WORSENING VIOLENCE IN SYRIA

by B.RAMAN

"Good Friday" on April 22,2011, saw violent protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad all over Syria . For the first time since the protest movement started in the southern city of Daraa bordering Jordan five weeks ago, simultaneous, partly spontaneous and partly well-orchestrated protest rallies were held in all major towns such as Damascus, Daraa, Douma, Hama, Jabla, Kamishli and 14 others. The 44-year-old President has been in power for 11 years.

2.Barring the ruling Alawite minority, members of all ethnic, religious and sectarian groups in the country ---the Sunnis, who are in a majority, Christians , Kurds, Ismailis, Duruz and Palestinian and Iraqi refugees (one million each)--- participated in the "Good Friday" protest rallies. Muslims of different sects gave shelter to injured Christians in their mosques and Christians of Daraa gave shelter to injured Muslims in their churches. At the end of the day of protests, seventy-two people were reported to have been killed due to firing by the security forces on the protest rallies.

3. " God , Syria and Freedom" and "Daraa is Syria " were among the slogans shouted in the protest rallies. The protesters were keen to counter the propaganda by the security agencies, which sought to project the protest movement, which has been continuing relentlessly for over a month, as an armed insurrection by pro-Al Qaeda Salafis and other Islamic extremists. They, therefore, avoided shouting slogans of an Islamist kind.

4. The reference to Daraa in the slogans was to highlight the role played by the people of Daraa--- many of them reportedly Christians----- in igniting the protest movement. Daraa is now described as the epi-centre of the anti-Assad movement. Whereas in Egypt , the protest movement started in Cairo and radiated to the other provinces, in Syria , it started in the bordering region of Daraa and from there moved towards Damascus . Protest rallies were reported from some suburbs of Damascus on Good Friday.

5. According to a post in Wikipedia, Daraa is a city in southwestern Syria , near the border with Jordan , with a population of approximately 75,000. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate, historically part of the ancient Hauran region. The city is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Damascus on the Damascus-Amman highway, and is used as a stopping station for travelers.

6. The protest movement in Daraa did not start as a pro-democracy movement. It started as a movement to express the anger of the residents of the area over the perceived failure of the local administration to deal with acute water scarcity in the region. The mishandling of the protests and the use of repressive measures against the protesters by the security agencies led to a purely local phenomenon assuming a pan-Syrian dimension, with demands for the end of emergency laws, the release of political prisoners and reforms.

7. During the first protest rally in Daraa on March 15, the residents accused the then Governor Faysal Kalthum of postponing the acquisition of property rights and preventing farmers from drilling water wells for irrigation. Yussef Abu Rumiyeh, the Member of Parliament from the area, accused the security forces of opening fire "without mercy" on the protesters and criticised the President for not offering condolences to the families of those killed. Bashar sacked Faysal Kalthum on March 23 and appointed Khaled al-Hannus as the new Governor. This did not pacify the people and the protest movement spread to the port city of Latakia . A spokesman of the protesters was quoted by the “Guardian” of the UK as saying: "The residents of Daraa want more than a switch in Governor -- they want the security services to stop oppressing them, the emergency law lifted, property rights respected, the detained freed and freedom of expression guaranteed."

8. President Bashar, who showed signs of being confident till about a fortnight ago of his ability to bring the situation under control, is no longer so. The more the concessions he makes, the more the protests gather momentum. His action in repealing the hated emergency laws --- a major demand---has not pacified the protesters. It is becoming evident that the protesters now want no less than his exit from power and the end of the ruling Alawite minority regime.

9. President Bashar co-operated with the USA 's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its anti-Al Qaeda operations. As a result of this co-operation, Syria allegedly became a favourite rendition centre of the CIA where Al Qaeda suspects were brought for interrogation by Syrian interrogators who had no qualms over the use of torture.

10.The US is now trying to mark its distance from the regime. In a statement after the Good Friday protests, President Barack Obama called for a halt to the "outrageous" violence. He said : "This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now."

11. According to the BBC, in their first joint statement since the protests broke out, activists co-ordinating the mass demonstrations have demanded the establishment of a democratic political system. The demands issued by "Syrian local organising committees" include:

* An end to torture, killings, arrests and violence against demonstrators
* Three days of state-sanctioned mourning for deaths so far
* An independent investigation into the deaths of protesters and judicial proceedings in the light of evidence revealed
* Release of all political prisoners
* Reform of Syria's constitution, including a two-term presidential limit

12.The protest movements, which started in Tunisia in January, and then spread to Egypt , Libya , Yemen and Bahrain , show no signs of abating. In Egypt , the movement has been re-kindled by anger over the ruling military junta’s perceived reluctance to act against the remnants of the Hosni Mubarak regime. The re-ignited movement does not have the secular unity of the earlier movement. The Muslims and the Christians seem to have come to a parting of the ways. The protests against the military junta have been accompanied by protests against the appointments of some Christians as Governors of interior provinces.

13. Apart from proforma statements of support and instigation, Al Qaeda has been adopting a cautious line avoiding any statements or action that could be exploited by the security agencies of the affected countries to demonise the pro-reform/democracy movements as Al Qaeda-directed and crush them. (23-4-11)

(Bahukutumbi Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India , New Delhi , and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)

Funeral Procession

Midterm elections over. The people have spoken. The results are being spun as a repudiation of Obama’s policies - yet, perhaps not as strongly as might have been envisioned. Many legislators - particularly the ones representing the coasts - should have been ousted. In Nevada, Reid’s win looks more than suspicious. As does Boxer’s win in California. I believe these elections, among others (involving Democrat wins), were fraudulent. There’s no way to prove it, of course. And nobody will even try.

A more accurate depicter of the mood of the nation is the economy. The health of our economy remains poor and a key indicator is the unemployment rate. The political argument goes round and round: The lack of jobs is due to the poor economy; and the poor economy has produced joblessness. How to improve the economy? How to reduce joblessness to tolerable levels? One way is to define a new norm.

The Fed is poised to print money and inject more liquidity into the system. It is generally acknowledged that this will hurt the dollar. Yet, the Fed - prompted by the White House - is willing to risk inflation just to show a bit of improvement on the labor market. It won’t work. What the White House does not understand - or does not want to understand - is that the government cannot manipulate the economy like they do elections. They cannot yet dictate what the people should do with their money. They cannot yet compel the people to spend, save or hire, and then finesse the numbers to suit. Short of rendering the currency worthless (in which case there is no economy) they are powerless to arbitrate economic solutions.

As such, the economy remains the only venue which allows people to express their confidence (or lack of it) and overall support of the government and its policies. Expect the economy to remain on life support as long as Obama remains in office. I believe that the president knows this. That is why the Fed, at the direction of the White House, is pursuing a course which will ultimately lead to the dollar’s collapse.

Obama’s trip to India can be seen as the first act in the pomp and circumstance of a funeral (procession) that is yet lacking a corpse.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Rumors

Any truth to the rumor that all that was found in the packages were photographs of something that was labeled: ‘BOMB‘? (Said photographs were then published on the front pages of newspapers around the Western world.) Probably not.

But, it would quite suffice to scare the b’Jesus out of everyone and send us scrambling into the relative safety of POTUS’ embrace. Timing remains suspect. So close to elections. October surprise? POTUS looking manly behind his teleprompters. Rally in support of POTUS on the National Mall. POTUS traveling around the world right after. Dollar down.

U.S. midterm elections: hardly a speed bump; POTUS unfazed - continues to bow and scrape for the sins of the nation he has been elected to lead.

AQ has succeeded in reducing jihad down to the level where everyone can participate. Everyone is capable of mailing a postcard. Now, let’s kick it up a notch: Israel, Pakistan, North Korea (and soon Iran) are all said to have nukes. Do they also have Photoshop?

Watch the speech Obama will be giving in Indonesia. I wonder if he’ll be using PowerPoint.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Ignore Them

Unlike those who still cling to the slim-to-none hope that this so-called 'health care’ bill will yet be derailed, I do believe something approximating its nomenclature will reach the president's desk in due time. He will sign it, of course. It will represent, at the very least, the camel having gotten its considerable nose under the tent.

I also believe that this particular bill - along with everything else that is advanced by this administration – has been presented under false cover. In other words, 'health care’ is ultimately not about 'health' or 'care'. Instead, it is a cynical attempt by one political party to grow government and to secure for itself a permanent position of leadership within it. You might even say that such intent is laudable and can be expected from any political party worth its salt. The rub is when it's being done by misrepresentation, bribery, threat, and without the support of the voters the party is supposed to represent.

The '08 election has now turned into a coup. When the people called or sent letters to their elected representatives, they were ignored. When the people held 'tea parties' all around the country in hopes of catching Washington's attention, they were demeaned. When the people confronted their representatives at town hall events, they were shouted down. When people showed up in great numbers on the steps of the Capitol, they were turned back. Eventually, the people would get the message that they are no longer a part of the process.

The times for democracy in our country are dire indeed. But we are not helpless. We need not let our enemies paint us as victims with bull's eyes attached to our chests and backs. We can do to them exactly what they're doing to us: We can ignore them.

When the mailman brings us mountains of forms and paperwork (from the government) for us to fill out and send back, we can simply throw it in the trash - unopened; same thing applies any official government mailing bearing the words ‘important’ or 'open immediately' including letters from the IRS. Simply refuse to play; ignore them as they are ignoring us. It has to be done en mass though. If only some of us do it, they’ll pick us off one by one and no one will be any the wiser.

Then, after the weather turns nice again, put out the flag and set up a chair on the front lawn, on your stoop or your balcony. Go out there and sit with your dog (if you have one) and listen to the second hour of Rush on your portable radio. Don't create a disturbance; don't make a spectacle of yourself - just sit quietly on your front lawn in a simple, dignified act of defiance.

If enough people did that, day after day, along every street, in every town, it would scare the bjesus out of our blood-sucking bureaucrats and politicians. Each time they’d see or hear about one of us sitting quietly in front of our houses, it would prick their consciences. Eventually, it would invade their dreams. They need to be reminded every day of their betrayal; their breech of duty. They need to be shown up as rogue. They need to be aware that the possibility of criminal charges lurks just down the road.

The jails and ACORN armies they’re preparing to counter us will be no match for our silent public vigils; on our own properties (no less). No additional laws or infamous act - short of a Katyn-style massacre - would serve to silence our wordless protest - our bloodless resistence - IF we ever decided to stand together and take our country back.