The War Around Us: Paul Schemm: Friends of Syria Ready Ultimatum!

The War Around Us: Paul Schemm: Friends of Syria Ready Ultimatum!

Paul Schemm: Friends of Syria Ready Ultimatum!

The United States, European and Arab nations are set to deliver a stern warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that he must agree to an immediate cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid into areas hardest hit by his regime's brutal crackdown on opponents or face as-yet unspecified punishments and an increasingly emboldened and powerful armed resistance. On the eve of a major international conference on Syria in Tunisia, US, European and Arab officials worked out details of the demands in London on Thursday as the former United Nations chief, Kofi Annan, was named to be a joint UN-Arab League envoy to deal with the crisis. Russia and China, foes of any foreign intervention in Syria, reiterated their opposition to an international resolution. Both nations say they support a speedy end to the violence, but they have vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad's crackdown. Alexei Pushkov, a Russian lawmaker, said Friday after a meeting with Assad that the Syrian president sounded confident and demonstrated no sign he would step aside. Pushkov warned that arming the Syrian opposition would fuel civil war. Diplomats said the "Friends of Syria" group meeting in Tunis on Friday would demand Assad's compliance. They said that failure on his part would result in tougher sanctions and predicted that his opponents would grow stronger unless he accedes and accepts a political transition that would see him leave power.

The Telegraph: Russia Warns Against Catastrophic Iran Strike

Russia has warned a strike against Iran could have "catastrophic" consequences, and urged leaders not to rush into any conclusions after this week's failed mission by UN nuclear experts. "The scenario of military action against Iran would be catastrophic for the region and possibly the whole system of international relations," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference. His comments came after a five-strong delegation from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left empty-handed following two days of talks focusing on suspected military aspects of the country's nuclear program. Chief nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts said the team "could not get access" during the visit to Iran's military site in Parchin, where suspected nuclear warhead design experiments were conducted. Russia has longstanding commercial and military ties with Iran, and has condemned recent unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over its suspected pursuit of nuclear arms. Mr Gatilov urged nations to wait for the IAEA's official report before deciding to condemn Iran for failing to cooperate with the agency. Ayatollah Khamenei insists Iran's nuclear course will not change, and UN inspectors were denied access to key military sites. In addition, Iran threatens preemptive action against Israel. "I would not make any profound conclusions from the IAEA mission that dialog failed and we reached a dead end," said Mr Gatilov. "We are not dramatizing the situation."   

Finian Cunningham: War Plan Iran, Dispelling the Lies!

The first in our new series deals with the rising tensions in the Persian Gulf between the West and Iran, and what appears to be a collision course for war. We examine the heart of the matter in order to empower our readers with knowledge and truth about what is really happening in the region and why, and, more important, what is at stake. The year 2012 may become as a watershed for humanity, the year when mankind was precipitated into a global conflagration involving nuclear weapons, The signs are indeed grimly ominous as formidable military forces converge on the Persian Gulf in the long-running stand-off between the United States and Iran. On side with the US are its European allies in NATO, primarily Britain, Washington's Middle East client states: Israel and the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf, all bristling with weapons of mass destruction. Recent naval exercises by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have also displayed a fierce arsenal of missiles and military capability, and Iran has strategic alliances with Russia and China, both of whom will not stand idly by if their Persian partner is attacked. As we have consistently analyzed on Global Research, the conflict between the US-led powers and Iran has wider ramifications. It is part and parcel of Washington's bid to engineer the social and political upheavals across the Arab World in order to redraw the region in its strategic interests. It is no coincidence that fresh from NATO's conquest of, and regime change in Libya, the focus has quickly shifted to Syria, a key regional ally of Iran.  

James Petras: The Global Crises of Capitalism

From the Financial Times to the far left, tons of ink has been spilled writing about some variant of the "Crisis of Global Capitalism". While writers differ in the causes, consequences and cures, according to their ideological lights, there is a common agreement that "the crises" threatens to end the capitalist system as we know it. There is not much doubt that, between 2008-2009, the capitalist system in Europe and the United States suffered a severe shock that shook the foundations of its financial system and threatened to bankrupt its "leading sectors". However, I will argue the "crises of capitalism" was turned into a "crises of labor". Finance capital, the principle detonator of the crash and crises, recovered, the capitalist class as a whole was strengthened, and most important of all, it utilized the political, social, ideological conditions created as a result of "the crises" to further consolidate their dominance and exploitation over the rest of society. In other words, the "crises of capital" has been converted into a strategic advantage for furthering the most fundamental interests of capital: the enlargements of profits, the consolidation of capitalist rule, the greater concentration of ownership, the deepening of inequalities between capital and labor and the creation of huge reserves of labor to further augment their profits. Furthermore, the notion of a homogeneous global crisis of capitalism overlooks profound differences in performance and conditions, between countries, classes, and age cohorts.  

Steve Watson: New Ron Paul 2012 Ad Slams Santorum as Faken

A new Ron Paul campaign ad has been released today that takes direct aim at GOP rival Rick Santorum's voting record. Entitled simply "Fake", the 30 second spot makes the case that it is a myth that Santorum is in any way a fiscal conservative. The concise ad crams in the facts that Santorum voted to raise the federal debt ceiling five times, voted to double the size of the Department of Education through No Child Left Behind, and voted for Medicare Part D, the biggest entitlement expansion since the '60s. The ad also highlights the fact that Santorum voted to send foreign aid to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and also endorsed sending billions in tax dollars to the corrupt regime in Egypt. Finally, the ad makes the point that Santorum also voted to give the abortion provider Planned Parenthood millions of dollars in funding. "Our new ad 'Fake' contains just a snippet of evidence against Rick Santorum being a fiscal conservative, but because these examples are so damning it makes the case convincingly," said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton. "Santorum touts his 'conservative record' all too often. It's time that his real record makes its way into the national conversation we're having about which Republican presidential candidate is the authentic, consistent conservative. That man is Ron Paul," Benton added. The new ad is scheduled to air on broadcast and television in Michigan as part of the Ron Paul campaign's major ad blitz set to hit next month's 'Super Tuesday' states.

John Lichfield: Sarkozy Hits Below the Belt!

President Nicolas Sarkozy was accused yesterday by a former colleague of adopting "fascist" and "violent" rhetoric in his no-holds-barred campaign for re-election this spring. In the first days of his campaign, President Sarkozy has denounced the Socialist front-runner, Francois Hollande, as a "dangerous" and "dishonest" man who does not "like France". The President said that the democratic rights of the French people had been "confiscated" by "elitist" lobbies, pressure groups and trade unions. Proclaiming himself to be the "candidate of the people", Mr Sarkozy said that, if re-elected, he would call for a series of referendums on reforms to break the stranglehold of a "tiny elite". His words were condemned as a dangerous lapse into "demagoguery" yesterday by opponents and political commentators. They were also criticized by senior colleagues, including the former center-right Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin. A former Environment Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin. A former Environment Minister, Corinne Lepage, said that she was "scandalized" by the "violence" of President Sarkozy's language. "This is extremely serious," said Ms Lepage, who hopes to run as an independent candidate in the April and May election. "This is how fascism began its rise in the 1930s. By attacking political parties and representative bodies such as unions and lobby groups." President Sarkozy's supporters retorted that he had been bombarded with personal attacks by the left and far-right for months. He had the right to respond by "defining" the front-runner Mr Hollande as a weak and vacillating politician who would surrender to interest groups.