Alternative News and Political Opinion in video and print.
Be Sure to Visit All 3 World United Websites for a different perspective in the World of News, Music and Awakening Topics.
A
new era of peace is beginning, according to a declaration signed by the leaders
of North and South Korea after their first meeting in over a decade. Both
nations are aiming to completely denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
"South
and North Korea affirmed their shared objective of achieving a nuclear-free
Korean peninsula through complete denuclearization," reads the declaration
signed by the leaders of the two countries, as cited by Yonhap.
“There
will be no more war on the Korean peninsula, and a new age of peace has opened,"
the document adds.
The
two sides also agreed to hold multi-party talks, involving the US and China, in
their push for a full-scale truce. Pyongyang and Seoul are also to have
high-level military talks in May.
In
an ambitious statement after the signing ceremony, Kim said he hopes that the
two Koreas will reunite. The states separated after WWII and have remained
hostile since the Korean War ended with an armistice, rather than a peace
treaty, in 1953.
“Terminating
the current state of the truce and establishing a firm peace regime is a
historic task that [the two Koreas] can no longer delay," the leaders
pointed out.
In an exclusive interview with
RT, President Bashar Assad said that the conflict in Syria is not a civil war,
but proxy terrorism by Syrians and foreign fighters. He also accused the
Turkish president of eyeing Syria with imperial ambitions.
Assad told RT that the West
creates scapegoats as enemies – from communism, to Islam, to Saddam Hussein. He
accused Western countries of aiming to turn him into their next enemy.
While mainstream media outlets
generally report on the crisis as a battle between Assad and Syrian opposition
groups, the president claims that his country has been infiltrated by numerous
terrorist proxy groups fighting on behalf of other powers.
In the event of a foreign
invasion of Syria, Assad warned, the fallout would be too dire for the world to
bear.
‘My enemy is terrorism and
instability in Syria’
RT: President Bashar
al-Assad of Syria, thank very much for talking to us today.
Bashar Assad:
You are most welcome in Damascus.
RT: There are many people who were convinced a year ago that
you would not make it this far. Here again you are sitting in a newly renovated
presidential palace and recording this interview. Who exactly is your enemy at
this point?
BA: My enemy is
terrorism and instability in Syria. This is our enemy in Syria. It is not about
the people, it is not about persons. The whole issue is not about me staying or
leaving. It is about the country being safe or not. So, this is the enemy we
have been fighting as Syria.
RT: I have been here for the last two days and I had the
chance to talk to a couple of people in Damascus. Some of them say that whether
you stay or go at this point does not really matter anymore. What do you say
about this?
BA: I think for
the president to stay or leave is a popular issue. It is related to the opinion
of some people and the only way can be done through the ballot boxes. So, it is
not about what we hear. It is about what we can get through that box and that
box will tell any president to stay or leave very simply.
RT: I think what they meant was that at this point you are
not the target anymore; Syria is the target.
BA: I was not
the target; I was not the problem anyway. The West creates enemies; in the past
it was the communism then it became Islam, and then it became Saddam Hussein
for a different reason. Now, they want to create a new enemy represented by
Bashar. That's why they say that the problem is the president so he has to
leave. That is why we have to focus of the real problem, not to waste our time
listening to what they say.
‘The fight now is not the
president’s fight – it is Syrians’ fight to defend their country’
RT: Do you personally
still believe that you are the only man who can hold Syria together and the
only man who can put an end to what the world calls a ‘civil war’?
BA: We have to
look at it from two aspects. The first aspect is the constitution and I have my
authority under the constitution. According to this authority and the
constitution, I have to be able to solve the problem. But if we mean it that
you do not have any other Syrian who can be a president, no, any Syrian could
be a president. We have many Syrians who are eligible to be in that position.
You cannot always link the whole country only to one person.
RT: But you are fighting for your country. Do you believe
that you are the man who can put an end to the conflict and restore peace?
BA: I have to be
the man who can do that and I hope so, but it is not about the power of the
President; it is about the whole society. We have to be precise about this. The
president cannot do anything without the institutions and without the support
of the people. So, the fight now is not a President’s fight; it is Syrians’
fight. Every Syrian is involved in defending his country now.
RT: It is and a lot of civilians are dying as well in the
fighting. So, if you were to win this war, how would you reconcile with your
people after everything that has happened?
BA: Let’s be
precise once again. The problem is not between me and the people; I do not have
a problem with the people because the United States is against me and the West
is against me and many other Arab countries, including Turkey which is not Arab
of course, are against me. If the Syrian people are against me, how can I be
here?!
Bashar Assad speaking
with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘Syria faces not a civil war,
but terrorism by proxies’
RT: They are not
against you?
BA: If the whole
world, or let us say a big part of the world, including your people, are
against you, are you a superman?! You are just a human being. So, this is not
logical. It is not about reconciling with the people and it is not about
reconciliation between the Syrians and the Syrians; we do not have a civil war.
It is about terrorism and the support coming from abroad to terrorists to
destabilize Syria. This is our war.
RT: Do you still not believe it is a civil war because I know
there are a lot who think that there are terrorist acts which everyone believes
take place in Syria, and there are also a lot of sectarian-based conflicts. For
example we all heard about the mother who has two sons; one son is fighting for
the government forces and the other son is fighting for the rebel forces, how
this is not a civil war?
BA: You have
divisions, but division does not mean civil war. It is completely different.
Civil wars should be based on ethnic problems or sectarian problems. Sometimes
you may have ethnic or sectarian tensions but this do not make them problem.
So, if you have division in the same family or in a bigger tribe or whatever or
in the same city, it does not mean a civil war. This is completely different
and that is normal. We should expect that.
RT: When I asked about reconciling with your people, this is
what I meant: I heard you say on many different occasions that the only thing
you care about is what the Syrian people think of you and what Syrian people
feel towards you and whether you should be a president or not. Are you not
afraid that there has been so much damage done for whatever reason that at the
end of the day Syrians won’t care about the truth; they will just blame you for
the carnage that they have suffered?
BA: This is a
hypothetical question because what the people think is the right thing, and
regarding what they think, we have to ask them. But I don’t have this
information right now. So, I am not afraid about what some people think; I am
afraid about my country. We have to be focused on that.
RT: For years there have been so many stories about almighty
Syrian army, important and strong Syrian secret services, but then we see that,
you know, the government forces are not able to crush the enemy like people
expected it would, and we see terrorist attacks take place in the middle of
Damascus almost every day. Were those myths about the Syrian army and about the
strong Syrian secret services?
BA: Usually, in
normal circumstances when you have the army and the secret services and the
intelligence, we focus on the external enemy even if we have an internal enemy,
like terrorism because the society is helping us at least not to provide
terrorist’s incubator. Now in this case, it is a new kind of war; terrorism
through proxies, either Syrians living in Syria or foreign fighters coming from
abroad. So, it is a new style of war, this is first and you have to adapt to this
style and it takes time, it is not easy. And to say this is as easy as the
normal or, let us say, the traditional or regular war, no, it is much more
difficult. Second, the support that has been offered to those terrorists in
every aspect, including armaments, money and political aspect is unprecedented.
So, you have to expect that it is going to be a tough war and a difficult war.
You do not expect a small country like Syria to defeat all those countries that
have been fighting us through proxies just in days or weeks.
RT: Yes, but when you look at it, I mean on one hand, you
have one leader with an army, and he orders this army go straight, go left, go
right and the army obeys. On the other hand, you have fractions of terrorists
who are not unified and have no one unified strategy to fight you. So, how does
that really happen when it comes to fighting each other?
BA: This is not
the problem. The problem is that those terrorists are fighting from within the
cities, and in the cities you have civilians. When you fight this kind of
terrorists, you have to be aware that you should do the minimum damage to the
infrastructure and minimum damage to the civilians because you have civilians
and you have to fight, you cannot leave terrorists just killing and destroying.
So, this is the difficulty in this kind of war.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
Without foreign rebel fighters
and smuggled weapons, ‘we could finish everything in weeks’
RT: You know that the
infrastructure and economy are suffering; it is almost as if Syria is going to
be fall into decay very soon and the time is against you. In your opinion, how
much time do you need to crush the enemy?
BA: You cannot
answer this question because no one claimed that he had the answer about when
to end the war unless when we have the answer to when they are going to stop
smuggling foreign fighters from different parts of the world especially the
Middle East and the Islamic world, and when they are going to stop sending
armaments to those terrorists. If they stop, this is when I can answer you; I
can tell that in weeks we can finish everything. This is not a big problem. But
as long as you have continuous supply in terrorists, armaments, logistics and
everything else, it is going to be a long-term war.
RT: Also, when you think about it, you have 4,000 km of
loosely controlled borders, so you have your enemy that can at any time cross
over into Jordan or Turkey to be rearmed, get medical care and come back to
fight you!
BA: No country
in the world can seal the border. Sometime they use this word which is not
correct, even the United Stated cannot seal its border with Mexico for example.
The same can be applied to Russia which is a big country. So, no country can
seal the border. You can only have a better situation on the border when you
have good relations with your neighbor and this is something we do not have at
least with Turkey now. Turkey supports more than any other country the
smuggling of terrorists and armaments.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘The Syrian Army has no orders
to shell Turkish land’
RT: Can I say to you
something? I have been in Turkey recently and people there are actually very
worried that a war will happen between Syria and Turkey. Do you think a war
with Turkey is a realistic scenario?
BA: Rationally,
no I do not think so – for two reasons. The war needs public support and the
majority of the Turkish people do not need this war. So, I do not think any
rational official would think of going against the will of the public in his
country and the same for the Syrian people. So, the conflict or difference is
not between the Turkish people and the Syrian people; it is about the
government and officials, it is between our officials and their officials
because of their politics. So, I do not see any war between Syria and Turkey on
the horizon.
RT: When was the last time you spoke to Erdogan and how did
the talk end?
BA: May 2011,
after he won the election.
RT: So, you just congratulated him, and it was the last time
BA: Yes and it
was the last time.
RT: Who is shelling Turkey? Is it the government forces or
the rebels?
BA: In order to
find the answer, you need a joint committee between the two armies in order to
know who shells who because on the borders you have a lot of terrorists who
have mortars; so, they can do the same. You have to go and investigate the bomb
in that place itself and that did not happen. We asked the Turkish government
to have this committee but they refused; so, you cannot have the answer. But
when you have these terrorists on your borders, you do not exclude them from
doing so because the Syrian army does not have any order to shell the Turkish
land because we do not find any interest in this, and we do not have any enmity
with the Turkish people. We consider them as brothers, so why do it; unless
that happened by mistake, then it needs investigation.
RT: Do you accept that it may be mistakenly from the
government forces?
BA: That could
happen. This is a possibility and in every war you have mistakes. You know in
Afghanistan, they always talk about friendly fire if you kill your soldier;
this means that it could happen in every war, but we cannot say yes.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘Erdogan thinks he is a
Caliph’
RT: Why has Turkey,
which you call a friendly nation, become a foothold for the opposition?
BA: Not Turkey,
but only Erdogan’s government in order to be precise. Turkish people need good
relations with the Syrian people. Erdogan thinks that if Muslim Brotherhood
takes over in the region and especially in Syria, he can guarantee his
political future, this is one reason. The other reason, he personally thinks
that he is the new sultan of the Ottoman and he can control the region as it was
during the Ottoman Empire under a new umbrella. In his heart he thinks he is a
caliph. These are the main two reasons for him to shift his policy from zero
problems to zero friends.
RT: But it is not just the West that opposes you at this
point; there are so many enemies in the Arab world and that is to say like two
years ago when someone heard you name in the Arab world they would straighten
their ties, and now in the first occasion they betrayed you, why do you have so
many enemies in the Arab world?
BA: They are not
enemies. The majority of Arab governments support Syria in their heart but they
do not dare to say that explicitly.
RT: Why not?
BA: Under
pressure by the West, and sometimes under pressure of the petrodollars in the
Arab world.
RT: Who supports you from the Arab world?
BA: Many
countries support Syria by their hearts but they do not dare to say that
explicitly. First of all, Iraq which played a very active role in supporting
Syria during the crisis because it is a neighboring country and they understand
and recognize that if you have a war inside Syria you will have war in the
neighboring countries including Iraq. I think there are other countries which
have good position like Algeria, and Oman mainly and there are other countries
I would not count all of them now but I would say they have positive position
without taking actions.
RT: Saudi Arabia and Qatar, why are they so adamant about you
resigning and how would an unstable Middle East fit their agenda?
BA: Let’s be
frank, I cannot answer on their behalf. They have to answer this question but I
could say that the problem between Syria and many countries whether in the Arab
world or in the region or in the West, is that we kept saying no when we think
that we have to say no, that is the problem. And some countries believe that
they can control Syria through orders, through money or petrodollars and this
is impossible in Syria, this is the problem. May be they want to play a role.
We do not have a problem, they can play a role whether they deserve this or
not, they can play a role but not to play a role at the expense of our
interests.
RT: Is it about controlling Syria or about exporting their
vision of Islam to Syria?
BA: You cannot
put it as a government policy sometimes. Sometimes you have institutions in
certain country, sometime you have persons who try to promote this but they do
not announce it as an official policy. So, they did not ask us to promote
their, let’s say, extremist attitude of their institutions but that happened in
reality whether through indirect support of their government or through the
foundation from institutions and personnel. So, this is part of the problem,
but when I want to talk as a government, I have to talk about the announced
policy. The announced policy is like any other policy; it is about the
interest, it is about playing a role, but we cannot ignore what you mentioned.
RT: Iran which is a very close ally also is exposed to
economic sanctions, also facing a threat of military invasion. If you were
faced with an option to cut ties with Iran in exchange for peace in your
country, would you go for it?
BA: We do not
have contradicting options in this regard because we had good relations with
Iran since 1979 till today, and it is getting better every day, but at the same
time we are moving towards peace. We had peace process and we had peace
negotiations. Iran was not a factor against peace. So, this is misinformation
they try to promote in the West that if we need peace, we do not have to have
good relation with Iran. There is no relation; it is two completely different
subjects. Iran supported Syria, supported our cause, the cause of the occupied
land and we have to support them in their cause. This is very simple. Iran is a
very important country in the region. If we are looking for stability, we need
good relations with Iran. You cannot talk about stability while you have bad
relations with Iran, Turkey and your neighbors and so on. This is it.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘Al-Qaeda’s final aim is an
Islamic emirate in Syria’
RT: Do you have any
information that the Western intelligence is financing rebel fighters here in
Syria?
BA: No, so far
what we know is that they are offering the know-how support for the terrorists
through Turkey and sometimes through Lebanon mainly. But there is other
intelligence, not the Western, but the regional intelligence which is very
active and more active than the Western one under the supervision of the
Western intelligence.
RT: What is the role of Al-Qaeda in Syria at this point? Are
they controlling any of the rebel coalition forces?
BA: No, I do not
think they are looking to control; they are looking to create their own
kingdoms or emirates in their language, but they mainly try now to scare the people
through explosions, assassinations, suicide bombers and things like this to
push the people towards desperation and to accept them as reality. So, they go
step by step but their final aim is to have this, let’s say, Islamic Emirate in
Syria where they can promote their own ideology in the rest of the world.
RT: From those who are fighting you and those who are against
you, who would you talk to?
BA: We talk to anyone who has
genuine will to help Syria, but we do not waste our time with anyone who wants
to use our crisis for his own personal interests.
RT: There has been many times…not you but the government
forces have been accused for many times of war crimes against your own
civilians, do you accept that the government forces have committed war crimes
against their own civilians?
BA: We are
fighting terrorism. We are implementing our constitution by protecting the
Syrian people. Let’s go back to what happened in Russia more than a decade ago
when you faced terrorism in Chechnya and other places; they attacked people in
theaters and schools and so on, and the army in Russia protected the people,
would you call it war crimes?! No, you would not. Two days ago, Amnesty
International recognized the crimes that were committed few days ago by the
armed groups when they captured soldiers and executed them. Also Human Rights
Watch recognized this. Human Rights Watch recognized more than once the crimes
of those terrorist groups and few days ago it described these crimes as war
crimes, this is the first point. The second point, if you have an army that
committed a crime against its own people, this is devoid of logic because the
Syrian Army is made up of Syrian people. If you want to commit a crime against
your people, then the army will divide, will disintegrate. So, you cannot have
a strong army while you are killing your people. Third, the army cannot
withstand for twenty months in these difficult circumstances without having the
embrace of the public in Syria. So, how could you have this embracement while
you are killing your people?! This is a contradiction. So, this is the answer.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘I must live in Syria and die
in Syria’
RT: When was the last
time you spoke to a Western leader?
BA: It was
before the crisis.
RT: Was there any time at which they try to give you
conditions that if you left the post of presidency then there will be peace in
Syria or no?
BA: No, they did
not propose it directly, no, but whether they propose that directly or
indirectly, it is a matter of sovereignty; only the Syrian people will talk
about this. Whoever talks about this in the media or in a statement directly or
indirectly has no meaning and has no weight in Syria.
RT: Do you even have a choice because from what it seems from
the outside that would not have anywhere to go. Where would you go if you want
to leave?
BA: To Syria. I
would go from Syria to Syria. This is the only place where we can live. I am
not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other
country. I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in
Syria.
‘I believe in democracy and
dialogue – but we must be realistic’
RT: Do you think that
at this point there is any chance for diplomacy or talks or only the army can get
it done?
BA: I always
believe in diplomacy and I always believe in dialogue even with those who do
not understand or believe in it. We have to keep trying. I think that we will
always achieve a partial success. We have to look for this partial success before
we achieve the complete success. But we have to be realistic. You do not think
that only dialogue can make you achieve something because those people who
committed these acts they are of two kinds: one of them does not believe in
dialogue, especially the extremists, and you have the outlaws who have been
convicted by the court years ago before the crisis and their natural enemy is
the government because they are going to be detained if we have a normal
situation in Syria. The other part of them is the people who have been supplied
by the outside, and they can only be committed to the governments which paid
them the money and supplied them with the armament; they do not have a choice
because they do not own their own decision. So, you have to be realistic. And
you have the third part of the people whether militants or politicians who can
accept the dialogue. That’s why we have been in this dialogue for months now
even with militants and many of them gave up their armaments and they went back
to their normal life.
Bashar Assad
speaking with RT's Sophie Shevardnadze
‘The price of a foreign
invasion will be more than the world can afford’
RT: Do you think a
foreign invasion is imminent?
BA: I think the
price of this invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world
can afford because if you have a problem in Syria, and we are the last
stronghold of secularism and stability in the region and coexistence, let’s
say, it will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and you know the implication on the rest of the world. I do not
think the West is going in that direction, but if they do so, nobody can tell
what is next.
RT: Mr. President, do you blame yourself for anything?
BA: Normally you
have to find mistakes you do with every decision, otherwise you are not human.
RT: What is your biggest mistake?
BA: I do not
remember now to be frank. But I always, even before taking the decision,
consider that part of it will be wrong but you cannot tell about your mistakes
now. Sometimes, especially during crisis, you do not see what is right and what
is wrong until you overcome the situation that you are in. I would not be
objective to talk about mistakes now because we still in the middle of the
crisis.
RT: So, you do not have regrets yet?
BA: Not now.
When everything is clear, you can talk about your mistakes, and definitely you
have mistakes and that is normal.
RT: If today was March 15, 2011, that is when the protest
started to escalate and grow, what would you do differently?
BA: I would do
what I did on March 15.
RT: Exactly the same?
BA: Exactly the
same: ask different parties to have dialogue and stand against terrorists
because that is how it started. It did not start as marches; the umbrella or
cover was the marches, but within those marches you had militants who started
shooting civilians and the army at the same time. May be on the tactical level,
you could have done something different but as a president you are not
tactical, you always take the decision on a strategic level which is something
different.
RT: President al-Assad, how do you see yourself in
ten-years’ time?
BA: I see myself
through my country; I cannot see myself but my country in ten-years’ time. This
is where I can see myself.
RT: Do you see yourself in Syria?
BA: Definitely,
I have to be in Syria. It is not about the position. I do not see myself
whether a president or not. This is not my interest. I can see myself in this
country as safe country, stable country and more prosperous country.
RT: President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, thank you for
talking to RT.
Bahraini authorities have arrested Nabeel Rajab, rights activist and foremost critic of the Al Khalifa regime, as they continue their brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters. It comes after he was interviewed on Julian Assange’s “The World Tomorrow.”
Nabeel Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights was detained at Bahrain’s international airport on his return from Lebanon. The authorities have not commented on the reasons behind the arrest.
Julian Assange, whose talk-show featuring Rajab will be broadcast on RT on May 8, believes the activist was arrested because of the program.
Rajab has played a significant role in anti-regime demonstrations over the past months. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights has been focusing on drawing attention to the crackdowns on demonstrators and abuses by Bahrain’s security forces. Rajab is also affiliated to international groups such as Human Rights Watch.
For fourteen months Al Khalifa forces have been using stun grenades, tear-gas and pepper-spray on protesters, though this was not enough to draw the attention of Western media. The abuses only came into the spotlight because of the protests surrounding the prestigious F1 Grand Prix event.
The protests against the Al Khalifa family, who have ruled Bahrain for two centuries, began in February 2011 as the Arab Spring revolutions swept across the region. The unrest was fueled by sectarian divisions. The ruling family are Sunni Muslims, while 70 per cent of the population are Shiites, who are now demanding greater rights and freedoms
In March 2011, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa asked the Gulf Cooperation Council to help protect his country, claiming that Iran was backing the opposition. This resulted in Saudi-led intervention in the country.
Official reports say around 85 civilians have been killed during the 14 months of the crackdown, but activists say that the real figure exceeds this number many times.
While calling for Syrian leader Bashar Assad to step down, the US has been arming Bahrain’s monarchy against peaceful demonstrators. Some point out the main reason for this is that the US Fifth Fleet is based in the tiny island nation in the Persian Gulf, across the water from Iran.
Nabeel Rajab has criticized the US many times for arming the Bahrain authorities and turning a blind eye to the violence. All the more outrageous then, Rajab says, that the US is assuring everyone that the situation in Bahrain is improving.
“America’s representative in the Human Rights Council is saying 'We will not talk about Bahrain this session because Bahrain is improving itself and it is doing better' when people are dying on a daily basis.”
To say the least, the events in Bahrain have received way less coverage than other Arab protests.
He claimed that major Arab channels have been ignoring the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain because they are controlled by the same ruling families, who do not want to see any pro-democracy uprisings in their kingdoms. “When it comes to Bahrain, this is the last thing the Saudis want to see – a revolution in Bahrain… which is going to have a negative impact on Saudi Arabia.”
The Saudis sent troops to Bahrain to help its Sunni rulers quell the mostly Shiite uprising first of all because of their close ties with the West, believes Rajab. The Saudis did it “for the interests of the United States, for the interests of many European countries, for arms sales, for the flow of the oil,” he told the host of the “World Tomorrow.” Rajab pointed out that the Saudis, the US and other Western countries seemed to prioritize their mutual interests over and above the human rights of the people of Bahrain.
The fourth episode of Julian Assange’s show “The World Tomorrow”, featuring Nabeel Rajab and Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, will be aired on RT on Tuesday at 11:30 GMT.
Strikingly, the activist told Assange he has already been detained, kidnapped and beaten in front of his family due to his sharp criticism of the regime.
Nabeel Rajab told Assange how he was detained for almost half a day after been beaten up in the street. Rajab recalled that a few months prior to the latest detention he was kidnapped from his home by masked security personnel, blindfolded and handcuffed, and taken to an unknown place where he was tortured.
The program was recorded last week. During the interview Rajab said that on the same day he announced on his Twitter account that he is going to appear on RT his house was surrounded by almost 100 policemen armed with machine guns – but luckily he was not there at the time.
One of Rajab’s aims is to attract international attention to the situation in Bahrain.
Nabeel Rajab resented the fact that when Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain to suppress protests, the international media turned a blind eye to that controversial intervention.
The human rights activist blamed the same Saudi Arabian regime for sending troops to Libya to topple Muammar Gaddafi and now sponsoring an attempt of regime change in Syria, supporting opposition fighting the serving President Bashar al-Assad.
Rajab stressed that the revolution in Bahrain is still going on, with half of the population of the country taking part in it. “In none of the revolutions we had in the history of the past 50 years would you see 50 per cent of the population out in the street in one protest. But you will see [this] in Bahrain.”
Television channels have turned into political parties, pushing the agenda for some outside forces, former Al Jazeera correspondent in Beirut, Ali Hashem, told RT. Hashem has come in spotlight after resigning from the television citing its bias.
In emails leaked by Syrian hackers, Ali Hashem vented his anger over Al Jazeera's one-sided coverage of Syria and its refusal to cover the events in Bahrain. In an exclusive interview with RT, the former Beirut correspondent Hashem refrained from discussing his resignation, but stressed that these days, independent media is a myth.
“There is no independent media anymore. It is whose agenda is paying the money for the media outlet,” he said. “Politicization of media means that media outlets are today like political parties. Everyone is adopting a point of view, fight for it and bring all the tools and all the means they have in order to make it reach the biggest amount of viewers.”
It is now the job of the viewer to compare the news from several different sources and then make his own conclusions, the journalist believes. “Today we are in the era of open source information and everyone can reach whatever information he wants.”
Hashem said the problem with this picture is that some news outlets can reach bigger audiences than others. “What they say will [seem] to be a fact while it might not be the fact,” he said.
Mass media should be “immune” when it comes to war and conflict, as this guarantees freedom of speech, Ali Hashem believes.
“In the year 2006, Israel bombarded Al-Manar television because they said Al- Manar was doing propaganda war against Israel,” he said. “Al-Manar was on one side of this war and they were supporting the Hezbollah and the resistance and the war against Israel. But does this give Israel the excuse to bombard Al-Manar? Certainly not.”
“We should as journalists, whatever our point of view is, (because it is clear there is no independent journalism anymore) have the right to say whatever he wants safely, without being threatened to be bombarded or killed or executed or arrested,” Hashem concluded.
Al Jazeera has recently suffered an exodus of key staff members from its Beirut Bureau: correspondent Ali Hashem, managing director Hassan Shaaban and producer Mousa Ahmad.
The professionals cited bias in the channel’s coverage of the Arab Spring, especially the events in Syria and Bahrain, as the reason for their departures.
Cyrenaica, the eastern region of Libya, has elected a regional congress and declared semi-autonomy from the capital Tripoli. The “blatant call for fragmentation” of the country was condemned by Libya's ruling NTC.
Thousands of major tribal leaders and militia commanders attended a celebratory ceremony in the region’s center Benghazi on Tuesday.
The congress stated that Cyrenaica had suffered decades of marginalization under the ouster ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Now the oil-rich region extending from the coastal city of Sirte to Egyptian border is taking its fortunes into its own hands.
The congress appointed Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed, who was a political prisoner under Gaddafi and currently is a member of NTC, as leader of its governing council. Despite being a part of the Libya’s official ruling body, Al-Zubair pledged to protect the rights of the eastern region.
Libya’s National Transitional Council, which started uprising against Gaddafi in Benghazi and moved to Tripoli after his overthrow, repeatedly voiced objection to the planned autonomy. They said Libya’s transformation into a federal state paves the way to eventual split-up of the North African country.
“This is a blatant call for fragmentation,” said Fathi Baja, the head of political committee of the NTC. “We reject it in its entirety. We are against divisions and against any move that hurts the unity of the Libyan people.”
The head of the NTC, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said the call for autonomy is a foreign plot. "I regret to say that these (foreign) countries have financed and supported this plot that has arisen in the east," he told reporters. "I call on my brothers, the Libyan people, to be aware and alert to the conspiracies that are being plotted against them and to be aware that some people are dragging the country back down into a deep pit."
The East, however, is pushing for a return to a system of rule that existed before the coup of 1967 which brought Gaddafi to power. At the time Libya was divided into three states – western Tripolitania, south-western Fezzan and the eastern Cyrenaica (or Barqa in Arabic).
A co-founder of the move for autonomy, Abu Bakr Baaira, pointed out that a federal system did not lead to a division of such countries as the US and Germany.
“Are the US, Switzerland and Germany divided?” Baaira said. “We hope they don't force us to a new war and new bloodshed. This is the last thing we look for.”
Barqa will follow a peaceful way of making Tripoli and the NTC recognize its autonomy. Baaira does not rule out a possibility of going to the UN for such recognition.
The Easterners have already formed their own army, the Barqa Supreme Military Council, which is independent from the NTC. The army is made up from revolutionaries who fought against Gaddafi rule last year. And now the forces are ready to fight for autonomy, Barqa commander Col. Hamid Al-Hassi says.
“Even if we had to take over the oil fields by deploying our forces there or risk another war, we will not hesitate for the sake of Barqa,” Hassi told the Associated Press.
It is unclear how many Easterners really support the idea of autonomy. Although some 5,000 people have reportedly taken part in the “Congress of the People of Cyrenaica” ceremony, several thousand were protesting against it in Benghazi on Monday.
Libya seems to be falling apart as the NTC is trying to work out a new electoral law ahead of the parliamentary elections in June. The latest draft of the law allocates only 60 seats in the country’s 200-member National Council to the East, while the West will have 102 representatives. The “Congress of the People of Cyrenaica” has rejected this latest draft, apparently due to its discriminatory nature.
Libya’s east-west divide: Breakup inevitable?
A painful breakup between eastern and western Libya is a real threat to the future of the country, believes Eric Denece, the director and founder of the French Centre for Intelligence Studies.
“From the very beginning Abdul al-Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council, and his crew have done everything to create such a breakup between western and eastern Libya,” he said.
But this kind of outcome was written a long time ago even before the revolution began, Denece believes.
For a long time Cyrenaica ruled the country under King Idris, before Gaddafi came to power and the people of eastern Libya wanted to take revenge and lead the country, Denece says. But after ousting Gaddafi they understood they are unable to hold power over the entire country and decided to “keep their riches” to themselves.
“They don’t want to share the oil with the people of Fezzan and Tripolitania,” Denece says.
Denece believes that the whole world is closely watching the situation in Libya, especially Egypt and the Gulf countries, which have always had their own interests in oil-rich Cyrenaica.
“Egypt always had an ambition for this part of Libya and it’s only because of Italian colonization that Cyrenaica belongs to Libya and not to Egypt,” he explained. “And on the other side I believe that countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be very pleased if they can create a new oil monarchy in Cyrenaica.”
Abayomi Azikiwe, the editor of Pan-African News Wire, believes that there will never be unity in war-torn Libya. He told RT there was no political program that would reunite all the various opposition groups led by anti-Gaddafi forces and backed by the US and NATO.
“The only program they really had was removing Gaddafi from power. So there is nothing really to forge any type of national unity inside of Libya right now.”
The journalist blames Western interference for the unstable situation Libya now finds itself in and believes that the war has done more to destabilize Libya and all of North Africa. “The West intervened in sectional conflict that was taking place inside the country. They had, in fact, armed the opposition groups for decades just waiting for the opportunity to come in and engineer this type of regime change.”
September 20th, 2011 can be a step in the right direction and a day for Global Freedom.
September 20th, 2011 marks a day in which history will be written one way or the other. It is my hope that people will rise to this occasion and express their opinions based on moral human rights, respect and empathy for life. I ask you to share this video and stand with me in support of a FREE Palestine, a land that was divided in 2 by the United Nations in 1948.
The UN has broken its charter in many war theaters including the recent war crime in Libya. If the US government is allowed to Veto the motion that grants the recognition of a Palestinian state by the General UN assembly then the truth about democracy will have to be revisited and explained, for who would want to be a part of a World Body that dictates an agenda from special interests. That is NOT democracy.
Should a Veto occur on the Palestinian question of self determination and the right to exist, then the principals of the UN and the Charter will be null and void; in which case I will urge every peace loving nation to walk out and end this institution and rebuild one in its place that allows ALL nations to come to the table as equals. We are at a defining moment in history, where real action MUST be taken for our children’s, children’s future; think wisely because when your grandchildren ask you, “What did YOU do?” will you have an answer in tune with peace, love, and empathy, or one of ignorance?
Colonel Gaddafi has addressed his nation to say the battle with “aggressors” will last “until the end”. Meanwhile, the rebels’ assault on the Tripoli compound brought no visible results and shelling goes on in Libyan towns.
Muammar Gaddafi said leaving his compound was a tactical move.
Colonel has addressed the nation via Libyan radio, declaring that “in the fight against aggressors there is only death or victory.”
He said that the Bab Al-Aziziya compound no longer exists. It was totally destroyed by 64 NATO air strikes.
As of now, the leader and his family are nowhere to be found.
Gaddafi spokesperson, Moussa Ibrahim, speaking on Libyan television from an undisclosed location, warned the battle for Libya will turn the country into a volcano, lava and fire. He stressed that the country’s government can resist the attacks for months or even years.
“Libya will become a volcano,” he promised. He condemned the rebels and claimed that 12,000 tribesmen were converging on Tripoli to fight.
Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV says that the capital is being pounded by Gaddafi forces’ Grad missiles and mortars. Reuters also reports pro-Gaddafi forces attacking the town of Ajelat, west of Tripoli, with missiles and tanks.
Rebels overran the fortified compound of the Libyan leader in Bab al-Azizya in Tripoli following intense fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces and heavy shelling by NATO jets late on Tuesday. Rebels claimed also they gained control of much of the capital, but Gaddafi's whereabouts were still unknown.
Meanwhile the National Transitional Council reports that 400 people have been killed and more than 2,000 injured over the last three days of fighting. Alternative reports claim that more than 1,000 people have died in the violence and NATO air strikes.
Don DeBar, an anti-war activist and journalist, believes that whatever Colonel Gaddafi or the rebel leaders say, it is practically impossible to verify what is true or false at this point.
“But certainly what has been coming from the Western media has been proven to be lies,” he declared. “Gaddafi opened up the armories to the people of Libya, more than a million rifles and other arms have been handed out to the people of Tripoli. The claim that has been made by the so-called ‘progressive’ media of the United States is that Gaddafi is a hated dictator and that this is an indigenous rebellion. The dictator does not hand people guns and say: ‘Please, defend me!’”
France plans to hold a high level meeting next week to discuss Libya's political future. The top Libyan opposition leader has been invited to Paris to attend.
Almost every EU state now demonstrates its readiness to participate in the country’s development, simultaneously saying it is the Libyan people who should decide their own future. Even Poland’s foreign minister has said that his country wants to take part, but France is the one taking the lead.
On Wednesday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be meeting in Paris with Mahmoud Jibril, the leader of the Libyan rebels. French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet says they will build a roadmap for the future of the country.
European diplomats are explaining that the EU and NATO are seeing the opportunity now to play the leading role in the future of North Africa, with the United States taking a back seat for the moment, as Washington is now overwhelmed by its own domestic political issues. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance will continue with its mission of protecting Libyan civilians.
German leader Angela Merkel says she will “unfreeze” Libyan assets: “Gaddafi’s money must be secured in the name of the Libyan people,” she said. It is unclear, however, who will control that money and how it will be used.
The rebels were united with the single goal of getting rid of Gaddafi. As soon as that is no longer the case, they have very little else in common, and defense experts fear that may lead to an even bloodier civil war, should they fail to find common ground.
Marat Terterov, head of the European Geopolitical Forum, agrees that the most intriguing question right now is whether the Libyan tribes will be able to hold together and form a stable governing authority. But no matter what, he says, the West will make sure its interests are secured.
“Western forces will undoubtedly look to both intervene and assert their influence within any post-Gaddafi governing structure in Libya,” Terterov said. “And that’s also because they are providing a lot of aid: London has unfrozen a lot of assets, up to around two billion dollars, as being mentioned.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov adjusts his earphones during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in San Salvador (AFP Photo / Getty Images)
The crucial stage of the Libyan conflict could have been reached much earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at a press conference in San Salvador.
"We have always wanted a quicker outcome, and it could have been faster, but a number of factors prevented this from happening, including Gaddafi’s position,” Lavrov said after talks Monday with his Salvadorian counterpart, Hugo Martinez. “Till the last day, Gaddafi insisted that negotiations were only possible through him.”
NATO’s actions were also an obstacle, the Russian foreign minister stated, pointing out that they far exceeded the mandate handed to the alliance by the UN Security Council.
Lavrov also suggested that political power would soon be in "the hands of rebel forces."
Russia will not recognize the National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representative, he declared, explaining that such a move would not help matters.
But he said that Russia does recognize the National Transitional Council as a party to the talks.
Russia is prepared to actively promote a political process in Libya, Lavrov stressed.
"Russia is ready to actively promote a political process in Libya, just as in other countries,” he said. “The Russian and Libyan peoples have traditions of friendship, years-long interaction, and we shall continue to act in this vein in the future as well."
The fight is not over in Tripoli, but the carve-up of Libya's vast oil riches - the biggest in Africa - is already beginning and no doubt the process will not come cheaply for the Libyan people.
The Italian Foreign Minister fired the starting gun, saying Italy's ENI oil company will play the number-one role in the region.
British PM David Cameron already delivered a promise, seen by many as more of a threat, that the NATO mission in Libya, which is “to protect civilians,” will continue for “as long as it is needed” to ensure a safe transition to democracy.
As allied forces lend air support to the rebels to take Tripoli, the Stop the War Coalition warns Libyans not to expect that they are getting something for nothing.
“The Western powers do not do this without asking for a payback. Why is it that the head TNC [Transitional National Council] is running off to Paris to meet with the French President?” questions John Rees from the Stop the War Coalition. “Well of course that is one very important issue that was why the Western powers and Tony Blair and others struck a deal with Gaddafi in the first place. It will be exactly what they're seeking to continue with the TNC to further exploit those oil riches.”
The British government makes no secret of the fact that its motives in supporting the rebels are not entirely altruistic. Last year alone the UK exported around US$40 billion worth of goods and services to North Africa and the Middle East.
But “black gold” is the key – Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa.
“When Western powers look at the region, they talk about humanity and democracy, but they’re thinking about oil,” reveals Greg Muttitt, War on Want campaigns and policy director.
Muttitt says it is impossible not to draw a comparison with Iraq. He has written a book about the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, in which he maintains Western powers imposed a democracy which played on sectarian divisions. That ensured years of tribal struggle, but meant the allies retained control of the oil supply. While the UK government insists lessons have been learnt from Iraq, Western oil firms are moving into Libya.
Even before the fate of Tripoli is sealed, the great oil grab is already beginning. BP has a contentious oil and gas exploration contract in Libya, which the UK government will be anxious for it to resume. Italian oil giant ENI is the first to send staff back to Libya, and its shares rose on the news. France’s Total and Austria’s OMV also did well as investors hoped they would soon be able to resume production in Libya. But at what price to the Libyan people?
“The great fear is that just as they did in Iraq they'll create a democracy that serves British interests or the West’s interests or the oil companies’ interests and does nothing for the people of Libya,” Greg Muttitt explains.
South Africa's Closing Argument Against Israel for Genocide at the ICJ
Freedom
Welcome!
World United News offers an honest approach to alternative news and opinion with back up links for readers to investigate information for themselves.
This blog also includes a number of important video playlists that cover specific topics, rare documentaries, debate, opinion, and viewpoints.
Please feel free to share anything that resonates with you or that you feel would benefit those in your circles. Comments are always welcome. ~Stewart Brennan~
I'm not in phase with what mainstream mediums have to offer, nor do I like being lied to. So I decided to build my own World where creativity, music, and truth prevail. Therefore I’m a photographer, Writer, Video Producer, News Reporter, Music Promoter, Radio DJ, Poet, Activist, Critical Thinker, and Problem Solver. Be sure to visit all my websites linked below for more of my world.
Posts
a.jpg)
a.jpg)
