Calling on all Freedom Fighters or Jihadists?
This Matt VanDyke fellow is an interesting character who obviously sports a large pair. I'm comfortable he is a freedom fighter (as least in his mind), but can't help to wonder if these activities are also supporting the Jihadists. Thoughts?
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012...ia-kickstarter
New Kickstarter Pitch: ‘Join the Syrian Uprising’
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Their next project: go to Syria, an exceptionally dangerous place for journalists, activists or human beings in general. But they’re not exactly journalists or documentarians. Their Kickstarter pitch: “Two freedom fighters from the Libyan revolution join the Syrian uprising against Assad and capture it all on film.” Wait, what?
Is this a Kickstarter to crowdfund the revolution or to crowdfund a film about the revolution? VanDyke’s answer skirts the line. “The purpose of this project is to film in support of the rebels,” he tells Danger Room, “we do not anticipate participating in combat this time.”
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...b-spr?ref=card
Interesting video, and you'll note on his website extensive use of social media.
http://www.matthewvandyke.com/
Under facts:
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I gave 8 months of my life to the cause of freedom in Libya, including nearly 6 months in a Libyan prison. I served honorably and with dignity, giving everything I had to the cause. It is both distressing and appalling that after I returned to the United States I found Joel Simon attempting to tarnish my reputation and service with outright lies and distortions in his blog to cover up his own unprofessional conduct in my case in order to save his job as executive director at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Should the West support the rebels in Syria?
Yesterday, I started a 1- question poll reference the continually evolving situation in Syria.
Should the U.S. and Europe openly support the Syrian resistance?
What do you think? Vote here at this link if interested:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZRS5JDG
I'll post the results of all responses here later in the week.
What do the pictures & film prove? MANPADS
I've seen the limited MSM news clips of regime aircraft being fired upon, so it was interesting to find this blogsite with an array of film clips and links to commentaries:http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/20...sa-7-anti.html
Plus the always valuable CJ Chivers:http://cjchivers.com/post/3061244157...o-air-capacity
Syria Conflict: The No-Fly Zone Deception
Paul Smyth, a SWC member, has written this piece for CNN and he concludes:
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Calls for a NFZ in Syria must not ignore reality. The inconvenient truth is that Syria is not Iraq, Kosovo or especially Libya. The considerable logistic, operational and command challenges faced must not be overlooked or dismissed.
These obstacles may not be insurmountable, but the limitations of a NFZ remain, especially as a means of protecting the Syrian people or bringing the rebels battlefield victory.
Link:http://news.sky.com/story/980758/syr...zone-deception
The reality of street fighting
Hat tip to CWOT via Twitter, a short photo sequence and clearly not a "level playing field" in Aleppo:http://www.globalpost.com/photo-gall...-aleppo-photos and a rather grim three minute video clip:http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...ren-death-toll
Syria: foreign intervention still debated, but distant
The latest IISS Strategic Comment, which ends with:
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While direct intervention in Syria remains remote, the issue will remain a burning one for Syrian opposition leaders and Western, Turkish and Arab policymakers as the toll increases. Without a legal UN mandate and solid Arab cover, the practical and strategic risks may well outweigh humanitarian considerations. Tragically, the longer they wait to intervene, the stronger the case for intervention will be - but the costs will also be greater.
I'd missed this aspect of a no-fly zone:
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Syrian coastal defences would need first to be nullified. (They boast, in particular, SS-C-5 Stooge (Bastion) supersonic anti-ship missile coastal defence missile batteries supplied by Russia within the last two years.)
Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...d-but-distant/
Ambassador Crocker on Syria
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Syria, you know, I was ambassador to Syria for three fun-filled years. .. Bashar is like his father except worse—less flexible, more doctrinaire, less agile and aware that he doesn’t have his father’s support. So I think this is—it’s going to be a fight to the finish....nowhere, I am afraid, could it be more bitter than in Syria, where we’re already seeing the signs of sectarian divisions, tensions and hatreds surface, even with Bashar still in the palace. You know, again, the past isn’t past in Syria.
Link:http://carnegieendowment.org/files/0...t_crocker1.pdf
Having tea with the enemy on the Syrian border
An odd article on accommodation, culture and insurgency. What I found noteworthy was the location:
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Jibata al-Khashab, located on the Syrian border with the occupied Golan, has been under the control of FSA battalions for the past two months.
I don't recall the FSA being near the Golan.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/rita-fr...-syrian-border
Iraq, Syria, and the Twelfth Imam
Iraq, Syria, and the Twelfth Imam
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With the regime's soldiers
A different angle to the war in Syria, an account by an ITN reporter on meeting snipers and other fighters on the government's side in Homs - with additional commentary set in Damascus:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...s-in-Homs.html
I assume there was a TV film report, but nothing on ITN's website appears to match.
The Syrian Army's Switch to Murder
The Syrian Army's Switch to Murder
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Cross-checking stories...
Al Arabiya News English, http://english.alarabiya.net
Al Arabiya, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Arabiya
Iraqi Perceptions of the War, SWJ, http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2791
Jordan Rises as Internet Hub While King Curbs Expression, By Stephanie Baker - Oct 1, 2012 2:01 PM MT, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...xpression.html
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Before there was an Arab Spring, there was a quiet revolution of sorts brewing in Jordan.
The country experienced a tech boom that gained speed as young Arabs toppled regimes from Egypt to Tunisia and millions were driven online for the first time. Jordan now hosts about three-quarters of all Arabic content on the Internet, according to the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
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Can it last? Doubts grew in September when the Jordanian parliament passed a law curtailing freedom of expression on the Internet and giving the government broad powers to block websites it deems inappropriate.
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On a scale of 1 (most free) to 7 (least free), Jordan scores 5.5, or “not free,” according to the Freedom in the World 2011 report published by Washington-based Freedom House.
What is Hezbollah’s Role in the Syrian Crisis?
What is Hezbollah’s Role in the Syrian Crisis?
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Chairman Mao vs. President Assad: People’s War in Syria
Chairman Mao vs. President Assad: People’s War in Syria
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Syrian opposition says west has promised military aid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...n-military-aid
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The Syrian opposition says it has been promised western military support in return for forming a united front, in advance of a donors' conference in London on Friday intended to consolidate the new rebel coalition.
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"The international community realises the situation in Syria is unsustainable and that its own self-interest is at stake as it destabilises the region," said Yaser Tabbara, a coalition spokesman. "We have assuaged a lot of the concerns and fulfilled a lot of preconditions on the Syrian armed opposition in terms of accountability and unity, and I believe the international community is ready to invest in the opposition both militarily and politically. That is the sense we got in Doha."
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...539534504.html
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The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) has said its six member states decided to recognise the newly formed National Coalition of the Syrian opposition as the "legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
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"But the Arab League stopped short of recognising it as the sole representative of the Syrian people," our correspondent said. "Rather it recognised the coalition [as representing] the 'aspirations' of the Syrian people."
"The coaliton was given observer status [at the Arab League]. They haven't yet been offered the chair left empty since Assad was no longer welcome. So observer status is a good first step."
Amazing, immediately following our national election a coalition is recognized. This will lead somewhere, but where nobody knows.