Syria's Assad accused of boosting al-Qaeda with secret oil deals - Telegraph

Western intelligence suggests Bashar al-Assad collaborating with jihadists to persuade West the uprising is terrorist-led

 Photo: REUTERS/AFP

By Ruth Sherlock, in Istanbul and Richard Spencer
7:53PM GMT 20 Jan 2014

The Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad has funded and co-operated with al-Qaeda in a complex double game even as the terrorists fight Damascus, according to new allegations by Western intelligence agencies, rebels and al-Qaeda defectors.

Jabhat al-Nusra, and the even more extreme Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS), the two al-Qaeda affiliates operating in Syria, have both been financed by selling oil and gas from wells under their control to and through the regime, intelligence sources have told The Daily Telegraph. 

Rebels and defectors say the regime also deliberately released militant prisoners to strengthen jihadist ranks at the expense of moderate rebel forces. The aim was to persuade the West that the uprising was sponsored by Islamist militants including al-Qaeda as a way of stopping Western support for it. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Syria's Assad accused of boosting al-Qaeda with secret oil deals - Telegraph

Ending Rape In D.R Congo - YouTube

The horribly slow and painful legal effort to bring rapists to justice in the DR Congo:



VIDEO LINK:
Ending Rape In D.R Congo - YouTube

The Impact of Dodd-Frank and Conflict Minerals Reforms on Eastern Congo’s Conflict 10June2014.pdf

The Impact of Dodd-Frank and Conflict Minerals Reforms on Eastern Congo’s Conflict 


Fidel Bafilemba, Timo Mueller, and Sasha Lezhnev 

June 2014 

Executive Summary

Market changes spurred by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on conflict minerals1 have helped significantly reduce the involvement of armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (“Congo”) in the mines of three out of the four conflict minerals. The law, in 

addition to conflict minerals audit programs from the electronics industry and related reforms begun by African governments in the region but not yet fully implemented, has made it much less economically viable for armed groups and Congo’s army to mine tin, tantalum, and tungsten, known as the 3Ts. Minerals were previously major sources of revenue for armed groups, generating an estimated $185 million per year for armed groups and the army. 2

However, artisanally mined gold continues to fund armed 

commanders. Further reforms are needed to address conflict gold and close loopholes on the other minerals. 

Furthermore, initial military restructuring within Congo’s army has removed armed actors from many mines, and military operations undertaken by the Congolese army and the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade have significantly reduced the threats of 

powerful armed groups such as the M23 and the Allied Democratic Forces. Neutralizing these groups – two of the biggest contributors to Congo’s deadly conflict in recent years – is helping improve the situation in the areas where they operated with impunity. 

FULL REPORT:  www.enoughproject.org/files/Enough Project - The Impact of Dodd-Frank and Conflict Minerals Reforms on Eastern Congo’s Conflict 10June2014.pdf

Syria Is Obama's Rwanda | VICE United States

Qusai on the streets of Moadamiya, which has been attacked nearly daily by the regime by shelling and aircraft bombings

Twenty-seven-year-old Qusai Zakarya woke up at about 4:30 AM on August 21, 2013. He rolled out his prayer rug inside his family’s two-bedroom apartment in the small town of Moadamiya, Syria, and started his morning prayers.

Alarms coming from nearby Damascus interrupted his daily ritual. After two years of revolution, Qusai had gotten used to the near constant shelling and bombings, but something was different this summer morning. The alarms were the kind “you usually hear in movies about World War II when there is a big air raid,” he told me.

“Within seconds, I started hearing rockets flying into the ground,” Qusai recounted. They hit the rebel-held town about 500 feet away from him.

“Before I realized what was going on, I lost my ability to breathe. I felt like my chest was set on fire. My eyes were burning like hell, and I wasn’t even able to scream to alert my friends,” he said. “So I started beating my chest over and over until I managed to get my first breath.” (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Syria Is Obama's Rwanda | VICE United States