The New Dark Age

8 December 2011 — williambowles.info

8 December 2011
Attack damages Syria oil pipeline
BBC News Today at 14:53
A major pipeline carrying oil to a refinery in Syria’s restive Homs province is attacked, activists and the state-run news agency say.

Where are the poets of the Arab Spring?
Asia Times Online Today at 11:00
Legendary Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani bemoaned an Arab world ‘staring blankly into the skies, like idiots’, while Egyptian and Iraqi intellectuals bravely challenged 20th-century dictators through subtle theater and comedy. Without a Hosni Mubarak or Saddam Hussein hate figure, the generation that inherits the Arab Spring may view the literary legacy as outdated and irrelevant. However, this only invites the forces of oppression to regroup. – Sami Moubayed (Dec 8, ’11)

Sectarian bloodshed worsens in Syria
Strategic Culture Foundation Today at 07:34

VIDEO: Syria’s al-Assad ‘feels no guilt’
BBC News Today at 01:23
Syria’s president has said that he feels no guilt about his crackdown on a 10-month uprising, despite reports of brutality by security forces.

7 December 2011
Republicans and the Hezbollah-in-Mexico Menace
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Yesterday at 22:05
Political campaign watchers seem to agree that the election will be about the economy, and that Republicans probably won’t have much to say about Obama’s foreign policy (partly because it doesn’t much differ from what a Republican president might be doing).

‘We won’t let Syria become 2nd Libya’ – Russian Foreign Minister
Mathaba News Briefing (Alerts) Yesterday at 20:01
Sergey Lavrov (RIA Novosti / STF)

Syria’s Assad Denies Ordering Deadly Crackdown
Information Clearing House Yesterday at 19:37
Syria’s Assad Denies Ordering Deadly Crackdown Video – Assad Interview Speaking to ABC’s Barbara Walters in a rare interview that aired Wednesday, President Bashar Assad maintained he did not give any commands ‘to kill or be brutal.’

Another Media War: Lies and Truths about Syria
Mathaba News Briefing (Alerts) Yesterday at 18:01
Created in Paris under French sponsorship, the Syrian National Council aims to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad. It is chaired by Burhan Ghalioun (left), Syrian-French political scientist and professor of sociology at Sorbonne University.

Disengaging from Zionism
Dissident Voice Yesterday at 16:00
In 2009 the UN Human Rights Council appointed the South African Judge Richard Goldstone to head the fact-finding mission investigating possible Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. Aside from being a well-respected judge, Richard Goldstone could not easily be dismissed as anti-Semitic given his Jewish origin.

Sources in a World of Information
Dissident Voice Yesterday at 15:59
It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives. People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms.
– Tim Russert

Syria’s Assad denies ordering to kill protesters
Strategic Culture Foundation Yesterday at 15:26

Libya Still a Killing Zone
Black Agenda Radio Commentaries Yesterday at 14:08
The United States and its allies have moved on to attempts at regime change in Syria, leaving the humanitarian crisis NATO created in Libya to fester. Thousands of mainly black prisoners languish in the jails and detention centers of various Libyan militias, out of reach of any central authority. ‘Detainees have been burned with cigarettes, beaten on their feet, hung by their arms, had their finger and toenails pulled out, and otherwise tortured.’

Mounting evidence of US involvement in Syrian crisis
World Socialist Web Site Yesterday at 13:29
The involvement of the United States and other major powers in the Syrian crisis is becoming ever more overt.

No guilt over crackdown – Assad
BBC News Yesterday at 11:26
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he feels no guilt about his government’s ongoing crackdown, despite reports of brutality by its forces.

6 December 2011
Russia Bashing
The Greanville Post 06/12/2011 at 18:34
By Stephen Lendman
On December 4, parliamentary elections were held to fill 450 State Duma seats, Russia’s Federal Assembly lower house.  With nearly all votes counted, RIA Novosti said Medvedev/Putin’s United Russia party won 238 seats, falling slightly below a majority with 49.67% of the vote.

US ambassador to return to Syria
BBC News 06/12/2011 at 16:02
The US says its ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, who was removed from the country after threats to his safety, is due to return to Damascus.

Syria prevents terrorist infiltration
Strategic Culture Foundation 06/12/2011 at 15:20

The Anatomy of the NATO-CIA Destabilization of Syria
Mathaba News Briefing (Alerts) 06/12/2011 at 14:01

Syria may sign Arab deal soon with amendments
Strategic Culture Foundation 06/12/2011 at 12:47

‘Blow-fly zone’ takes hold over Syria
Asia Times Online 06/12/2011 at 11:00
The Russian Navy’s Mediterranean drills and deliveries of ship-killer missiles to Damascus are an obvious statement to the West: Syria is not Libya. However, the deployments are also ‘blow-flies’ sniffing out President Bashar al-Assad’s lifespan. As the Syrian coastline bristles with Russian hardware, the Kremlin is eyeing its first strategic move outside Soviet-era borders in two decades. – John Helmer (Dec 6, ’11)

Qatar vs Russia: When size does not matter
Russiatoday.ru 06/12/2011 at 06:16
Russia is downgrading its relations with Qatar following an attack on its envoy in Doha. The assault is being linked to Moscow’s criticism of Qatar’s backing for the US position on the unrest in Syria.

‘Bodies dumped’ in Syria’s city
BBC News 06/12/2011 at 04:58
At least 34 bodies are found in a Syrian city, as Damascus says it has responded ‘positively’ to a plan to end months of deadly unrest.

5 December 2011
Endless Needless Deaths
The Greanville Post 05/12/2011 at 23:59
By Linh Dinh
Using Bin Laden as a pretext, America invaded Afghanistan in 2001, and a decade later, it is still there, though its bogeyman is long gone. America never runs out of enemies, however, for it can always generate them anew, with either its bombs and guns, or through its jingoistic media. Along with Iran and Syria, Pakistan, supposedly an ally, has become a target.