THIS PRE-CHOREOGRAPHED CONFERENCE WAS SUPPOSED TO BOOST IRANIAN PRESTIGE AND PROVE THE MULLOCRACY IS WIDELY RESPECTED.
Unfortunately the conference proved the exact opposite. Visitors have not followed the pre-designed script. These stinking foreigners are as disgusting as Ron Paul dissidents at a Romney-micromanaged convention.
The only consolation is that no one can stop the Ultimate Control Freak from rigging his own elections or ghost-writing for his media. What is a shame that Iranians persist in looking elsewhere for real news. If only the foreign press and the internet could be subject to the same controls used at home! Visiting scumbags insisted on making things worse by pissing on Khamenei's party instead of doing as they were told. Isn't it a shame rotten guest like that cannot be shipped off to Evin, taught a lesson, and placed back on stage with pre-scripted speeches?
THINGS THAT DID NOT GO AS KHAMENEI PLANNED (CAUSING IRANIANS TO CHUCKLE):
1. UN Secretary General refused to play puppet and "tough talked" the Supreme Leader who retaliated with a speech criticizing the UN Security Council a a "flagrant dictatorship." (Note the hypocrisy in that charge). Retaliating further, Ban Ki-moon's photographer was banned from entering sensitive areas because of "relations with Western spy services".
(Question: What is wrong with the UN General Secretary? Didn't he know he was supposed to follow Khamenei's will just like the state media?).
2. Egyptian President Morsi has left Iran after a 7-hour stay, meeting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but not the Supreme Leader. Ironically the early departure occurred after Iran's deputy foreign minister made a speech urging improvement in relations with Egypt.
3. Before leaving, Morsi made a speech paying tribute to the opposition challenge to the "oppressive regime" of President Assad. Mistranslating the speech for delegates, the regime watered it down to avoid further embarassment. Meanwhile Ahmadinejad sat stonefaced. The ever-respectable Student Basij militia groups asked Morsi to "reconsider his stance" on Syria but its plea fell on deaf ears.
4. The Syrian delegation walked out during Egyptian President Morsi's speech, with its denunciation of "bloodshed" and implied support for the challenge to the Assad regime.
Censorship: CONTROL FREAK GAVE IRAN'S MEDIA THREE PAGES OF PRECISE INSTRUCTIONS ON "HOW TO REPORT THE CONFERENCE" (apparently leaked to outsiders by disgusted journalists)
Verboten (forbidden. On ne le permette pas):
Stories that undermine the summit; give voice to opposition political groups; write stories about human rights in Iran; cover Western allegations against Syria; raise concerns about security in Tehran; report on warnings about bad weather, natural disasters, energy cuts, crime.
Encouraged: Stories that hold the country and its leaders in a "positive" light and that highlight Iranian hospitality and its Islamic traditions, for example. And they are expected to reserve special coverage for stories that support Iran's controversial nuclear program, to condemn the West's "unlawful" sanctions, and to criticize Israel, which the document refers to as the "fake and Zionist regime."
Recommended: Placing emphasis on messages by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, highlighting the importance of the NAM as the second-largest international organization after the United Nations, emphasizing the prominent role that Iran will play in regional and international affairs as head of the NAM, and the technological and scientific progress Iran has made despite "terrorist attacks".
FG Makes a Suggestion: Visualize popular reaction in any western democracies if any head of state, regardless of party, issued such directives to the media and dared to try enforcing them. What chance would be have at the next election? Nevetheless we are told ad nauseum that the governments of Syria, the Islamic Republic and Russia are "just as legitimate" as democratic governments and that they allow "even more freedom."
ADVANCING EDUCATION IN THE MUCH ADMIRED ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
The head of the Basij milita, Mohammad Reza Naqdi has said the Non-Aligned Movement summit is a testament to the "defeat of Western humanities", in which "today's university curricula are no different from ignorance".
(Everyone knows, of course, that the regime's Brownshirt people-beaters represent the peak of civilization by contrast).
THE LATEST ON "THE WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED (AND ENVIED) ECONOMY"
1. Khorasan reports that prices for dairy products have risen 8 to 40% within the past two days after four previous increases since March.
2. Reuters reports, from new documents, how South African telecommunications company MTN arranged procurement of embargoed U.S. technology products for its Iranian subsidiary, circumventing US sanctions
SPEAKING OF COVERING UP DIRTY LAUNDRY, IS IT OK IF WE TRAVEL DOWN MEMORY LANE ONCE AGAIN?
It is important that Iranians constantly recall Khamenei's pre-2009 behavior, most especially his death squads and what he did to journalists who exposing them. The treatment handed out was similar to those who protested his rigged elections. Ponder especiallythe strange and untimely death of The Founder's own young son, so embarassing to the Supreme Leader. The noteworthy victim had been a real pain in the butt who insisted on warning Iranians of Khamenei's dangerously authoritarian tendencies. Ahmadinejad the Tool had not appeared yet so obviously he did not do it. Thus we must ask two questions repeatedly: "Who enjoyed a monopoly on motive, means and opportunity?" and "How did that person react when news of the Death Squads became public?
Recently by FG | Comments | Date |
---|---|---|
MORSI’S “KHOUMEINI ACT” MAY SAVE SYRIANS FROM AN IRAN-STYLE FATE | 1 | Dec 02, 2012 |
Dec. 1st roundup: Turkey-IRI tensions grow/ Assad's troubles mount | 4 | Dec 01, 2012 |
EA analyst: REGIME'S FALL COULD BE IMMINENT!" | 5 | Nov 29, 2012 |
Person | About | Day |
---|---|---|
نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
Can I console my grieving friend FA
by Rea on Fri Aug 31, 2012 05:03 PM PDT.... and say that the House of Saud and the House of Ayatollah are just about to merge. In about 350 years. By then we'll all be ashes to ashes.
.
by First Amendment on Fri Aug 31, 2012 04:35 PM PDTCan I remind our friends that Iran's being the host never meant that no guest would have or should have made a thorny remark against her...........What Mursi says is not as important as where Mursi said it...........In Tehran........I can't wait to see a Sunni-Shia alliance against our common enemy........that day, against all apparent odds, is not far off..................
Morsi talking about oppressive regime in Syria
by Rea on Fri Aug 31, 2012 04:23 PM PDT.... the summit' highlight so far. They say the Syrian delegation walked out on him.
What a blow to IRI, he,he !
This sounds like something Assad or Khamenei would do
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:38 AM PDT(Talk about nerve!)
Excerpt:
South Africa's justice minister on Friday rebuked prosecutors for charging 270 miners with the murder of 34 striking colleagues shot dead by police, saying the decision had caused "shock, panic and confusion" among the general public.
The police killing of the strikers at the Marikana mine this month was one of the worst such incidents since the end of white rule in 1994. The arrested miners have been charged under a law dating from the apartheid era under which they are deemed to have had a "common purpose" in the murder of their co-workers.
The African National Congress, whose members used to be gunned down by apartheid police at protest rallies and targeted with draconian laws, has been severely criticized for using similar tactics now that it is in power.
//www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-safrica-mines-idUSBRE87U0MB20120831
Once Again Assad's tanks shell PALESTINIANS in Damascus
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:27 AM PDTSUGGESTION TO FRASHOGAR: Please do not waste your time blaming the opposition. The regime has a monopoly on tanks in Damascus and--especially where buildings intervene-- the limited rangeand elevation of such weapons makes clear the bombardment was intentional)
The Local Coordination Committees have posted a video, which shows the building hit by a shell in the Yarmouk camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.
//www.facebook.com/LCCSy/posts/252006501587295
They have also posted several gruesome videos of two dead children, reportedly the result of the shelling.
//www.facebook.com/LCCSy/posts/106604572824399
BREAKING NEWS: Another Assad copter goes down & analysis
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:20 AM PDTThat could make as many as 12 this month. It's unclear how many others were damaged.
Source: Enduring America
According to the Local Coordination Committees, another military helicopter has been shot down by Free syrian Army insurgents in Idlib province, specifically in Sarmeen ...this is not far from both the Abu ad Duhur air base, as well as the Taftanaz helicopter base, both of which have been attacked this week.
So far we have not found footage of the event or the wreckage, but the LCC is typically reticent to post such news if they have not verified it (FG says: and that's good).
If true, this means that the regime continues to struggle to strike back at FSA positions in the area. From the evidence we've seen over the last few days, it appears that the FSA has won a series of one-sided victories, destroying at least 1 MIG jet fighter and perhaps 11 or more helicopters. As the regime is only reported to have 71 attack helicopters and perhaps 100-150 transport helicopters, so this is a fairly significant blow.
On the credibility of EA and its propaganda model compared to state-controlled media in Iran & Syria
Propaganda is a necessity but the term does not automatically imply "lying" as some people believe. This writer once took a WW II course with Dr. Russell Weigley, a top level militarian historian who explained the differences, their advantages and disadvantages.
By relying on the BBC model of World War II, instead of the Goebbels model favored by the regime Enduring America reaps major advantages in credibility. (Example: EA did not report on the recent "downing" of a Syrian mig because it has suspicions which turned out to be accurate. It tends to rely on sources that have been reasonably accurate in the past such as LCC).
The Brits decided to report the news accurate, setbacks as well as victories. If an event was unconfirmed yet it said so. EA follows the same philosophy which is what makes it highly respected. Everyday journalists too have to be careful what they report about any news because if they are caught--even once--making something up--their credibility suffers permanent damage.
The Goebbels model relies on the Big Lie, repeated often (Paul Ryan's model for the GOP) until people believe it. For any dictatorship it works only so long as major information to the contrary cannot be concealed from the population. A perfect example is Goebbel's claims after Stalingrad, Kursk and D-Day that "our forces are winning the war." Knowledge of those three setbacks were hard to conceal and once they got out, the German people started mistrusting everything Goebbels had to say.
For another example of the Goebbels model, see posts from Iranian propagandist Manochehr on EA or Tehran Bureau or those from Freshogar on this forum. Note their total lack of effectiveness.
Latest news of interest (with some excerpts)
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:54 AM PDTNow India's Prime Minister is furious at the Islamic Republic.
What a host! The IRI plays up attendance by the Three Biggies (Egypt's president, the UN Secretary General, and India's Prime Minister and winds up ticking off all three of them--none of them westerners. Excerpt from the Times of India:
At the inaugural, they,
very politely, manoeuvred him to sit at a select circle of heads of
state and government, to listen to the Supreme Leader's speech that was a
diatribe against the various injustices against Iran.
Then,
before the Indians knew what was happening, the Iranian protocol people
shepherded the PM to the dais, to sit with Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Morsi
and Ban ki Moon. From the Iranian point of view, the picture was
perfect. It doesn't matter what the NAM outcome document said, or the
stern message the PM delivered to the Iranian leadership on the nuclear
issue or on Syria.
The picture, which spoke a thousand words, had Manmohan Singh and Ahmedinejad
at the same table. For a government beleaguered by international
pressure, this may be a picture to treasure, a way of showing that Iran
was not isolated. For the Indian side, the incident showed a couple of
things -- first, that Singh continues to have a great deal of
international acceptance, second, that India, for all it's non-aligned
stance, is seen to be of some consequence with the west, so India's
apparent "endorsement " of Iran mattered.
//timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-ea...
Why no safe zone in Syria, yet? 5 complications
//news.yahoo.com/why-no-safe-zone-syria-yet-5...
Syrian rebels launch new operation called "Northern Vocano" in AleppoThe new operation, called "The Northern Volcano," will focus on
coordinated attacks on specific military and intelligence targets in the
city and surrounding province of the same name...Heavy clashes raged for a third day inside the sprawling Abu Zuhour air
base in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said, adding
that anti-government gunmen were storming officers' housing units.
//news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-launch-operati...
Palestinians chip away at male divorce monopolyFor decades, Palestinian women
seeking to divorce their husbands risked years of miserable, expensive
litigation or lengthy domestic battles as they begged their spouses for
permission to leave.
Now Palestinian religious authorities announced sweeping reforms of divorce laws
that will make it easier for a woman to end her marriage. The changes
make a huge step forward in a society where many still believe that a
woman should have no right to separate from her husband....
Comment: The muslim world is changing. The more power women acquire that faster that change will occur. No wonder Al Queda, Salafis and the Taliban oppose women having power. It is the key to everything. The Enlightenment concept of human rights is ever so contagious that no human being will settle for less. Rights belong to ALL people not just some people.
//news.yahoo.com/palestinians-chip-away-male-...
US reporter held by Syrian forces//news.yahoo.com/us-reporter-held-syrian-forc...
Today's speech by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Mooncontinued to put his challenge to the regime.
Speaking today at Tehran's School of International Relations about human rights he said:
Restricting freedom of expression and
suppressing social activism will only set back development and plant the
seeds of instability.
It is especially important for the voices of Iran’s people to be heard during next year’s presidential election.
That is why I have urged the authorities during my visit this time to
release opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and
social activists to create the conditions for free expression and open
debate.
I also urge Iran to strengthen cooperation with the human
rights mechanisms of the United Nations, in particular the Special
Rapporteur. I have discussed this matter with your leadership.<
The Secretary General concluded:
My purpose today is to highlight the cost of Iran’s current trajectory, both at home and in the international arena.
Any country at odds with the international community is one that
denies itself much-needed investment and finds itself isolated from the
thrust of common progress.
Any country at odds with itself deprives itself of its people’s energy and goodwill, and sets the stage for future instability.
WOW! Morsi speech was something else says Guardian reporter
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 09:14 AM PDTSimon Tisdale wrote:
Morsi's fierce condemnation of the Syrian regime, Iran's close ally,
was as eloquent as it was piercing, and it came like a bolt from the
blue. He didn't just rain on the Iranians' parade. It was as if
Hurricane Isaac had taken a sharp turn north across the Caspian and
unleashed its wrathful furies on an unsuspecting Tehran.
The
Syrian delegation walked out. The Iranians did not have that option –
they could hardly boycott their own meeting. Instead they were forced to
listen as Morsi, a Muslim Brother, an Arab, and lifelong critic of
western policy in the Middle East, thumped out an uncompromising speech
that could have come straight from Hillary Clinton's playbook.
"We
should all express our full support to the struggle of those who are
demanding freedom and justice in Syria and translate our sympathies into
a clear political vision that supports peaceful transfer (of power) to a
democratic system," Morsi told the 120-country summit.
Morsi said the world had a "moral duty" to back the Syrian opposition, whom he provocatively likened to the Palestinians...
Morsi's speech all but completed Iran's isolation. That Russia
continues to block effective UN action cannot disguise the fact that
among all the – mostly Arab – countries of the region, non-Arab Iran is
out on a limb over Syria, just as it is over its suspect nuclear
programme.
Morsi's stand was typically courageous. For many
Egyptians their president's autonomy of thought and deed may be a matter
of growing pride. This is the same man, after all, who boldly asserted
civilian control over the military after his election victory, summarily
dismissing the country's post-Mubarak leader, Field Marshal Mohammed
Hussein Tantawi, the military's chief of staff, and the heads of Egypt's
army, navy and air force.
And even as he bearded the Iranian
leadership on their own patch, Morsi has made clear that Egypt's fawning
subservience to Washington, evident during the long Mubarak years, is
also a thing of the past.
His decision to travel to Iran at all
was a signal of his independence. So, too, is his apparent determination
to restore Egypt to its historic role as the Middle East's leading
nation, a position coveted by Iran.
//www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/3...
Can you top this analysis of Tehran's NAM Conference?
by FG on Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:58 AM PDTif the delegates do manage to step outside their diplomatic bubble, as unlikely as that is, they would see a young and dynamic population eager for change, angry at the status quo, and hard-hit by sanctions and international isolation. Tehran is a society on edge, with high rates of drug addiction, severe economic decline of the middle class, and a tense political climate fraught with the triple fear of increased government repression, further sanctions, and the possibility of a war with Israel and the US.
The visit of a few diplomats from Asia, Africa and Latin America will do nothing for the Iranian father who must hold two jobs just to make ends meet - caught between a choking sanctions regime, an economy riven by corruption and mismanagement and a government that seems to care more about its international image than its own people.
Witness the Iranian government's reaction to the devastating earthquake this month, in the north-west of the country, that killed hundreds of people and left thousands homeless. In one of the most callous decisions on the part of any government anywhere, the Islamic Republic announced that it had stopped searching for survivors under the rubble less than 24 hours after the quake - even though hundreds of years of quake history reveals that victims can survive for days, even weeks.
The chest-thumping Iranian speech-givers at the Nam summit will probably not remember the quake victims in their speeches. They will be too busy spinning a narrative to the world, a narrative of victory and defiance - a narrative that the world is not buying.
It has been 33 years since Iran's revolutionaries overthrew the Shah and ushered in an Islamic Republic - a largely failed experiment that has brought more brutal repression, economic failure, a restive population, international isolation and the crude callousness of a government that simply leaves victims of a quake under the rubble, leaves them literally to die.
The world is open today, much more so than Iranian government officials would like to admit. The world hears the cries of Iranian dissidents, sees the youths beaten in the streets, reads the articles about economic pain resulting from sanctions. The world cannot be duped.
SOURCE: The National Iran hypes a summit that is meaningless to its people Afshin Molavi //www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/...
Syria roundup
by FG on Thu Aug 30, 2012 01:30 PM PDTThe material below come from James Miller of Enduring America unless otherwise stated).
GRUESOME VIDEO FROM HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
REGIME BOMBS 10 BAKERIES TO DEPRIVE SYRIAN CIVILIANS OF FOOD
Human Rights Watch has accused regime forces of dropping bombs and firing artillery at or near at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo Province over the past three weeks, killing and maiming scores of civilians who were waiting for bread.
HRW suggested that the "recklessly indiscriminate" may have deliberately targeted civilians.
One attack in the city of Aleppo on 16 August killed up to 60 people and wounded more than 70. Another attack in the city on 21 August killed at least 23 people and wounded 30.
HRW researchers visited six of the sites and interviewed witnesses for the report.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMfE9_q6kvw&feature=player_embedded
SYRIA: THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Martin Chulov of the Guardian posts a lengthy report from Aleppo which is in stark contrast to President Assad's optimism:
The battle between President Assad's regime and the Free Syrian Army is a life-or-death struggle. But whatever its outcome, this is a civil war being fought on a faultline that threatens the entire Middle East
//www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/29/syria-point-of-no-return?CMP=twt_gu
AMAZING CASUALTY STATS
The director of the regime's Tishrin military hospital in Damascus has stated that over 8,000 regime personnel have been killed since the conflict started last year.
"Every day, we receive an average of 15 to 20 bodies of soldiers and members of security forces, with the numbers increasing since the beginning of the year," he told an AFP reporter.
Tishrin received 47 bodies on Wednesday, but in late July—when fighting raged in the capital as the rebels tried to seize control—"we received more than 100 people daily for three days," the doctor said.
What's shocking about the number is that the opposition is only claiming that 2342 insurgents have been killed so far (according to the Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria. Does this really mean that the insurgents are killing the regime forces at a rate of nearly 4 to 1?
NOTE: Journalists claimed that civilian constitute make up as much as 90 percent of all those killed by the regime's tactics (indiscriminate bombing and shelling and cold-blooded executions)
DEIR EZ ZOR & REGIME SETBACKA
Just days before the initial fighting in Aleppo, Deir Ez Zor was largely peaceful, but in a sudden collapse the regime has lost much of the province and is now fighting in desperate and ugly combat in many areas. Because of the fighting in Aleppo, Damascus, and now Daraa, the regime is struggling to keep supplies and troops in Deir Ez Zor - a far-flung province with either opposition-held territory or desert between it and the regime strongholds in the west.
TROUBLE IN LATTAKIA PROVINCE?
Lattakia province is not the regime stronghold that many have considered it. The Lattakia mountains are barely on our radar screen, because it is so remote and so hard to pull reliable data from. So when Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reported from there (see update 1105) she dropped a bomb shell that we did not know. According to Turton, reporting from Salma (map), the town of Al Haffah was recently under full FSA control for 9 days. Al Haffah is less than 15 miles from Lattakia (map). In other words, even in the heart of the Assad stronghold, the insurgents are eating away. While a Free Syrian Army victory in Lattakia is not likely, if the fighting is occurring there, and the military has to divert resources to win there, then the military will have less resources to fight in places where it has major disadvantages (Idlib province, Homs, and Deir Ez Zor), and fewer resources to fight where it is deadlocked in stalemate (Aleppo, Hama, Daraa).
(Both of the above assessments come from James Miller of Enduring America)
ANOTHER REGIME FIGHTER GOES DOWN AND ANOTHER RETALIATION MASSACRE FOLLOWS
A massacre has taken place in Abu ad Duhur (map), an apparent reprisal for the insurgent attack on the nearby air base that knocked a Syrian fighter jet out of the sky (see earlier updates below). Buildings have reportedly collapsed, the reported result of bombing raids.
Here's a link to a video of the downed pilot:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktdxkdWyUBQ&feature=player_embedded
REGIME HAS LOST CONTROL OF MOST OF ALEPPO
The fighting continues in Aleppo, particularly in the Saleh el Dine district, the area that the regime was supposed to have "liberated" weeks ago. But the fighting in Aleppo, Syria's largest and wealthiest city, it's "New York," has entered its second month, and the regime has almost no control over the majority of the districts.
In a tweet, Miller notes: Basically, almost none of Aleppo is really under regime control except military bases. FSA never really "holds" places either.
Here's a video of FSA members creating IED's in the district where they've turned holes knocked in buildings by regime forces into a resistance asset.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdLDlu10Z6I&feature=player_embedded
AL JAZEERAH TELLS WHAT MORSE REALLY SAID IN TEHRAN SPEECH
//www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/08/20128308579560767.html
LIKE IT OR NOT, GENERAL TLASS MAY BE THE BEST CHOICE IF THE GOAL IS TO AVOID SECTARIAN CONFLICT AFTER ASSAD FALLS
David Ignatius makes a persuasive case for Tlass in the Washington Post. Among the concerns however is Tlass's association with fascist elements in France and objections by FSA leaders in the field. Assuming Tlass is chosen to head a transitional government and assuming he behaves democratically, some jihadis and Salafist may be a problem no matter who is in charge.
On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood, copying Erdogan's relative moderation, will suck votes away from Salafis. As for radicals with no interest in democratic elections of any sort, I suspect they'll be shipped off to Lebanon and Iraq.
Excerpt:
Tlass said that before there can be a political transition, there must first be a channel of trust between the opposition Free Syrian Army and reconcilable members of the military who are ready to break with Assad as Tlass did. Without such links, he said, Assad’s overthrow would plunge the country into a period of anarchic violence, and Syria’s chemical weapons would be up for grabs.
“Today, many Alawites are not happy with what’s happening on the ground, but where is the safe zone for them?” he said. “Alawites need to know that there’s a strong side that will guarantee their safety if they defect.”
Though Tlass is a Sunni Muslim, he commanded a unit of the Special Republican Guard, which is about 80 percent Alawite, the ethnic minority from which Assad and his inner circle are drawn.
Tlass, 49, spoke movingly about his break from Assad, who, he said, has so bloodied his name that he will never be able to rule Syria effectively again. It began in the spring of 2011, when protests were spreading and Tlass offered to meet with demonstrators. He told Assad about an April meeting in Darayya with young rebels, whose fathers were silent but obviously proud. “This is the revolution of the fathers through their children,” Tlass warned, noting that such a conflict would be impossible to win by force.
//www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-syrian-defector-manaf-tlass-has-a-new-mission/2012/08/29/3ca0415c-f1f6-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html
WHAT'S UP IN WESTERN SYRIA?
Al Jazeera English's Sue Turton reports from Salma in western Syria on young men taking up arms against the regime:
Young men take up arms in Syria's west Despite lacking heavy weaponry, rebels try to defend their communities against tanks and fighter jets. //www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/20128306348326678.html
State media is now LYING OUTRIGHT about Morsi's speech
by FG on Thu Aug 30, 2012 12:21 PM PDTIt is bad enough that the regime censored Morsi's live speech via deliberate mistranslation. Now Morsi's position on Syria has been turned completely upside down.
Khabar Online is telling Iranians that Morsi issued a warning of "sedition" against the Syrian people. Supposedly Morsi said all Syrians hope that the "popular" regime remains in power. Fars followed up Morsi's speech with an article entiled, ""Egypt Thinks of Iran as a Strategic Partner".
However, there is one exception. Baztab, run by a former ally of Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, not only carries Morsi's comments in full but claims that Iranian translators replaced the word "Syria" with "Bahrain" to blunt his remarks about Damascus. (FG: Talk about nerve!)
NOTE: Rezaei is a strong critic of the Greens and a defender of the 2009 rigged elections. However, his position on Syria seems 180 degrees away from the position of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, the Larinjanis, etc.
REPERCUSSIONS?:
Any attendees who understood Morsi's words must have noticed the immense gap between wheat Morsi was saying and what the translator was offering. Chalk up another embarrassment.
Morsi and the Egyptian press wiil not look favorably on having the regime's words placed in his mouth. This is not the first time it has happened either. Khamenei's interest in information control at home (as in "the whole world admires the IRI") seem to have taken priority over its courtship of Morsi. The latteri has experienced a double taste of Iran's treachery even as his presidency has barely started.
This is a formative period when it comes to shaping his attitudes, trust and expectation when it comes to Iran's mullocracy. Add to that counter-pressues from Saudi Arabia, the West and other neighbors. What chance does Iran's courtship have?