Syria's Children Die out of Hunger - YouTube

LINK: Syria's Children Die out of Hunger - YouTube

The Price of Precious: Conflict Minerals in the Congo - National Geographic

The Price of Precious

The minerals in our electronic devices have bankrolled unspeakable violence in the Congo.

By Jeffrey Gettleman

Photograph by Marcus Bleasdale  

The first child soldier pops out of the bush clutching an AK-47 assault rifle in one hand and a handful of fresh marijuana buds in the other. The kid, probably 14 or 15, has this big, goofy, mischievous grin on his face, like he’s just stolen something—which he probably has—and he’s wearing a ladies’ wig with fake braids dangling down to his shoulders. Within seconds his posse materializes from the thick, green leaves all around us, about ten other heavily armed youngsters dressed in ratty camouflage and filthy T-shirts, dropping down from the sides of the jungle and blocking the red dirt road in front of us. Our little Toyota truck is suddenly swarmed and immobilized by a four-and-a-half-foot-tall army.........................

FULL ARTICLE HERE: The Price of Precious

Group plans war crimes tribunal for Syrian combatants | The Times of Israel

Bodies being buried after the August 21 chemical attack near Damascus (photo credit: AP/Shaam News Network)

A group of international war crimes experts is calling for the creation of a special tribunal in the Syrian capital to try any top-ranking officials, soldiers or rebels who may have committed atrocities during the country’s civil war.

Professor Michael Scharf of Case Western Reserve University, acting as spokesman, showed The Associated Press a copy of the draft statutes that have been quietly under development for nearly two years. They could serve as a template for such a tribunal after the civil war ends.

He said Friday that US diplomats also have copies of the 30-page document, and are sympathetic to the idea of a Syrian war crimes court.

“We believe it’s playing a role in closed-door discussions throughout the US government,” Scharf said.......

FULL ARTICLE HERE: 
Group plans war crimes tribunal for Syrian combatants | The Times of Israel

BEARDING PUTIN IN HIS DEN: Syria’s Chemical Weapons: The Russia Factor | Human Rights Watch

Carroll Bogert

September 26, 2013

Author(s): 

Carroll Bogert

Published in: 

Vedomosti (in Russian)

 

Russian diplomacy has dramatically changed the trajectory of Western response to the Syria crisis and put the Kremlin at the center of international negotiations to control Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. But the Russian government’s insistence that chemical weapons were used by rebel forces now places it on the fringes of a serious debate over what to do next to end the atrocities in that embattled country.

In his op-ed for the New York Times, President Putin made the case for pursuing diplomacy over military strikes in Syria. He also wrote that there is “every reason to believe” the attack was carried out by opposition forces to provoke a Western military intervention.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has continued to claim that the “obscure case of the August 21” attack was “clearly fabricated.” Last week in Damascus, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that Russia would be analyzing new “evidence” from the Syrian government that exonerates their forces for the attack.

Syrian opposition forces are indeed responsible for serious crimes in their conduct of war, including attacks against civilians, summary executions, kidnappings, torture, and other abuses. They include extremist Islamist elements that should be of real concern. But they are not responsible for the August 21 chemical weapons attack, and a review of the evidence demonstrates that.

The United Nations inspection team remains the only independent group to have accessed the site of the attacks. When US military strikes against Syria appeared imminent, Russian diplomats urged the world to wait for the UN inspectors’ report. But now that the report points clearly to Syrian government responsibility for the attack, the same officials are dismissing it as “politicized,” ”biased,” and “one-sided.”

UN inspectors were able to visit sites and interview victims and eyewitnesses, but it was not within their mandate to state explicitly who they thought was responsible. But they have provided substantial evidence of Syrian government responsibility, and that evidence is backed up by a 21-page research report by Human Rights Watch, an independent, nongovernmental organization......

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Syria’s Chemical Weapons: The Russia Factor | Human Rights Watch

The Revolting Syrian-يلا إرحل يا بشار, One Month On After The World Officially Gave Up on Us.

One Month On After The World Officially Gave Up on Us

The argument most used by those against the planned US airstrikes was that bombing Assad would “make things worse" and "kill more innocent people”. When asked for viable options to the alternative, most agreed that “doing nothing” was best since there “are no good guys in Syria”, including children. One infamous, yet seemingly popular, ex-politican suggested to “let Allah sort it out" as Assad continued to slaughter Syrians on a daily basis using conventional means. 

Now, long after the ‘to strike or not’ campaign was resolved (so to speak), the world continues it’s debates over the merits of a UN report on the chemical massacre with no discernible goal. Even a part-time blogger, sitting from his home in the UK proved that only someone with the resources of the Assad regime could have carried out this attack, to think otherwise is fantasy. The Assad regime was not able to muster much of an excuse other than having an advisor to Assad, Bouthaina Sha’aban, claim that rebels kidnapped young Alawite children from Lattakia and then gassed them to death in Damascus. This story was used after the Assad regime denied that any chemical weapons were used at all.

So, just how much better did things in Syria get in the past 30 days? How did the “let’s do nothing” policy affect actual Syrians?

FULL ARTICLE HERE: The Revolting Syrian-يلا إرحل يا بشار, One Month On After The World Officially Gave Up on Us.

NO ALLIANCE HERE: Al Qaeda-linked group in Syria denounces pro-democracy rebels - CNN.com

Rebel fighters inspect a stairwell amid fighting against Syrian government forces on Thursday, September 19, in the Saif al-Dawla district of Aleppo, Syria. More than 100,000 people reportedly have been killed in Syria since a popular uprising spiraled into a civil war in 2011. Russia and the United States have agreed on a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. The plan came about after a deadly attack in August outside Damascus that the West has accused the Syrian regime of being behind. Click through to view the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict:

• The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria says democracy conflicts with Islamic teachings
• It says rebels it ousted from Azaz, Syria, were cooperating with Westerners
• The Syrian National Coalition says ISIS "no longer fights the Assad regime"

Istanbul (CNN) -- Al Qaeda-linked militants justified their takeover of a strategic opposition-held town near the Syrian border with Turkey by accusing the Syrian rebels who held it of being pro-democracy traitors who cooperated with Western officials like U.S. Sen. John McCain............

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Al Qaeda-linked group in Syria denounces pro-democracy rebels - CNN.com

Time to aid, not stigmatize, the Syrian rebels

Syrian opposition groups willing to fight both the regime and al-Qaeda are worthy of Western and Arab support

With potential American strikes against Syrian chemical weapons-related targets averted for now, attention once again turns to the Syrian opposition. This is a crucial issue because the main way the West and the Arab states can, and should, act to influence the Syrian conflict is through a robust engagement with acceptable armed opposition forces.

As long as the Damascus dictatorship continues to enjoy impunity, air supremacy and unrestrained support from Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia, the existing power structure has no incentive whatsoever to look for an agreement, nor can it be forced into a de facto stalemate that can provide a modicum of stability.
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Time to aid, not stigmatize, the Syrian rebels

Keane: Assad Will Not Give Up His Chemical Weapons | Washington Free Beacon

VIDEO LINK: Keane: Assad Will Not Give Up His Chemical Weapons | Washington Free Beacon

Israel: We've been 'absolutely certain' for months Assad using nerve gas | The Times of Israel

Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, head of the IDF Military Intelligence research and analysis division, at a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee hearing at the Knesset in 2012 (photo credit: Noam Moskowitz/Flash90)

Israel has been “absolutely certain” for many months — long before the alleged August 21 chemical weapons attack that prompted the current Syria crisis — that President Bashar Assad was using chemical weapons in the civil war, the Israeli army’s top intelligence analyst said in an interview broadcast Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the senior analyst in the IDF’s Military Intelligence hierarchy, said the Israeli army had an extremely effective intelligence-gathering capacity on Syria, but declined to go into specifics..........

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Israel: We've been 'absolutely certain' for months Assad using nerve gas | The Times of Israel

POWERFUL: The Syria documentary film "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" by Matthew VanDyke - YouTube

LINK▶ The Syria documentary film "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" by Matthew VanDyke - YouTube

NO SURPRISE HERE: BBC News - Footage emerges of 'Iranians fighting in Syria'

The Syrian opposition has been saying for many months that Iranian forces are backing up, even leading the Syrian Army. This is just further colloboration:
VIDEO LINK: BBC News - Footage emerges of 'Iranians fighting in Syria'

MY POST ON ENOUGH: U.N. Peace Day 2013: Peace for the DR Congo | Enough

U.N. Peace Day 2013: Peace for the DR Congo

Posted by Guest Contributor on Sep 12, 2013

 

Editor's Note:  Guest contributor Mac McKinney is human rights activist, deeply concerned about the horrific outrages to human dignity taking place not only in Africa, but in such places as Syria and North Korea.  He has been long-involved in the maritime world, as a Navy Diver, shipyard employee and marine designer, but enjoys writing and photo-journalism, and travelled to Haiti to write a series of articles on the situation there. 

I really didn’t know much about Congo until I met a journalist who had been there and told me about the ongoing conflicts in Congo. Soon after, I began delving into Congo’s history, studying from the Kingdom of Kongo to King Leopold II, who created the modern Congolese state with the chicotte and the Force Publique, building its foundations on human exploitation.

Reflecting on Congo’s violent past and present, I knew that it was wrong for people to suffer this much, and that I needed to take action. It is time to end the violence there and lay the foundation for a better future. Fortunately, the world is starting to wake up to this imperative, which was demonstrated in the signing of the “Framework” Agreement by 11 African nations in Addis Ababa in February 2013, creating a regional blueprint to end the bloodshed and bring stability to the region.

Eight months following the signing of the Framework, The United Nations International Day of Peace, Hampton Roads organization will host “Peace for the DR Congo” at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Virginia on September 21. 

In conjunction with the One Love Festival also taking place on September 21, this year’s Hampton Roads U.N. Peace Day celebration is focusing on peace in eastern Congo as a way of doing our part to raise awareness about the ongoing conflict.  Each year a theme for the day is established, and Congo was chosen this year as a result of personal reflection and education about the crisis. 

The event will serve as an educational and cultural forum to discuss current events in the Congo as well as opportunities to take direct action.

Speakers and Performers include:

• Reverend Carey Chirico of the Virginia Episcopalian Diocese ministry to the Congo, Women-to-Women
• Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo
• Bismarck Myrick, Ambassador-in-Residence and lecturer at Old Dominion University, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia and the Kingdom of Lesotho
• Faith Liwanga, founder of the NGO MICAH-elle Foundation, which raises money to help empower women in the Congo.
• Kathy Klein, a visual artist who raises money for Congolese women through the Art for Hope Project
• Jane Lockhart, a former missionary of the Eastern Virginia Presbytery
• The Taiko Drummers of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Global Buddhist Network in Virginia Beach
• Charles Clarke, a world music instrumentalist
• Chardabat Musique, Congolese-American singer/songwriter
• Mwamini Thambwe Mwamba (Gaelle) Diggs, Congolese author of the “Untold Story of the Women and Children of the Democratic Republic of Congo”

UN Peace Day 2013: Peace for the DR Congo will take place from 2:30 to 5:00PM in Boyd Dining Hall on campus. For more information, visit the website or email Mac at Mac166688@aol.com.

Read more on the International Day of Peace.


LINK TO ENOUGH: U.N. Peace Day 2013: Peace for the DR Congo | Enough

Dispatches: What Putin didn’t tell the American people | Human Rights Watch

September 12, 2013
 

by Anna Neistat


Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the second working session of the G20 Summit near St. Petersburg on September 6, 2013. © 2013 Reuters

It’s not what Vladimir Putin’s New York Times op-ed says that’s so worrisome; it’s what it doesn’t say. As a Russian and as someone who has been to Syria multiple times since the beginning of the conflict to investigate war crimes and other violations, I would like to mention a few things Putin overlooked...

There is not a single mention in Putin’s article, addressed to the American people, of  the egregious crimes committed by the Syrian government and extensively documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry, local and international human rights groups, and numerous journalists: deliberate and indiscriminate killings of tens of thousands of civilians, executions, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests. His op-ed also makes no mention of Russia’s ongoing transfer of arms to Assad throughout the past two and a half years.

The Russian president strategically emphasizes the role of Islamic extremists in the Syrian conflict. Yes, many rebel groups have committed abuses and atrocities. Yet Putin fails to mention that it is the Syrian government that is responsible for shooting peaceful protesters (before the conflict even started) and detaining and torturing their leaders – many of whom remain detained – and that the continued failure of the international community to respond to atrocities in Syria allows crimes on all sides to continue unaddressed.................

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Dispatches: What Putin didn’t tell the American people | Human Rights Watch

NO SURPRISE HERE! Exclusive: U.N. Report Will Point to Assad Regime in Massive Chemical Attack | The Cable

U.N. inspectors have collected a "wealth" of evidence on the use of nerve agents that points to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against his own people, according to a senior Western official.

The inspection team, which is expected on Monday to present U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon with a highly anticipated report on a suspected Aug. 21 nerve agent attack in the suburbs of Damascus, will not directly accuse the Syrian regime of gassing its own people, according to three U.N.-based diplomats familiar with the investigation. But it will provide a strong circumstantial case -- based on an examination of spent rocket casings, ammunition, and laboratory tests of soil, blood, and urine samples -- that points strongly in the direction of Syrian government culpability......

FULL ARTICLE HERE: 
Exclusive: U.N. Report Will Point to Assad Regime in Massive Chemical Attack | The Cable

Defecting Syrian chemical doctor blames regime for chemical attacks

Dr. Abdel Tawwab Shahrour speaks Tuesday during a press conference in Syria. (Michael Weiss)"

A defecting doctor from Syria’s chemical weapon program gave a press conference on Tuesday to present evidence on the Bashar al-Assad’s regime use of chemical weapons in Aleppo.
 
“I have witnessed cold blooded massacres [committed by the Syrian regime], and I coordinated with the rebels and documented these crimes before defecting in August 2013,” Dr. Abdel Tawwab Shahrour, the head of the Chemical Weapons Unit's Forensic Medical Committee in the Aleppo district, said in the press conference.

“We conducted tests on more than four thousand victims and prepared a file that contains the results we found that were submitted to the [Syrian] judiciary, while I kept another copy for myself..............”

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Defecting Syrian chemical doctor blames regime for chemical attacks

RealClearWorld - Assad's No Enemy of al-Qaeda

RealClearWorld - Assad's No Enemy of al-Qaeda

VIDEO: Slaughter Without Blood: a report about Assad's Chemical Massacre in Ghouta August 21, 2013

Watch this if you care about humanity: 


VIDEO LINK: Slaughter Without Blood a report about Assad's chemical massacre in Ghouta August 21,2013 - YouTube

▶ I Am Congo - Dawn is quickly Approaching - YouTube

POWERFUL POETRY ON THE DR CONGO:


LINK: ▶ I Am Congo - Dawn is quickly Approaching - YouTube

Former Syrian defense minister Gen. Ali Habib defects - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

Syrian President Bashar Assad with former Defense Minister Gen. Ali Habib (center) and Chief of Staff Gen. Daoud Rajiha in August 2010 (File Photo: Reuters)

Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Reuters /Amman

Former Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Habib, a prominent member of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect, has defected and is now in Turkey, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition told Reuters on Wednesday.

If his defection is confirmed, Habib would be the highest ranking figure from the Alawite minority to break with Assad since the uprising against his rule began in 2011.

“Ali Habib has managed to escape from the grip of the regime and he is now in Turkey, but this does not mean that he has joined the opposition. I was told this by a Western diplomatic official,” Kamal al-Labwani said from Paris.......

FULL ARTICLE HERE:  Former Syrian defense minister Gen. Ali Habib defects - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

US rabbis urge Congress to back Obama on Syria | The Times of Israel

Rabbis Judy Schindler, Rick Jacobs and Eric Yoffie, previous President of the URJ, at Jacobs' installation. (photo credit: Clark Jones, Courtesy the Union for Reform Judaism)

JTA — Leading rabbis covering the religious and political spectrum urged lawmakers in Congress to support President Obama’s plans to strike Syria to stop its use of chemical weapons...........
FULL ARTICLE HERE: US rabbis urge Congress to back Obama on Syria | The Times of Israel

'The great tragedy of this century': More than 2 million refugees forced out of Syria - World News

By Henry Austin and Alexander Smith

NBC NewsMore than 2 million Syrians have poured into neighboring countries as refugees, the United Nations revealed on Tuesday.

Around 5,000 people per day are fleeing the three-year conflict, which the U.N. says has already claimed over 100,000 lives.


Olivier Laban-Mattei / UNHCR via AP, file -United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees special envoy Angelina Jolie, right, speaks with Syrian refugees in a Jordanian military camp in June.

“Syria has become the great tragedy of this century -- a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history,” said António Guterres,  the U.N.’s high commissioner responsible for refugees.

The crisis has dramatically worsened in recent months, according to the U.N.'s refugee agency.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

FULL ARTICLE HERE: 'The great tragedy of this century': More than 2 million refugees forced out of Syria - World News

French intelligence: Assad’s forces behind ‘massive’ chemical attack - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is seen in the Mediterranean port in Toulon, August 28, 2013. (Reuters)

Al Arabiya

Syrian government forces carried out a “massive and coordinated” chemical attack on Aug. 21, according to a declassified French intelligence report released on Monday.

The report will be presented to lawmakers on Monday as part of a government effort to win domestic support for a planned military action against the Syrian regime.

“This poses a major threat to national and global security,” a government source told Reuters.

The intelligence includes satellite imagery showing the attacks coming from government-controlled areas to the east and west of Damascus and targeting rebel-held zones.

The source said Assad’s forces had since bombed the areas to wipe out evidence.  

 “Unlike previous attacks that used small amounts of chemicals and were aimed at terrorizing people, this attack was tactical and aimed at regaining territory,” the source said................

FULL ARTICLE HERE: French intelligence: Assad’s forces behind ‘massive’ chemical attack - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

6.2 million Syrians displaced by civil war, UN says - World News

Hassan Ammar / AP, file - A child sits on the floor at the Kertaj Hotel in Damascus, Syria, as her mother prepares a meal, in August. The family fled their home because of the civil war.

By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor

Some 6.2 million Syrians have been displaced by the country's deadly civil war, the United Nations said Monday as the White House continued to lobby lawmakers to approve U.S. military action over chemical weapons.

Of those displaced, two million have fled across the border into neighboring countries, said Peter Kessler, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, quoting figures expected to be announced by the U.N. Tuesday.

Based on recent population estimates, it means between one quarter and one third of the country's population has been displaced........

FULL ARTICLE HERE:
6.2 million Syrians displaced by civil war, UN says - World News

Nightly News: Syrian refugees say US failed to deliver … again

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

VIDEO LINK: Nightly News: Syrian refugees say US failed to deliver … again

New video purports to show Syria chemical attack | The Times of Israel

According to opposition forces, footage reveals weapon used in assault US says killed more than 1,400 people on August 21

By Times of Israel staff September 2, 2013, 6:57 am

Screenshot from an unverified video obtained by MEMRI purporting to show the origin of the chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb on August 21, 2013. And here is the direct link to the video: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3963.htm

New footage obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute purports to show the weapon carrying the chemical agents fired at a Damascus suburb on the morning of August 21, killing more than 1,400 people, according to US figures....................

FULL ARTICLE W/VIDEO HERE: New video purports to show Syria chemical attack | The Times of Israel

Sarin gas a vicious, ‘gruesome’ killer with a dark history | The Raw Story

Sarin gas, the chemical weapon that Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad allegedly deployed against rebel neighborhoods in Damascus, is a vicious poison that attacks the central nervous system. Business Insider and the U.S. military report that the chemical has had a dark history since it was invented by German Nazi scientists in 1938.

“Just a fraction of an ounce of this stuff, of sarin, on your skin could potentially be fatal,” said CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta in an interview Thursday on “Piers Morgan Tonight.” “It can be absorbed across the skin, it can be absorbed into the lungs, across the eyes. It’s pretty gruesome stuff.”

“It is so indiscriminate. It is tasteless. It is odorless. You can’t see it. And, so you don’t even know that you’ve been exposed, necessarily, until you suddenly start to get sick. And then, it starts pretty quickly and can degrade pretty quickly as well,” Gupta explained.............

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Sarin gas a vicious, ‘gruesome’ killer with a dark history | The Raw Story