#841
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: +
I'm doing a self-evaluation of my Hands Off Syria efforts. So far there has been no "No Fly Zone", which is to say, there has been a Fly Zone. So I'd say I'm doing pretty well so far.
#842
Online
Post rating: +

ilmdge posted:

Annnnd this dude just got fired from Salon.

#843
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +

ilmdge posted:

Annnnd this dude just got fired from Salon.




& immediately after this story:



#844
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~
if you search news sites for stories about israel today they're all about a brush fire "jihad" in which "dozens of people suffered smoke inhalation". granted i'm just as disappointed as the next guy that hamas has failed to bomb a nation's capital from the air but at least they're getting credit for trying to close the gap.
#845
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
never forget that partisan girl went on david duke's radio show and i defended her here. never forget this. remember this always. if you want to tell her that'd be okay too, i wouldn't mi
#846
Post rating: +
Syrian and Russian forces are engaged in an all-out blitz to retake the eastern districts of Aleppo, the northern Syrian city that has become a major flash point in the country's five-year civil war. Here's what you need to know.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/24/the-battle-for-aleppo-explained/

a few things you dont need to know:
  • in the 'key economic hub' of aleppo all the factories (this was where syria produced most of its medicine) have been chopped up and sold for scrap to turkey

  • the east aleppo population is still claimed 250,000 (itll be revealed to be a fifth of that soon, but you dont need to know that) but no mention that this is in fact a mass hostage situation

  • no mention that at least 20,000 people have escaped being held hostage by AlQaeda and are now under protection of the syrian army getting food and healthcare and telling the media (not that its likely to be shown) about how they were starved, beheaded and extorted by the rebels

  • "rebel-held districts have been subject to a crippling siege" EU/US deny block food, medicine, basic necessities to 20 million Syrians through sanctions

  • no need to know anything about the reliability of the white helmets or syrian observatory for human rights (the sources of all numbers of people, militants, casualties in the piece)

  • the un envoy (i thought he retired a week ago?) proposed plan quoted is the same as the syrian proposed plan (terrorists given safe passage to their caliphate in idlib and ceasefire) except the dudes who beheaded a child are put on the city council

  • "But more moderate forces remain, some of them receiving U.S.-approved weapons." knowing who these moderate forces are would be nice to have, but not necessary
#847
Post rating: +
http://handsoffsyriacoalition.net/

they are livestreaming this event later today

there is a peace delegation from syria currently in ireland and (i think and hope) travelling thru europe to start a campaign to end the sanctions on it.

fantastically distinguished, it consists of the grand mufti and the coptic patriarch (the 2 top religious leaders of the country) and two of the top heart surgeons who left practicing in britain to go back to their country when the war started .... it was not publicised (except by some furious trots who squealed about no platforming it online then only one of them showed up and ran away before it started) so it was attended by a handful of people.

(the organiser called a press conference but no press showed up, the hour long discussion wasnt filmed properly and the lobotimised irish media are still parroting the same lies they were before)

it was still very interesting to hear from doctors what the healthcare situation was.

before the war syria had a excellent healthcare system and a very ambitious plan to expand it hugely, building specialist eye, heart, cancer hospitals and a hospital attached to every university and training facility.

healthcare was free for everyone, including refugees (syria was the #2 destination for refugees in the world in 2008) for almost all operations; a heart operation was $500 for example (in neighboring lebanon the same operation costs $40,000)

the rebels have bombed and looted whatever hospitals they could get their hands on and kidnapped or murdered whatever doctors they can ... but the healthcare system is still functioning as much as it can.

One huge problem is that since the war the syrian lira buys only 1/6th of what it did ... and due to sanctions they have to buy medical supplies through 'charity' intermediaries who charge 4 times the price.
so they are now paying 50x as much for the same supplies.

they were saying how tough it was for them as top doctors in damascus to get supplied, it was up to our imagination what ordinary people around the country have to deal with.

they also spoke about their personal and the national food situation... due to food sanctions many people only have bread to eat
#848
Post rating: ~

xipe posted:

fantastically distinguished, it consists of the grand mufti and the coptic patriarch (the 2 top religious leaders of the country)



there are not many copts in syria, and the coptic patriarchs (pope tawadros ii for the orthodox and patriarch ibrahim isaac sidrak for catholics) rarely venture far from egypt.

syrian christians tend to fall under the historical church of antioch, with mixed influences from constantinople (plus a not-inconsiderable chunk of armenian diaspora). so in this big, diverse region, you've got the orthodox patriarchal church of antioch, melkite greek catholics, syriac orthodox & syriac catholics, eastern antiochians more common to iraq, i.e. the chaldean church or the church of the east, and armenians of either main tradition, but few copts. might even be more latins than copts, but idk

that said, syrian church leaders have been wonderfully blunt about the West's role in the war, and i don't doubt they'd get involved in this event

edit: found it. melkite greek catholic patriarch gregorios iii was the one at the event

Edited by Constantignoble ()

#849
Post rating: ~
http://www.wesavesyria.com/2016/11/27/syrian-peace-delegation-to-ireland/

Sorry I got that wrong


Syriac Holy Qurbono: His Holiness, Ignatius Aphrem II Of Antioch, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, world spiritual leader of the Syriac Orthodox Church,.will perform the Holy Qurbono for the 500 members of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church (Jacobite Syrian Christian Church), which is an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Dublin on the evening of Tuesday 29th November
#850
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: +

xipe posted:

they also spoke about their personal and the national food situation... due to food sanctions many people only have bread to eat

Is this considered a problem? I'd love to live off of unlimited fresh breadsticks like at my favourite restaurants.

#851
Post rating: ~
Oh yeah the other cool thing is that they had no security for these guys so the grand mufti of Syria was wandering the streets alone except for a minder and some politics nerds accompanying... There are plenty of jihadi terrorists in Ireland and Saudi Arabia has 2 massive embassies, they missed their chance
#852
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: +

xipe posted:

There are plenty of jihadi terrorists in Ireland

lol

#853
Post rating: ~
Are still there PLO-IRA cooperation/solidarity movements?
#854
Post rating: ~

xipe posted:

His Holiness, Ignatius Aphrem II Of Antioch, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch



oh shit, i missed that he was there too. nice

also, that Hands Off Syria facebook account linked this a few hours ago

"We will destroy ISIS. At the same time, we will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments, folks," Trump said, as quoted by The Washington Examiner.



#855
Dont Mess With Sucess
Post rating: +

Constantignoble posted:

also, that Hands Off Syria facebook account linked this a few hours ago

"We will destroy ISIS. At the same time, we will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments, folks," Trump said, as quoted by The Washington Examiner.



#856
Post rating: ~
Yes, they had exceptionally cool hats.
I might convert.

Get fiscal there are a few fsa guys chillaxing here amongst others... I'm gonna do some research and ask around at some stage.

Nico I doubt it, dissident republicans have no capacity and sinn fein might offer moral support but they are morally bankrupt in a big way.
Actually i take that back, Gerry Adams Twitter makes it all worth while.
I don't know what state the plo are in but I would guess not good
#857
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~

HenryKrinkle posted:

http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-syrian-white-helmets-played-western-media



its cool when stuff like this sneaks past the filter & i can share it with liberals thanks HK.

#858
[account deactivated]
#859
Post rating: +


getfiscal posted:

xipe posted:

There are plenty of jihadi terrorists in Ireland

lol



https://www.facebook.com/mahdi.alharati?fref=ts
http://www.sundayworld.com/news/tinker-raiders-soldier-spy

Gardai are now investigating the extraordinary robbery which is being blamed on a traveller gang from the Limerick town of Rathkeale. An Irish freedom fighter who helped bring down Gaddafi's hated regime in Libya has claimed that €200,000 cash stolen from his Dublin home was given to him by an American intelligence agency.

https://www.facebook.com/housam.najjair?ref=br_rs
http://www.thejournal.ie/syria-man-who-fought-says-he-wasnt-radicalised-1926754-Feb2015/

Currently, Ireland and Finland top the table of European countries who have seen the largest percentage of their Muslim population travel to Syria.

Around one in every 1,500 Irish Muslims travelled to Syria. That is compared to just one in 5,000 in the UK. Few are thought to present any danger here.

oh and:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/05/irish-isis-fighter-kills-himself-in-iraq-suicide-bombing

Edited by xipe ()

#860
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: +++++
Padraigh O'Tawhid here, I've been following the Sunnah since I was a wee shaver. I've always been a steak and potatoes fellow so no need to worry about pork. The Guinness is a bit of a trial but they do make a non-alcoholic beer which does the trick. My job is to head to Boston to pick up the barrels that our faithful Irish-American Muslim pubmates fill with cash so we can buy ourselves some surface to air missiles and plug ourselves a fucking airliner.
#861
Post rating: +

xipe posted:

An Irish freedom fighter who helped bring down Gaddafi's hated regime in Libya has claimed that €200,000 cash stolen from his Dublin home was given to him by an American intelligence agency.


rofl

#862
Post rating: +


The Children’s Crusade is one of the more unusual events that occurred in Medieval England. In the year 1212, tens of thousands of self-proclaimed, unarmed crusading children set out from northern France and western Germany to regain Jerusalem from the Muslims. While never actually receiving official sanction, the so-called crusade was a disaster. None of the children reached the Holy Land, many were said to have been sold into slavery, and thousands never returned at all.
#863
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: +

Synergy posted:

i thought DN did a pretty good job with their reporting in the past but maybe that's not the case now



DN reporting is usually good - except when it comes to foreign intervention. i remember seriously alienating some friends when i went on a few anti-DN rants regarding their Libya coverage

#864
Post rating: ~

Urbandale posted:

i remember seriously alienating some friends when i went on a few anti-DN rants regarding their Libya coverage


That's Me

#865
hi
Post rating: +

Urbandale posted:

DN reporting is usually good - except when it comes to foreign intervention. i remember seriously alienating some friends when i went on a few anti-DN rants regarding their Libya coverage

i would narrow the "foreign intervention" part down to "humanitarian intervention." establishment progressives are great at opposing wars waged in the name of national security and such but tend to have a soft spot for R2P rhetoric.

#866
hi
Post rating: +
a lot of the same people who (rightfully) rage against Obama's drone assassinations and even oppose the Iran sanctions are easily taken in by US-backed revolutions and pro-NFZ hysteria provided there is some sort of "human rights"-based intent assumed. it's a blind spot that deserves more attention.
#867
Post rating: +++++
With the heavy intelligence and military contingent meandering around the complex, it was difficult to ascertain where pre-rehearsed pro-government slogans ended and real sentiments began. Most regurgitated the government line that the rebels came from abroad and were backed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. But their denunciations of the rebels were noteworthy if only because they are from the same destitute classes. The IDPs living in cramped wooden containers were not the wealthy business moguls with their polished English and European cut clothes who dined with us in posh establishments. The IDPs’ support of the government merely illustrates how maladroit the insurgents are and why their backers in the West were so woefully wrong in urging another intervention in the Muslim world.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/aleppo-syria-assad-214494

its hard to know how much these war refugees were putting on a performance just for me, the important qatar-funded think tank guy, and how much they were selfishly looking after their own interests - all part of the malicious Regime plot to sap the Revolution by providing the whole population with money and free food and electricity and housing and also not murdering them for their religion or race.
#868
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~
woefully maladroit.
#869
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
there is nothing funnier about writers like that to me than when they say black is white and then use crossword puzzle words to let readers of a certain class know it's time to turn their brains off and accept it.

pay attention next time you read an article from politico, foreign policy, economist etc. & you'll see it. all rules of good writing they learned in school and probably like to lecture other people about suddenly halt for class signals.
#870
Post rating: +
some footage of the liberation of a district of aleppo, and from the shelling by terrorists of a russian mobile hospital



#871
Post rating: ~
i thought "irish jihadists" was gonna be a joke about catholics in the IRA
#872
Post rating: ~
the psychos occupying aleppo didnt bother removing any education material when they turned this school into a chemical weapon and diy missile factory



piles of childrens books amidst vats of chemicals... made by, thats right Hitler



#HolocaustAleppo is not what you think it is however ...

https://twitter .com/search?f=tweets&vertical=news&q=%23holocaustaleppo

... although some of David Irvings lines work



in the world of post soviet polish right-nationalist society this probably makes sense, but i need to warm my mind to before i can put it through the contortions necessary for that

#873
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~
shit's dolefully inexpert.
#874
Post rating: +
syria has liberated the city of aleppo after 4 years of terrorist rule

#875
Post rating: +
Aleppo's Old City and surroundings, the central part, have been liberated as US proxy forces surrender & flee en masse. Should be a matter of days for the rest to fall. To quote the west's premier caremad concern troll, John Oliver, "2016 has been an absolute calamity! (for the US ruling class). Fuck 2016! (in your corresponding genitalia)"


#876
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: +
#877
Post rating: +



Lol hmmmm
#878
Post rating: ~
I wonder where all the tweets are from the people who think that aleppo being liberated is an awful thing
#879
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the funny pics thread
#880
UNUSUALY COOL
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atrociously impolitic