89% vote in favor of new Syrian Constitution
RT | 27 February, 2012
Syria’s Interior Minister has announced that 89 per cent of those who took part in the referendum have voted in favor of a new constitution. The new law puts an end to five decades of one-party rule among other reforms put forward by President Assad.
Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar announced the results of the referendum at a press conference on Monday.
According to the minister, out of 14,580,000 Syrians eligible to vote some 8,376,000, or about 57 per cent, actually came to the polling stations and voted, RT’s Maria Finoshina reports from Damascus.
Al-Shaar said that the opposition groups tried to hamper the vote in some troubled areas like Homs and Idlib. Armed rebels did not allow some people to get to the polling stations he said.
Those who live in such troubled regions had a chance to vote at polling stations which had been set up out of areas where clashes with the armed opposition still continue. Syrians who live in neighboring countries voted at stations set up near the borders.
“We are satisfied with the results,” al-Shaar said, as cited by Finoshina. “The Syrian people have made their choice.”
The adopted constitution includes 14 new and 47 amended articles. The reforms put forward by President Assad are designed to stop the bloody uprising and pave the way for free elections in the country.
An unprecedented referendum on a new draft constitution took place in Syria on Sunday. Syrians took an active part in the crucial vote and the officials said turnout was very high.
Despite the fact that the opposition boycotted the referendum, calling it an empty gesture, and called for mass protests, there were no public order violations in Damascus during the vote.
Western politicians considered the referendum to be a farce, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling it “a cynical ploy” and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle describing it as a “sham vote.”
Meanwhile, on Monday the European Union has slapped the Syrian government with its toughest set of sanctions yet. They include an asset freeze on officials, and a ban on importing precious metals and minerals from the country.
More than a year since the uprising in Syria began, violence is still raging on in some parts of the country, including the flashpoint city of Homs, where dozens were reported killed during the weekend.
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Lebanese Defense Minister: Iran Playing Vital Role in Region
Al-Manar | February 25, 2012
Lebanese Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said on Saturday that Iran was playing an important role in the region.
Before leaving Beirut’s airport for Tehran on an official visit, Ghosn said he is scheduled to exchange views with Iranian officials on expansion of mutual ties as well as cooperation between the two countries’ defense ministries. He praised Iran’s progress in different scientific, technological and industrial fields.
He added that Iran and Lebanon enjoy amicable and historical relations and Beirut favors reinforcement of mutual relations to serve the two nations.
The Lebanese defense minister said he is also to discuss with his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi who invited him, the existing agreement between Iranian and Lebanese defense ministries and ways of implementing it.
Syrians head to polls in referendum on new constitution
Press TV – February 26, 2012
People in Syria are heading to the polling stations across the country to cast their ballots in a national referendum on a new constitution.
The polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Sunday.
The new national charter would drop the Article 8 in the existing charter and will pave the way for multi-party parliamentary elections within three months.
Earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad unveiled the proposed constitution as part of his reform efforts.
More than 14 million people over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in Sunday’s referendum at the 13,835 polling stations across the country.
China and Russia, which have both vetoed resolutions against Syria at the UN Security Council, have expressed support for the process.
“China hopes that national dialogue and reforms will move forward in Syria,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said earlier this month.
“We hope that the referendum on a new constitution as well as the forthcoming parliamentary elections pass off calmly,” Zhai added.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Hundreds of people, including security forces, have been killed in the unrest.
Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the Syrian government of killing protesters.
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Anglo-French drone files stolen
Press TV – February 23, 2012
Highly secret documents related to the Anglo-French project aimed at building Europe’s assassination drones have been stolen at the Gare du Nord station in Paris.
A briefcase containing highly confidential documents relating to the Anglo-French assassination drone project has been stolen from a senior French executive.
The senior executive from Dassault Aviation, a French manufacturer of military jets, was on his way to London when two people, possibly linked to “a highly-sophisticated operation by a spy agency” as described by the French police, stole the documents.
Britain and France agreed to carry out a joint project aimed at building a new generation of assassination drones, known as Male (medium altitude long endurance) drones, by 2020.
British arms giant BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation are to launch the joint venture so that the new assassination drones will fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the US and Britain’s so-called “War on Terror.”
British anti-arms campaigners have severely criticized the Anglo-French project as they describe the assassination drones as “the latest ‘must have’ weapon system” that Britain is “desperate” to build.
“Drones are the latest ‘must have’ weapon system and it is important they say, that the UK keeps up with the US and Israel in this key market,” said Drone Wars UK in a statement.
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Gaza water and sewer infrastructure displaces neighborhood
By Rami Almeghari | The Electronic Intifada | 13 February 2012
Gaza City – “Many of us women and children have gathered here at this mosque, after bulldozers demolished our homes. Unfortunately, those who displaced us are not the Israelis this time, but our own brothers in Gaza,” said an angry Umm Khaled al-Najjar, 50, as she held her grandson.
Al-Najjar and dozens of other women and children from the Hamami coastal neighborhood in western Gaza City took shelter last Wednesday at the mosque on the al-Rashid road after the demolitions of their homes on the orders of the Gaza municipality and the Gaza Lands Authority.
“They attacked our neighborhood early on Wednesday morning,” al-Najjar told The Electronic Intifada. “A contingent of police including female officers stormed the home and I fainted after the police hit my son in his back. Believe me, what happened is similar to Israeli actions against us for the past four decades, it is unbelievable, unbelievable.” The interview took place on Wednesday afternoon, as bulldozers were still flattening the area.
Abdullah Miqdad is another area resident. An elderly man, he was sitting on the road with many other men from the same demolished neighborhood. Anger, sadness and depression were drawn on the face of Miqdad and his neighbors, as the loud roar of the bulldozers could be heard in the background.
“I am the head of an eight member family and I recall that my father and I, when I was a child, were forced out of the Palestinian town of Hamama back in 1948, when Israeli occupation forces expelled us all from Palestine,” Miqdad said. “I wonder why they have done this excessive thing to us.”
Adel Abu Shiail owned a small grocery shop and house in the area. Both were victims of the bulldozers. “What happened to us has let our tears flow,” Abu Shiail said. “Yes, I cried, for this was my home for many years. I cried for the shop that was my main source of income for me and my five daughters. Where should we go, what should we do now?”
Abu Shiail said that he used to work in Israel, but that became impossible after 2000 due to tightened closures and the store had been his main sustenance.
Local fisherman and resident Ahmad Abu Samaan expressed the shock that many of his neighbors felt: “We never expected that these people, who must be our national authority, would even dare to attack us so brutally and force us out of our homes in which we lived for decades. Why did they do it? Why?”
Official explanations
Gaza authorities say the demolitions are necessary to implement a major traffic improvement project.
At the Gaza municipality building in Gaza City, those responsible for the demolitions were more than happy to provide their own explanation of what was going on.
“We in the municipality have rarely executed such major projects in the coastal city. This is due to the fact that the Israeli blockade of Gaza as well as the frequent Israeli army attacks on the region prevented us doing so,” Hatem al-Sheikh Khaleil, an engineer, said, “This is the first time that we embark on such a large-scale bulldozing as we are going to start a major infrastructure project.”
Khaleil said the project — to widen the 40 kilometer al-Rashid coastal road and install a sewage and water network in the coastal area of western Gaza City — was in cooperation with the Gaza-based Lands Authority and the Palestine Telecommunication Company, under a German grant of €11 million ($14.5 million).
The al-Rashid coastal road is one of two main roads in the Gaza Strip and much of the traffic here relies on it, especially in summer time. The road is too narrow to absorb the traffic of 1.6 million residents of the tiny coastal territory, according to municipal officials in Gaza.
“For the past six months we have been trying to kick off this vital infrastructure project. It is true that Gaza needs a lot of repair from the great damage that the region has suffered due to the Israeli blockade and attacks. So it is also imperative that we start such an internationally-funded project,” Khaleil added.
Over the past five years, the Gaza authorities have been unable to commence reconstruction projects across the coastal enclave due to continued lack of raw materials, caused by the Israeli blockade of Gaza. This is the first time since the blockade that Palestinians in Gaza are able to execute major infrastructure projects.
Compensation
The Palestinian Lands Authority in Gaza told the Electronic Intifada that the fifty displaced families will be transferred to government-owned lands in southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
“For the past six months, the Lands Authority sent out several notices to these families to vacate their homes ahead of demolitions,” Amal Shamali, a spokesperson for the Lands Authority said.
“We negotiated with representatives of the families over a land swap in the northern Gaza Strip and near the beach also. The chief of the Lands Authority himself went along with representatives of the families to the Attatra area, but later they refused our offer,” she added.
According to the Lands Authority, the targeted Hamami neighborhood has always been government-owned land and therefore, from an official point of view, the residents were squatters.
“On 17 January, the Hamas-led cabinet in Gaza approved compensation to the residents of the Hamami neighborhood, on which the expansion of the road and the sewage water network will be implemented. The government allocated urgent assistance of $1,500 for each displaced family to rent a home for six months. Also, under the land swap, each family will get a piece of land from 150 square meters to 300 square meters at a discounted price, to be paid by monthly installments for a period of ten years,” Shamali said.
Yet such arrangements were not on the minds of the shocked residents of the now demolished neighborhood.
“At least they should have notified us about the demolitions a few days ago, not come overnight abruptly and start bulldozing our homes. This is so cruel by a government that is supposed to be our own Palestinian national government,” said Adel Abu Shiail, angrily pointing his finger at a bulldozer that had just demolished his store.
The displaced families now face an uncertain future, far from the homes in which many have lived for 63 years.
Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.
~
“Alternative” media sources, including Pacifica radio, reported this story without providing the context shown above under the heading “official explanation”.
Netanyahu: Abbas must choose between Hamas and peace
Ma’an – 06/02/2012
BETHLEHEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to reconciliation between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Monday, after the parties signed an agreement in Qatar to form a unity government to prepare for elections.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks to destroy Israel and is supported by Iran,” Netanyahu insisted during a meeting of his Likud party.
“I have said more than once that the Palestinian Authority must chose between an alliance with Hamas, or peace with Israel. Hamas and peace do not go together.”
Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal agreed that Abbas will head the joint government at a meeting in Doha on Monday.
The accord also included agreements on releasing political prisoners, reforming the Palestinian National Council and activating the PLO for the next elections, Palestine TV said.
Fatah and Hamas agreed to end four years of bitter dispute and rival governments in May 2011, but the deal has repeatedly stalled as disagreements rumble on. The candidate to lead an interim unity government had been a key sticking point.
After the May deal, Israeli officials froze the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, collected by Israel on the PA’s behalf under international agreements. When Mashaal and Abbas met again in November, Israel moved to maintain a second freeze, initially imposed after Abbas applied for full Palestinian membership of the UN.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office after the Qatar meeting on Monday did not refer to punitive measures, but warned that the deal would imperil the peace process.
“If Abbas implements what has been signed today in Doha, then he has chosen to renounce the path of peace and embrace Hamas.
“I tell Abbas: you can’t have your cake and eat it, either you have a deal with Hamas or chose peace with Israel.”
PLO officials held five rounds of exploratory talks with Israeli representatives in January, but insist they cannot progress to direct negotiations until Israel halts settlement building on occupied Palestinian land.
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Doha agreement: Government under Abbas to prepare for elections
Palestine Information Center – 06/02/2012
DOHA — Hamas and Fatah factions have agreed on the formation of a new Palestinian government under chairmanship of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas that would primarily be concerned with preparing for the general elections.
The agreement, which was signed by Abbas and political chairman of Hamas Khaled Mishaal under Qatari patronage, stipulates postponing the presidential and parliamentary elections for “procedural reasons” but did not fix a new date.
It stipulated among other things the formation of a government of technocrats that would prepare for the elections and reconstruction of Gaza.
The agreement also called for progressing in the reactivation and restructuring of the PLO and for re-formation of the Palestinian national council in correspondence with the elections. They agreed in this respect on holding the second meeting on the PLO in Cairo on 18 February.
The agreement called for continuation of the reconciliation-related committees.
Gaza premier Ismail Haneyya welcomed the agreement and announced his government’s preparedness to implement it.
Independent MP Jamal Al-Khudari also welcomed the agreement and hoped that it would herald an end to the division in the Palestinian political arena.
Khader Habib, a leader with Islamic Jihad movement, called for expediting implementation of the agreement on the ground, adding that his movement would not join the government, which he described as temporary with independent members.
The popular front for the liberation of Palestine objected to the agreement, saying that it was against the legislation passed by the Palestinian legislative council back in 2003 that separated between the posts of president and premier.
Other political analysts and writers expressed reserved optimism toward the agreement while others rejected it outright such as Dr. Abdul Sattar Qassem, political science professor and former presidential candidate, who expected failure of the agreement.
Qassem attributed his conclusion to the fact that the agreement did not resolve the root causes of the internal Palestinian division.
‘Kuwait gives more land to US military’
Press TV – January 29, 2012
Kuwait has reportedly provided the US Army with 10 hectares of its Failaka Island to be used for US military bases.
According to Kuwaiti media, the United States has stationed about 15,000 new troops in its military bases in Kuwait. The troops have been relocated to Kuwait from Iraq.
The United States has also installed radar and missile systems in the Kuwaiti seaport region of Shuaiba, the report said.
The report comes despite Kuwait’s denial in November 2011 that the country would host more US troops.
The US currently has several military bases on an area of about 40 percent of Kuwait’s land. Kuwaiti residents are not allowed to pass without a permit through these areas.
Arab League plan ‘outrageous meddling’ in Syria
Press TV – January 24, 2012
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says a new Arab League proposal that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step down is “outrageous interference” in Syria’s internal affairs.
Muallem said in a press conference in the capital Damascus on Tuesday that Syria “will not accept the plan that infringes upon Syria’s sovereignty.”
On Sunday, the Arab League issued a statement after a meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, calling on President Assad to “transfer power to the vice president to form a government of national unity within two months.”
Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, the head of the observer mission in Syria, said in a press conference in Cairo on Monday the situation has improved in Syria since the monitoring mission began on December 26, 2011.
The Syrian foreign minister said the Arab League has made “political decisions instead of discussing its observer mission’s report on Syria.”
Muallem added that the report proves that “armed gangs are still active in Syria and that the Syrian government is decisively fighting against them.”
Muallem’s remarks come as the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council member states jointly announced on Tuesday that the countries have decided to “follow Saudi Arabia’s decision to pull out its observers from the Arab League mission in Syria.”
On Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh is withdrawing from the observer mission because “the Syrian government has not respected any of the clauses” of the Arab League resolution to end the unrest in Syria.
The withdrawal decision was made despite the final statement of the Sunday Arab League meeting in Cairo that said the organization “agreed to extend the mission and boost the number of observers” in Syria.
The Syrian government says foreign-sponsored “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” are responsible for the unrest in the country that broke out in mid-March 2011.
Regime Change Inc at work in Cuba
Niq Naq | January 20, 2012
Alan Gross was tracked by Cuban authorities since 2004 and traveled there at least five times in 2009 to set up sophisticated wireless Internet networks, according to a leaked court filing. The document gives blow-by-blow descriptions of his work with Cuban Jewish communities to establish independent, satellite-based wireless networks in synagogues in three cities. It alleges he recruited US citizens as “mules” to help him bring restricted telecommunications equipment to the island. It cites files recovered from a seized memory stick that talked about “communicating securely in repressive environments” and mentioned “political activists who operate in non-permissive environments.” It also said Gross told users of the wireless networks he set up not to use their last names in their email addresses. – AP Report
Gross’s employer DAI “operates with US democracy-promotion funds.” It received $382,491,550.13 from USAID in 2010.
U.S. government promoting Internet aggression against Cuba
By Jean Guy Allard | Cuba Debate* | April 7th, 2011
The Department of State and its destabilizing agency USAID project interventionist operations attempting to use the Internet as an instrument of infiltration and intelligence within Cuban national territory
This has been confirmed on the Cuba Money Project website by U.S. journalist and investigator Tracey Eaton, who published a document identified with these U.S. special service agencies, dated January 11, 2011, which reveals how “ideas” are being solicited from non-governmental organizations and specialized businesses interested in carrying out projects related to the use of the Internet “in Cuba and in other nations.”
The document was published shortly before the trial in Havana of U.S. citizen Alan Philip Gross, working under contract for USAID, for his illegal activities.
Proposals could be submitted through February 7. “The Department of State has not specified – and surely, it won’t – what organizations will implement these projects,” writes Eaton, a former correspondent in Havana for the Dallas Morning News.
Budgets that range from $500,000 to eight million are available for these projects, for a total which could reach $30 million, according to her study.
Moreover, the money comes from the 2010 federal budget and not the next year’s.
The Department of State, in a clarification which appears to refer directly to the Alan Gross case or previous intelligence operations, details that the eligible organizations must “have experience of working in hostile environments.”
The focus of these operations, called web-based circumvention technology, is precisely to avoid and disrupt the usual systems of detection (firewalls and filters) used to protect computers from multiple forms of illicit activity on the web, established by legislation in all countries.
The strategy includes a “training program” to develop a “network of instructors” who would undertake operations with “threatened organizations.” Read: organizations operating illegally.
The organizations and businesses invited to submit proposals must be able to “train bloggers, citizen-journalists and civic organizations” and promote the use of new communication person-to-person technologies and “social networks.”
The program even suggests a “defense fund” for activists with legal problems related to hacking and “cyber-intrusion.”
In addition to Cuba, the request for proposals refers to China, Mayanmar, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, all countries which have refused to submit to U.S. domination, utilizing the usual rhetoric about “helping digital activists” – a well-known strategy for recruiting agents and informants practiced by U.S. intelligence services.
“This document contains exactly what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said in a specialized magazine,” according to the U.S. journalist and professor in her revealing investigation.
* Traducido por Granma Internacional
Pakistan seizes fuel destined for NATO
Press TV – January 19, 2012
Pakistani security forces have seized at least 12 trucks in southwestern Balochistan province, carrying fuel for US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, Press TV reports.
A convey of trucks carrying around 300 drums filled with fuel for the US-led NATO forces were stopped at Chaman bordering region of Balochistan province near Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Thursday when they were trying to cross the border, a Press TV correspondent reported.
At least 26 people, including drivers and their subordinates were arrested after the recovery of fuel drums from the trucks.
The arrested crew was transferred to an unknown location for further investigation.
Hundreds of Afghan transit trade containers have been blocked in Pakistan over the past weeks, under the suspicion of carrying goods for the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan blocked NATO supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan following US-led NATO airstrikes on two Pakistani military checkpoints that killed 24 soldiers in Mohmand Agency on November 26.
In 2001, Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror. Thousands of Pakistanis, including many civilians, have lost their lives in the violence since then.
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New Book
New Book: No Autoimmunity The Body Doesn’t Attack Itself
Lies are Unbekoming | September 24, 2026
The label for Humira, once the best-selling drug in the world, lists its risks in plain print. One of them, in the label’s own words, is new “autoimmune” disease.
A drug prescribed for a condition labelled autoimmune carries a warning that it can cause a condition labelled autoimmune. That contradiction sits in every box, on a folded paper almost nobody reads.
My new book starts there.
No Autoimmunity: The Body Doesn’t Attack Itself
For seventy years, “your body is attacking itself, and we don’t know why” has ended the conversation for people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s, Type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s and psoriasis. More than eighty conditions now carry the autoimmune label. The diagnosis comes with a prescription for life. It almost never comes with a question about cause.
This book asks the question and answers it from the framework’s own records: its drug labels, its journals, its regulatory filings, and its own experiments. … continue
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