(last edits June 15)
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Okay, for a while there's been an issue with this blog's name and subject matter mismatching
On the one hand, it's just a technicality; a name's a name. On the other hand, it seems to seriously effect how many people find the non-Libya material here. I don't think the url does that, just the blog title and description.
I still go back and forth on whether to leave this as the Libya blog (that might just stay stalled) and start a new general blog (better late than never). And start from scratch with that. Ugh. Keep it all here and keep the existing traffic? That's the winning idea to me, but I'd like to get more thoughts.
The name to change to is not set yet - I have no perfect offering. The best is something that lends credence to the info we most need people to see. Somehow, covering massacres in detail is what I/we have done the most and the best - with massacre set broadly to include protesters-shootings, alleged poison gas attacks, etc.
So one title I'm half-tempted to just adopt right now is:
Monitor on Massacre Marketing
(term borrowed from Jurgen Todenhoffer - he referred to the rebel's Houla Massacre, and called it "hideous," in German)
But it's not perfect. It suggests morbidity, that we should be or might want to be looking at all kinds of massacres anywhere. But I think a narrowing to controversial ones that need re-examined, in areas of active information warfare with that horrible aspect and we can see it being abused. The truth is roughly upside-down from the accepted version, with criminals rewarded and victims punished. That's not right and we kick its ass, as far as words go.
As covered, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, would all be areas where this has happened recently. Other areas surely apply, others yet would debatably fit the bill. The incident coverage I've opted to bring here, mainly highlights I was hoping to boost, all fit the bill of what I'd like to keep doing. Related non-deadly issues of deception in violating sovereignty and stuff like that will probably keep seeming relevant enough to include as well.
I'm especially keen to hear from team members Petri and Felix,from solid contributors like h, lurking followers, other commentators. What gets the right tone, has a nice ring, etc. ? And should it happen here soon, or on a belated new platform soon, with a crash project of promoting it to relevance ASAP?
And I'd like to see more at the chosen place, by me, existing team members, and maybe a new member or two. Sections will need managed, etc.
Comments?
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June 15: Hearing no other thoughts, I'm going with keeping the profile, views, and momentum gained here - I've started re-wiring the page, as the sidebar shows. I'm preparing a header now for Monitor on Massacre Marketing. By-line still to be decided.
Any last minute thoughts?
Header finished. Slick, huh?
Monitor on Massacre Marketing
ReplyDelete(term borrowed from Jurgen Todenhoffer - he referred to the rebel's Houla Massacre,
and called it "hideous," in German)
July 11 , 2012
On July 11, German writer Jurgen Todenhofer confirmed the presence of Al Qaeda insurgents in Syria.
He met with them, he said. He holds them and others like them responsible for
mass terror attacks.
He described a “massacre marketing strategy.”
He called it “among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict.”
He added that Western media distort what’s happening on the ground.
Viewers and readers know it’s their stock and trade.
They’re paid to lie. Journalists dedicated to truth and full disclosure need not apply.
On July 24, Asia Times writer John Rosenthal headlined “German intelligence:
al-Qaeda all over Syria,” saying:
“German intelligence estimates that ‘around 90′ terror attacks that ‘can be attributed
to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups’ were carried out in Syria between
the end of December and the beginning of July,
as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).”
Die Welt and Bild published similar reports.
All three name Al Qaeda behind the May 25 Houla massacre.
Russian journalist Marat Musin was there. He said hundreds of “bandits and mercenaries” were responsible.
Washington’s imperial tactics involve cutthroat killer atrocities. Human lives have no value.
Only wealth, privilege and dominance matter. US officials don’t keep body counts.
Objectives are pursued lawlessly.
Rosenthal cited Die Welt contributor Alfred Hackensberger.
Taldo is part of Syria’s Houla region. Insurgents controlled it for months, said Hackensberger. They bear responsibility for Houla killings.
He visited the area. He interviewed an eyewitness. He left him unidentified for his safety.
He was at Qara’s Saint James Monastery. Victims were pro-Assad Sunnis, he said.
Many people know what happened but won’t say “out of fear for their lives.”
“Whoever says something can only repeat the rebels’ version. Anything else is certain death.”
Hackensberger related similar stories.
A former Qusayr resident said Christians and others refusing to “enroll their children in the Free Syrian Army” were shot. He held “foreign Islamists” responsible.
“I have seen them with my own eyes,” he said.
Pakistanis, Libyans, Tunisians and also Lebanese. They call Osama bin Laden their sheikh.”
A Homs Sunni resident told Hackensberger he witnessed armed insurgents stopping a bus.
“The passengers were divided into two groups: on one side, Sunnis; on the other, Alawis.”
Nine Alawis were decapitated.
Rosenthal said:
“That the German government would cite national interest in refusing to disclose its information (publicly) concerning the circumstances of the Houla massacre is particularly notable in light of Germany’s support for the rebellion and its political arm, the Syrian National Council (SNC).”
It plays a quiet behind the scenes role, he added. Its foreign office is involved in developing “political transition” plans.
So is former US Saudi Arabia ambassador Prince Bandar, reports Haaretz.
His close ties to the Bush family earned him the nickname “Bandar Bush.”
For years he’s been involved with Washington’s Syria regime change plans.
He now serves as Saudi intelligence chief. He’s also National Security Council secretary-general.
His intelligence appointment involves “preparing for the next stage in Syria,” said Haaretz.
His wife has Al Qaeda “connections.” He’s considered “CIA’s man in Riyadh.” He’s “known as a can-do” guy.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-proxy-al-qaeda-death-squads-in-syria/32086
Massacre Marketing Strategy
ReplyDeleteMahdi Alharatne battalion commander of "martyrs of Tripoli" was the first who arrived at Syria
to fight alongside the armed groups, Alharatne who has that fought in Kosovo and Iraq
arrived in the countryside of Idlib from the Turkish border...
The influx of Libyan fighters in Syria began in late 2011
http://respect-discussion.blogspot.com/2013/01/names-and-photos-libya-fighters-die-in.html
There are no figures of how many Libyan fighters are in Syria, but some civil society organizations indicate that they exceed the thousands
Libyan mobility in Syria was not only present in rural Idlib and Aleppo but quickly extended
to the city of Homs, and the countryside areas of Damascus,
https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2012/12/page/3/
https://goldandguns.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/image-2179.png?w=500&h=338
Belhadj with (Wisam Ben Ahmaid ) = Khaled Khafifi
https://goldandguns.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/benghazi-a-recap-part-ii/
July 22, 2012
https://twitter.com/Ward0075/status/333206130668998661
. This is a rare photograph of him taken him in Misrata 2011
وفي يوم 19 مارس قتل اكثر من 7 مرتزقة بالسلاح الابيض وكان يقفز على الدبابات ويخرج في المرتزقة من داخل الدبابات
He killed more than 7 mercenaries on March 19 in Bayda 2011
He told his friends that he had killed four members of the Libyan army with just a knife
http://tunisiereferencement.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post_1586.html
Khaled Khafifi fought in Afghanistan, then returned to Libya to lead the revolution in Benghazi,
the field commander Khaled Khafifi Alakora, who died after being injured in the clashes in the city of Benghazi
Khafifi went to fight in Syria after joining one of the extremist Phalanges there
and later returned to Libya to fight in the ranks
of the so-called Shura Council Benghazi rebels and Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi
It is worth mentioning that the Ansar al-Sharia in eastern Libya invited
what they called the "Mujahideen" to come to Libya
to fight in the ranks of the organization.
http://www.alwasat.ly/ar/mobile/article?articleid=46736
https://twitter.com/sonnaleb3/status/230366753597825024
A family of 4 who was shot by rebels 2 years ago, are still decaying in their car
ReplyDeletethanks to rebel snipers. #Aleppo
https://twitter.com/ProSyriana/status/616402145701531648
March 18 2012
State news channel Syria TV said the terrorist explosion had been between two residential buildings in the al-Suleimaniya district of Aleppo, behind a post office building.
It showed building fronts blasted open, masonry littering the street and a blood-spattered street corner.
Mohammed Saeed, an Aleppo resident, told the AP a car bomb exploded near the Political Security Directorate in the city's central neighborhood of Suleimaniyeh. He said the neighborhood has a large Christian population.
http://www.ibtimes.com/car-bomb-aleppo-continues-deadly-wave-syria-426674
Thu Aug 30, 2012
Four armed men were also killed by a Syrian Army unit while attempting to enter the Seif al-Dawla neighborhood of the largest city of Aleppo. The Syrian Army has also killed hundreds of insurgents, among them large numbers of foreign nationals, in and around the northern city of Aleppo over the past days
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/30/259052/scores-killed-in-fresh-syria-clashes/
In confessions broadcast by the Syrian Arab TV on Sunday after the 8:30 PM news,
Libyan terrorist Ibrahim Rajab al-Farajani said that societies and organizations funded by Arab Gulf countries and affiliated with Al Qaeda train terrorists in Libya then send them to Syria via Turkey.
http://www.shoah.org.uk/2012/08/28/libyan-recruit-reveals-how-terrorists-are-trained-in-libya-funded-by-arab-gulf-countries-sent-to-syria/
Afterwards, al-Farajani accompanied four terrorists into the town of Saraqeb in a pickup truck to where a group of Syrians were using a girls’ highschool to train in the use of DShK and PKC machineguns and RPG launchers.
'Syria's rebel army? They're a gang of foreigners' A victorious army? There were cartridge cases all over the ancient stone laneways, pocked windows, and bullet holes up the side
of the Sharaf mosque, where a gunman had been firing from the minaret.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/syrias-rebel-army-theyre-a-gang-of-foreigners-28784329.html