as an inviolable paradigm, while the BRICS fell short of creating a multipolar system that would have enabled its members to rise to the highest level.

    As Syrian strategist Imad Fawzi Shueibi had rightly anticipated, the Syrian crisis has crystallized a new balance of power, and from there a redistribution of power that no one had foreseen or wanted, but which must be accepted as an inescapable reality. [1]

    In retrospect, Hillary Clinton’s "leadership from behind" doctrine appears as an attempt by the United States to test their limits, while shifting the responsibility on their British and, especially, French allies. Yet, it was they who burst on the scene imposing themselves as political and military leaders during the overthrow of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, something they hoped to live through again by toppling the Syrian Arab Republic, even if they did so as vassals and sub-contractors of the U.S. empire. So it is London and Paris, even more than Washington, that suffered a diplomatic defeat and bear the consequences in terms of loss of influence.

    States of the Third World are sure to draw their conclusions from these recent events: those who choose to serve the United States, like Saddam Hussein, or to negotiate with them, like Muammar el-Qaddafi, could be executed by the imperial troops and their country destroyed. On the contrary, those who resist, like Bashar al-Assad, and build alliances with Russia and China will survive.





    Triumph in the virtual world, defeat in the real world

    The setback of the GCC and NATO brings to light a power struggle that many scented, but no one could ascertain: the West won the media war but had to retreat from the military arena. To paraphrase Mao Zedong: they have become virtual tigers.

    During this crisis, and even today, Western leaders and Arab monarchs have managed to intoxicate not only their own people, but a large part of international public opinion. They made people believe that the Syrian population had risen against their government and that he conducted a bloody crackdown against political protesters. Satellite channels not only concocted arrangements for misleading the public, but they also shot staged images in a studio to fit their propaganda purposes. Ultimately, the GCC and NATO invented and kept alive through the media for ten months a revolution that existed only in words and images, while on the ground Syria had to face a low intensity war conducted by the Wahhabi Legion supported by NATO.

    However, with Russia and China having made use of their veto already once and Iran having announced its intention to fight alongside Syria if required, the United States and their vassals had to recognize that pursuing their plans would draw them into a world war. After months of extreme tension, the U.S. admitted they were bluffing and didn’t have good enough cards for their game.

    Despite a military budget of over $ 800 billion, the United States is a giant with feet of clay. Indeed, if their armed forces are still capable of destroying developing States, debilitated by previous wars or lengthy embargoes, like Serbia, Iraq or Libya, they are no longer in a position to occupy a territory, or measure up to a State capable of responding and taking the war to America.

    Contrary to accepted wisdom, the United States have never been a significant military power. They were engaged for a few weeks towards the end of World War II, against a foe already annihilated by the Red Army; they were defeated in North Korea and Vietnam; they have never controlled the situation in Afghanistan and they were forced to clear out of Iraq for fear of being crushed.

    During the last two decades, the U.S. empire has erased human reality from its wars and has communicated by assimilating war and video games. It is on this basis that recruitment campaigns are conducted, and that military training takes place. Today, it uses hundreds of thousands of video players as surrogate soldiers. Therefore, the slightest contact with reality can demoralize its armed forces. According to its own statistics, the majority of dead soldiers did not fall in combat, but committed suicide, while one-third of their serving military personnel suffers from psychiatric disorders and unfit for combat. The exorbitance of the Pentagon’s military budget is cannot to compensate for its human degradation.



    New values​​: honesty and sovereignty


    The failure of the GCC and NATO States goes hand in hand with the breakdown of their values​​. They pretend to be defenders of human rights and democracy, when they have established torture as a system of government and most of them are opposed to the principle of popular sovereignty.

    Even if public opinion in the West and the Gulf is under informed on this subject, the United States and their vassals have been running since 2001 a vast network of secret prisons and torture centers, including inside the European Union. On the pretext of the war against terrorism, they have sown terror, kidnapped and tortured more than 80 000 people. During the same period, they created special operations units with an annual budget of nearly $10 billion, which boast of political killings in at least 75 countries, according to their own reports.

    Regarding democracy, the United States today make no secret that in their eyes it does not stand for a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," in the words of Abraham Lincoln, but the subjection of people to their will as illustrated by the policies and wars of President Bush. Moreover, their constitution rejects the principle of popular sovereignty and they have suspended fundamental freedoms by establishing a permanent state of emergency through the Patriot Act. As for their vassals in the Gulf, there is no need to mention that they are absolute monarchies.

    It is this model that combines unashamedly massive crimes and humanitarian discourse, which was defeated by Russia and China; two States whose record on human rights and democracy, though very questionable, is infinitely superior to that of the GCC and NATO.

    By making use of their veto, Moscow and Beijing have defended two principles: respect for the truth, without which justice and peace are impossible, and respect for the sovereignty of peoples and states, without which no democracy is possible.

    The time has come to strive to rebuild a human society after a period of barbarism."

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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    obsessed with America and the Jews, which doesn't really have a single fucking thing to do with Syria at the moment.
    do you think so? Who is behind the arms smuggling into Syria for the opposition forces? US and Israel, of course

    and the way the uprising has been portrayed in the Western media is amazing, the nasty Assad forces using heavy artillery against the poor civilians of Homs etc etc when those poor civilians are actually part of the old army, armed and ready to kill

    yes, some civilians get killed, but what Syria is doing is exactly what any state would do against an armed uprising...fight them
    I have reported your post

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    https://rt.com/news/syria-lavrov-talks-damascus-657/

    "Syria’s President Assad has agreed to talks with the opposition and will follow the Arab League’s roadmap, increasing the number of observers in the country, even in the most hostile areas in Syria.
    This follows talks with the Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced that President Assad has agreed to send a government delegation to Moscow to meet with representatives of the opposition.
    Assad stands firm in his resolve to stop violence in his country, wherever it should come from, said Lavrov. The parties reaffirmed their readiness to use the Arab League’s initiative to find “a swift way out of the crisis.”

    Main outcomes of the meeting:
    - Assad is ready for talks with the opposition
    - Assad agrees to keep to the Arab League’s peace plan
    - Assad calls to continue the League’s observing mission
    - Assad urges to boost the number of monitors
    - Assad commits to ending the violence
    - Referendum to be called shortly to vote on the new constitution
    - Syria to hold soon parliamentary elections
    - Russia to coordinate talks between Assad and the opposition


    Damascus is to shortly announce a national referendum to draw up a new constitution. According to President Assad, the text of the new constitution has already been drafted and will soon be published in newspapers and on the web. It is set to deprive the ruling political party of its monopoly. Officials expect the referendum to be set for March. After the referendum, the country will go to parliamentary polls, so far planned for May.The opposition Syrian National Council replied it does not object to Russia mediating the talks.

    “Syria is notifying the Arab League that it is interested in the League continuing its work and increasing the number of observers,” declared Lavrov. The League can make its decision now, but Damascus is definitely giving the green light to such a move, he added.

    Moscow has called on the League to expand its observing mission, dubbing it a crucial stabilizing factor for Syria.Lavrov's visit to Syria came amid international anger over Russia and China’s veto of what they saw as a “premature” UN Security Council vote.

    The Russian FM dubbed the resolution draft text “one-sided” and international reaction to the veto “hysterical.”

    The UK and US simultaneously withdrew their ambassadors to Damascus Monday, with the UK Foreign Secretary calling President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime “murderous and doomed.” Italy, Spain and France reportedly recalled their ambassadors from Syria on Tuesday."

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    This is how we roll: FSA shows off APC (VIDEO) — RT

    "Syrian rebels are rolling out armored hardware in their battle against government forces, if this footage is an indicator of the situations in Homs.

    In the video, uploaded to YouTube by the Free Syrian Army, a group of fighters is attacking Bustan ad-Divan checkpoint in the city of Homs using a Soviet-made BMP, an infantry fighting vehicle that is equipped with a cannon.

    The vehicle presumably was captured from the government forces or acquired from army defectors."


    Continues....

    Unarmed civilians my arse, these are terrorist insurgents aided and abetted by the crusader coalition and the puppet dictators in the GCC.
    Last edited by OhOh; 09-02-2012 at 08:57 AM.

  18. #43
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    ^ of course, but harryb and his like are always keen to believe in fairy tales

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    Unarmed civilians or terrorists, you decide.

    https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAA991

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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Well it looks like the people of Homs are about to get a serious military battering, and all I can say is my thoughts are with them.

    Five days of shelling and now a massacre to finish it off.

    I hope you are proud of yourself, your Russian pricks.
    Maybe the Syrians should follow the US model they adopted in Falluja, Iraq.

    You remember, let the "unarmed civilians", except men between 12 and 65, out through the encircled force. Then obliterate men and boys along with a complete city with their 10,000 brave lads, tanks, artillery and bombers. That seemed to quieten down the insurgents for a few months

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    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    obsessed with America and the Jews, which doesn't really have a single fucking thing to do with Syria at the moment.
    do you think so? Who is behind the arms smuggling into Syria for the opposition forces? US and Israel, of course
    Are you suggesting that the only opponent of the Assad regime in the region is Israel, or that the US and Israel would necessarily prefer to see the Muslim Brotherhood, for example, come to prominence in Syria as it has in Egypt? The US and Britain seemed at one point to be hoping for a more moderate Baathist/Alawite-Shia regime. There is no reason to think the West and Israel are going to be happier with more overtly Islamist Sunni regime.

    The problem with arguing with statements like "Who is behind the arms smuggling into Syria for the opposition forces? US and Israel, of course" is that it automatically seems to position anyone taking exception as an apologist for the US/Israel, which is not the case. I think your statement takes an extremely narrow and inaccurate view of the political/cultural dynamic in Syria, which is not quite the same as that in Egypt, and which itself different from that in Libya, Iraq, Iran, and each respective Middle East nation. The "Muslims vs. US/Israel" point of view has always been cartoonish, but it worked more or less OK when military or monarchical strongmen held sway in Muslim countries throughout the region. Each authoritarian government played to that simplistic conspiracy theory point of view in its own way. The power dynamic among the Muslim countries themselves, irrespective of Israel and the US, is changing rapidly, and frankly I don't think the West knows exactly how to respond. I look at US policy toward Syria and see confusion, not dark conspiracies.
    “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.” Dorothy Parker

  22. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    obsessed with America and the Jews, which doesn't really have a single fucking thing to do with Syria at the moment.
    do you think so? Who is behind the arms smuggling into Syria for the opposition forces? US and Israel, of course

    and the way the uprising has been portrayed in the Western media is amazing, the nasty Assad forces using heavy artillery against the poor civilians of Homs etc etc when those poor civilians are actually part of the old army, armed and ready to kill

    yes, some civilians get killed, but what Syria is doing is exactly what any state would do against an armed uprising...fight them
    (1) The weapons are coming from the Arabs, not Israel.
    (2) It didn't start as an "armed uprising". It started as peaceful protests. Because of the heavy handed response it has escalated into armed conflict, and could well morph into a full blown sectarian war.

    Next?

  23. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    The old Russian arms trade will be doing very well out of Syria right now.
    US and EU, 1 and 2 in the list of arms trading.
    To Syria? Stick to the topic please.

  24. #49
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    By making use of their veto, Moscow and Beijing have defended two principles: respect for the truth, without which justice and peace are impossible, and respect for the sovereignty of peoples and states, without which no democracy is possible.
    Moscow and Beijing in the same sentence as truth, democracy and respect for sovereignty. You couldn't fucking make it up!


  25. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Unarmed civilians or terrorists, you decide.

    MrAA991's Channel - YouTube
    How about armed defectors and armed civilians, trying to protect their neighbourhoods and families? Or are you still denying the existence of the FSA?

    Please, you can do better than poorly loaded questions.

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