Neil Clark: Neil Clark: Majority of Syrians are 'non-people' for the West

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Neil Clark: Majority of Syrians are 'non-people' for the West

Above you can watch me on Russia Today discussing the west's dismissive reaction to Sunday’s Syrian constitutional referendum. More on this story- and what those great 'democrats' at the EU have been up to, here.

13 comments:

Ian said...: I've enjoyed your view on these Syrian issues. Whilst I am not quite as keen on taking the referendum results purely at face value, I think you raise an awful lot of valid points there.; 1:53 PM
Neil Clark said...: Many thanks, Ian. Appreciated.; 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: What about those people people who were killed in Homs? Non-people for the Syrian goverment.; 9:18 PM
Mel said...: "Majority of Syrians are non-people for the West"

This applies as much to you Mr. Clark, since you've only expressed an interest in the situation since the prospect of Western intervention has been raised in August 2011 (one exception - you did write to express concern that the 'Gay Girl in Damascus' hoax had been used to discredit the regime), and didn't mention Syria for the six months prior to that when largely peaceful protestors against a brutal dictatorship were being gunned down on a regular basis.

So while you're correct to point out Western hypocrisy on this issue, please don't pretend that you actually care about the Syrian people - you're just interested in seeing Western schemes foiled and hopefully given a bloody nose.; 10:47 AM
Douglas said...: I can just see the headlines now; "Population held at gunpoint votes for new Constitution"

You should try to get on Al-Jazeera's program "Inside Story" the next time they do a program on Syria.

On France 24's news programs, they show the headline "Syria: Who will stop the bloodbath?" I think to myself "The Syrians will, but it might take a while."; 6:15 PM
Neil Clark said...: Mel: thanks for your feedback. I can assure you I do care about Syria and its people. My interest in Syria predates the current disturbances: you obviously missed my 2008 essay on Syria for the American Conservative magazine.
As I've said on RT, both sides need to stop the violence, but the west is only calling for the govt to lay down its arms, not armed rebels. The problems can only be solved by both sides rejecting violence and agreeing to internal political dialogue. The new constitution is surely a good way forward.

"you're just interested in seeing Western schemes foiled". Well, if you mean by that some sort of western military intervention, too right that I want to see it foiled as it would be a disaster for Syria and the Syrian people.
I think any sane person looking at the destruction that western military intervention has led to in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and indeed Libya too, would not want to see Syria and Syrians suffer the same fate.

Douglas:
On France 24's news programs, they show the headline "Syria: Who will stop the bloodbath?" I think to myself "The Syrians will, but it might take a while."

As I've said to Mel, the west needs to change its policy and call for both govt AND rebels to stop the violence, not just the govt. But of course, they're not genuinely interested in an end to hostilities- they just want regime change and will do anything they can to bring that about.; 10:10 AM
brian said...: on syria FYI

'How Avaaz Is Sponsoring Fake War Propaganda From Syria
There are fake video reports coming out of Syria and we have good reason to believe that these are at least sponsored by the U.S. Avaaz foundation
etc
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2012/03/avaaz-sponsoring-fake-reporting-from-syria.html; 9:13 PM
brian said...: 'didn't mention Syria for the six months prior to that when largely peaceful protestors against a brutal dictatorship were being gunned down on a regular basis. '

LOL what? another crank cranks out the colour revolution fraud....
the syrian govt is not a brutal dictatorship, nor is it murdernig its people, Mel...as they and the army have the support of the Syrian people..so why do you keep, lying? YOU know full well the masacers being commmited are scarried out by salafist muslim brotherhood terrorists aided by french uS and israeli covert forces:
http://ozyism.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/us-mercenary-hideout-discovered-in.html

http://ozyism.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/member-of-us-sniper-squad-captured-by.html

'What we are seeing in Syria is a deliberate and calculated campaign to bring down the Assad government so as to replace it with a regime "more compatible" with US interests in the region.

The blueprint for this project is essentially a report produced by the neo-conservative Brookings Institute for regime change in Iran in 2009. The report - "Which Path to Persia?" [3] - continues to be the generic strategic approach for US-led regime change in the region. '
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NA05Ak03.html
SYRIA: “Human Rights” Warriors for Empire
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have chosen the side of Empire in the Washington-backed belligerency
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29422

Iraqi radicals supplying arms to opposition in Syria – officials
Officials from the Iraqi Interior Ministry have told the AFP that they have a lot of information proving that radical groups in the country are smuggling arms to the Syrian opposition. Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi said Iraq’s intelligence service has a great deal of evidence that many radicals are not only supplying the Syrian opposition with arms, but are fighting on their behalf as well. Earlier, Syrian officials have also stated that they believe the opposition is being helped by foreigners.
----------
(indeed..see above!)

so who is Mel? is he just clueless? or worse?; 9:20 PM
brian said...: Syria like Libya is subject to a sustained mediabombardment...necessaryeven in fauix democracies to make sure the people support the Empire...Youd think by now people would be alert to any unrest which involved covert US /EY forces!
http://ozyism.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/us-mercenary-hideout-discovered-in.html
and where your democracy loving dictatorships are playing a role:

'Here’s a crash course on the “democratic” machinations of the Arab League – rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud.
Essentially, the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what’s going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council – based in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France – enthusiastically supported it. It’s telling that Syria’s neighbor Lebanon did not.
When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report … surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line – which is that the “evil” Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.
The Arab League’s Ministerial Committee had approved the report, with four votes in favor (Algeria, Egypt, Sudan and GCC member Oman) and only one against; guess who, Qatar – which is now presiding the Arab League because the emirate bought their (rotating) turn from the Palestinian Authority.
So the report was either ignored (by Western corporate media) or mercilessly destroyed – by Arab media, virtually all of it financed by either the House of Saud or Qatar. It was not even discussed – because it was prevented by the GCC from being translated from Arabic into English and published in the Arab League’s website.
Until it was leaked.
etc
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/02/10/the-roving-eye-exposed-the-arab-agenda-in-syria/; 9:29 PM
brian said...: 'The largest imperial offensive since the Iraq invasion of March, 2003, is in full swing, under the banner of “humanitarian” intervention – Barack Obama’s fiendishly clever upgrade of George Bush’s “dumb” wars. Having failed to obtain a Libyan-style United Nations Security Council fig leaf for a “humanitarian” military strike against Syria, the United States shifts effortlessly to a global campaign “outside the U.N. system” to expand its NATO/Persian Gulf royalty/Jihadi coalition. Next stop: Tunisia, where Washington’s allies will assemble on February 24 to sharpen their knives as “Friends of Syria.” The U.S. State Department has mobilized to shape the “Friends” membership and their “mandate” – which is warlord-speak for refining an ad hoc alliance for the piratical assault on Syria’s sovereignty.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are swigging the ale with their fellow buccaneers. These “human rights” warriors, headquartered in the bellies of empires past and present, their chests shiny with medals of propagandistic service to superpower aggression in Libya, contribute “left” legitimacy to the imperial project. London-based Amnesty International held a global “day of action” to rail against Syria for “crimes against humanity” and to accuse Russia and China of using their Security Council vetoes to “betray” the Syrian people – echoing the war hysteria out of Washington, Paris, London and the royal pigsties of Riyadh and Doha. New York-based Human Rights Watch denounced Moscow and Beijing’s actions as “incendiary” – as if it were not the empire and its allies who were setting the Middle East and Africa on fire, arming and financing jihadis – including hundreds of veteran Libyan Salafists now operating in Syria.'

.....
'The various “Friends of Syria,” all nestled in the U.S./NATO/Saudi/Qatar cocoon, now openly speak of all-out civil war in Syria – by which they mean stepped up armed conflict financed and directed by themselves – as the preferred alternative to the protracted struggle that the regime appears to be winning. There is one caveat: no “Western boots on the ground in any form,” as phrased by British Foreign Secretary William Hague. It is the Libya formula, and might as well have come straight from Barack Obama’s mouth.

Syria is fighting for its national existence against an umbrella of forces mobilized by the United States and NATO. Of the 6,000 or so people that have died in the past 11 months, about a third have been Syrian soldiers and police – statistical proof positive that this is an armed assault on the state. There is no question of massive foreign involvement, or that the aim of U.S. policy is regime change, as stated repeatedly by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (“Assad must go,” she told reporters in Bulgaria).

etc
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29422; 9:37 PM
brian said...: 'Propaganda against the Syrian regime is not confined to the Saudi and Qatari Arab media. Western media have largely suspended their journalistic missions and have become willing transmitters of the claims, lies, rumors, fabrications, hoaxes, exaggerations, and stories of the Ikhwan-dominated Syrian opposition. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (and there are two organizations by that name) is the most oft cited source in Western media and no one knows how they collect their numbers. One of the directors of the observatory, Rami Abdulrahman, is the most quoted name about Syria although it has been revealed that a man by that name does not exist.
This is similar to media coverage prior to the 2003 Iraq war. Western media are now working at the service of Western governments plots for the region. The claims about the situation in Syria are often contradicted within a day or two. For weeks, we heard that the people of Baba Amr were trapped in their homes. Yesterday, it was revealed that they (or most) had been smuggled into safety far earlier (the claim and the counter claim were both bizarrely made by the Free Syrian Army).
Western media admit that there were hundreds of fighters in Baba Amr (belonging to the Free Syrian Army). Yet, the victims are always listed as civilians. The media never offers a breakdown of the dead to differentiate between civilians and combatants among the victims of Syrian regime gunfire'
etc
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/%E2%80%9Cbashar-assad-rapes-children%E2%80%9D-bbc-propaganda

who here has been fooled by the western 'media'?; 9:51 PM
brian said...: Aljazeera-leaks
This is rather explosive. You know how low Aljazeera has sunk when Syrian regime TV stations have a field day with the shoddy journalism and fabrication procedures of Aljazeera. It seems that people inside Aljazeera have leaked raw footage and pre-air reports to someone in Syrian regime TV. I am not surprised of the leak at all: I am in contact from people inside Aljazeera who are disgusted by the propaganda work of the network in the last few months. The network is has been so bad that the law of diminishing returns apply here: the network has gone too far in its propaganda work that I can't see any effectiveness in what they do. I mean, when they declare Friday after Friday that demonstrations "have finally reached" Aleppo and Damascus, and then repeat that the following Friday, you know what you are dealing with. There have been too many lies and no attempts are even feigning professionalism anymore. When the former director of the network speaks about regime change in Syria when he won't dare utter a word about dismantling apartheid Israel you understand that the mission is coming down from the Emir himself. I know how those things work and they know that I know. The footage that are being shown show staging of events of calling a civilian an "officer" in the Syrian army, of faking injuries and feeding statements to people before airtime, etc. Aljazeera seems to be writing its own professional obituary. I don't know how it can really resurrect itself again. It is mortally wounded. I know that there are people in the network who are pained about what is happening but royal orders are royal orders in the network and no one dare to disobey. I am told that orders came down to the effect that no half-position would be tolerated and that categorical adoption of the Qatari foreign policy on Syria is a job requirement.
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at
http://angryarab.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/aljazeera-leaks.html; 9:58 PM
brian said...: Ankhar Kochneva, writer and sole foreign journalist permanently living in Syria, tells RT what is really up in the country, who funds the opposition, how international media fake images of unrest and why it is so important to watch weather forecasts
......

AK: These TV networks have been employed as propaganda tools serving to destroy Syria as a state. Some of those propaganda tactics are stunningly elaborate, and you can only tell a lie if you live in Syria and focus on details.
For instance, there has been a fantastic weather forecast for Syria broadcast on TV, where temperature indices actually stand for the time when protesters will assemble in a specific location to provoke unrest. If you are with the opposition, this broadcast tells you that there will be a rally in Homs tomorrow at 12pm, and specially instructed camera crews will be waiting for you and your associates to turn up to act as the angry masses. You spend five minutes yelling “Down with Assad” in a square and leave with hard cash in your pocket, and the world gets TV images of “a street revolution rocking Syria
etc

http://australiansforsyria.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/interview-with-ankhar-kochneva-writer-and-sole-foreign-journalist-permanently-living-in-syria/; 12:06 AM