text:
International | Anti-War / Imperialism
Oct 19 Olive Harvest in Palestine (October 19th - October...
Anti-War / Imperialism
From 1945 until today - 20 to 30 million people killed by the USA 23:00 Nov 29 0 comments
Climate Change Action Would Kill Imperialism 22:00 Nov 23 0 comments
Great powers commemorate First World War, and plan the next one 22:34 Nov 14 0 comments
Foreign specialists' may stage chemical attack in Syria in 2 days to frame Assad – Russian MoD 23:07 Aug 26 2 comments
The Trump-Putin Peace, Trade, And Friendship Talks 12:11 Jul 03 2 comments
Spirit of Contradiction
The Party and the Ballot Box Sun Jul 14, 2019 22:24 | Gavin Mendel-Gleason
On The Decline and Fall of The American Empire and Socialism Sat Jan 26, 2019 01:52 | S. Duncan
What is Dogmatism and Why Does It Matter? Wed Mar 21, 2018 08:10 | Sylvia Smith
The Case of Comrade Dallas Mon Mar 19, 2018 19:44 | Sylvia Smith
Review: Do Religions Evolve? Mon Aug 14, 2017 19:54 | Dara McHugh
Spirit of Contradiction >>
What Has Been Happening In Syria?
international | anti-war / imperialism | feature Tuesday March 13, 2012 23:40 by Taking the blue pill
Dirty tricks again
For the past six months and longer once Libya had fallen to the NATO sponsored 'rebels', we have faced a continuous media onslaught about Syria with reports of protests, shootings, killings, attacks, bombing and so forth. The backdrop to the narrative is that this is part of the Arab Spring which started last year and it is a good thing overall. So many people are probably wondering what really has been happening, given that this is the same media that was cheer leading the Iraq war almost 10 years ago even though at least a million+ are now dead as a result. And yet somehow they want to imply that they are doing the right thing now. We should also recall that this is the same media that is promoting austerity and encouraging us to accept the blame for the mad years of the bubble and as a consequence we should pay up the €90 billion bailout and in the process see all the state services stripped to the bone. They are presenting the uncomplicated truth surely
Related Links: The Reality Of Sanctions On Syria. | A mistaken case for Syrian regime change | Arab League suspension of Syria brings military intervention closer | The Myth of "Isolated" Iran | Real Friends of Syria | SyriansWorldWide Youtube Channel
Background to all the different players
So what has been happening? Its probably impossible to know exactly since so many things happen in so many places and there are different people with different perspectives and agendas telling the story. What is clear though is that we have a 'Western' view which largely consists of NATO, US govt, UK govt, France the ex-colnial power, various stooges of the West such as Gulf monarchies. We then have the regime in Syria, the opposition whoever they are. The people of Syria who may or may not be the opposition presented to us and then other powers like Russia and China.
In all the Arab countries, the people have for years been ruled by autocratic government and still are. In the 1950s most of these countries had vibrant Left wing movements and socialism was a receptive idea. In the interim fundamental religion has been nurtured and encouraged in order to redirect political energy into religious energy where it posed no threat to the status quo. Since many of these countries were oil exporters this state of affairs has calmed the waters while this oil was exploited and sold abroad. The people in practically every Arab country have suffered and remain quite poor and have many justifible grievances and it is into this mix that careful agitators have been able to stir up a storm and ride the wave of anger.
So lets go back and examine what has happened in Syria. The offical line if you've been watching the media is that it all started with protests just like the other countries, then there were shootings and attacks by government forces and this has become more brutal and the people have been bravely resisting and we are now at the point where "something" needs to be done but the evil Russians and Chinese have blocked that and Assad is crushing the opposition. If only NATO could just help. They are a force for good; bringing peace to Afghanistan and building schools and doing the same in Libya by bombing civilians to save civilians. Right? -No!
It is best when examining things to looks for the conflicts in consistency and the alternative viewpoints and see how they contradict each other and to follow the logic in terms of the natural agendas each of the different parties will have all the way up to the strategic level. First we should bear in mind that Syria is an ally of Iran and that Israel and the US have been threating to attack Iran on and off for the past 7 or 8 years. Israel with at least 200 nuclear weapons of its own says Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, yet despite the evidence and when you read past the gutter press headlines and get to the details of actual reports, there is little evidence. In an ideal military world, to attack Iran it would be very nice to have Syria on your side and even to use its airbases. We should remember that since Iran is evil then attacking it with massive bunker busting bombs and a campaign to bombs hundreds of military sites and presumably killing many people would be a good thing. On the other hand a Iranian terrorist killing one white Western person is extremely evil.
Another point to remember is that in Libya, China had a huge workforce of 30,000 building railways and oil infrastructure, since expelled and was also getting oil from Libya. This was a slap in the face for them. Russia was never happy about the no-fly zone but did not veto it because they were told it wouldn't be used for regime change. It was. Syria has Russia's only port on the Mediterrean and is much closer to Russia. If Syria falls, then Iran is surrounded and would likely soon fall via attacks by Israel & US and Russia's southern buffer would be gone, kind of like if Mexico fell to a pro-Russia power in the case of the US. Crucially if the Iranian regime fell then the bulk of the worlds oil reserves would be back in the hands of friendly puppet governments. And now that we are past the point of Peak Oil, control and access to the remaining bulk of the world reserves is the single most important strategic asset to hold. For China which has huge oil & gas deals and contracts with Iran, these would be null and void and given China's huge appetite for oil, it would now have to bargain on the terms of a Anglo-US-Zionist agenda. And why? Because if Iran fell, then the new government would be 'pro-democracy' which means pro Western -dominated by US, UK, France and Israel. If the government was not favourable to them, then obviously it wouldn't have fallen, it would be just a change of one evil power for another. These are just some of the geopolitical factors that backdrop the whole thing.
The previous few months - real reports from Syria as opposed to fake news
Now it is time to take a closer look at the reports from the ground. Back in Nov 2011, historian and investigative journalist Webster Tarpley went on a fact finding week long visit to Syria with a group of other journalists, visiting Hims (pronounced Homs), Banias, Damascus and numerous other places. On his interview on Russia Today [1] and again on Guns & Butter [2], he says they were invited by a Catholic group in Syria -a place where Christians have freedom to practice, because this group fears regime change that would bring in a fundamentalist Islamic regime that would usher in killings and intolerance.
He says he talked to average everyday Syrians of all ethnic groups, Christian, Alawite, Sunni, Shite, Druze and across the board say they are been shot at by snipers and that in Hims in particular (where all the inital Western media reports were focused on) the people complain that there are terrorists snipers that shoot at civilians -men, women and children, random killings, simply for the purpose of destablizing the country. He said I would not call it a civil war (as of Nov 2011) and what you are dealing with are death squads, terror commandos, the kind of thing that people remember from Argentina and Central America. This is a typical CIA method. [The CIA field operations handbook describes how to launch a terrorist campaign of killings, kidnappings and torture combined with propaganda to destablize a country. People should recall that the CIA launched the 'Phoenix' operation of assassinations during the Vietnam War where approximately 200,000 people were killed in these special operations. Indeed this same type of assassinations are ongoing in Afghanistan in the so called 'Night Time Raids'. Iraq also has US dead squads too and these will increase as they withdraw the troops further. These people are good at killing and are good at training people to do it.] Anyhow in the case it is a joint operation of CIA, MI6, Mossad and DGSE (France) and it was the locals who called in the army for their own protection. However instead these killings get reported as being carried out by the regime. He goes on further to say that prior to Nov 15th any reports from Hims you heard could not in fact originated from Hims because a group of 400 to 500 locals whom they met, said they (Tarpley et al) were the first journalists they had seen and were delighted to see them so that they could tell them what is happening. In fact their other main grievance is that they were looking for fuel oil for cooking, the shortage of which was caused by economic sanctions. His visit continued to the Sara hospital which we should remember was the "hotest" town in the hotest neighbourhood of the "civil war" and they find women doctors and women nurses -not exactly fundamentalist but actually quite liberal. And the death toll was 5 to 6 per day but has peaked up to 80 killed per day. And they (doctors/staff) say it was done by snipers on the roofs, dressed in black wearing hoods shooting at the people. They say they are foreign fighters. They shoot at 9' O clock in the morning when schools open and 3pm when schools ends and at 11pm when the cafes close. And they said they want the Syria army to come in and protect us and setup position and stop the snipers killing them. So who are these snipers.
So the accounts you hear from Al-Jazerra (based in Qatar), you have to ask yourself who is doing the killing? So they go on a visit to the home of a 20 year old taximan who was kidnapped and murdered. In the case of Latin America the killings were targetted to just communists or trade unionist but in Syria it is anyone. Basically most of the killers are mercenaries from places like Chechen, Libya, Iraq and other areas and armed, trained, guided, supported by CIA/MI6/Mossad. At the start of this campaign most of these killings were all taking place on the peripheral cities bording Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and so forth and only more recently have these penetrated further into the interior even though if you think about it in most 'real' revolutions the trouble starts in the capital and spreads out. This is the opposite.
Tarpley goes on to refer to a 'massacre' back in mid Apr 2011 in the city of Banias on the Mediterrean where he prefaces and says there were political demonstrations calling for reform back then and that is exactly the point when the death squads arrived and starting shooting into the crowds and thereby causing confusion and destablization. [Essentially this is how the Western powers ride the wave of legimate anger and protest, by instigating murder and mayhem, sowing confusion, generating the 'humanitarian situation' for the West to come in and bomb their way to peace in the form of puppet Neo-Liberal regimes that plunder the country and impoverish the people. Very effective.]. And it was then that these terrorists massacred about 10 non-combat troops outside of Banias where they came under fire from 200 or 300 shooters. The account came from a sergeant in the Syria army who happened to have both of his legs shot off. Tarpley then recounts a visit (Nov 17th) to Damascus military army to soldiers of civilian army (mostly 19 to 20 year olds) and the general case was 'we were on guard duty and then under attack, often from someone very close'. In some cases they were on patrol looking for these 'rebels' and were ambushed. In all cases these people were dressed in black and hooded. He identifies the main groups formenting this destablization is the Moslem Brotherhood (who we should recall did NOT initially join the protests in Egypt and continue to be the reactionary vanguard trying to stop Egyptians pressing further with deeper reforms. The MB are essentially right wing reactionaries and the core element has always been under the control of Western intelligence agencies but they would be plenty of overlap in influence from the Gulf monarchies that feel threatened by calls for greater freedom and change.) -who are paid by Saudi Arabia that bastion of freedom. They represent the most reactionary governments in the world essentially absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, relics of fuedal barbarism, places where women have no rights, in fact no-one has any rights. The entire US policy is destory the progressive regimes and exalt the power of these reactionary fuedal monarchies. Anyone recall the USA sponsoring the opposition in Baharin where their 5th fleet is stationed? No, in fact we should recall the highly televised arrival of over 1,000 Saudi troops to help Bahrain put down the opposition.
Tarpley then went on to Damascus to investigate a report of a widely publisized in the Western media attack on Baath party headquarters in Damascus and portrayed by BBC as the start of the civil war, but Tarpley arrives and find minor damage, and nothing resembling what a rocket propelled grenade could do. However on the same day the attend a demonstration of approximately 50,000 people a short distance away who are there greeting the arrival of a Russian delegation because previously Russia had announced they were sending the Russian fleet and people were over-joyed, (some holding signs 'Thank You Russia') because they knew that this move had saved them from the plight of what happened in Libya where over 30,000 people have died AFTER NATO got involved and unleashed carnage and marauding fanatics armed by NATO and US went on a killing spree after Tripoli fell.
A note about the media is that the main outlets promoting the Western Syria narrative are Al Jazzera (Qatar), France24 (Syria was their colony), the BBC and of course all the US media. What they do is show media clips but often add the provisio that they can't be confirmed. The whole idea is that the death squads allow the likes of Al-Jazzera and the BBC to say the Syrian army killed 10 more people today. One example is a claim of 200,000 protesting in Hims, yet Tarpley is able to show these are recycled clips from elsewhere. Originally the media coverage was based on 'The Gay Girl in Damascus' blog and this was allegedly a women living in Damascus reporting on the repression. This turned out to be a fraud [3] written by an American acedamic writing out of Scotland and partially written by his American wife who is a employee America Friends Service Committee which is known as a CIA front going back to the Cold War. More recently we had now the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights operating out of London, presumably they get their scripts from Langley, Virgina. But note the trend here in the propaganda where we had the West weeping over womens rights as the excuse before starting their bombing campaign in Afghanistan back in 2001. And now in they are all concerned about Gays and Lesbians in Syria, even though the entire coverage of it was fabricated and outed to boot.
And while on the topic of the media, moving forward to Mon March 12th 2012, it was reported that a massacre took place of 49 women and children. The opposition are automatically blaming this on the government, when in fact the only people such killings serve is those wanting regime change in the opposition. It is well known that there are key tippings points in public opinion to push for certain things. In the first Gulf War, the bogus story about Iraqis trying babies out of incubators was one such tipping point. The story turned out to be bogus and the original account was in fact recorded by the Kuwaiti amabassador's daugther with the help of a New York PR firm to help sway public opinion to the war -which it did. The killings reported today are clearly carried out by the terrorists squads injected into the country by the Western intelligence agencies and are designed to be such a tipping point.
Alternative media source other than BBC, France 24, Al-Jazzera, RTE and all corporate associates:
10 Personnel Killed in Attack on Syrian Air Force Base http://news.antiwar.com/2011/11/25/10-personnel-killed-in-attack-on-syrian-air-force-base/
Russia: West Arming Syrian Rebels Warns of 'Drastic Measures' Over Meddling http://news.antiwar.com/2012/02/10/russia-west-arming-syrian-rebels/ In comments today to Russian media, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has accused unnamed Western states of secretly sending arms and advising the Syrian rebel factions, warning the move was fueling a crisis.
FALSE FLAG ALERT – Syrian Sources Warn: Al Jazeera to Claim 17 Children Killed by Assad Forces; Kids are Already Dead, Slain by Nato Death Squads to Induce Hysteria at Friday's "Friends Of Syria" Conference in Tunisia http://tarpley.net/2012/02/23/syrian-sources-warn-al-jazeera-to-claim-17-children-killed-by-assad-forces/
"Free Syrian Army" Unleashes Suicide Bombing in Damascus; Madrid 2004 Bomber Belhadj of Al Qaeda Now Commands "FSA" from Iskanderun, Turkey; NATO Airlifting Libyan Terrorists and Weapons for Salvadoran Death Squad Option vs. Syria http://tarpley.net/2012/01/12/free-syrian-army-unleashes-suicide-bombing-in-damascus/
Stratfor Leaks: NATO Commandos in Illegal Special Ops in Syria http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30734.htm
Sunday Times "Journalist" Paul Conroy is MI6 operative http://www.voltairenet.org/Journalist-Paul-Conroy-is-MI6
Mossad, CIA and Blackwater Operate in Syria - Report http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30739.htm
Special Ops Forces Create "Visible and Dramatic Effects" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30746.htm
13 French Army Officers Captured in Syria – Report http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30722.htm
The Bloody Road to Damascus The Triple Alliance's War on a Sovereign State http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30769.htm
In Syria, al Jazeera's Credibility Implodes http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30723.htm
.... "It seems that Syrian regime had agents among the rebels; or it seems that the Syrian regime obtained a trove of video footage from Baba Amru. They have been airing them non-stop. They are quite damning. They show the correspondent or witness (for CNN or from Aljazeera) before he is on the air: and the demeanor is drastically different from the demeanor on the air and they even show contrived sounds of explosions timed for broadcast time…
"PS This is really scandalous. It shows the footage prior to Aljazeera reports: they show fake bandages applied on a child and then a person is ordered to carry a camera in his hand to make it look like a mobile footage. It shows a child being fed what to say on Aljazeera."
Later in the day:
"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. … 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,.....
April Updates:
A Turkish Attempt to Carve Out a "Buffer Zone" for NATO Death Squads in Northern Syria Will Be a Giant Step Towards Regional War and a Trigger for Kurdish Rebellion in Turkey
State Department Hits New Low of Cynical Hypocrisy as Victoria Nuland Blames Syrian Government for the Violence Unleashed by NATO Death Squads
Obama's Friday Afternoon Document Dump for this Week: US Begins Overt Aid to Syrian Death Squads After 13 Months of Covert Support
Love Bombs for Syria? – Syrian Girl on Intervention and Hypocrisy
Target of the Western new Neo Liberal regime -if they get their way
People should also be aware of the social safety net in Syria as opposed to the neo-liberal privatisation agenda promoted by the Anglo-French-US agenda, where there is a subsidized price of basic food stuffs. A kilo of very good bread is about 20 cents. No one goes to bed hungary in Syria. Medical care is free for all. The standard seem quite reasonable. Education is free at all levels. School uniform, school bus, school meal is free. Subsidies on the energy price, the basic telephone in country is free. Liability for basic insurance is free for say cars. To go higher does require more income but at least the basics are provided free for all. All this when in this country free travel for old-age pensioners is being TAKEN AWAY. [Recently the Irish Independent described this free travel as shameful!]
Make no mistake, if NATO get their way and bring peace with their bombs the new regime will be a neo-liberal one and all of the above will go. The worst thing for the present global capitalist system is to having living examples of alternative arrangements such as the above and it must go. This is exactly what happened in Libya where they had their own currency, had NO major debt, diverted a significant portion of the oil wealth the the benefit of the people. This is all gone and now the IMF are carving up Libya and privatising everything in sight.
The Western media covering what is happening in Syria is completely bogus. It has inverted almost everything and it is Western powers along with financial backing from the most backward and barbaric regimes in the Middle East and the Gulf that are instigating the destablization and carrying out most of the killings using death squads.
The Russia and Chinese veto has saved the day but not because they are necessarily nice but simply because it happened to align with their own strategic interests. And having presented the above, it does not follow that the Syrian regime are innocent. They are most likely not, but the guiding principle is that it makes absolutely no sense that countries like Saudi Arabia would be helping to bring freedom to any country let alone Syria.
For people who find this hard to swallow, they would do well to listen to the podcast below and read through some of the alternative news sources given above. The difficulity is that it can be hard to accept that you have been fooled by the mainstream media for so long and so thoroughly.
[1] Interview on Russia Today with Tarpley -http://tarpley.net/2011/11/21/report-from-syria-2/
[2] Guns and Butter interview on Syrian visit. http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/76242
[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/gay-girl-da...-blog - Blog purporting to have been written by Syrian lesbian was in fact the work of a middle-aged American man
Guns and Butter interview of Tarpley. NATO's assault on Syria 10.27 Mb
View Comments Titles Only
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
good article thanks
by lefty Tue Mar 13, 2012 00:02
Its good to get some of the other side to the relentless media propaganda on Syria.
Al jazeera is no longer trustworthy as it's paymasters in Qatar and have reined it in totally. There have been a series of resignations there lately based on their imbalanced "coverage" of Libya and Syria
I watched that awful documentary "how to start a revolution" recently and I'm really annoyed by it. It's a total propaganda piece about that CIA funded rabid anticommunist rat gene sharp. He's the guy whose books are behind the patterns emerging in the uprisings starting in Kosovo and moving to Iran then on across north Africa and now they are hoping his ideas will take root in Syria, with Iran being the big prize.
you might find the following links quite interesting in relation to all this:
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-start-....html
http://www.scu.edu.au/research/cpsj/human_rights/AHRP20...l.pdf
(skip the first bit and read the submission on the Albert Einstien institute)
These links are a bit of an eye opener for anyone believing that the spate of "revolutions" happening across north africa are as innocent as they look.
please take the time to read and pass them on...
Webster Tarpley? Seriously?
by Jonah Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:20
I think the article raises a number of good points, is very thoughtful in looking at the Syria situation in the context of the wider Middle East and US foreign policy intentions there, and is right to question some of the key narrative assumptions around the Arab Spring.
But to quote Webster Tarpley as a source? The same man who denies outright the existence of global warming, who propagates 9/11 conspiracy theories, whose connection to the real world could charitably be described as shaky?
Your own analysis is strong enough, using discredited and unreliable sources as back-up weakens your argument substantially.
Al-Jazeera employees resign over the channel's biased coverage
by Turas Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:23
"Many employees at Al-Jazeera news channel are resigning over the Qatari-based news network's biased coverage of events taking place in the Middle East. "
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/231366.html
by Ex-Corkman Wed Mar 14, 2012 15:41
Media reports now put deaths in Syria at 7,000 + but Human Rights Watch say it is 3,000.
Assad is recklessly endangering and killing civilians by shelling urban areas, this cannot be supported. But it should be realised that the rebels are fighting to establish an Islamic Dictatorship. Leaders of the Syrian National Council have publicly declared their intention of ethnically cleansing Alawis and Christians from Syria. I haven't heard any Western leaders cindemning this.
death toll...
by catholic worker Wed Mar 14, 2012 18:57
I heard it was something like 8,000 lots of them being young children its awful.They purposefully set up land mines at the borders where people were trying to escape all the bloodshed really very cruel.
softly softly
by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Wed Mar 14, 2012 19:14
remember your sources are the ones gave us WMD and babies ripped from incubators to jusify previous invasions that have resulted in mayhem across the region from bug-splatted(dronespeak for remote assassination)Pakistan to chaotic Libya.
Turkey, Saudi. Jordan and Nato special forces are feeding arms for months, and money to draw Syrian army units onside for long-planned regime switch..we're in dirty territory, black-ops, false-flag and disinformation abound.
The Project for a New American Century(aka Pentagonia uber alles)is not shy about its intentions. They are overt and published, mainstream,....and rolling along towards Operation Peacock Throne Ressurection.
Disrupt, Contain, Extract.
Mission Accomplished...balkanised divisions for conquest.
untrustworthy media coverage
by lefty Wed Mar 14, 2012 20:55
al jazeera staff resignations over bias on syria coverage
http://rt.com/news/al-jazeera-loses-staff-335/
deliberately staged videos about syria?
http://rt.com/news/syria-information-wars-west-553/
by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:14
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29660
arrest them
by 4hr_boner Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:41
they should be put before a war tribunal
Sorry now but this is poorly argued.
by Dan Ó Clunaigh Mon Mar 26, 2012 02:32
Sorry, but this is a pretty poorly written and very poorly argued, speculative article fuelled more by anti-US, Israel, UK, France (...) rhetoric than anything else. A critical view of the western media is fine but would you not cast the same critical eye over the 'alternative' media you cite with such enthusiasm? Life is not black and white, it's technicolor, let's try to be open.
- The argument that NATO would fuel an entire war in Syria in order to control its airbases for an attack on Iran is fairly poor: why bother when they already have Iran surrounded with bases in Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan...?
- It seems you're arguing that the US has an interest in fundamentalist Islamist regimes including the Muslim Brotherhood controlling regimes like Egypt and Syria. What? While I agree that the Muslim Brotherhood could be seen as right-wing reactionaries, and their presence and popularity in Egypt is indeed worrying in the post-revolution context, I find it very hard to belive that the US *supports* them. The US supported Mubarak, and currently supports the Egyptian Military -- enemies of the Muslim brotherhood. Furthermore, the Muslim Brotherhood is not a violent movement: their methodology of controlling society is through the provision of social services paired with Islamist teachings and mass communication. And their discourse is far from friendly to the US. It makes no sense that the US would be supporting them in the Egyptian context (since they're already in bed with the military). If they are, they're doing it wrong, since Egypt is still quite firmly under military control.
- Way to make a sweeping observation about the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and not back it up with anything whatsoever.
- Mass killings only serve those who want regime change? Brother, you need to see what happens to a society in which mass killings are carried out. In some people they inspire anger, solidarity, and an increased desire to overthrow the regime. In most, though, they just inspire overwhelming fear and trauma.
Did the massacre of 17,000 to 40,000 people in Hama in 1982 by Assad's father do the Muslim Brotherhood any good? Nope. Put an end to that revolt so it did. Have the mass killings carried out by the North Korean regime, or Colombian paramilitaries, or by the Russians in Chechnya led to the overthrow of those regimes? If only. Again, if the US is trying to overthrow the Syrian regime by killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people in order to gain support for an invasion, it's a crap methodology. They've overthrown regimes before in much simpler and more effective ways, haven't they?
- So Syria has a social safety net. So does Saudi Arabia. So does Sweden. Let me tell you, it's not at all the case that "nobody goes to bed hungary [sic]" in Syria: ask any imprisoned human rights defender in that country, where so many have undertaken hunger strikes in order to protest their detention.
- Oil production in Syria has halved since 1995, and companies like Shell and Total have been exploiting Syrian oil for decades. It doesn't appear to be the most lucrative or hard to access market. Certainly not enough to merit an invasion, when you think of what that's cost the US over the last 10 years.
- As a general comment, the structure of this article for me doesn't have any clear logical narrative.
- Caveat: I'm by no means supporting US policy in Syria or the middle east or anywhere. A friend of mine is locked up in Bahrain and may well die in prison one of these days as he is on hunger strike. Interestingly enough his job at one point was to provide protection and security to human rights defenders throughout the middle east, including Syria, and he had his work cut out for him by that bloody regime. I have no doubt that the US and other Western countries are up to all kinds of dirty tricks in Syria but your argument just doesn't make sense.
Instead of attacking the MSM Bahrain narrative, Let's attack this dissenting post about Syria.
by Lefty Mon Mar 26, 2012 09:10
"Sorry, but this is a pretty poorly written and very poorly argued, speculative article fuelled more by anti-US, Israel, UK, France (...) rhetoric than anything else. "
Ok but if you don't bother backing up this sweeping statement then it's just empty mud slinging and does not constitute an argument?
"A critical view of the western media is fine but would you not cast the same critical eye over the 'alternative' media you cite with such enthusiasm? Life is not black and white, it's technicolor, let's try to be open."
You don't sound very open! Seems to me that pretty much all of the MSM are singing the same tune about Syria. This article is offering a welcome alternative view yet you want this one to parrot the same views as everyone else as well. Why should it? Why are you attacking the balance of this one article while ignoring the totally obvious bias of nearly all the rest of the media? you are just trying to frame the debate around the left being biased when it's clearly the MSM that is totally biased about Syria. How Orwellian!
"- The argument that NATO would fuel an entire war in Syria in order to control its airbases for an attack on Iran is fairly poor: why bother when they already have Iran surrounded with bases in Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan...?"
Why don't you ask them?. Syria is a key Ally of Iran and controlling Syria further isolates Iran. Also Israel are pushing for this regime change and it's an election year in the US. AIPAC are a powerful political lobbying force in the US and that may have something to do with this too.
"- It seems you're arguing that the US has an interest in fundamentalist Islamist regimes including the Muslim Brotherhood controlling regimes like Egypt and Syria. What? While I agree that the Muslim Brotherhood could be seen as right-wing reactionaries, and their presence and popularity in Egypt is indeed worrying in the post-revolution context, I find it very hard to belive that the US *supports* them. "
Do you find it hard to understand how the US supports the extreme Muslim regimes in Saudis Arabia and Bahrain? The fact is the US has shown a preference for authoritarian regimes where the population is ruled with an iron hand and the flow of oil and military cooperation is reliable. They don't give a shit what happens to the people once they get what they want. No sign of sanctions or airstrikes on Saudi Arabia or Bahrain! The US planners know that the Muslim brotherhood will cooperate provided they get their stupid sharia values enshrined in law. Egypt is proof of this. Libya will likely also end up under sharia and the Muslim brotherhood. Syria is next. radical jihadists are working with the US to topple the awkward strongmen and replace them with stable iron fisted sharia governments. there is proof of this cooperation in Libya. witness the alqaeda head of the NTC in Bhenghazi and jihadists landing from NATO ships during the attack on tripoli. Etc etc
""The US supported Mubarak, and currently supports the Egyptian Military -- enemies of the Muslim brotherhood."
Not true. The Muslim brotherhood have cooperated with the military in Egypt in it's post Mubarak repression of the protesters which is on a larger scale than that instigated by Mubarak.
"Furthermore, the Muslim Brotherhood is not a violent movement: their methodology of controlling society is through the provision of social services paired with Islamist teachings and mass communication. And their discourse is far from friendly to the US. It makes no sense that the US would be supporting them in the Egyptian context (since they're already in bed with the military). If they are, they're doing it wrong, since Egypt is still quite firmly under military control."
If the Muslim brotherhood are cooperating with the Egyptian military and the US are cooperating with the Egyptian military then logic would seem to dictate that they are all working towards the same ends!
"- Mass killings only serve those who want regime change? Brother, you need to see what happens to a society in which mass killings are carried out. In some people they inspire anger, solidarity, and an increased desire to overthrow the regime. In most, though, they just inspire overwhelming fear and trauma. "
it often depends on who is being killed. if you exploit natural tribal or religious fault lines then you can destabilise a country. If you target leaders of a movement, you can kill a movement and chill dissent. it's not as simple as you are painting it.
Did the massacre of 17,000 to 40,000 people in Hama in 1982 by Assad's father do the Muslim Brotherhood any good? Nope. Put an end to that revolt so it did. Have the mass killings carried out by the North Korean regime, or Colombian paramilitaries, or by the Russians in Chechnya led to the overthrow of those regimes? If only.
Now now! Your bias against the usual suspects is showing through the cracks here! Russia, north Korea, farc. Only Chavez and china and Cuba left out here. I'm sure you could have weaved them in there too. And you call this article biased? ;-)
handler report: "misses opportunities to bad mouth chavez and others. must try harder!"
"Again, if the US is trying to overthrow the Syrian regime by killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people in order to gain support for an invasion, it's a crap methodology. They've overthrown regimes before in much simpler and more effective ways, haven't they? "
really? A crap methodology? You really need to read up on the Einstein institute and the work of rabid anti communist CIA shill gene sharp. the links are on my previous post. This is a really cheap way to reshape countries by fooling the populations into doing the dirty work of imperialism and corporatism. it's actually both effective clever and cheap compared to full blown invasions and the population pays you back for all the weapons with access to natural resources and strategic concessions afterwards. Open your eyes.
"- So Syria has a social safety net. So does Saudi Arabia. So does Sweden. Let me tell you, it's not at all the case that "nobody goes to bed hungary [sic]" in Syria: ask any imprisoned human rights defender in that country, where so many have undertaken hunger strikes in order to protest their detention."
seems to me that a hunger strike is a voluntary act. starvation is not.
"- Oil production in Syria has halved since 1995, and companies like Shell and Total have been exploiting Syrian oil for decades. It doesn't appear to be the most lucrative or hard to access market. Certainly not enough to merit an invasion, when you think of what that's cost the US over the last 10 years. "
like I said previously, Syria is a key ally of Iran. Iran is the real prize here. this is not really about getting Syrian oil but it's a nice bonus if they do.
"- As a general comment, the structure of this article for me doesn't have any clear logical narrative. "
I guess when you haven't much of an argument to offer, some literary criticism is in order! ;-)
"- Caveat: I'm by no means supporting US policy in Syria or the middle east or anywhere. A friend of mine is locked up in Bahrain and may well die in prison one of these days as he is on hunger strike. "
I find this bit somewhat hard to swallow considering you are coming on this site specifically attacking an alternative view article highlighting this bad behaviour and banging on about Syria,Russia,north Korea etc. Methinks a wolf posing as a house pet.
Bahrain? Oh yes, that's the dictatorship that is allowed to treat it's citizens like crap without a murmur from the US. And the one that is sold weapons by the UK and others specifically designed to help quell public dissent.
"Interestingly enough his job at one point was to provide protection and security to human rights defenders throughout the middle east, including Syria, and he had his work cut out for him by that bloody regime."
And no doubt even more so by Bahrain who imprisoned him. Of course no sanctions or airstrikes or weapons to dissenters there, although plenty of weapons to the ruling elite! however the media remains rather mute on Bahrain. I await your scathing article attacking the elite in Bahrain and their cosy relationships with the US and UK on this site. I'm sure your friend who is incarcerated in Bahrain would welcome it too.
" I have no doubt that the US and other Western countries are up to all kinds of dirty tricks in Syria but your argument just doesn't make sense."
And yet the rubbish spouted about Syria by the echo chambers of the MSM all singing a similar tune does? Hmmm! If you truly believe what you just said then explain why most of your efforts are geared towards discrediting an isolated article saying just that? Surely by your own logic you should be attacking the mainstream media and it's narrative that the US are only helping the people free themselves from an evil dictator instead. A narrative Which it appears both yourself by your own admission and the author consider a blatant lie.
OK let's critique one narrative and all fall smartly in line behind another then.
by Dan Ó Clunaigh Tue Mar 27, 2012 06:05 dan.cloney at gmail dot com
Okay, relax man, let's not overreact.
"You don't sound very open! Seems to me that pretty much all of the MSM are singing the same tune about Syria. This article is offering a welcome alternative view yet you want this one to parrot the same views as everyone else as well. Why should it? Why are you attacking the balance of this one article while ignoring the totally obvious bias of nearly all the rest of the media? you are just trying to frame the debate around the left being biased when it's clearly the MSM that is totally biased about Syria. How Orwellian! "
Well yes, man, I think we have to apply the same criticism to the anti-mainstream narrative that we apply to the mainstream narrative. If I'm reading indymedia it's beacuse I'm already critical of the MSM, rather than sit around repeating ourselves and patting ourselves on the back I'd rather be self-reflexive rather than just accepting that because something is critical of the MSM, it has to be true or correct and can't be criticised. Frame it around the left being biased? It's not just the left that's biased. Everyone's biased. That's the problem.
"Why don't you ask them?. Syria is a key Ally of Iran and controlling Syria further isolates Iran. Also Israel are pushing for this regime change and it's an election year in the US. AIPAC are a powerful political lobbying force in the US and that may have something to do with this too. "
Good answer, I'll just grab the phone. Sorry but I'm not convinced: a war in Syria in order to facilitate a war with Iran... why not just a war with Iran? They didn't need a war with anyone to facilitate a war with Iraq, they just went and did it, didn't they?
"Do you find it hard to understand how the US supports the extreme Muslim regimes in Saudis Arabia and Bahrain? The fact is the US has shown a preference for authoritarian regimes where the population is ruled with an iron hand and the flow of oil and military cooperation is reliable. They don't give a shit what happens to the people once they get what they want. No sign of sanctions or airstrikes on Saudi Arabia or Bahrain! "
I agree with this. That wasn't my point, I think you misunderstood. But in the Egyptian case they obvioulsy favoured Mubarak over the Muslim Brotherhood, as they supported Ben Ali, (don't you remember their utterly shit reaction to the uprisings?) and as they continue to support Bouteflika in Algeria and the kings of Morocco and Jordan rather than the radical Islamist alternatives. That's been the axis of US policy in MENA countries over the last decades. They've preferred dictators like Ben Ali, Mubarrak, Bouteflika etc who follow something of a more Ataturk-based authoritarian model. Given, in different contexts, their attitude has swung according to their normal cold pragmatism -- support for the mujahadeen in Afghanistan.
"The US planners know that the Muslim brotherhood will cooperate provided they get their stupid sharia values enshrined in law. Egypt is proof of this. Libya will likely also end up under sharia and the Muslim brotherhood. Syria is next. radical jihadists are working with the US to topple the awkward strongmen and replace them with stable iron fisted sharia governments. there is proof of this cooperation in Libya. witness the alqaeda head of the NTC in Bhenghazi and jihadists landing from NATO ships during the attack on tripoli. Etc etc "
Ah right, and do the people who started these revolutions have no say in the whole thing? You think the people who overthrew the Mubarak regime are just going to lie down and take a brutal Islamist regime? I wouldn't underestimate them, nor the Syrians, nor the Tunisians. It's a different generation behind these revolutions and they're not islamists.
"If the Muslim brotherhood are cooperating with the Egyptian military and the US are cooperating with the Egyptian military then logic would seem to dictate that they are all working towards the same ends!"
Right, but you didn't deal with the point that the Muslim Brotherhood, as I said, is a non-violent movement since the time Hassan Al-Banna formed it, and this article seems to say that they're somehow behind the violence. Again, unless the MB has fundamentally changed its characteristics, this is very difficult for me to believe.
"Now now! Your bias against the usual suspects is showing through the cracks here! Russia, north Korea, farc. Only Chavez and china and Cuba left out here. I'm sure you could have weaved them in there too. And you call this article biased? ;-)"
Firstly, you didn't deal with my point. Have you nothing to say about the Hama massacre? Do you accept my point?
Now, on to the accusation that was always going to come, that I'm some kind of conservative or whatever. Disappointing but unfortunately typical of those on the left or right who just want to buy into a whole package of beliefs and allegiances without being self reflexive. I didn't mention FARC - they're not paramilitaries, they're guerrillas. The Colombian paramilitaries to which I referred are right-wing pro-government pro-neoliberal groups ('autodefensas') which were founded with the support of the US during the Cold War and remain in operation today (most notorious group being the 'aguilas negras'), regularly attacking and killing trade unionists or other progressive elements of civil society. They've killed much more than the FARC have. So maybe use wikipedia before you accuse people of only targeting left-wing human rights abusers.
Secondly, what, don't you actually know what's happening in North Korea? Or is it best to turn a blind eye for fear of actually agreeing with what some conservatives say? Does the fact that some conservatives lobby for human rights in DPRK mean that the people of that country don't deserve them? Yeah of course, some of them are less enthusiastic about human rights in countries that are US-friendly and strategic. But the same could be said of left and you know it: your comment is proof of it. If you're going to denounce HR abuses, denounce them on the right and the left.
"really? A crap methodology? You really need to read up on the Einstein institute and the work of rabid anti communist CIA shill gene sharp. the links are on my previous post. This is a really cheap way to reshape countries by fooling the populations into doing the dirty work of imperialism and corporatism. it's actually both effective clever and cheap compared to full blown invasions and the population pays you back for all the weapons with access to natural resources and strategic concessions afterwards. Open your eyes. "
Well, neither you nor I know really what's on their minds, but it seems it'd be a bit more pragmatically effective if the US would just ally themselves with friendly elements in the armed forces (who are still not radical Islamist, more westernised and thus more amenable to the imposition of neoliberal market models) and incite a coup, for example. They've done it a million times. Why support Islamists who are inherently in favour of social security nets (like Saudi Arabia) if what you're after is neoliberalism?
"seems to me that a hunger strike is a voluntary act. starvation is not."
Wow. Where's your solidarity now man? That's a bit cold isn't it? Might you have considered why they're on hunger strike? Or would you only have solidarity with them if they were tortured by the US or one of their allies? I think it's your true colours that are shining through here mate.
"I find this bit somewhat hard to swallow considering you are coming on this site specifically attacking an alternative view article highlighting this bad behaviour and banging on about Syria,Russia,north Korea etc. Methinks a wolf posing as a house pet. Bahrain? Oh yes, that's the dictatorship that is allowed to treat it's citizens like crap without a murmur from the US. And the one that is sold weapons by the UK and others specifically designed to help quell public dissent [...] And no doubt even more so by Bahrain who imprisoned him. Of course no sanctions or airstrikes or weapons to dissenters there, although plenty of weapons to the ruling elite! however the media remains rather mute on Bahrain. I await your scathing article attacking the elite in Bahrain and their cosy relationships with the US and UK on this site. I'm sure your friend who is incarcerated in Bahrain would welcome it too."
Right, so what are you accusing me of here? With the sacrifice my friend is making in Bahrain do you think I'm unaware of what the US and UK are doing in that country? Do you think that might have just flown over my head? No man, it's crystal bloody clear to me what's going on there, it's more than present in my day to day, since he could be made a martyr of any hour now.
And just because I'm sickened by what they've done to him, does that mean I should just fall in line behind any narrative that's critical of the US, just by virtue of it being critical of the US? Does it mean I should avoid criticising regimes just because they're also against the US? If and when my friend passes away the US and other western regimes will be largely responsible in my eyes. But his fight wasn't just for the people of Bahrain, it was for the people of Syria too; the women of Saudi Arabia and Iran, the hunger strikers of Palestine (by the way "methinks" you'd be less flippant about their hunger strikes than those of the Syrians...why?); the Western Saharans, and so on, and so forth. You should follow his daughter on twitter, @angryarabiya, she could teach you a thing or two about solidarity that goes beyond political ideology.
Brother after being lucky enough to learn from someone like him, whose dedication was to human dignity irrespective of ideology, sorry, I'm not going to fall into some kind of machiavellian cold-war mentality just to get along with all the other leftwingers out there at the expense of my fellow man and woman. I suggest you yourself open your eyes cause it seems that's exactly where you're at.
"And yet the rubbish spouted about Syria by the echo chambers of the MSM all singing a similar tune does? Hmmm! If you truly believe what you just said then explain why most of your efforts are geared towards discrediting an isolated article saying just that? Surely by your own logic you should be attacking the mainstream media and it's narrative that the US are only helping the people free themselves from an evil dictator instead. A narrative Which it appears both yourself by your own admission and the author consider a blatant lie"
As I said above, I wouldn't be reading indymedia if I weren't critical of the mainstream meadia already (unless I were a troll). To repeat myself again, does that mean we can't be critical within alternative circles? That, to me, sounds Orwellian.
Of course I don't dig on the US's narrative but, what, does that mean I should equally uncritically dig on the Russian one? Or Webster bloody Tarpley's one? I'm not going to do a disservice to the victims of Assad's regime, the dissidents, their families and sympathizers, and the human rights defenders who've dedicated their lives and often had them taken in the struggle for human rights in Syria by saying that they're just a bunch of sympathisers with US-backed islamists who are the 'bad guys' trying to overthrow poor Assad who gives everyone bread.
But whatever, if you want to keep seeing things in simple left-right dichotomies, keep playing that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' logic and eat up whatever is sold to you as 'alternative' then that's your business.
in the interest of the self-reflexivity I'm banging on about...
by Dan Ó C Tue Mar 27, 2012 16:56
.... a couple of things, since I feel like my second comment took us further off topic and the conversation could spiral off into the ether.
Looking at my first comment, I'll admit it indulges in some speculation, which is not a good way to argue and re-reading it, doesn't accurately reflect where I stand on the whole thing. It's a bit reactionary. But that's what I get for writing comments after a long day at work.
The one part of this article I perhaps agree with most is where it says:
"So what has been happening? Its probably impossible to know exactly since so many things happen in so many places and there are different people with different perspectives and agendas telling the story".
Unfortunately what the article does then is basically give us a review of Webster Tarpley's opinion and concludes that he's correct. In fairness I reserve the right to take issue with that.
Re: in the interest of the self-reflexivity I'm banging on about...
by Taking the blue pill Tue Mar 27, 2012 17:39
The article was primarily written to jolt people out of the mainstream media narrative of the whole Syrian issue because it has been so consistently the same, one sided and in my opinion largely pure propaganda. A whole slew of links to other sources that weren't singing the tune of the MSM were provided in the central grey box in the hope people might go and read some of those assuming they were interested and begin to realize how fake the mainstream narrative has been and still is.
Regarding the argument against the Muslim Brotherhood, one should realize that for the imperial powers, whenever the main puppet is disposed that they always have a fallback position. In fact there are always multiple fallback positions. It is quite similar to the way the unions in most countries have been co-opted by the parent State. On the one hand they oppose them and try to reduce their influence, but they are used at the same time to stiffle any real movement arising from below.
So to go off topic in Egypt, recently the MB were making noises about shutting off the gas to Israel but this is just that -noise and is designed to encourage the man on the street to say these guys are on their side. But the MB are leaning towards a loan with the IMF. Remember it was food price increases that help trigger the whole thing and the MB are supposed to be for social programs, but they are obviously planning to let the IMF in by the back door. Afterall things had got really bad because Murbarack had let the IMF in before and they were imposing austerity and one of those forms was the removal of subsidies on the price of food.
In the case of Syria, the death squads and the random killings carried out by them were purely for Western consumption so that they case could be made to pump up public opinion to support UN sanctions and get to the exact same point that they did with Libya where "something" had to be done and a no-fly zone was imposed. Because of the utterly overwhelming power of the imperial countries with air-warfare -once they had achieved that, the game would have been over for Syria. Of course many many 1000s of people would have died in the bombing but that never seems to matter. I should re-state too that many of the killings were carried out by the death squads put in place by "foreign forces" and these people were not killed by the Syrians -the very opposite of what BBC, France24, CNN and Al-Jazzera wanted us to believe.
Unfortunately though we are all so conditioned to reflex black and white type reactions by the mainstream media, that an article like this seems to trigger a response implying that it is totally supportive of the Syrian regime and it is all good just because it is critical of the official MSM narrative.
Stuck in the middle with you
by An Geabhrog Fiáin Tue Mar 27, 2012 23:29
Seems to me that those who are so vehemently though justifably opposed to the western media narrative are themselves very much stuck in the opposing narrative. There is an alternatve narrative and it is one where this is a genuine revolution from the bottom up. This is something that might be hard to swallow for those who only see the tentacles of the CIA, Nato, Mossad or a myriad other groups in this particular and in other uprisings and who have invested so much in building up that argument. While the west are scrambling to put together some sort of government in exile, there is evidence that those workers, communities and groups who are fighting against what is in fact a dictatorship, wish to have no truck western interference. Isn't it just a little condescending if not verging on arrogant elitism to deny the possibility that this is a genuine revolution. Isn't it also just a bit disingenuous for those who claim to be opposed to western imperialism to then come to the aid of opposing despots who are in fact just as oppressive. Yes, the Syrian regime has implemented such things as education for all, good health care, a secular system etc. but it is also a militaristic dictatorial system which if it were flying the flag of pro US Imperialist, Chile would be rightly condemnded by those same voices who defend it because it is not.
please read the links and then comment.
Geabhroig, you obviously haven't read my links in the first comment about Gene sharp and the Albert Einstein institute.
I suggest you do so before commenting further on these so called "revolutions"
You might find them a bit of an eye opener!
by Abu Bakr - None Thu Mar 29, 2012 20:11
You ignored the bit where I said your pal Mr Assad has been busy murdering peaceful protesters for about six to seven months (in which time the Free Syrian Army did not exist). It is entirely his fault - he had a window to do the noble thing, but instead he murdered and tortured the Syrian people to the point at which the FSA formed and the Gulf States became involved (the FSA half a year later and the Gulf States probably in the last month). The reality is, despite some rogue elements potentially creeping in, in recent months..the oppressed Syrian Sunnis have seen their opportunity for freedom, and Assad has brutally fought back. To apologise for this mass murderer makes you a very sick person.
He has some support from Alawites due to factional support - 'grassroot' Alawi, government workers, military, shabeeha and whoever owes their livelihood and bread to the Assad regime are all those who support the long-necked toothbrush dog, but who cares about these regime collaborators? 30,000 in the Hama massacre and 8,000 now. People are pissed from all the killing. And you still wonder why people hate the man? This isn't mentioning all those who have seen their children raped, homes destroyed, torture of civilians and so on. The protesting started on January 28, 2011. Unlike the Libyan revolution, there wasn't any early armed defense. People have been protesting for at least 6 months before deciding to defend themselves. They protested, got shot, had a funeral, got shot, protested and so on.
Even people who had nothing to do with the protests were arrested, tortured or killed. After almost 7 months of this disgusting unmitigated brutality against PEACEFUL PROTESTING, they finally decide to defend themselves. And the Syrian soldiers who saw the evil being committed deserted, and many were killed trying. The FSA wasn't even announced until the end of July. And when they defend themselves, they are called 'terrorists' and 'criminal gangs'..the same derogatory terms that are used for an opposition whenever a brutal dictator faces an uprising, from to Shah of Iran to Mubaruk to now Assad.
Those people on the so called left who do support Assad will have some explaining to do when all the human rights violations are discovered. I for one won't be taking any lectures ever again from anyone who falls into this category.
Assad's army is launching shells and rockets directly into a densely populated civilian area you absolute lunatic! Do you remember what your reaction was when the Israeli army did the same thing during Operation Cast Lead? Were you umming and ahhing over the nature of the people who were being shelled then?
Assad's regime is as "legitimate" as that of Suharto in Indonesia, Samosa in Nicaragua, or the Saudis of today. While I understand your distain for the Sunni uprising - it contains some nasty elements, as rebel groups always do - that doesn't mean they don't have valid reasons for hating a vile regime. I suspect you would understand this perfectly well if it was a US-backed regime facing an insurgency eh? People of Homs you will be avenged but not by foreigners who see you only as in or out of their sphere of influence but by the Arab masses and their sympathisers across the world amongst the oppressed everywhere.
I'm sick of sociopathic armchair "pro military intervention" internet trolls
by lefty Fri Mar 30, 2012 03:31
Firstly, this is the first time I have seen you post on this thread. Yet you are claiming you made points from another persons post. That makes me think you are probably just a troll.
Nobody has denied or condoned the shelling of Hama. Nobody is a "pal" of Assad. Thats just dirty and deliberate ad hominem smearing. Hardly surprising from a troll though
According to the Washington post "At least 10,000 people were killed in February 1982 during the three-week pounding of the city by government artillery and tanks ordered by Hafez al-Assad. Hafez al-Assad was moving to quash a stronghold of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood". A horrible incident indeed.
washington post link
However while it's still awful, thats just 1/3 of what you and others are claiming. Major distortion of facts to deliberately misinform or get people annoyed. Standard troll behaviour too.
Nobody likes Assad much. It's disingenuous of you to say that. (but unsurprising from a troll) However neither do they like the proposed alternative of western bombing and sanctions and a generously armed fundamentalist militia driving the country into heavily armed chaos and civil war where many more will die over time, and a fundamentalist sharia law being imposed by the muslim brotherhood (y'know, those guys standing by while the army imprison those who led tahir square protests in Egypt) on the populace. Its the devil or the deep blue sea. There are no good choices here.
We all saw how it turned out in Libya and for that matter Iraq. How many dead in total in those countries?
In Syria, the borders are porus and the US, UK, Qatar, and rich fundamentalist wahaabi muslims from Saudi Arabia (y'know, that absolute bastion of benign rule and freedom!) are arming jihadists with the objective of turning the place into another Libya with Sharia law and in the process, weakening Iran.
Many on the left, while they don't like people such as Assad, have learned their lesson at this stage and realise that the western / Saudi backed military intervention alternative is usually much worse and that it is not done for any benign reasons such as helping people, but rather to further their own geopolitical and religious ends which will likely result in even more carnage down the line.
Ah here
by Dan Ó C Sun Apr 01, 2012 01:25
I'd like to clarify that Abu-Bakr is not me. I'm not pro-military intervention (I'm a pacifist) nor a troll.
feckin trolls!
by lefty Sun Apr 01, 2012 23:49
dan, I do realise AB is not you.
by Dan Ó C Mon Apr 02, 2012 06:20
Cool just wanted that to be clear. Meanwhile, in hijacked Egyptian revolution news, it seems they're not letting Bahraini human rights defender Maryam Alkhawaja into Egypt this morning (https://twitter.com/#!/MARYAMALKHAWAJA). http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/cairo-apr-2-2012-0752
and meanwhile..
by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Mon Apr 02, 2012 14:42
..back on location...
the fog-machinery of mission-creepy neo-con war pumps on
more one sided coverage from RTE prime time
by lefty Fri Apr 13, 2012 19:31
A very one sided version of events from RTE prime time program tue 10/04/2012.
NATO/US death squads continue their murder in Syria and then blame Syrians
by T Mon Apr 16, 2012 22:45
NATO/US death squads continue to operate in Syria and then these deaths are blamed on the Syrian government and use by the NATO and European governments -mainly UK & France (France are the former colonists in Syria) as an excuse for NATO to go in.
Turkey is of course being put under huge pressure by the US & UK to take an aggressive stance towards Syria.
See this latest video on RT.com which explains things in some detail.
Caption: Engdahl: CIA plays ugly role, trains Syrian rebels
by pat c Mon Apr 16, 2012 22:52
More on "rebel" mercenaries here.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101699


This recipe was in a Beaumont, Texas, utility company Christmas recipe leaflet from 1951. We've been making it in our family ever since then. I broke many a wooden spoon over the years trying to mix it all together - now the food processor makes it a snap to mix in 15 minutes or less!


text:
GARY ZUKAV THE DANCING WU LI MASTERS PDF
Gary Zukav's timeless, humorous, New York Times bestselling masterpiece, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, is arguably the most widely acclaimed. The Dancing. Wu Li Masters. An Overview of the New Physics. Gary Zukav. A BANTAM NEW AGE BOOK. BANTAM BOOKS. NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON. The Dancing Wu Li Masters differs quite a bit from The Holographic Universe, but there is also a lot of . In short, Gary Zukav has written a very good book.
Author: Shaktira Dakinos
"The Dancing Wu Li Masters"
His clarity gets weaker as he starts to go into the weirder aspects of quantum mechanics though. Great introduction to physics for someone who has no idea how it applies to everyday life.
A rather interesting book, but not a real easy read. Some of his explanations should be useful as a connecting thread for a more detailed treatment.
Of course many people are impatient danicng this, and I would venture to speculate that such impatience is far more dancung among liberal artists than among scientists using these terms as defined by Zukav's two groups above. Dancibg 19, Max Ostrovsky rated it it was ok Shelves: When a writer can make something I believed inaccessible to me seem like dinner dncing in which I can participate, I'm thrilled to the core. It is ironic that while Bohm's theories are received with some skepticism by most professional physicists, they would find an immediately sympathetic reception among the thousands of people in our culture who have turned their backs on science in their own quest for the ultimate nature of reality.
They follow rules of their own. Woit refers to "The People's Republic of Berkeley". How does that make Bohm's views any more or less correct than they would otherwise be?
The Dancing Wu Li Masters – Wikipedia
It was something to do with "abolition of the aristocracy of particles", which I must say I didn't completely get, but you can see how this might appeal. Woit, evidently tearing his hair out, says that both books are still selling well, and that, although S-matrix theory is now completely discredited, it embarrassingly lives on as "nutty New Age philosophy".
But I wanted some sort of connection. That's quite a feat. But of course it is, and of course it does use symbols. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
It is true that there were not yet any spacecraft in the late 19th and early 20th century, when these issues were being debated in physics, but Newtonian physics predicted quite clearly what would be observed in one, and those predictions were correct as far as the inertial nature of the reference frame.
This page was last edited on 30 Decemberat All the pilot wave theory says is that the fundamental units of physics are particles, which act just like "real" classical particles in that they have definite positions and velocities at all times and move along definite trajectories, and "pilot waves", which flow along with the particles and guide their trajectories in order to keep the results of experiments consistent with quantum statistics.
BHISHMA PARVA ENGLISH PDF
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. But it is also here that, after canvassing the philosophical positions, Zukav goes into a discussion of Eastern mysticism and its supposed connections with quantum physics. Zukav's last statement about the old physics, that it says "the external world is indifferent to us and to our needs", helps us to see more clearly where Zukav is coming from.
After all, it did flat out equal aspects to Zen koans. Surely, the most dangerous rhetoric is that which sounds plausible. In any case, his discussion is certainly very much out of date as to progress in the field. But many other contemporary physicists and philosophers who hold quite different views are conspicuous by their absence, and this is a major failing of the book, au because any book on quantum mechanics must scrupulously include all viewpoints, but because Zukav does not pitch this book as expounding his own personal philosophy, but as simply trying to lay out for the lay person what the new physics says.
The Wu Li Master does not teach, but the student learns. He talks about S-matrix theory, which was known to have failed a number of tests by the 's, as though it were still viable, and the main reference work he cites on particle physics dates from Gary Zukav in several places reiterates that mathematics is not needed mazters read and understand his book, however, it is not for the ordinary non-mathematics reader either.
National Book Award in category of Science. Zuakv to my sources, it does derive from resmeaning "thing", but that's the only root word–the word "real" comes from the same source and was probably the earlier derived word, with "reality" having the adjectival ending "-ity" tacked on later.
The strength of the book is Zukav's review of the history of physics. Zukav zikav the concept further: It is interesting that here, as almost nowhere else in the book, Zukav actually does talk about various different philosophical positions that can be taken about the results of experiments based on Bell's discoveries.
What we perceive determines what we take to be true.
Peter Donis Web Site – Philosophy Review: The Dancing Wu Li Masters
Zukav participated as a journalist in a physics conference of eastern and western scientists at Esalen InstituteCalifornia ; and he used the occasion as material for his book. It is true that there were still contrarians among physicists concerning these theories inand some of them are listed in Zukav's Acknowledgments, so his sentiments about epicycles may come from talking to them; but here again, he is presenting, not the basic physics, but his own personal du about the physics–or perhaps his personal opinion about how the consensus ought to have aukav out.
BU426 DATASHEET PDF
Thorne's book was written inwell after Zukav's original publication of this book, but the historical events leading up to the "golden age" of black hole studies in the 's and 's were well known when Zukav first published not to mention that he could have done some checking up for the new edition.
The Wu Li masters philosophy is interesting too! He even writes in the introduction that he's amazed and so pleased with how funny the book is, that it is, in fact, funnier than he is in real life.
The Schwarzschild solution to the Einstein field equation was discovered inand the presence in it of what we now call the "event garry, from which nothing that once passes inside can escape, was known in the 's. Zukav did a surprisingly competent job describing physics in laymen terms that it is hard to believe he is not in the STEM field at all.
Naturally a person who is used to this aspect of the liberal arts will find it irritating when it turns out that science is not like that. I can even think of a few friends I can gift this book This is an amazing book and amazing so, because it revitalized the science training within me! Pages to import images to Wikidata Articles containing simplified Chinese-language text. It is possible that this is not Zukav's fault–that he does believe that the philosophy he expounds is necessitated by the findings of quantum mechanics.
If we want to get past Newton, we have to get past that. What we take to be true is what we believe. I particularly liked the chapters related to Einstein's theories of relativity. To verify the "laws of mechanics", such local inertial frames are good enough. Shuttling from religion and philosophy I arrived at the door steps of Physics.
It may be very well be true, that everyone lives in Aristotle's metaphorical cave, seeing shadows of the essence of reality. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.
Finkelstein's paper was indeed important in the field, but it could hardly be said to have been the first to "theorize" about black holes that name, incidentally, was coined by Wheeler in the late 's.
BALLAD BY MAGGIE STIEFVATER PDF
EXIT SATNICA 2015 PDF
EUGENE P ODUM FUNDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY PDF
COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY DE ERROL LEWARS PDF
DIGITAL MORPHOGENESIS NEIL LEACH PDF
GAR ALPEROVITZ ATOMIC DIPLOMACY PDF
BRYM AND LIE PDF
LYNN GRABHORN EXCUSE ME YOUR LIFE IS WAITING PDF
CALCULUS OF VARIATIONS WEINSTOCK PDF
ELIZABETH GROSZ BECOMING UNDONE PDF
CMD55 MANUAL PDF
CHORAL DORIEN PDF

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Opinion: Zero tolerance? The facts don't support the pope's claims on child abuse
Pauline Hodgdon January 31, 2018
By Kieran Tapsell
Pope Francis says there's no leniency for clergy accused of child sex abuse. It's not true
On his return flight from Lima to Rome in January, Pope Francis claimed, as he has so often before, that he has zero tolerance for clergy who sexually abuse children: "I continue with the policy of zero tolerance initiated by Benedict XVI, and in five years I have not signed a single request for leniency. If the appeal court confirms the decision of the lower court, the only other avenue is to ask the pope for leniency. In my time as pope, I have received some 25 requests, and have signed none of them."
On hearing Francis's claims, an ordinary person might believe that the Catholic church insists on dismissing priests who sexually abuse children – but that is not what usually happens.
There are three ways under canon law by which a priest can be dismissed: 1) by a canonical court, with the priest having the right of appeal to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which is the Vatican department in charge of child sexual abuse allegations against clergy; 2) a bishop can ask the CDF to dismiss a priest directly; 3) the CDF can refer the matter to the pope with a request that he dismiss the priest.
Francis's claim that he has never exercised leniency after a canonical trial and appeal may well be true, but it is not true where he has been requested by the CDF to dismiss a priest, and it is not true of the CDF when it exercises its own powers.
In 2010, the Holy See issued a guide to understanding CDF procedures for sexual abuse allegations. Where the accused has admitted his crimes, the guide says that the CDF can require him to "live a life of prayer and penance", with restrictions on his public ministry.
In cases under the third procedure, Francis has granted leniency by refusing to accept CDF dismissal recommendations for some of the worst offenders, and instead, required them to live a "life of prayer and penance" with restrictions on their public ministry.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.


Active Power's flywheel-based UPS solutions provide unique advantages that solve the most important power problems for data centers, health care, and industrial and manufacturing operations. Choose the CleanSource HD UPS (625 kW) for unmatched power density with a large system building block, or the modular and expandable CleanSource XT UPS (225 kW - 1.8 MW). Both UPS systems offer industry-leading TCO, reliability, and sustainability.
Data center construction costs too much, takes too long, and incurs too much risk. A modular IT system from Active Power can be the solution. Our modular power, IT and all-in-one modules provide an innovative approach to building or expanding your data center and will reduce the time, money, and complexity of your project.
Active Power has designed its preventative maintenance and support programs to ensure your critical power infrastructure operates with the utmost reliability.


Note: You know that your competitors are very intelligent and want nothing more than to marry the princess. You also know that the king is a man of his word, and he has said that the test is a fair test of intelligence and bravery.
Give ur answer as black or white and then give the explanation of why is it so.
i dont see how someone could determine. explanation please.
Let the other two princes be B and C.
We are given B and C are white.
Case 1: you are Black.
Then B sees both white and black, hence he is unable to answer with certainty.
This is also the case for C. But, w.l.o.g C sees that B can't answer. Hence he deduces he is white.
The question says that neither B nor C can answer with certainty.
So we reject case 1. Therefore you must be white.
However, we see a paradox here. If you are white, then we have a cyclic symmetry, where all 3 princes are in the same situation. In that case, both B and C should be able to deduce that they are white. Unless this just means you were able to deduce you are white before the other two, which means you win and get to marry the princess?


text:
SoftBank's less risky Swiss Re bet is still silly
Soft approach
4 April 2018 By Aimee Donnellan Follow @aimeedonnellan
The Swiss insurer says any investment by the Japanese tech and telecom group won't exceed 10 percent. A $3 billion stake would be substantially smaller than previously suggested. Given the dubious benefits of any tie-up, though, it's still a questionable use for SoftBank's cash.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the world's second largest reinsurer Swiss Re is seen inside the company's offices in Zurich, Switzerland, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Moritz Hager/File Photo - RC1523D77390
Reuters: Swiss Re says SoftBank stake won't exceed 10 percent, talks at early stage
SoftBank's new interest is anything but reassuring
Swiss Re said on April 4 that talks with SoftBank over a minority stake were continuing and "at an early stage" but a potential holding would not be expected to be greater than 10 percent.
The Swiss reinsurer also said at a planned investor day that it was not considering the issuance of new shares for the possible investment by the Japanese company. The comments came two months after a Wall Street Journal report said SoftBank could buy up to a third of the reinsurer's shares at a premium, in a deal worth $10 billion or more.
Swiss Re shares were down 2.9 percent to 93.64 Swiss Francs at 0905 BST on April 4.


text:
Sphenella hessei es una especie de insecto del género Sphenella de la familia Tephritidae del orden Diptera.

Historia
Munro la describió científicamente por primera vez en el año 1929.

Referencias

Enlaces externos

hessei

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Jolita Vaitkute (born 1995) is an artist from Lithuania. She uses food and other everyday objects to embody her ideas creating installations, performances and illustrations, mostly portraits. Jolita is especially fond of portraying subjects from pop culture and politics. Reflecting the ever-changing modern world, most of her work is transient in nature, as it either gets eaten up or destroyed in the process.
For contact in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, please click here.


text:
Huntsman Completes the Acquisition of Icynene-Lapolla, Expanding its Downstream Footprint in Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation
Download as PDF February 20, 2020 4:15pm EST
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Feb. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Icynene-Lapolla, a leading North American manufacturer and distributor of spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation systems for residential and commercial applications. Huntsman acquired the business from an affiliate of FFL Partners, LLC, for $350 million, subject to customary closing adjustments, in an all-cash transaction funded from available liquidity.
The acquisition of Icynene-Lapolla is aligned with Huntsman's strategy of growing its downstream polyurethanes business. The combination of Icynene-Lapolla with Demilec, the SPF business Huntsman acquired in 2018, will create the world's leading supplier of spray foam products used to insulate commercial and residential structures. The acquisition will further strengthen our portfolio of leading energy-saving insulation applications and technologies, providing customers with an unmatched product offering. Further, it will accelerate the globalization of the combined SPF business by leveraging Huntsman's extensive international network of systems houses. The acquisition will generate substantial synergies as a result of Huntsman's ability to pull through significant volumes of polyols and lower margin upstream polymeric MDI into the higher margin and growing specialized SPF systems.
Icynene-Lapolla has annual revenues of approximately $230 million with two manufacturing facilities located in Houston, Texas and Mississauga, Ontario, where it produces a full range of MDI-based SPF formulations and reflective roof coatings, which it markets directly to applicators as well as through distributors.
Tony Hankins, President of Huntsman's Polyurethanes division, commented on the acquisition: "I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, now that Icynene-Lapolla is joining our high-growth MDI urethanes insulation business. Together with Demilec, our existing SPF business, we will create a world-leading SPF platform, providing highly innovative, energy-saving solutions for residential and commercial property owners alike."
Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President and CEO added: "SPF is a highly attractive growth business and Icynene-Lapolla is widely recognized as a leading player in the industry. Icynene-Lapolla will strengthen our move downstream and provide further impetus to the globalization of our SPF technology. The purchase price represents an adjusted EBITDA multiple of approximately 10 times, or approximately 7 times adjusted EBITDA, pro forma for synergies. The combined business is now approaching $500 million in revenues and by the end of 2021 with synergies we see the SPF business exceeding $100 million in EBITDA."
About Huntsman:
Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2019 revenues of approximately $7 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 70 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 9,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Huntsman_Corp
Facebook: www.facebook.com/huntsmancorp
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/huntsman
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain information in this release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. The forward-looking statements in this release are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the company's operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Huntsman companies' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Significant risks and uncertainties may relate to, but are not limited to, volatile global economic conditions, cyclical and volatile product markets, disruptions in production at manufacturing facilities, reorganization or restructuring of Huntsman's operations, including any delay of, or other negative developments affecting the ability to implement cost reductions, timing of proposed transactions, and manufacturing optimization improvements in Huntsman businesses and realize anticipated cost savings, and other financial, economic, competitive, environmental, political, legal, regulatory and technological factors. The company assumes no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by applicable laws.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huntsman-completes-the-acquisition-of-icynene-lapolla-expanding-its-downstream-footprint-in-spray-polyurethane-foam-insulation-301008756.html
SOURCE Huntsman Corporation
Sign Up for Email Alerts:
Receive updates straight into your inbox


CDN Resource Mapper implements simple possible blockchain based resource mapper which hosts files. It allows web sites to run directly from blockchain. It provides the step to the fully-decentralized internet.


We've already hashed out who was the worst-dressed and who had the hottest arm candy on the 2014 Grammy Awards red carpet last night, but what were the biggest moments of the night? From Taylor Swift's head-banging performance (and her surprise at not winning an award) to Pharrell's comically large hat, here are the 10 moments everyone is talking about this morning–and will continue to talk about in years to come.
Taylor Swift is always good for providing amazing awards show moments, and she didn't let us down last night. She gave a passionate, headbanging performance of "All Too Well," and then danced like a nerd during everyone else's sets. Later, though, Swift provided one of the most gif-worthy moments of the night when her face lit up in gleeful surprise when she thought that she had won Album of the Year, and then her face slid into disappointed surprise when she realized Daft Punk's Random Access Memories edged her out.
However, we're not the only ones talking about the Grammys on social media. Macklemore went to twitter to apologize for robbing Kendrick Lamar of the Best Rap Album Grammy, and Trent Reznor tweeted his, uh, lack of respect for the awards show.
Between the silly dance moves of the stars, social media commentary and amazing performances, it looks like we're going to be talking about the 2014 Grammy Awards for years to come.


text:
One more Jesse Owens medal up for auction
by Vijay Tuesday, November 19, 2019 7:28 am
One of Jesse Owens' four gold medals during the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin is up for auction.
Bidding for the gold medal has a starting price of US$250,000.
"No athletic award carries the same historical weight and value as Jesse Owens' gold medal-winning performance at the 1936 Olympics, for no athlete ever achieved nor proved as much as Owens did during those Games," Ken Goldin, the founder of Goldin Auctions, was quoted as saying.
Six years ago, Owens' other Berlin 1936 medals went for $1,466,574, the highest price in history for Olympic memorabilia.
Owens won the men's 100m, 200m, 4x100m and long jump for the USA at the Berlin 1936 games.
TagsJesse Owens
Kimberly Kimmi-jade Curtis Tuesday, November 19, 2019 9:18 pm
Ok then
Usain Bolt wants to be the "Greatest Athlete of All Time!!"
Races, Videos
Watch Bolt, Lewis Owens in the same race
Eaton, Felix named USATF Athletes of the Year


text:
Films du Québec
The Weekly Rewind
Featured Short
Suspense | Estonia | 2014 | 9m
a short film by Tarvi Roos
A tragic psychological thriller of an imperfect perfectionist who is willing to take radical measures in order to achieve perfection.
Tarvi Roos is an Estonian filmmaker surprised us with a delicate, but poised (longer) short called 'Moments' almost two years ago. This time, in a considerably shorter film, Tarvi shows us his darker side with 'Perfection': A tragic psychological thriller of an imperfect perfectionist who is willing to take radical measures in order to achieve perfection.
For me, it is a story about the envy of other people. We look at stereotypical figures and see only the surface. The wealthy entrepreneurs, the happy families with perfect children, the smart and overachieving academics who are never wrong. People often look at those so called perfect people and think why can't they be like this, because who wouldn't want to be best in their field? The main character is the extreme version of this notion, only he doesn't know what "his field" is. So, he decides to become someone else. Someone, who is perfect in his eyes.
The film sets an invasive stark tone, embracing personalities and characters. The voice over sets the mood with a chilling and gruntled narration, which at times might feel a little exaggerated, but understood as the film went on. The English narration was noticeably slightly imperfect, but that kind of gave the character and the film's voice a little more spring.
It all started with an idea to create a film about a thief who is going to steal an identity from a person who is about to commit suicide, because he doesn't know his purpose in his life and has an identity crisis because of that. This paradoxical idea transformed a lot but it
stayed as an important essence for the story the whole time – the main character is so blind that he cannot see himself for what he truly is.
Shot over a couple of days, the film was made on an extremely tight budget, displaying a great example of what can be made with little to no budget. Attention to detail and camera work can make a film look like it's on a heavy budget – or at least not show that its on no-budget.
We shot the film with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera with EF Speedbooster and Nikon 14-24mm lens (modded with EF mount and manual aperture). We shot it in RAW format to get the maximum out of the sensor and the picture Pocket Camera gave us was really beautiful. Both me and the DoP, Risto Niils, wanted to achieve the 35mm film look. It resulted us with 300GB of data, but it was all worth it. Pocket Camera had LOTS of flaws but we somehow managed to overcome them. Adobe Premiere was used for editing, After Effects for visual effects, Davinci Resolve for color grading and Pro Tools for sound.
Envy Identity Identity Theft Narration Perfect Perfection Perfectionist Psychological Stereotype Vimeo Voice Over
Follow and Support the Filmmakers
Similar Shorts You Might Like
The iMom
The Faceless Man
© 2020 Film Shortage. All rights reserved


How does Wit & Wisdom compare to the Wheatley Portfolio Maps?
Wit & Wisdom is a comprehensive curriculum that comprises detailed daily lessons, a learning design with entry points for all students, student workbooks, and teacher-facing guidance that includes ideas for differentiation as well as daily Prepare and Analyze sections that help teachers assess learning. The Wheatley Portfolio, on the other hand, offers a series of curriculum maps educators can use as a resource for designing their own ELA instruction. We recommend educators take advantage of Wit & Wisdom's carefully crafted design, but for those who want more flexibility to plan ELA, Wheatley is valuable.