Panama Toilet Papers & the Capitalist Bastards With An Eye On Global Markets, Funding Destruction of European Societies

TRANSCRIPT [confirm audio, for quotation purposes] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNvWxZ_bhAI Al-Jazeera English [Qatar state media  / indirect funding also from Thani ruling family via third entity] Julian Assange on the Panama Papers [skip Al-Jazeera introduction] What kind of person would reveal those secrets & why? 1:24 Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Assuming they were an insider, or they were an individual computer hacker coming from the outside, this a technical person.  Or this person had help from a technical person.  I think it's likely that this represents radicalisation of a technical class.  That's something that we've seen, for example, with Snowden. So these are usually young men, who are technically educated, know how to extract material.  But, of course, they have to have the idea and the idea is given to them by successful examples and now there have been a range of successful examples. Al-Jazeera Interviewer It's also to do with hardware, though, isn't it.  Because back in 2010, most journalists at most news organisations wouldn't have had a clue about encryption. Back in 2013 when Snowden came out, most Guardian journalists he was dealing with, he had to school on encryption.  Now so many news outlets are providing these boxes, these (for lack of a better term) 'safe havens' for data, that five years ago only organisations like yours and a few others did.  That's a big change, as well, isn't it? Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Well, I don't believe that  Sueddeutsche [Sueddeutsche Zeitung] got their material that way.  However, their journalists have been educated in the technology. But it's no surprise that it was a German newspaper, because Germany is the centre of technical education of journalists and is also the centre of the political radicalisation of the technical class.  Both of those two things combined. Al-Jazeera Interviewer The head of the ICIJ said ICIJ, the consortium, has no plans to release the full data set.  He said:  "We're not WikiLeaks. We're trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly." Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Yeah, that's a concern.  So we're very pleased about the work that SZ -- Sueddeutsche Zeitung -- did in beginning and developing that source.  We think that's really good work.  The work of the source, of course, is the most impressive and then pulling together that collaboration is also impressive work. Saying that you're going to censor and not release a lot of the material -- in fact, what must be 99% of the material -- that's a big problem. It's fine to have some kind of staggered release because you want to balance the supply and demand curve. But what I want to hear is that there is a path -- a transparent path -- to publishing the vast majority of that data set, because that's what's interesting from a legal perspective, from a historical perspective. One of the fundamental missed lessons from the WikiLeaks experience is about how to deal with scale.  OK, one part of dealing with scale is stitch together a big international collaboration:  get more bodies, more eyeballs on the material.  The other way to deal with scale is that scale is inherent in the material:  when you've got millions of documents, you need to make millions of documents available [and] citable, so it's not just a few hundred journalists, it's all the lawyers in the world, it's all the police in the world. Al-Jazeera Interviewer As someone who pretty much wrote the book on multimedia outlet collaborations, you knew that this stuff was coming. When you saw the first wave -- the first two or three days of reporting  -- what stood out for you and what did you not see that you thought you would in the reporting? Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks We've been covering the offshore sector for a long time, since 2007.  In fact, WikiLeaks has used the offshore sector for protection from banking blockades, so we even had to research it for our own purposes. But in terms of the initial angling of the story, that can be a bit strange.  There was clearly a conscious effort to go with the Putin-bashing, North Korea bashing, sanctions-bashing etc. For some reason, some papers, like The Guardian thought that was necessary. Al-Jazeera Interviewer Have we seen any other examples in the parochial reporting media outlets from various countries doing what The Guardian appears to have done, which is point at a distant target while not paying as much attention, proportionally speaking, to a domestic target much closer to home? Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Sure, that was done in Sweden with SVT -- the Swedish state TV -- beating up on Iceland. Iceland's a small Scandinavian neighbour, sort of a -- you know, viewed as quite provincial and fun to beat up on.  But the Swedish trusts were not really examined. Al-Jazeera Interviewer Am I the only one who's surprised that more than 100 news organisations can get involved with a story like this and somehow, in an industry that is famous for rumour-mongering and incurable gossip, they managed to keep a lid on the whole story until it came out. Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks I think it is interesting.  We knew. We know other people in other news organisations who knew, but who didn't say anything. I think because no-one knows of the law-firm concerned [Mossack Fonseca]; it doesn't have name recognition. Then the individual details are -- they're quite technical.  You can't tweet this story.  You can't spill the beans with just a small comment.  So I think there just wasn't the market to do it.  It could also be that so many news organisations were involved, so they had incentives to not report. Al-Jazeera Interviewer The item that strikes me about this is that we're sitting in an embassy in London that you are not free to leave, and a lot of politicians -- primarily in the United States, but also elsewhere -- when the leaks came out in 2010, they turned you into the embodiment of the problem and, in a way, it kind of reminds me of that Napster story, the free music service that the music industry went after in a big way, destroyed in a court of law and woke up the next morning and found out that Napster wasn't their problem:  that technology was their problem.   There is no music industry per se, compared to what there was before today, and I'm wondering if you feel like that now would be a good time to point out that you weren't necessarily their problem.  Their problem is the technology and you can't lock that up in an embassy in west London. Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Look, WikiLeaks set an example and the example was the threat, and the example was a threat because the technology, over time, became more available to other people who could then follow the example. Looking forward as to how I think the Panama Papers will go, it's going to be hard to go forward without a bulk publishing effort.  There's just not the mass to deal with the reliance that the establishment of the UK, United States and, in fact, most countries have in the offshore sector. Now, what you have in practice at the moment is basically a two-tiered tax system, where the middle class and the working poor pay income tax and the wealthy essentially don't pay anything. That's a question about the structure of society, and that big picture is not being engaged with in the journalism that it has done.  It is 'Oh, North Korea', 'Oh, Russia', 'Oh, sanctions breaking', 'Oh, --' maybe someone dodging inheritance tax a little bit.  But there is a big picture here as well.  Al-Jazeera Interviewer Stories that we can put a face on.  They like to do the stories that they can put a face on. Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks Stories and scandals that you can put a face on can be good for marketing reasons, but what are you marketing in the end? What WikiLeaks does and what I believe should have been done with this story is that the scandals are there to MARKET THE ARCHIVE, because the ARCHIVE that has the SCALE that can deal with the problem. -- end audio:  9:12 --    SOURCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNvWxZ_bhAI PRIME REASON NOT TO LEAK TO HAMSTRUNG MAINSTREAM PRESS TRADE SECRETS LAWS - USED TO SILENCE PUBLISHERS TRANSCRIPT [confirm audio, for quotation purposes] Video Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQCX05MxLM [where audio unclear gaps left ] Male Because of the activity of WikiLeaks -- [cuts to] 0:04 Julian Assange Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks The question is, how much can a cashed up oligarch or company tax people who engage in publishing material about it, by abusing the process, grabbing onto hooks like trade secret law, to force publishers (and in this case service providers and individuals), into very expensive litigation. The experience from the United States has been a disastrous one. Trade secrets law is used to create taxes on publishers who publish quotes, say, from internal e-mails -- like we've seen ... with the Panama Papers. Now, the situation, however, is already bad here in Europe. One of our partner publications, Deutsche [Süddeutsche ?] Zeitungen in Germany (SZ), who was the principal who got hold of the Panama Papers, who developed that source.  How many did they publish? How many Panama Papers did they publish, the principal indy organisation involved?  Zero. They have published zero.  They have published an occasional quote, but they have released zero Panama Papers. So, why is that?  Because of fears of litigation risk. Already we are at the stage, where a fairly strong mainstream press organisation in Germany that is willing at least to take on some of the stories coming from ... feels it's not in a position to be able to publish a single document. Video Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQCX05MxLM Translation "... scandal machinery starts against all enemies of the West from Russia via North Korea to Syria reveals a view of the parties. Both criticized for state near NDR [Norddeutscher Rundfunk / North German Broadcasting], and strictly pro-American media are involved."  "Also interesting are the donors. CPI and ICIJ with which the SZ cooperated for research, "financed by donations, more recently, among other foundations from Australia, Britain, the Netherlands and the US, including the Ford Foundation, the Adessium Foundation, founded by George Soros Open Society Foundation; also. "it says on the by the Pulitzer Center of Crisis Reporting"" http://www.neopresse.com/medien/die-anti-russland-kampagne-hinter-panama-papers/ http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/04/panama-papers-mainstream-media-focuses-putin-link-leak-group-funded-pro-open-borders-george-soros/ EXTRACT Questions must be asked of the tactics of the ICIJ, and indeed, their backers. The organisation, which describes itself as “a global network of more than 190 investigative journalists in more than 65 countries who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories” lists as some of its recent financial funders: Adessium Foundation Funds big green, as well as financial industry lobbyists, often in partnership with the George Soros-backed Open Society initiatives or foundations. The group also supports the EUObserver website, which dedicates itself to non-biased European Union reporting, though receives 64 per cent of its funding from predominantly pro-EU foundations. Open Society Foundations Chaired by Hungarian-American billionaire and Hillary Clinton donor George Soros, the Open Society Foundations back hundreds of pro open borders, mass immigration groups across the European Union, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Mr. Soros is a known rival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and has recently written about how Mr. Putin is a “greater threat” to the West than Islamic State. The Sigrid Rausing Trust The Sigrid Rausing Trust, similarly to the Open Society Foundations, backs open borders and pro mass migration groups across the United Kingdom, and funds anti-Israel groups in the Middle East. The organisation funds “No Borders” in Ukraine, “Reprieve” in the UK – which defends Guantanamo Bay detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the radical left group “Southall Black Sisters” in Britain.   Graeme Wood An Australian billionaire who has bankrolled anti coal projects in his home country, as well as supporting the Guardian website – which critics have highlighted the hypocrisy of for their own offshore tax set up. Mr. Wood was responsible for Australia’s “biggest ever political donation of $1.6 million in 2010 to the Greens” and funded the failed Global Mail news website. The Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is one of the largest funders on the political left, giving out over $560 million just in 2013. The Ford Foundation has funded everything from Sesame Street to the radical TV show Democracy Now. [funding] ... dozens of far left groups with agendas ranging from environmentalism to abortion, the Ford Foundation is one of the premier funders of the open borders movement, beginning with its 1968 grant to create the group MALDEF, or the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, as helping to create the group National Council of La Raza. MALDEF and La Raza have become to the most influential groups in the US open borders movement. The Ford foundation is also been a significant funder for the ACLU and the National Lawyers guild, both key legal players in the fight for open borders. Additionally, the Ford Foundation laid the intellectual groundwork for the modern open borders movement and its multiculturalist agenda with a series of grants in the 60s and 70s that created Women’s Studies and Black Studies programs at major universities across America. In a 1992 conference that Ford sponsored called “Cultural Diversity Enhancement” the closing speaker was Eve Grossman, a Princeton dean, who made the agenda very clear: “If we want to change the world, we have to change the students.” Pew Charitable Trust Like like The Ford Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trust is a major funder of a wide range of left-wing groups with focuses on arts and culture, environmental issues as well as public research opinion polling through the Pew Research group. In 2014 alone, Pew gave out over $110 million in grants. A quick look at the Pew Charitable Trust’s website includes a number of helpful articles if you’re an illegal alien and you’d like to drive, such as the recent pop quiz Do You Know the Facts About Driver’s Licenses for Unauthorized Immigrants? and Alternative Driver’s Licenses for Unauthorized Immigrants. David and Lucile Packard Foundation Another heavy hitter in the world of left-wing grant writing, the Packard Foundation gave out nearly $300 million in 2013 along. Aside from funding institutional left groups like Human Rights Watch, The Center for Reproductive Rights, And the Environmental Working Group, Packard is also funded open borders groups such as National Council of La Raza, the National Immigration Law Center, and the ACLU. http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/04/panama-papers-mainstream-media-focuses-putin-link-leak-group-funded-pro-open-borders-george-soros/ ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT   Panama Toilet Papers & the Capitalist Bastards With An Eye On Global Markets, Funding Destruction of European Societies Germany as the 'centre of the political radicalisation of the technical class' I cannot buy ... unless we're talking pussy, SJW, US-Anglo oligarchy serving and new world capitalist oligarchy order nation-destroying, liberalism agenda furthering, 'radicalism'. This 'responsible' journalism refrain is one we've heard before, with the Snowden 'leaks,' amounting to pious proclamations about journalistic 'responsibility', affirmation of the wonders of what's referred to as 'democracy' (ie rule by oligarchy), and ... the withholding of  99% of the information supposedly 'leaked'.  Some 'democracy' and some 'leak' that is. Corporate journalism, government & oligarchy sponsored 'liberty' promoting NGOs, & journalistic 'responsibility' trumpeting figures and ruling establishment sponsored journalistic 'responsibility' advocating NGOs (withholding information), aren't compatible with challenging the system that is also sponsor.  What they're good for is promoting the agenda of the ruling capitalist order, and an order with an eye for dominating the 'global market' capitalist world trade monopoly they seek to establish, the manifestation of which depends on an agenda that is bent on destroying European societies. We're never going to see the bulk of this 'leaked' material, let alone have access to material in full, because these aren't genuine leaks or genuine actors, in my opinion. The leaks are likely intended to damage or eliminate those that stand in the way of establishing global capitalist trade monopoly, which depends on the existence a unipolar US-led world order -- an order pursed by the US oligarchy serving American state that is designer and nurturer of this capitalist agenda, since at least the end of WWII (if not earlier). Oops, I think WikiLeaks is taking the Panama Papers seriously? LEAKER BEWARE I think the moral of this story is:  don't leak to mainstream media.  On the one hand, you have the corporate press that has its benefactors' and government's agenda dictating and restricting output. On the other hand, it looks as though you also have mainstream 'independent' media, but this platform is unable to publish as it is legally hamstrung, in the face of risk of exposure to costly litigation. *I'm still not convinced.  LOL

WikiLeaks: Google & Al-Jazeera Encouraged Civil War In Syria

Article SOURCE http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-google-al-jazeera-encouraged-civil-war-syria/215163/ http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-google-al-jazeera-encouraged-civil-war-syria/215163/ WikiLeaks: Google & Al-Jazeera Encouraged Civil War In Syria Together with Al-Jazeera, Google developed a tool to track defections in Syria, hoping to encourage more former Assad allies to join the civil war. By Mint Press News Desk | March 29, 2016  MENLO PARK, California — Tech giant Google collaborated with Al-Jazeera to develop an interactive online tool to encourage defections during the Syrian civil war, according to emails in WikiLeaks’ archive of Hillary Clinton’s emails.  [Comment:  Al-Jazeera Qatar state & partial Thani ruling family funding] “Please keep close hold, but my team is planning to launch a tool on Sunday that will publicly track and map the defections in Syria and which parts of the government they are coming from,” wrote Jared Cohen, the founder and director of Google Ideas, of the proposed online tool in a July 25, 2012 email sent to Jacob J. Sullivan, deputy secretary of state under Clinton. “Our logic behind this is that while many people are tracking the atrocities, nobody is visually representing and mapping the defections, which we believe are important in encouraging more to defect and giving confidence to the opposition.” “We believe this can have an important impact,” Cohen added. The archive reveals that Sullivan forwarded the email onto Clinton, adding, “This is a pretty cool idea.” Clinton, in turn, sent it to an assistant with instructions for the email to be printed. In his email, Cohen revealed that Google Ideas was collaborating with Al-Jazeera, which published the tracker in English and Arabic shortly after Cohen’s email was sent. Although it was offline when this report was written, an internal analysis by Google called it “one of the most viewed visualizations on their site” and the tool later won an Online Media Award for the TV news network based in Doha, Qatar. Google Ideas, which was renamed Jigsaw in a major company reorganization last year, is a think tank which maintains close ties to the State Department, according to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his 2014 book “When Google Met WikiLeaks.” [here] Before leading Google Ideas, Cohen served at the State Department from 2006 to 2010 under Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Clinton. Assange wrote: “It was Cohen who, while he was still at the Department of State, was said to have emailed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to delay scheduled maintenance in order to assist the aborted 2009 uprising in Iran. His documented love affair with Google began the same year when he befriended Eric Schmidt as they together surveyed the post-occupation wreckage of Baghdad. Just months later, Schmidt re-created Cohen’s natural habitat within Google itself by engineering a ‘think/do tank’ based in New York and appointing Cohen as its head. Google Ideas was born.” An op-ed published on Saturday by RT criticizes Western media for largely ignoring the story of collaboration between Al-Jazeera, Google, and the State Department, although a few mainstream sites like U.K.’s The Independent did cover the story. Michael William Lebron, a media analyst that publishes under the name “Lionel,” told RT: “I don’t expect a reaction from Western media because Western media hasn’t even read this, has no idea about this … But can you imagine if the same set of facts were involved with the different countries, different corporations around the world depending upon your frame of reference. This would either be an outrage or ‘well, maybe this is a delightful and benign cooperation, an independent tech giant … and all for the common good of liberty’ and whatever. It depends upon your perspective.” http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-google-al-jazeera-encouraged-civil-war-syria/215163/ Other "Clinton emails leak – on Syria, Regime Change & Other" LINK | Hakawi ---------------------- ---------------------- Book:  'When Google Met WikiLeaks' ---------------------- ---------------------- LINK | Hillary Clinton E-Mail Archive WikiLeaks COMMENT There's nothing 'benign' about the American state and American corporate aggression against the sovereign state  of Syria and Syria's government:  in particular its leader, Bashar al-Assad.  Actors who wish to further Saudi, Gulf oil states, Israeli and allied American and Western corporate and geopolitical interests have been involved in the concerted attack on Syria by proxy and by every other means possible (for years now), in order to attack not only Syria, but ultimately Syria's ally, Iran, which the American camp and its followers (especially the powerful pro Israeli camp) have been targeting with sanctions (to weaken) and lobbying hard to attack for years now. Libya sanctions were lifted in 2003, just as the Iran sanctions have recently been lifted. It took the Western alliance 8 years to set up opposition in the Libya and to attack Libya in 2011, in the guise of 'protecting' the civilians:  a population that was then pitched into civil war that still continues. We know that these parties are also not averse to civil war or to sectarian war in Syria, just as they weren't in Iraq or in Libya, as their intentions are *not* benign:  these countries are targets of conquest and internal dissent, violence, Balkanisation -- internal weaknesses -- serve their purposes. So I'm guessing that the lifted sanctions re Iran (and Cuba) are more of the same.  They're lifting sanctions to get close enough to build up opposition in those countries, to the point where *defending* the activities of the 'opposition' (ie their proxies) & 'defending' 'hooman rights', can then be used as an excuse for what is war of aggression planned by the West. That's my theory so far, but I'm taking wild gut instinct guesses instead of knowing all the ins and outs of this (I've yet to read my copy of The WikiLeaks Files). Syria should be supported in view of this brazen, concerted, aggressive US & friends led campaign to destroy and Balkanise a nation, much like they did Iraq,  by illegal conquest, for perverse exploitation by the same coterie of American-led aggressors. PS ...  Check out how close the Twitter & Google tech mob are to the US Department of State:  no wonder all we get is controlled media propaganda and CENSORSHIP of real voices on these communication and information platforms that have been hijacked and monopolised by those that are engaged self enrichment, along with US state political agenda pushing.

US-backed 'Moderates' Officials - Call for Extermination of Syria Alawites

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/official-of-u-s-backed-syrian-moderates-calls-for-exterminating-alawite/5494217 Official of U.S.-Backed Syrian ‘Moderates’ Calls for ‘Exterminating’ Alawites By Eric Zuesse Global Research, December 07, 2015 Yemen’s independent Al Masdar News  headlines on Monday December 7th, “U.S. Backed Syrian Opposition Official Calls for the Extermination of Alawites,” and Leith Fadel reports that:     “A prominent official from the U.S. backed Syrian Opposition has called for the extermination of Alawite Muslim villages after a series of defeats at the hands of the religiously diverse “Syrian Arab Army” (SAA) in the month of November     “Abdullah Al-‘Ali – a former Aleppo-based attorney who has since moved to Turkey, where he works alongside the President of the Syrian National Council, Khaled Khoja, […]  advises followers and friends in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to carry out deliberate sectarian attacks against Syria’s large Alawite Muslim population, which is also contrary to the message the Syrian National Council has attempted to spread to the western world about its secular nature.     “Exterminating Nusayri (derogatory term that is directed towards Alawites) villages is more important than liberating the Syrian capital,” says Abdullah Al-‘Ali. […] Al-‘Ali’s sectarian post seems to be tolerated by his counterparts in the Syrian National Council as several members liked his message.” Al Masdar News  had previously been in the news itself during the 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations in Yemen against the Shiite President Ali Abdullah Saleh, when the newspaper’s photographer was killed by Saleh’s troops. The newspaper is strictly nonpartisan and opposed to all sectarianism. A sectarian, pro-Sunni, newspaper owned by Sunni Qatar, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, bannered on December 2nd, “Syrian activists: Destroying Assad means destroying Islamic State group,” and reported that, “Many Syrian activists are frustrated by the UK debate on bombing the Islamic State group in Syria and feel that the cause of the problem, Assad, is being ignored completely.” Qatar’s royal family, the Thanis, have been major donors to jihadist groups, all of which are Sunni. The newspaper quoted a Sunni group saying that the West needs to concentrate upon destroying “the roots of the problem that allows IS to flourish: Assad and his atrocities.” On November 18th, a U.S. Defense Department press briefing in Baghdad proudly announced the first U.S. bombing of ISIS oil tank trucks carrying Iraqi and Syrian oil stolen by ISIS, for sale in other countries, and announced that:     “this is our first strike against tanker trucks, and to minimize risks to civilians, we conducted a leaflet drop prior to the strike. … It says, “Get out of your trucks now, and run away from them. … Warning: airstrikes are coming. Oil trucks will be destroyed. Get away from your oil trucks immediately. Do not risk your life.” Russia had already bombed, during the prior month and a half, thousands of such ISIS black-market oil trucks, and didn’t warn the people who were driving them. ISIS is one of the many Sunni jihadist groups that are fighting in Syria to oust from power the secular Shiite Bashar al-Assad. On November 24th, Michael Morell, Obama’s CIA Director during 2011-2013, explained on the PBS Charlie Rose show, “We didn’t go after oil wells, actually hitting oil wells that ISIS controls, because we didn’t want to do environmental damage, and we didn’t want to destroy that infrastructure.” By contrast, the U.S. bombings in Syria have been directed against Syria’s infrastructure, including power stations that are in the territory still held by Bashar al-Assad’s forces. No one who was bombed in those anti-Shiite attacks was warned in advance. Shiites in Iraq are considering whether Iraq should kick the U.S. out because the U.S. is supporting Sunni jihadists, such as ISIS. Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity. http://www.globalresearch.ca/official-of-u-s-backed-syrian-moderates-calls-for-exterminating-alawite/5494217 "Eric Zuesse is a cultural anthropologist, general systems theorist, economist, and investigative journalist. He has published articles in numerous periodicals." Alawites / Alawis Shia sect / Twelver school Revere Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib) Sect founded by:  Ibn Nusayr in 9thC. Shia belief in only descended imams (I think) {A'immah} have the right to be Caliphs / all other = usurpers  Imām = stands or walks 'in front' [in Sunni - leader of prayer] Shia - only applies to Ahl al-Bayt {house of religion founder} - descendants of founder (I think).  It is a spiritual leader. As I understand, Alawites / Alawis are followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib,  ruler Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661. In Shia Islam, Ali (cousin & son-in-law of religion founder) is considered the first Imam / Caliph. Sunnis believe otherwise:  x3 other Imams / Caliphs ahead of Ali (although Ali recognised as fourth Imam).  Sunni Sufis also follow Ali, I believe. The difference between Shia and Sunni lies in the interpretation regarding succession, following death of founder.  Likewise, re the difference between Shia sects. Difference in interpretation of 'Mawla'. Shia = 'Lord & Master' Sunni = 'beloved' or 'revered' ie. the question of transfer of title to Ali, going back to: 632 AD Ghadiri Khum Oasis { Hadith (report of quote of founder) - Pond of Khumm } near city of al-Juhfah (now) Saudi Arabia Shia: Ali ibn Abi Talib successor Pond of Khumm (Ghadiri Khum Oasis) account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith_of_the_pond_of_Khumm   al-Juhfah became 'Rabigh' in early 17thC. Red Sea coast town in now Saudi Arabia Wadi Rabigh  = Hadith of the pond of Khumm al-Juhfah wadi (wadi = valley, riverbed) --> on Incense Route --> between Syria & Yemen --> travellers could replenish water Note:  there are other differences and fundamentalist Salafi Sunni scholars argue that Aliwites are not Muslim.  But they are recognised as Muslim by other authorities. Western scholars believe: Alawites descended from ancient Middle Eastern ppl   --  eg  Canaanites, Hittites, Mardaites + 13thC. Sinjar settlers At time of sect formation, (now) Syria region --> was under Byzantine Empire control. Many Alawites killed when Crusaders enter 1097. Ottoman Empire reign of Selim I --> Alawites experience significant persecution --> Ottoman attempt to convert Shia to Sunni Post WWI = fall of Ottoman Empire = Syria & Lebanon --> League of Nations:       French Mandate period [Source - all info from Wikipedia] Ḍū al-Fiqār / Zulfikur / Zulfiqar -- double-edged sword -- two-blade or bifurcated sword -- depiction of Ali's sword -- depicted as scissor-like sword on flags -- is symbolism associated with Twelver Shia -- who believe religion's founder handed sword -- in Battle of Uhud -- to appointed successor, Ali ibn Abi Talib -- symbol also associated with Sunnis -- eg. early 1800s Ottoman Zulifqar flag -- of Janissaries (Ottoman Sultan's elite infantry troops & bodyguards) -- Janissaries began as elite corps of (young Christian boy) slaves  [wikipedia] Indian Sufi Tribute to Ali Ali ibn Abu Talib ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Well, fancy that. US gives warnings to the jihadist oil thieves that fund terrorism by sale of stolen Syrian oil, before the US (reportedly) bombs them ... for the first time in OVER A YEAR of US-led coalition bombing. However, the legitimate, secular, multi-religious Syrian government troops are having their infrastructure destroyed by US-led bombing, without warning ... and Syrian troops were bombed and killed by the the US-led operation (here), which has advantaged jihadists in Syrian Deir ez Zor province (which has been a major source of oil for them). Meanwhile the sectarian, jihadist 'opposition' that wants to commit genocide is branded in the West as 'moderate rebels'. ------- ꕤ ------- Really enjoyed check out a little history.  The Indian Sufi musical tribute is beautiful (although this is different / unrelated to Alawites that are being discussed in the above article). Anyway, it's cool to get more of a handle on what 'Alawites' is -- ie. followers of Ali, as I understand. ꕤ

Syria - Bashar al-Assad - Interview - Sunday Times

ꕤ Article SOURCE Syria President Bashar al-Assad INTERVIEW - Sunday Times - 6 Dec 2015 ENGLISH - 37 questions answered: http://sana.sy/en/?p=63558 President al-Assad: Britain and France have neither the will nor the vision on how to defeat terrorism 6 December، 2015 Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to The Sunday Times in which he said Britain and France have neither the will nor the vision on how to defeat terrorism and their airstrikes against ISIS will yield no results, but will rather be illegal and harmful in that they will help in spreading terrorism. The following is the full text of the interview: Question 1:  Thank you for seeing us Mr President.  As you know, the British government today will be voting on whether it will join the coalition airstrikes against ISIS. Is Britain right to join airstrikes against ISIS in Syria? And do you welcome its involvement; and will it make things worse or not make a change? President Assad:  If I want to let’s say, evaluate a book, I cannot take or single out a phrase from that book to evaluate the whole book.  I have to look at the headlines, then the titles of the chapters and then we can discuss the rest of the book.  So, what we are talking about is only an isolated phrase.  If we want to go back to the headline, it is “the will to fight terrorism.”  We know from the very beginning that Britain and France were the spearheads in supporting the terrorists in Syria, from the very beginning of the conflict.  We know that they don’t have that will, even if we want to go back to the chapter on military participation with the coalition, it has to be comprehensive, it has to be from the air, from the ground, to have cooperation with the troops on the ground, the national troops for the interference or participation to be legal.  It is legal only when the participation is in cooperation with the legitimate government in Syria.  So, I would say they don’t have the will and they don’t have the vision on how to defeat terrorism. And if you want to evaluate, let’s evaluate from the facts.  Let’s go back to the reality on the ground.  Since that coalition started its operation a year or so, what was the result? ISIS and al-Nusra and other like-minded organizations or groups, were expanding, expanding freely.  What was the situation after the Russians participated in fighting terrorism directly?  ISIS and al-Nusra started shrinking.  So I would say, first they will not give any results.  Second, it will be harmful and illegal, and it will support terrorism as what happened after the coalition started its operation a year or so, because this is like a cancer.  You cannot cut the cancer.  You have to extract it.  This kind of operation is like cutting the cancer that will make it spread in the body faster. Question 2:  Are you saying, just to clarify two things, are you saying that the British, if the British join the intervention, that includes also the other coalition, with that intervention you see that is illegitimate from an international-law perspective? President Assad:  Definitely, definitely, we are a sovereign country.  Look at the Russians, when they wanted to make this alliance against terrorism, the first thing they did was they started discussions with the Syrian government before anyone else.  Then they started discussing the same issue with other governments.  Then they came.  So, this is the legal way to combat any terrorist around the world. Britain and France helped in the rise of ISIS and al-Nusra in this region Question 3:  You say that France and Britain are responsible for the rise of terrorism here. But they were not responsible for the rise of ISIS, for example, is not that a little bit a harsh accusation? President Assad: Let’s start from what Blair said.  He said that invading Iraq led to the rise of ISIS.  And we know that ISIS started publically, announcing itself as a state in Iraq in 2006, and the leader was Abu Mosaab al-Zerqawi.  He was killed by American strikes; and they announced that they killed him.  So, they know he existed and they know that IS in Iraq at that time had existed; and that it moved to Syria after the beginning of conflict in Syria because of the chaos that happened.  So, they confess.  British officials confessed, mainly Blair; and the reality is telling, that they helped in the rise of ISIS and al-Nusra in this region. President al-Assad-Sunday Times-interview 3 Question 4:  In your view, does al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, pose an equal or a greater long-term threat to the West than ISIS? And as such, is Britain’s Prime Minister, Cameron, going after the wrong enemy? I.e. he is going after ISIS instead of going after al-Nusra. President Assad: The whole question is about the structure, and the problem is not about the structure of the organization.  It is about their ideology.  They do not base their actions on the structure, they base them on their dark, Wahhabi deviated ideology.  So, if we want to evaluate these two, the difference between the two, there is no difference because they have the same ideology.  This is one aspect.  The other aspect, if we want to talk about their grassroots, their followers, their members, you cannot have this distinction, because they move from one organization or one group to another.  And that is why sometimes they fight with each other, for their vested interests, on a local and small scale.  But in reality they are cooperating with each other on every level.  So, you cannot tell which is more dangerous because this is one mentality.  It is like if you say the first one is al-Qaida and the second one is al-Qaida.  The difference is the label, and maybe some other trivial things. Question 5:  Last week, a key part of Cameron’s argument for extending UK airstrikes to Syria was a number that he used – 70 thousand moderate rebels – that he mentioned “don’t belong to extremist groups”, but are already on the ground, who the west can use to help them in the fight of ISIS. As far as you know, which groups are included in the 70 thousand? Are you aware of 70 thousand moderate rebels in Syria? President Assad: Let me be frank and blunt about this.  This is a new episode in a long series of David Cameron’s classical farce, to be very frank.  This is not acceptable.  Where are they?  Where are the 70 thousand moderates that he is talking about?  That is what they always talk about: moderate groups in Syria.  This is a farce based on offering the public factoids instead of facts. The Russians have been asking, since the beginning of their participation two months ago.  They have said: where are those moderates?  No one gave them an answer.  Actually, since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, there were no moderate militants in Syria.  All of them were extremists.  And in order not to say I am just giving excuses and so on, go back to the internet, go back to the social networking sites.  They uploaded their atrocities’ videos and pictures, with their faces and their rhetoric.  They use swords, they do beheadings; they ate the heart of a dismembered innocent person and so on. And you know, the confession of a criminal is the incontrovertible fact.  So, those are the 70 thousand moderates he is taking about.  It is like if we describe the terrorists who committed the attack in Paris recently, and before that in Charlie Hebdo, and before that in the UK nearly ten years ago, and in Spain before that, and the 11th of September in New York, to describe them as moderate opposition.  That is not accepted anywhere in this world; and there is no 70 thousand, there is no 7 thousand, he does not have, maybe now ten of those. Question 6:  Not even the Kurds and the FSA for example, the free Syrian army? President Assad: The Kurds are fighting the terrorists with the Syrian army, in the same areas. Question 7:  But they are also being supported and armed and trained and backed by the Americans to also launch, to fight … President Assad:  Mainly by the Syrian army, and we have the documents.  We sent them armaments, because they are Syrian citizens, and they want to fight terrorism.  We do the same with many other groups in Syria, because you cannot send the army to every part of Syria.  So, it is not only the Kurds.  Many other Syrians are doing the same. Question 8: U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry said last Friday that the Syrian government could cooperate with the opposition forces against the ISIS even if president Assad is still in office, but he said that this would be so difficult if the opposition fighters, who have been fighting the Syrian president, don’t have a faith that the Syrian president will eventually leave power.  [comment:  'Opposition forces'?  WTF, they're radical insurgents trying to bring down the legitimate Syrian govt.] Kerry also said that concerning the timing of leaving office, the answer is it is not obvious whether he will have to leave. Meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Progres Newspaper on Saturday that he no longer believes that President Assad’s departure is essential to any political transition in Syria, adding that the political transition does not mean that President Assad should step down before it but there should be future insurances. My question: Do you intend to complete your presidential term until 2021 or do you expect a referendum or presidential elections prior to that date? And if so, when can these elections be held? And what can make you decide to hold them? And if they are held, is it certain that you will be running for election? What can influence your decision? President Assad: The answer depends on the context of the question. If it is related to a settlement in Syria, then early elections have nothing to do with ending the conflict. This can only happen by fighting terrorists and ceasing Western and regional support for terrorists…Early elections will only be held as part of a comprehensive dialogue about future by the political powers and the civil society groups in Syria. Thus, it is not about the will of the President, but rather the will of the Syrian people…It is about a political process. If this process is agreed on, then I have the right to run for elections like any other Syrian citizen…My decision in this case will be based on my ability to deliver on my commitments…and on whether I have the support of the Syrian people or not….Anyway, It is early to talk about this, because as you know, this process was not agreed upon yet. President al-Assad-Sunday Times-interview 2 Question 9:   Do you think ISIS can be defeated by airstrikes alone? You cannot defeat ISIS through airstrikes alone without cooperation with forces on the ground President Assad:  Did the coalition defeat them by airstrikes during the last year or so?  It didn’t.  Did the Americans achieve anything from the airstrikes in Afghanistan?  They achieved nothing.  Did they achieve anything in Iraq since the invasion in 2003?  Nothing.  You cannot defeat ISIS through airstrikes alone, without cooperation with forces on the ground.  You cannot defeat them if you do not have buy-in from the general public and the government.  They cannot defeat ISIS by airstrikes; they are going to fail again.  The reality is telling. Question 10:     If the international coalition refuses, as it has so far, to coordinate with the Syrian Army, or with the local troops on the ground, what is your next plan?  I mean do you have a plan B beyond what is going on?  How do you plan to end this war? President Assad:  This coalition is illusive, it’s virtual, because it has not made any achievements in fighting terrorism on the ground in Syria.  Since an illusion doesn’t exist, let’s not waste time with the ‘before and after.’  From the very beginning we started fighting terrorism irrespective of any global or world powers.  Whoever wants to join us is welcome, and whether they join us or not, we are going to continue.  This is our plan. It is the only plan we have and we will not change it. Question 11:  Are you calling on them to ask the Syrian government to coordinate and cooperate with the Syrian army and the Syrian air force in the fight against terrorists? President Assad:  We are very realistic.  We know that they are not going to do so and that they don’t have the will.  This is more about international law than anything else.  Is it possible that western governments, or regimes, don’t know the basics of international law, that they don’t understand the meaning of a sovereign state or that they haven’t read the UN Charter?  They have no respect for international law and we didn’t ask for their cooperation. Question 12:  But would you like them to? President Assad:  If they are ready – serious and genuine – to fight terrorism, we welcome any country or government, any political effort.  In that regard we are not radical, we are pragmatic.  Ultimately, we want to resolve the situation in Syria and prevent further bloodshed.  That is our mission.  So, it’s not about love or hate, accepting or not, it is about reality.  Are they truly ready to help us fight terrorism, to stop terrorists coming into Syria through their surrogate governments in our region, or not?  That is the real question.  If they are ready, we will welcome them.  This is not personal. Question 13:  Do you think it is possible for you, in Syria, and for your allies – Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other allies – to defeat ISIS militarily; and if so, how long do you think it might take? President Assad:  The answer is based on two factors: our capabilities on the one hand, and the support the terrorists receive on the other.  From our perspective, if you were to remove the support these groups get from various countries in our region and the West in general, it will take a matter of months to achieve our mission.  It is not very complicated, the solution is very clear to us.  However, these groups have unlimited support from these countries, which makes the situation drag on, makes it more complicated and harder to resolve.  This means our mission will be achieved at a much higher price, which will ultimately be paid by Syrians. Question 14:  But there has already been a high price: over 200,000 people have been killed. President Assad:  You are right, and that is a consequence of the support I referred to. Question 15:  But a lot of it is also blamed on the Syrian government and the Syrian use of force, sometimes indiscriminate or unnecessary force in certain areas that has brought about a large number of people killed.  How do you respond to that? President Assad:  First, all wars are bad.  There is no such thing as a good war.  In every war there are always too many innocent casualties.  These are only avoidable by bringing that war to an end.  So it is self-evident that wars anywhere in the world will result in loss of life.  But the rhetoric that has been repeated in the West for a long time ignores the fact that from day one terrorists were killing innocent people, it also ignores that fact that many of the people killed were supporters of the government and not vice versa.  As a government, our only countermeasure against terrorists is to fight them.  There is no other choice.  We cannot stop fighting the terrorists who kill civilians for fear of being accused by the West of using force. Question 16: Let us talk about the role of Russia.  How important has the role of Russia been?  Was Syria about to fall had Russia not intervened when it did at the time? Russia and Iran’s support played important part in Syria’s steadfastness against terrorism President Assad: The Russian role is very important.  It has had a significant impact on both the military and political arena in Syria.  But to say that without this role, the government or the state would have collapsed, is hypothetical.  Since the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, there were bets on the collapse of the government.  First it was a few weeks, then it was a few months and then a few years.  Every time it was the same wishful thinking.  What is definite is that the Russian support to the Syrian people and government from the very beginning, along with the strong and staunch support of Iran, has played a very important part in the steadfastness of the Syrian state in the fight against terrorism. Question 17: You mean the previous one, or the recent military intervention? President Assad:  No, the whole support; it is not only about their participation.  Their support from the very beginning in all aspects: political, military and economic. Question 18: How and why did Russian involvement come about now?  And can you give us some details of the discussions between you and President Putin that brought it about?  Who took the first step?  Did you ask, or did they offer? The Russians want to protect Syria, Iraq, the region, themselves and even Europe President Assad:  You will have to ask the Russians why they got involved.  But from our perspective, since the Western coalition started in Syria, ISIS has expanded, al-Nusra has expanded and every other extremist and terrorist group has expanded and captured new territory in Syria and Iraq.  The Russians clearly saw how this posed a threat to Syria, Iraq and the region in general, as well as to Russia and the rest of the world.  We can see this as a reality in Europe today.  If you read and analyse what happened in Paris recently and at Charlie Hebdo, rather than view them as separate incidences, you will realize something very important.  How many extremists cells now exist in Europe?  How many extremists did you export from Europe to Syria?  This is where the danger lies.  The danger is in the incubator.  The Russians can see this very clearly.  They want to protect Syria, Iraq, the region, themselves and even Europe.  I am not exaggerating by saying they are protecting Europe today. Question 19: So, did they come to you and say we would like to be involved? Or did you ask them: could you help us? President Assad:  It was an accumulative decision; it didn’t happen by me having this idea or them having another.  As you know, our relationship with the Russians goes back more than five decades, and they have always had military staff in Syria: call them experts or by any other name.  This cooperation accelerated and increased during the crisis.  Their teams are here and can see the situation real-time with us.  This kind of decision doesn’t start from the top down, but rather from the bottom up.  There is a daily political and military discussion between our two countries.  When it reached a presidential level, it was mature enough and ready for the decision to be made quickly. Question 20: But there must have been a point when they said: we think, or with your agreement, we think that we should actually now physically get involved. President Assad: Again, this was started at the lower levels.  These officials jointly agreed that it was necessary to get involved and each party discussed it with their leaders.  When it reached the stage of discussion between us, I mean between President Putin and I, we focused our discussions on the how.  Of course this did not happen directly as we had not yet met and it’s impossible to discuss these issues on the phone.   It was mediated through senior officials from both sides.  That is what happened.  In terms of procedure, I sent a letter to President Putin which included an invitation for their forces to participate. Question 21:  So you asked president Putin having been advised by your officials. President Assad:  Exactly, after we reached that point I sent President Putin a formal letter and we released a statement announcing that we had invited them to join our efforts.  Let’s not forget that President Putin had already taken the step when he said he was willing to create a coalition.  My response to this was that we are ready if you want to bring your forces to participate. Question 22:  So, what forces have been deployed? I am talking about Russian forces. There have been reports, for example, of a thousand ground troops plus Special Forces, is this correct? Is there anytime when you think that the Russians will be involved in Syria, not just by air but with ground troops as well? President Assad:  No, so far there is no such thing.  There are no ground troops except for the personnel that they send with their military staff and airplanes to guard the airbase, and that is natural.  They don’t have any ground troops fighting with Syrian forces at all. Question 23:  And there is no plan for that? President Assad:  We have not discussed that yet, and I don’t think we need it now, because things are moving in the right direction.  The Russians may consider it with time or under different circumstances, but for the moment, this has not been discussed. Question 24: There was a report, or a hint, that Syria might be receiving S-300 from the Russians, and the S-300 will allow Syria to protect its airspace. Is this something, for example, that Syria will use against the US-led coalition’s air force, even if Britain was involved, since their warplanes are in Syrian skies, as you said earlier, without official or sovereign permission. As Syria will receive S-300, then will it use this to impose, if you want, protection of its skies and impose a way to tell the coalition that you have to actually directly deal with us, or coordinate with us on the ground? We will use any means available to us to protect our airspace President Assad:  That is our right and it is only to be expected that we prevent any airplane from violating our airspace.  That is completely legal.  We are going to use any means available to us to protect our airspace.  It is not about that armament in particular.  Any air defense we have is for that reason. Question 25:  Do you have that defense at the moment? President Assad:  No. So far we don’t have it. Question 26:  If you get that defense? President Assad:  Any defense systems we are going to have are for that purpose.  If we are not going to protect our airspace, then why buy such armaments in the first place?  That is self-evident. Question 27:  And if you get it … President Assad: Not at the moment; it is not our priority now.  Our priority is fighting the terrorists on the ground.  This is the most important danger now.  Of course we are keen to protect our airspace and prevent foreign interference in our internal affairs, militarily or other.  But the priority now is to defeat the terrorists.  By defeating the terrorists, some of whom are Syrians, we can move further in protecting the whole country from foreigners.  It is a matter of priorities. Question 28:  But I meant about the actual coalition airplanes that are actually flying over Syria. So, that is not a priority either at the moment? President Assad:  No, not at the moment.  At the moment the priority is fighting terrorism. Question 29:  If Saudi Arabia were to invite you for serious discussions on the future of Syria, would you accept such an invitation? Or have relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia been severely severed that you would never consider that? President Assad:  No, there is nothing impossible in politics.  It is not about whether I accept or not, but rather about the policies of each government.  What are their policies towards Syria? Are they going to keep supporting the terrorists or not? Are they going to continue playing their dangerous games in Syria, Yemen and other places?  If they are ready and willing to change their policies, especially with regard to Syria, we don’t have a problem meeting with them.  So it is not about the meeting or whether we go or not, the issue is their approach to what is happening in Syria. Question 30:  Do you expect any results from the talks in Vienna?  And what would be the shape of any possible deal that you see coming out of Vienna? President Assad:  The most important clause in the Vienna communique is that the Syrians should come together to discuss the future of Syria.  Everything else is an accessory.  If you don’t have that main part, the accessories are of no use.  So, the only solution is for us to come together as Syrians.  Vienna itself is a meeting to announce intentions; it is not the actual process of sitting down and discussing the future.  So, the question is not what results from Vienna, but rather what we Syrians are able to achieve when we sit down together. Question 31:  But do you realize that some of the opposition’s leaders, and I’m talking about opposition figures who have been against taking up arms and what have you, but are also afraid of coming to Syria, because the moment they land in Syria, they will be arrested by the security officers and put in prison. And it has happened to others. President Assad:  No, it has never happened.  There is an opposition in Syria, and they are free to do whatever they want. Question 32:  No, I mean the external opposition. For example, somebody like Haitham Mannaa, cannot come back. President Assad:  We have clearly stated that when there is a gathering in Syria, which they want to attend, we guarantee that they will not be arrested or held.  We have said this many times.  We don’t have any problems in this regard. President al-Assad-Sunday Times-interview 1 Question 33:  Now, Saudi Arabia invited 65 figures, including opposition leaders, even rebel commanders, businessmen, religious figures for a meeting in Saudi Arabia to present a united front in preparation for the January Vienna talks. Yet, the Syrian government, which is the other major element in this whole thing for the future of Syria, has not been seen to be involved with the opposition. Are you conducting any talks with the opposition? Have you reached any consensus with them? President Assad:  We have direct channels with some opposition groups; but others cannot communicate with us because they are not allowed to do so by the governments that control them.  From our perspective, we are open for discussions with every peaceful opposition party.  We don’t have any problems.  With regards to the meeting in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi’s have been supporting terrorism directly, publically and explicitly.  That meeting will not change anything on the ground.  Before the meeting and after the meeting Saudi Arabia has been supporting terrorists and will continue to do so.  It is not a benchmark or a critical juncture to discuss.  It will not change anything. Question 34:  Do you see that anytime, in the future, that in order to protect Syria, or in order to save Syria, or to get the Syria process moving, that you might see yourself sitting with certain groups, one group, or certain groups, that perhaps now you deem terrorist, but in the future, it might be feasible that you would agree to negotiate with them because it would do well for the future? President Assad:  We already have; since the very beginning one of the pillars of our policy, was to start a dialogue with all parties involved in the conflict, whether they were in Syria or not.  We negotiated with many terrorist groups, not organizations – to be very precise, who wanted to give up their armaments, and return to normal life.  These negotiations led to many amnesties being issued and has proven to be very successful in several areas.  Furthermore, some of these fighters have joined the Syrian Army and are now fighting with our forces.  So yes, we are sitting down with those who committed illegal acts in Syria, whether political or military, to negotiate settlements on the condition that they give up their arms and return to normal life.  This doesn’t mean that we negotiate with terrorist organizations like ISIS, al-Nusra and others. This is what I meant by groups, those who want out of the fight, regret their choices and want to have their lives back. Question 35:  The rebels call them barrel bombs. You refuse to refer to them as barrel bombs. Irrespective of the name, these were indiscriminate. Do you accept that Syria used indiscriminate bombs in some areas, which resulted in the death of many civilians? President Assad:  Let us suppose that this part of the propaganda is true, which it isn’t.  But for the sake of argument, let us ask the same question regarding the different attacks committed by the Americans and the British with their state-of-the-art airplanes and missiles in Afghanistan and in Iraq, not only after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but also during the first Gulf war in 1990.  How many civilians and innocent people were killed by those airstrikes with these very high precision missiles?  They killed more civilians than terrorists.  So, the issue is not these so-called barrel bombs and this evil president killing the good people who are fighting for freedom.  This romantic image is not the case.  It is about how you use your armaments, rather than the difference between so called barrel bombs and high precision missiles.  It is about how you use these weapons, what kind of information you have and your intention.  Do we have the will to kill innocent people?  How is that possible when the state is defending them?  By doing so, we are pushing them towards the terrorists.  If we want to kill people, for any reason, innocent people or civilians, that will play directly into the hands of the terrorists.  And this is against our interests.  Are we going to shoot ourselves in the foot? That is not realistic and not logical.  This propaganda cannot be sold anymore. Question 36: Mr President, the final question. As president of the country, and you always lead the military and everything. Do you, even if by default, not bear responsibility for some of the things that happened in Syria? President Assad: I’ve been asked this question many times especially by western media and journalists.  The aim of the question is to corner me between two answers: if I were to say I was responsible, they would say look the President bears responsibility for everything that happened, if I were to say I am not responsible, they would say this is not true, you are the president, how can you not be responsible. Question 37:  Because you are the head, like in a family … President Assad:  Let me continue, that was only an introduction to my answer.  It is very simple.  Since the very beginning, we built our policy around two pillars, engaging in dialogue with everyone, and fighting terrorism everywhere in Syria.  Now, if you want to talk about the responsibility, you have to discuss many aspects of the conflict, and the reason why we are here today in this difficult and dire situation in Syria.  If I am to claim responsibility, do I also claim responsibility for asking the Qataris to pay the terrorists money?  Or for the Saudis to fund their activities?  Or for western governments allowing their terrorists to come to Syria?  Do I claim responsibility for asking western governments to offer a political umbrella to those terrorists and label them as moderates?  Or for the western embargos on the Syrian people?  This is how we have to discuss it.  We cannot simply say, that he takes responsibility or not.  We have to talk about every part; we have to differentiate between the policy decisions and the practices, between the strategy and the tactics.  So, it is very complicated to evaluate it.  Additionally, if you want to evaluate who bears responsibility in Syria, it could happen at the end of the war, when you can investigate the whole story before, during and after. Interviewer:  Mr President, thank you very much. http://sana.sy/en/?p=63558 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT What is being done to Syria by the Gulf Arabs and the West is disgusting beyond belief.  And Western journalism sucks.   Don't know how Assad puts up with these insulting Western propaganda pieces. The Saudis hosting the 'opposition' of their creation is some insane joke.  And so is the Vienna talks crap.  Syria is a sovereign state.  This is wrong. I'd have nothing to do with the Saudis or any of the other Gulf creeps that are buddies with Americans and others who have installed and kept Gulf creeps in power. Saudis, Qatar and the West are responsible for 200,000 dead in Syria and they are punishing the Syrian people in a protracted war, trying to destroy Syria as a nation, by arming, shielding and otherwise supporting terrorists. Video BARREL BOMB SONG Featuring MC Kenneth Roth LINK | here ꕤ