http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Party%5C's Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:32:12 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Party%5C's Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:39:02 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=232_1371691331 Setright One of the rebels was the son of an unnamed Saudi businessman and close friend of the "royal" family of Saud. Here are the details some of which are derived from reporting by Al-'Alam: With the announcement of "OPERATION NORTHERN TEMPEST", foreign rebels hiding in northern quarters of Aleppo began to feel the noose tighten. As the Syrian army started to occupy most escape routes, especially at Kafr Hamra and Hanaano , telephone calls from "Saudi-accented" rebels to family in Jedda and Riyadh filled the airwaves. The message ? "Please, daddy, do what you can to get us out of here before the Syrian Army enters". As SyrPer reliably reported to you days ago, the orders are to kill all foreign rebels without mercy. The terrorist mercenaries are aware of this and anticipate no reasonable hope of emerging from the invasion with their skins intact. "General" Salim Idrees ,He is said to be inconsolable According to our sources, the Al-Alam article is accurate. Families of the 5 Saudi (or Gulf) rebels contacted their influential friends in the Saudi regime and insisted that steps be taken to remove them safely from Aleppo before the Syrian army moves in for the kill. It is reported that "Prince" Faisal '' and foreign minister of S.A., personally called "General" Salim Idrees of the (FSA) in Apaydin and "demanded" that the former Syrian army general "makes sure" to get the Arabian rebels out. According to Aslan, Idrees was "livid" with anger that he had to devote assets at such a crucial time for the purpose of extracting Arabian rebels from the battle zone. Aslan writes that the demand was followed up with a threat to "stop supplies and support" to Idrees if he failed to take those steps . In order to get the Saudi and Gulf rebels out, an escape corridor had to be set up just for them. This meant, given the present circumstances, that sacrifice had to be made in uniformed rebels and materiel. Efforts to enlist the aid of Jabhat Al-Nusra through its affiliate, "Al-Faarooq Brigades" met with failure since the fanatical Islamists refused to aid a bunch of Saudis who had originally volunteered to fight with them and now wanted to run away before the siege had begun. This left the FSA to fend for itself. According to Aslan, on or about June 16, 2013, FSA opened up some artillery fire to create a diversion so as to give cover to a large operation to extract the Ayraab rebels from Aleppo. A corridor was temporarily opened through the Hanano Residencies northeast, then northwest through the outer margin of the industrial zone. In order to make the plan work, the Arabian rebels were trussed up in body armor and helmets, stuffed into 2 Mitsubishi vans and spirited helter-skelter out of the city under cover of artillery and darkness. But, as Idrees well knew, his officers were testing the might of the 4th Armored division including very well-trained Ba'ath Party Youth militia liaised with them and hordes of Military Intelligence agents. The ride out of Aleppo must have been jolly good fun for the Arabs as they shivered and urinated in their dishdaashas . Once the operation was over, Aslan reports that 157 rebels of the FSA were killed, of whom 5 were high-value deserters from the SAA acting as field commanders . The result was disastrous for Saleem Idrees and his feckless, luckless, lustreless army of rebels. He is said to be inconsolable. SYRPER/19/06/2013 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=232_1371691331 Setright ALEPPO: CONFIRMED! 157 REBELS BELONGING TO THE FSA were sacrificed in order to extract 5 Saudi rebels holed up in Syria's Aleppo. Syria, Middle East, World News Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:45:53 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13b_1371688811 AntiPropagaanda U.S. charges two New Yorkers with building 'death ray' aimed at killing 'enemies of Israel'Suspect with links to Ku Klux Klan approached Albany synagogue and Jewish group to help in bizarre plot to build 'Hiroshima on a light switch.' Court affidavit also links motive to results of 2012 elections.By Chemi Shalev Jun.20, 2013 2:14 AM U.S. Federal authorities in Albany New York have charged two men with conspiring to manufacture a remote-controlled "death ray" to be used against "enemies of Israel" - mainly Muslims. Glenn Scott Crawford, 49, of Galway, New York and Eric J. Feight, 54, of Hudson, New York, were arrested by the FBI following a 15 month covert investigation in which Federal agents posed as co-conspirators in an attempt to build "a mobile, remotely operated, radiation emitting device capable of killing human targets silently and from a distance with lethal doses of radiation," according to an affidavit submitted to the court by FBI investigator Geoffrey Kent. The investigation was launched in April 2012, after Crawford, who is employed as an industrial mechanic for General Electric in Schenectady, allegedly contacted an Albany synagogue and an unidentified Jewish organization asking to speak with a person "who might be willing to help him with a type of technology that could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies - specifically by killing them while they slept." Crawford, who is affiliated with several branches of the Ku Klux Klan, succeeded in persuading a "high-ranking" KKK leader in North Carolina to help fund the project. He also recruited Feight, who is described as "an outside GE contractor with mechanical and engineering skills" to design and build a remote control apparatus that would allow the truck-mounted, industrial strength X-ray apparatus to be activated from a distance. According to Kent's affidavit, Crawford and Feight were recorded referring to their intended victims as "medical waste." Crawford described his contraption as "Hiroshima on a light switch" saying that it would cause "everything with respiration to be dead by morning." "How much sweeter could there be than a big stack of smelly bodies?" he is quoted as asking. In meeting held after November, 2012 both Crawford and Feight are quoted as ascribing their motives to the outcome of the elections. "I am in this for my kids," Crawford says. "After this last election, the electoral process is dead. So now, all that is left is to make the (expletive) pay." Later he says: "This administration has done more to enable a government sponsored invasion than the press can cover up. Be pissed, but get the word out that Obama's policies caused this..." According to Kent's affidavit, Crawford's intended targets included "a Muslim organization, a political figure, and a political party." And while it may sound like a demented science fiction fantasy, Kent asserts in his affidavit that "experts have advised the investigation that the remote initiation device and x-ray systems Crawford plans to weaponize would produce a lethal, and functioning, remotely controlled radiation emitting device." "A central feature of the weaponized radiation device is that the target(s), and those around them, would not immediately be aware they had absorbed lethal doses of radiation, and the harmful effects of that radiation would not become apparent until days after the exposure," Kent asserted. Posing as funders and participants in the scheme, undercover agents of the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force consulted, funded and purchased some of the equipment needed to build the "death ray." The Department of Justice, in a press statement, said that the defendants were unaware of the fact that the "device was rendered inoperable and posed no danger to the public." The two, according to the affidavit, expressed reservations at various times about personally "pulling the trigger." Perhaps this is the reason that they have only been charged with "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists," crimes for which they could face a $250,000 fine and up to 15 years in jail. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13b_1371688811 AntiPropagaanda U.S. charges two New Yorkers with building 'death ray' aimed at killing 'enemies of Israel' Israel, USA, Racism, Nazism, Zionism Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:38:46 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4fd_1371720832 aydeo Young Koral Cohen's failure to ask for permission draws superiors' ire after provocative photos become online hit - The trend of provocative photographs shifts from the IDF to the Israeli police: a policewoman posed for bikini shots for a local website, earning herself a reprimand, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday. The photos of Koral Cohen, a patrol officer, became an instant hit on social media networks. "I wish she would arrest me," read a typical comment on Facebook . However, the party came to an end when the photos reached Cohen's superiors, who were outraged by her failure to ask their permission for the provocative shots. Police said Cohen was an IDF soldier working for the police as part of her military service - which doesn't excuse the fact she did not request authorization for the pictures. A senior police source said it made no difference that she was sans uniform and posed for the shots privately: "Every soldier and police officer must have special permission to give interviewa to the press or have her or his picture taken and published in the media." Cohen faced tribunal at the police station where she is posted. She apologized for the transgression, saying she at the time did not realize she had to seek special permission, and agreed she was at fault. She was reprimanded. Perhaps not for Cohen's newly gained fans, some of whom said it was none of the police's business. "She has a life of her own, outside work. Why should she be judged and reprimanded?" some inquired. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4393870,00.html http://www.mako.co.il/men/Article-39175e18df15f31006.htm&sCh=3d385dd2dd5d4110&pId=565984153 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4fd_1371720832 aydeo After the IDF girls now Israel police: Young police officer provocative photos became Online hit IDF girls,Sexy,Police officer,Koral Cohen Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:43:06 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b6_1371710166 weldongrisham Click HERE to watch & once on the site scroll to the bottom & click on "Drumathon Live" - Otherwise it will put you on a rotation of their other ongoing live music channels. Sorry, can't find a direct link for some reason. He's into hour 8 at the time of submitting this post & he's already looked at his watch a few times. He just seems to be keeping time with the hi-hat foot pedal while drinking a beer right now. Things are heating up! Party rocker Andrew W.K. is now attempting to set a world record. In conjunction with the O Music Awards, W.K. will go for the "longest drum session in a retail store", pounding away behind the kit for 24 consecutive hours at Times Square's Oakley store beginning at 7 p.m. EST In a statement, W.K. stuck to his archetypal histrionics, writing: "I've stayed up many times for much longer than 24 hours in a party atmosphere, but what will keep me going for this drumming feat is interaction with other people- their energy, them cheering me on. This feat of rhythmic endurance is going to push me to my party limits. Pounding out a beat for an entire earthly rotation will be a life-changing and life-threatening adventure! I'm calling upon all the positive party power I can summon from above and below, from inside my own soul, and from the generous energy of all the amazing drummers who'll be playing with me. Please give me your strength, so I may not only endure this ordeal, but make it an inspiring team achievement for us all! When it's time to party, we will always drum hard." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b6_1371710166 weldongrisham Watch Andrew W.K. attempt to break world record by drumming for 24 consecutive hours Andrew, WK, Drumathon, World, Record Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:08:19 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=635_1371690328 ALah007 Everyone has now heard stories about conservatives who've been punished by "non-political" agencies like the IRS for their beliefs, but it happens at the state level, too. Back in 2011, I wrote about Rachel Alexander, who was targeted by the liberal State Bar of Arizona for having the audacity to work with other conservative lawyers to fight corruption in the state. Rachel Alexander was collateral damage in a liberal fight to ruin her former boss, then-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Thomas attempted in 2009 and 2010, with the help of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to stop corruption by some judges and county supervisors in Arizona by filing criminal charges and a racketeering lawsuit against them. Alexander, a Deputy County Attorney, performed some research and writing on the racketeering lawsuit after it had been filed. However, since she was one of the best known conservative bloggers in Arizona, running Intellectual Conservative and IC Arizona , she was dragged into the court even though she was a minor player in the case. The supervisors filed bar complaints against Thomas, Alexander, and another prosecutor. The left-wing Bar ran with the charges, demanding to know everything Alexander had ever blogged, anonymously or not, within the past five years and the corrupt liberal judiciary rubber-stamped the charges. That's not surprising considering the judiciary is under the Bar and can be disciplined by the Bar; so there is no way the judiciary would not do the Bar's bidding. Thomas and his other deputy prosecutor were disbarred and Alexander was suspended for six months plus one day, requiring her to retake the Bar exam again and reapply to the Bar. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, which the Left had asked to investigate Thomas and Arpaio over abuse of power for going after the judges and supervisors, dropped the case, stating it had found no evidence. This completely refuted the Bar's case against the three, exonerating them, but the Bar would not budge. Thomas remains disbarred and his other deputy is appealing. The supervisors refused to pay for Alexander's appeal, which was unprecedented for a merit-protected Maricopa County employee. Alexander wrote up her appeal herself (A lawyer would have charged $60,000, to give you an idea of how much work this was). The Arizona State Supreme Court sat on her appeal for eight months; then just one week after Thomas announced he was running for governor, it issued the opinion which essentially upheld most of the suspension. The Arizona Supreme Court based most of its ruling upon statements of a former supervisor of Alexander's who was her supervisor in name only. He said he'd heard complaints about Alexander's performance in the office, but provided no evidence of these supposed complaints. The Supreme Court said this was evidence she wasn't competent enough to work on the racketeering complaint. The court ignored the fact that Alexander had never received a poor review in her entire five years at the County Attorney's Office and Thomas testified during the trial that he'd never received a complaint about her. At the same time, the Court stated several times in its opinion that it found no evidence of political bias by Alexander against the judges or supervisors. So essentially, Alexander is being suspended because liberals want to stick it to a conservative blogger. At this point, Rachel Alexander is being left with little recourse other than to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The problem is the Supreme Court only accepts about 80 of the 10,000 petitions it receives every year. Alexander has no attorney and cannot afford one, having been forced out of the legal profession into journalism, where she doesn't even make enough money to make payments on her law school loans. Alexander also has a federal claim against the Bar for selective prosecution. Several attorneys familiar with her case have told her she has a slam-dunk case, considering the Bar reached down through several layers of supervisors to single her out for discipline without even targeting her immediate supervisor, who was in charge of the racketeering case and who performed the bulk of the work on it. Worse yet, the Bar is trying to force her to pay $128,203 for the cost of its prosecuting just her. The Left targeted her because she may have been well known on the Arizona political scene, but she didn't have the connections or money to fight back. She is a weekly columnist for Townhall , The Christian Post , and Right Wing News , but not someone with enough star power to make this a huge story. This story of corruption at the state government level is no different than the corruption that is now coming out about the Obama Administration, but because it is on a smaller scale, it is more difficult to get people interested in it. Meanwhile, Alexander's reputation has been dragged through the mud and the abuse that she has had to endure is appalling. She has been smeared non-stop by liberal websites in Arizona. Her main website was hacked by an IP address associated with the county supervisors, but no law enforcement agency would investigate it even though it destroyed her traffic, got her website banned from Google -and she finally had to rebuild her website from scratch using a different platform in order to get back into Google. Her traffic has never recovered because she lost thousands of articles; she went from 5,000 unique visitors per day down to less than 1,000. Her bankruptcy business fell apart because potential clients would not hire her once they'd googled her. She lost her home to foreclosure last summer and moved in with her parents. This is even worse than the IRS's targeting of Tea Party groups because she's one person, without the resources to fight, without the national attention, without lawyers coming out of the woodwork to help her out. If anyone can help Alexander find legal counsel or provide more exposure for her plight, please contact her at rachel@intellectualconservative.com . This case needs all the sunlight it can get. The liberals have been doing this to many bloggers and if we don't stand up to them and stop this, they'll be coming for us next. Michelle Malkin has covered it here . http://www.rightwingnews.com/john-hawkins/liberal-state-bar-spends-three-years-going-after-lawyer-for-being-conservative-blogger/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=635_1371690328 ALah007 "Liberal state bar spends three years going after lawyer for being conservative blogger" by John Hawkins Conservative/lib/free speech Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:44:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b3_1371670143 Catalytic Former US ambassador to Israel says possible phasing out of security assistance 'may be healthy for Israel. Ex-Defense Minister Arens says 'we can get along without it' The Media Line Published: 06.19.13, 11:06 / Israel News A legislative caucus created to educate Israeli lawmakers to the basic realities of the American system of government was launched on Tuesday in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Although a discussion of whether the United States should reduce its financial support for Israel seems like a strange subject for a group that seeks to foster bilateral relations, Israeli lawmakers representing seven political parties and a former American ambassador to Israel did just that as they celebrated the launch of the new Knesset Caucus on Israel-US Relations. "We may be reaching a point that after discussion of how to assure the security and intelligence cooperation (between the US and Israel), we can actually phase out the security assistance," former US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer told The Media Line. "It represents a very small part of Israel's GDP. Israel needs access to the technology and needs assurances that R-and-D and other join projects will continue, but standing on its own two feet may be healthy for Israel." Related stories: US to transfer $1.3B in military aid to Egypt Arens: Not every moron can be defense minister Israel may lose $500 million in US aid Support came from Moshe Arens, a former minister of defense, who also served as Israel's Ambassador to Washington. Arens reminded the assembled parliamentarians and representatives of American Jewish organizations present that there was a time when US aid to Israel made up more than 20% of Israel's GDP, while today it represents only 1.5% of the total budget. "We love to get it, and our finance minister would probably kill me if he heard me say this, but we could get along without it," Arens said. The United States is going through a financial crisis with debts in the trillions of dollars. We would be unhappy to find that aid is being cut but we could survive without it." By the same token, Knesset member Nachman Shai of the Labor party, who is the initiator of the caucus, disagreed. "We do need the three billion dollars a year for defense and military purposes because we are still in a terrible arms race," he told The Media Line. "If we want to maintain our qualitative edge over our enemies, the only way is to rely on America. At least in the next ten years I can see Israel totally dependent on America for this." In 1987, the US assistance package was created with an annual allocation of $1.8 billion in economic aid and $1.2 billion in military aid. In his first term in office in the late 1990s, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to gradually relinquish economic aid at a rate of $120 million per year over a 10-year period while military aid grew to its current level of $3 billion a year, almost three-quarters of which must be spent in the United States on the acquisition of American defense equipment, services and training. 'Only way is to rely on America.' MK Shai (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) Despite the close alliance between the two nations, many on both sides believe that there are still fundamental misunderstandings about each other's governments. The caucus had actually been formed during the previous government headed by Ronit Tirosh, who represented a party no longer in the Knesset. Following her exit, Jay Ruderman, the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, approached Nachman Shai. "I've been living in Israel for seven years and as I got to meet Knesset members and government ministers, I realized they didn't understand the American Jewish community," Ruderman told The Media Line. He also said that the generation of American Jews who remember Israel's early history as an embattled nation, is being replaced by a younger generation with a different perspective. "The connection of the younger generation with Israel is changing," Ruderman said. "They are more integrated into American society. If that relationship is changing, Israeli leaders have to be aware of those changes because they will impact the relationship." Nachman Shai, who has extensive experience with the American Jewish community, said many of his fellow lawmakers don't have a clue about the United States or its Jewish community. "I think there is a deep lack of information and understanding of America," Shai told The Media Line. "I think I can use my knowledge to deepen their understanding and knowledge of the political system there; the culture of the US; and the Jewish community there. The Ruderman Family Foundation has already sent two delegations of Knesset members to the United States to learn about the American Jewish community. However, some of those who participated with the foundation are no longer members of parliament following the January election which saw 48-new faces sweep into the 120-member legislative body. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Ofir Akunis told The Media Line of his experience as a participant with the Ruderman Family Foundation delegation. "Such visits are, in my opinion, the best way to build and support the mutual understanding between our nations." Among the caucus's first time lawmakers is Rabbi Dov Lipman of the Yesh Atid party, an immigrant from the state of Maryland who had to give up his American citizenship in order to become a member of the Israeli parliament. "I've only been in the Knesset four and a half months," Lipman told The Media Line. "I can definitely say that in terms of the misinformation about Israel, there is a lack of education here in terms of what we need to do in order to better portray ourselves in the (American) national arena." Along with all of the positive sentiment, some of the tensions in the US-Israeli relationship were also on display. "What happens when there are differences of opinion between partners and allies?" former Defense Minister Arens asked. "If the subject at issue is of vital importance to one of the partners in the alliance, the other partner will defer. The issue of Judea and Samaria, of Israel's borders, is of vital importance to the State of Israel. It's not of vital importance to the US," Arens said using the Biblical names for land Israel acquired in the 1967 war and remain the primary bone of contention between Israel and the Arab nations. Kurtzer spoke to the American side of the issue, explaining how pressure to reduce spending, which makes foreign assistance a natural target for trimming the US budget, can arguably be expected to affect Israel. He suggested to The Media Line that while so far Israel has been immune from the cutbacks resulting when "the American population sees their lifestyle declining...It is part of our dialogue to focus on areas where Israel has significant requirements and give back something to the US in budgetary distress." In Shai's estimation, "We have three or four years for this. At the end of this Knesset term I can tell you whether it worked or didn't work. We have a lot of work to do." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4394357,00.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b3_1371670143 Catalytic Israel Ex-Defense Minister Arens: Israel can get by without US security aid Israel, US, taxpayer, aid, military, collapse, budget, cuts, Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:13:52 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d73_1371524946 Detroit Iron By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times Monday, June 17, 2013 An IRS supervisor working in Washington told congressional investigators that she personally reviewed applications from groups for tax-exempt status, in testimony that appears to show the agency's scrutiny of conservative groups extended beyond the confines of the office in Cincinnati. Holly Paz , who was a supervisor in the Internal Revenue Service 's tax-exempt status division, indicated during an interview with congressional investigators that she did review such applications, but indicated that she believed "tea party" meant political advocacy in general - not necessarily conservative groups. Ms. Paz said she did not believe any overt political motivation was causing the delays in applications for groups from 2010 through 2012, and that she knew of liberal groups that were heavily scrutinized as well. But Elizabeth Hofacre , an IRS manager in the Cincinnati office in 2010, said that when she got cases of organizations that may have supported liberal or progressive causes, she "just sent those back to the specialists or the general inventory." "I was tasked to do tea partys, and I wasn't - I wasn't equipped or set up to do anything else," Ms. Hofacre said. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings , Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform , has called on committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa to release full transcripts of witness interviews from the investigation thus far. But Mr. Issa , California Republican, wrote in a letter to Mr. Cummings that "if a full transcript were released, it would serve as a road map of the Committee 's investigation." Mr. Cummings shot back by asking whether it was more reckless "to leak cherry-picked excerpts that omit key details and hide the full truth" that he says exonerates the White House of any connection to the scandal. Mr. Issa 's committee has launched a joint investigation into the matter with the House Ways and Means Committee. Lois Lerner , director of tax-exempt organizations for the IRS , last month told the oversight committee that she had done nothing wrong, and then invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Ms. Lerner tried to stop the targeting of tea party and other right-leaning groups by directing specialists in 2011 to broaden their criteria so that it did not appear partisan, according to an audit by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. Yet the audit says the behavior resurfaced and had to be fixed once more in May 2012. Ms. Lerner apologized at a May event hosted by the American Bar Association for burdening the conservative groups from early 2010 to May 2012, an admission that set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill. The announcement - staged through a prearranged question from the audience - was made days before the inspector general released the audit that critics said confirmed Republican lawmakers' suspicions in 2012 that conservative groups had been singled out to have their applications "slow-walked" or their groups' activities scrutinized more closely. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/17/irs-supervisor-dc-admits-overseeing-tea-party-targ/#ixzz2WXA8mqB7 Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d73_1371524946 Detroit Iron IRS supervisor in D.C. admits to overseeing tea party targeting IRS, tea party Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:03:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a4a_1371516648 Detroit Iron By JAMES HOLMES AND TOSHI YOSHIHARA Posted 06:14 PM ET U.S. Navy Must Compete for Maritime Supremacy Writing recently in the Los Angeles Times, Gordon Chang and retired Adm. James Lyons pointed with alarm to China's naval expansion. That sea power represents the path to national greatness is now axiomatic for the Chinese state and society. China is bolting together a great navy with aplomb, and the United States had better take notice. Beijing is thinking hard about how to use this new implement to advance national power and purposes. This poses a challenge of the first order. America and its allies must brace themselves for a permanent Chinese presence in maritime Asia - or beyond. Their first step: jettison the decades-old assumption that American sea power is an unchallengeable arbiter of Asian affairs. No longer does the U.S. Navy rule the Asian seas by virtual birthright. Our navy must compete for what it has long taken for granted. Sure, that means rebuilding the material component of sea power, manifest in ships, weaponry and bases. Gadgetry obsesses Western pundits. But the service must also think. It must relearn the habits of mind needed to compete and win. Rediscovering musty old books from America's seagoing past is a good place to start rebuilding its strategic literacy. Reacquainting itself with its own traditions can help the U.S. Navy navigate today's discomfiting new normal. Beijing views seaborne might as a prerequisite for its ascent to great power. At the Chinese Communist Party congress late last year, outgoing President Hu Jintao vowed to "build China into a maritime power." Hu's words marked the first time officialdom had used such a high-profile public forum to promote China's seafaring project. His directive, since reaffirmed by successor Xi Jinping, signifies a radical break with China's historic preoccupation with continental affairs. The People's Liberation Army Navy is way ahead of Hu's and Xi's policy pronouncements. The fleet is already making its presence felt across the region. It recently commissioned its first aircraft carrier, dubbed Liaoning. It has mounted shows of force in the farthest reaches of the South China Sea, putting steel behind Beijing's territorial claims. And on and on. The PLA Navy is clearly a service on the make. History's Lessons But the story doesn't end there. Sea power is about more than navies. It also incorporates land-based missiles and aircraft capable of striking at sea. Moreover, nonmilitary law-enforcement agencies have dispatched vessels to confront Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Fishing fleets - even cruise ships - have gotten into the act, daring rival claimants to evict them from contested expanses. China could prevail in maritime disputes without ever sending the navy. In fact, it would prefer to. Sea power is also about more than physical brawn. It demands intellect. It demands vigor and resolve, qualities the Chinese boast in abundance. Accordingly, Beijing has invested lavish intellectual capital in shaping its seaward turn. For over a decade now, the leadership has nurtured a freewheeling academic environment, encouraging officials and scholars of various stripes to hold forth on China's seaborne future. The discourse has been impressive. But China remains a closed society. Why would the leadership fan raucous debate over marine affairs while crushing political dissent? Probably out of expediency. It takes a clash of ideas among fearless minds to yield creative thinking of sufficient quality to inform policy and strategy. And by grooming a cohort of (relative) freethinkers, China solidifies the popular and elite consensus that sea power is a natural if not inevitable choice for the nation. Furthermore, the Chinese are acutely conscious that mindless pursuit of sea power - shipbuilding unmoored from rational strategy - could abort China's rise. It's happened before. History reminds Beijing that Imperial Germany staged an imprudent naval challenge to Great Britain during the age of Pax Britannica. Imperial Japan undertook an illusory quest of its own, seeking a cataclysmic battleship duel against the U.S. Navy. Whimsy helped bring down great empires. Only through careful study can China avoid similar blunders. Letting a hundred flowers bloom, then, has let intellectual curiosity flourish, to the benefit of China's nautical cause. Chinese strategists commonly consult Western sea-power theorists - most prominently Alfred Thayer Mahan, the second president of the Naval War College - to school their thinking. Multiple translations of Mahan's celebrated treatise "The Influence of Sea Power upon History" (1890) now festoon Chinese bookshelves. The Chinese are avid consumers of ideas, merging concepts from foreign thinkers into a distinctive brand of maritime strategy. Their voracity stands in sharp contrast to the apathy many American naval officers, strategists and academics exhibit toward sea-power history and theory, the fields that furnish the raw material for strategy-making. To cope with China's march to the sea, the U.S. Navy must not just outpace PLA hardware development. It must match the industry and acumen of Chinese thinkers. It's tough for a long-time champ to stay hungry. Complacency is easier. But our navy must rekindle its determination to learn and compete - or risk losing its title to Asia's No. 1 contender. o Holmes and Yoshihara are professors of strategy at the Naval War College, where Yoshihara occupies the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies. They're also co-authors of "Red Star Over the Pacific" (in paperback this summer). Their views here are theirs alone. Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/061713-660277-china-growth-means-us-has-to-compete-to-dominate-the-seas.htm#ixzz2WWdIVUE6 Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a4a_1371516648 Detroit Iron Growth Of Chinese Navy Means U.S. Must Compete For Maritime Supremacy U.S. Navy, China Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:46:46 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=91e_1371501247 SouthernCaliPolice (Compton ,California)A Compton jury Friday awarded $7.5 million to the parents of a man shot dead by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy. According to the parents' attorney, 21-year-old Robert Thomas Jr. was standing outside with about 60 others at a party in Willowbrook in 2010 when two deputies pulled up. One stopped Thomas and frisked him. Thomas then bolted, and the two deputies gave chase. A sheriff's spokesman said the deputies saw Thomas reach for a gun that was sticking out of his pocket. Deputy Victor Lemus fired nine shots, hitting Thomas seven times and killing him, said the Thomas family's attorney. Deputies found a gun on scene, but who the weapon belonged to is in dispute. John Sweeney, the family's attorney said Thomas did not have a gun, and his DNA was not found on it. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the gun was found in Thomas' pocket. "We brought the gun to the trial. We showed the gun to the jury," Whitmore said. Whitmore said the jurors would not talk to sheriff's representatives about why they sided with Thomas. He said the department would appeal. Sweeney said the deputies were amped up because they believed they were pulling up on a party being thrown by gang members from a Crips set. Thomas, however, worked as a security guard and was not affiliated with a gang, Sweeney said. The only tattoo he had was his mother's name over his heart, according to the attorney. Asked if he believed the deputies planted the gun they found, Sweeney simply reiterated that the gun was not Thomas'. He could not explain why the 21-year-old ran from the deputies. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=91e_1371501247 SouthernCaliPolice Jury Awards $7.5 million Over Fatal L.A. County Sheriff`s Shooting Jury Awards $7.5 million Over Fatal L.A. County Sheriff`s Shooting Compton Shot in the back Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:19:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4a0_1371284254 absu69 Paraguay's April 21 election of Horacio Cartes, a dodgy "tobacco magnate," rancher and banker, whose Banco Amambay has been accused of laundering drug money, tax evasion and other crimes, raises the specter of "state capture" by powerful drug cartels linked to US intelligence agencies. In the context of US efforts to manage not eliminate, the multibillion dollar global trade in illegal narcotics, Cartes electoral victory might very well be a shot in the arm for certain three-lettered US intelligence agencies, eager beavers always on the lookout for new allies--and an endless supply of black funds--to carry out hemisphere-wide dirty ops against leftist governments. The current US destabilization campaign targeting Venezuela's newly elected president, Nicol'as Maduro and the Bolivarian revolution, is instructive in this regard. A key factor driving US regional operations is control over the narcotics market. As researchers Oliver Villar and Drew Cottle revealed in Cocaine, Death Squads and the war on Terror : "Paraguay was the first country in Latin America to be publicly exposed for its involvement in the drug trade. Paraguay in the early 1970s was a vital center for the Corsican mafia, leading to the development of a vast heroin-trafficking network supplied from Turkey, and based in Marseille, the infamous 'French Connection.' Corsicans coordinated the transport of heroin from Marseille to the United States via Paraguay. The CIA," Villar and Cottle averred, "used such networks as transit stops in transporting Asian heroin to the United States with the help of corrupt high-ranking government and military officials." "Later," journalist Vicky Pelaez disclosed in The Moscow News , "cocaine trafficking was added. It was transported through Chaco's wild and rough terrain. Chaco is a vast, semi-arid and semi-humid region in western Paraguay, where there are at least 900 covert airplane runways and where between 60 and 70 tons of cocaine circulate annually, according to former Interior Minister Carlos Filizzola." "Curiously," Pelaez averred, "there are two US bases in that region. One is located in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, in the Amambay province, and is operated by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The other, run by the Pentagon, is part of the Mariscal Estigarribia airport, in the Boquer'on province, and boasts a 3,800-meter long runway." When Fernando Lugo was removed from office last year after an expedited impeachment "trial" by Paraguay's Senate, it was widely denounced across Latin American as a parliamentary coup d''etat which had more than a passing resemblance to the 2009 ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. And like the Honduran coup against Zelaya, the World Socialist Web Site pointed out that "both countries have been the focus of attention of the US military and intelligence apparatus, which shares intimate connections with its local counterparts. Security forces in both countries have been trained and advised by the Pentagon and would not support the overthrow of an existing government without its approval." Elected in 2008, Lugo, a former Catholic bishop and proponent of Liberation Theology, promised to combat Paraguay's endemic corruption and implement policies favoring a "preferential option for the poor." Lugo however, was no Hugo Ch'avez, Evo Morales or Rafael Correa, populist leaders who defied the Global Godfather by charting an independent course. Despite a mildly reformist agenda which increased access to healthcare and education for Paraguay's working class majority, when it came to the key issue of land reform Lugo's administration hit a brick wall. Shortly after assuming office, Lugo became the target of that nation's entrenched landed oligarchy, multinational agricultural corporations (including such paragons of virtue as Monsanto, Pioneer, Syngenta, Dupont, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, and Bunge) and the transnational drug cartels which continue to rule Paraguay with an iron fist much as they did under the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. Paraguay, a landlocked nation in which 2 percent of the population control more than 80 percent of the landed wealth, most of which had been expropriated by the kleptocratic Stroessner regime and handed out to favored cronies of his Colorado party, agrarian reform should have topped Lugo's agenda. As The Moscow News pointed out, "Monsanto was naturally involved in the conspiracy. The world's largest producer of genetically modified crops disapproved of Lugo's idea to abolish the per-ton royalty of $4 on soybeans, to be paid by growers using Roundup Ready RR1 and Intenta RR2 Pro seeds. Recall that on his fifth day in office, the new president, Federico Franco, offered new concessions to Monsanto concerning the distribution of its GM cotton, soybean and corn seeds in Paraguay." According to Pelaez, "Over the past ten months, unofficial employment has soared to 66% (this proportion is higher only in Peru (67%) and in Haiti (92%)). The bulk of the shadow labor market is formed by farmers pushed off the fields by such groups as Monsanto and Cargill, which use biotechnology to industrialize agricultural production and convert farmland into a contaminated 'green desert,' slowly but surely implanting a system of 'farming without farmers'." Blocked at every step, and relying on the right's largesse to remain in office, Lugo's betrayal of the campesino base that put him in office and his retreat and capitulation to Paraguay's elite doomed his administration. In fact, as journalist and researcher Benjamin Dangl reported in UpSideDownWorld last year, "Lugo was no friend of the campesino sector that helped bring him into power. His administration regularly called for the severe repression and criminalization of the country's campesino movements. He was therefore isolated from above at the political level, and lacked a strong political base below due to his stance toward social movements and the slow pace of land reform." Using a police provocation and subsequent massacre of 11 landless farmers who had occupied land belonging to ex-Colorado Senator Blas Riquelme, illegally seized by the Stroessner regime as a pretext, the Chamber of Deputies launched proceedings to remove Lugo from office. Scarcely 24 hours later, the Senate voted to impeach the president. Who was leading the charge for Lugo's removal? Why none other than the Colorado Party's declared candidate for the presidency, then-Senator Horacio Cartes. But the final straw may have been the decision by Lugo's administration three years earlier, to cut off access to the country by the US military. By 2007, the Pentagon had deployed some 400 Marines under the guise of "medical readiness training" exercises that were denounced by grassroots activists as a ploy to identify "dangerous" rural leaders of the landless movement. At the same time, the Pentagon was planning to expand US operations at the giant Mariscal Estigarribia air base, 120 miles from the Argentine and Bolivian borders. Journalist Conn Hallinan reported back in 2005, "US Special Forces began arriving this past summer at Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982 during the reign of dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Argentinean journalists who got a peek at the place say the airfield can handle B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes. It also has a huge radar system, vast hangers, and can house up to 16,000 troops. The air base is larger than the international airport at the capital city, Asunci'on." During a 2009 press conference, Lugo rejected further US troop deployments under the Bush-era "New Horizons" program. In a decision that greatly angered Washington, Lugo remarked, "we don't see it as convenient that the Southern Command has a presence in Paraguay." Coming on the heels of Ecuador's 2009 closure of the giant US airbase at Manta, of which Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa famously said: "We can negotiate with the US about a base in Manta, if they let us put a military base in Miami," the Pentagon and CIA looked to Paraguay for a platform for what Southern Command described as "counternarcotics surveillance," but which regional neighbors denounced as a threat to hemispheric security. Ominously, the US ambassador in Asunci'on, Liliana Ayalde declared: "It's a regrettable decision." Indeed it was, for Lugo and the Paraguayan people. The (Narco) Ties that Bind In their relentless drive to accumulate riches at the expense of their citizens, comprador elites, particularly those who mix land grabs, far-right politics with currying favor from their imperialist overlords, utilize state institutions as cash cows. And when those elites are also plugged into the international narcotics trade and control the state's machinery of repression, well, it's a win-win all around! Who would imagine that a central banker would have ties to criminals and narcotraffickers? Why, the US Embassy that's who! A 2007 Cable Gate file published by WikiLeaks noted that former Central Bank president Dr. Angel Gabriel Gonz'alez C'aceres, "a strong Colorado with close ties to President Duarte, who appointed him Central Bank president in September 2003," was named "Paraguay's new director of SEPRELAD, the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering," and that reviews of his previous performance were "quite mixed." Variously described by the Embassy as "a technician with a long trajectory at the Central Bank who has cooperated with the Embassy on money laundering and terrorist financing," as Banking Superintendent however, Gonz'alez "opposed creation of SEPRELAD because he wanted the Central Bank to retain responsibility for fighting money laundering." But perhaps there were other factors, and interests, at work? According to Asunci'on Deputy Chief of Mission Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Paraguay's counternarcotics director Hugo Ibarra would have "nothing to do with" Gonz'alez. The counternarcotics chief then "volunteered that Gonz'alez had a direct personal role as Central Bank president in white-washing ('blanquear') funds for so-called pillar of the community Horacio Cartes and his Banco Amambay, noting that 80 percent of money laundering in Paraguay moves through that banking institution." "Ibarra indicated," Embassy officials averred, "that Gonz'alez is still involved with Amambay, and questioned why a former Central Bank president would take a lower level position as SEPRELAD director--managing an office with less than a dozen employees--in the absence of some other financial incentive." Certainly a relevant question; however, no answers were forthcoming. In 2008, another WikiLeaks file disclosed that shortly after assuming office, Lugo informed the US Embassy of his interest "in closer counternarcotics cooperation with the United States and requested U.S. assistance with microenterprise development during a Friday, August 29 dinner with the Ambassador." Significantly, "Lugo made clear that he does not trust some of his closest advisors or cabinet ministers. During dinner, which took place before the weekend rumors emerged regarding coup planning, Lugo told Ambassador about a tape recording of former President Duarte and General Lino Oviedo betting that Lugo will last only three to eight months in office." A 2009 secret WikiLeaks file, "Paraguayan Pols Plot Paraguayan Putsch," noted that "discredited General and UNACE party leader Lino Oviedo and ex-president Nicanor Duarte Frutos are now working together to assume power via (mostly) legal means should President Lugo stumble in coming months." Oviedo, "serving time for involvement in the 1999 assassination of Vice President Luis Argana and the subsequent Marzo Paraguayo massacre of unarmed student protesters," the Embassy noted it was Duarte "who used his control of the Supreme Court to free Oviedo from jail" in 2007. A 2003 CIA report published by the Library of Congress informed us that "Brazilian and U.S. officials generally consider former General Lino C'esar Oviedo to be head of the so-called Paraguay Cartel. He reportedly has amassed at least US$1 billion, including numerous properties in the TBA ." The Argentine investigative news magazine P'agina/12 published a 2001 Argentine Chamber of Deputies report on money laundering which noted that according to Brazilian officials, the US Embassy and the DEA, Oviedo was involved with "drug trafficking (cocaine and marijuana), weapons, money laundering and the smuggling of various items." In 1994 for example, a "load of seven tons of cocaine, worth $70 million, which was seized with the participation of the CIA, and destined for the USA," was linked to Oviedo and his employees. Later that year, according to DEA documents, another load of five tons of cocaine was seized from "Oviedo accomplices" attempting to smuggle it across the Paraguayan border. The Chamber of Deputies report concluded: "Oviedo is accused of being the head of a drug trafficking, arms trafficking and being involved in the murder of media entrepreneur Carlos Honorio Cubillas and Paraguayan Vice President Argana. The various charges against him made by the DEA were, by former U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay and the Brazilian CPI." As noted above, in 2007, Oviedo's conviction for orchestrating an attempted military coup in 1996 was annulled by Paraguay's Supreme Court. Again a candidate for the presidency in 2013, nominated by the ironically named National Union of Ethical Citizens (Uni'on Nacional de Ciudadanos 'Eticos, UNACE), Oviedo died in a "helicopter accident" after a campaign appearance in February, clearing the path to power for Horacio Cartes. The Cartel: Back in Power Last Sunday in an unusually critical article, The New York Times reported that during the campaign, Cartes "was pressed to explain why antinarcotics police officers apprehended a plane carrying cocaine and marijuana on his ranch in 2000; why he went to prison in 1989 on currency fraud charges; and why he had never even voted in past general elections." Good questions, all of which were dismissed by Cartes' top aides as "conspiracy theories" and "slander." The most serious charges involve Cartes connection to drug trafficking, money laundering and the smuggling of contraband cigarettes. Another WikiLeaks file, this one from 2010, informed us that a joint that a joint ATF-DEA-ICE-OFAC US anti-money laundering investigation dubbed "Heart of Stone," revealed that Cartes is the head of a transnational criminal organization and the main target of the operation. "OPERATION HEART OF STONE is a coordinated, transnational investigation focused on the disruption and dismantlement of a significant drug trafficking and money laundering enterprise operating within the Tri Border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and elsewhere throughout the world. This investigation has established links between and among drug trafficking, money laundering and other criminal organizations and, as such, was approved as a designated Consolidated Priority Organizational Target (CPOT) investigation during April 2009." The WikiLeaks file averred: "The investigative team has implemented strategies and operations aimed at attacking the financial infrastructure of drug trafficking supply network (DTO's) and other criminal enterprises operating within the TBA. Using a strategic approach to target the international command and control centers of these criminal organizations based in the TBA, agents have successfully focused investigative activity in an effort to develop this investigation with an aim toward a DEA UC introduction to CPOT designee Horacio CARTES. Through the utilization of a DEA BACO cooperating source and other DEA undercover personnel, agents have infiltrated CARTES' money laundering enterprise, an organization believed to launder large quantities of United States currency generated through illegal means, including through the sale of narcotics, from the TBA to the United States." Despite the seriousness of the allegations, and others enumerated below, The Independent reported that Cartes "has publicly denied the allegations and says he has received assurances from the embassy that the US Drugs Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are conducting no investigations against him, something the cables allege." If true, this raises a disturbing question: did the DEA drop the ball or were they ordered to back away from the investigation by Obama's State Department? "'When it comes to drug trafficking, Horacio has made it clear what his position is,' says Julio Velazquez, a Colorado senator standing for re-election tomorrow." Ludicrously, Velazquez told The Independent: "'There's no concrete allegation against him. Horacio has investments in the US. Do you think the Americans would allow a narco to bring money into their country?'" Memo to Senator Velazquez: Not only would the Yankees "allow a narco to bring money into their country," they'd look the other way as US banksters laundered the funds and extracted hefty fees in the process! Another front in the Cartes empire involved Banco Amambay and illegal tax evasion. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ( ICIJ ) reported earlier this month that "five directors of Banco Amambay created a secret bank in the Cook Islands with no building and no staff." Journalists Marina Walker Guevara and Mabel Rehnfeldt disclosed that "top officials of a Paraguayan bank owned by Horacio Manuel Cartes, the country's leading candidate in this month's presidential election, operated a secret financial institution in a tax haven in the South Pacific." According to the ICIJ's investigation, "Cartes' father, Ram'on Telmo Cartes Lind, and four other executives of Paraguay's Banco Amambay S.A. created Amambay Trust Bank Ltd. in 1995 in the Cook Islands, a tiny chain of atolls and volcanic outcroppings more than 6,000 miles away from the South American nation." "The Cook Islands bank, which was operational until 2000," the same year the Cook Islands landed on of the OECD's money laundering blacklist, "a dishonor roll for places the OECD considers havens for dirty money," was de-registered a month prior to OECD sanctions. Guevara and Rehnfeldt reported that the Cook Islands were condemned for "'excessive secrecy provisions'" that "allowed owners of offshore companies and accounts to hide in the shadows. It noted the islands' government had 'no relevant information on approximately 1,200 international companies that it had registered' and that the offshore banks located in the Cooks weren't required to document the identity of their customers." "It was not the only time that Banco Amambay and its officials made headlines for alleged money laundering, but the accusations have never resulted in convictions." "Just last month," the ICIJ averred, "the head of Paraguay's anti-money laundering agency said that the bank was being investigated alongside other financial institutions for illegal money transfers abroad. The following day the official recanted his words and said he had misspoken. Amambay denied any involvement in criminal activities." With the election of another "teflon president" accused of operating a drug trafficking and money laundering enterprise, and with powerful connections to prominent right-wing politicians suspected of decades' long ties to global narcotics rackets, the Pentagon and US secret state agencies must be salivating over the prospect of the cartel's return to power. After all, as State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said during an April 22 press briefing when queried about Cartes dodgy record: "The United States values its relationship with Paraguay and looks forward to working with the President-elect, with President-elect Cartes, on many of our shared interests, such as defending and promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, and expanding trade and economic opportunities." When pressed about Cartes long history of criminal allegations, Ventrell didn't bat an eyelash and averred: "I'm not aware of specific allegations one way or another, but we do congratulate him on his electoral victory. And I think I just was clear about working with him going forward." http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4a0_1371284254 absu69 In the Wake of Last Year's 'Soft Coup' Against Paraguay's President, Will a New Narco-Dictatorship Emerge? drug,war Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:23:59 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1c1_1371474108 KingSize0 Allegiances are proving costly for Islamic militant group Hezbollah as the war in Syria deepens the sectarian divide in the Middle East . Days after the town of al-Qusair fell to President Bashar al-Assad's forces this month with help from Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah, the group was shunned by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. The oil-rich, mainly Sunni GCC labeled it a terrorist group and threatened unprecedented measures against its loyalists and their financial transactions. The U.S. said last week it will help arm the Syrian opposition. Hezbollah's involvement in Syria has led to greater polarization between Islam's two main sects, said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Qatar. Without the group, it "would have been more of an inter-Syrian fight rather than being a sectarian one," he said. The result is a watershed in the 31-year history of Hezbollah, which seeks to portray itself as an anti- Israel resistance group and a champion of the downtrodden and oppressed, irrespective of their brand of Islam. Its fighters are also likely to get mired further in Syria's civil war to protect its central conduit of weapons and prevent the well-armed rebels from strengthening Sunni militias in Lebanon, said Torbjorn Soltvedt, senior analyst at Maplecroft, a U.K.-based risk consultant. Sunni Militias "Combined with significant pressure from Iran , these factors are likely to lead to even stronger involvement by Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict despite the hostile GCC stands," he said. Most of the rebels fighting Assad are Sunni Muslims while the president belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam. The split resulted from a dispute over succession following Prophet Muhammad's death in 632. Hezbollah's open alignment with the Syrian regime has triggered an escalation in the Sunni rhetoric, including from Saudi Arabia 's top cleric. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh called Hezbollah a "loathsome, sectarian" group in a statement carried June 6 by the official Saudi Press Agency. He also endorsed Egyptian-born cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi's call on Sunni Muslims from his base in Qatar to fight a holy war in Syria. Saudi Arabia's stock market, the Arab world's biggest, dropped the most in almost two years on June 15 after King Abdullah interrupted his vacation in Morocco because of what the official Saudi Press Agency said were "escalating concerns relating to events in the region." 'Arm Us!' Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, who hails from the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, on June 15 suspended diplomatic relations with Assad. Egyptians stood by Lebanon and Hezbollah against Israel in 2006, and "today we stand against Hezbollah for their crimes in Syria," Mursi told a stadium packed with his supporters. Khaled Al-Qazza, Mursi's secretary for foreign affairs, last week said Egyptians were free to make up their minds about going to Syria. More fighters may make their way to Syria after Mohammad Al-Areefi, an influential Saudi scholar whose comments are often cited, gave a sermon in a Cairo mosque on June 14 urging Sunnis to take up arms against Assad and Hezbollah. Scores of worshipers jumped to their feet after his comments, also broadcast on Egyptian television, and erupted into chants of "Arm us, arm us, to Syria, to Syria!" Lebanon Spillover The tension has also led to a rise in violence in Lebanon, where Shiites, Sunnis and Christians each make up roughly a third of the population of 4.3 million people. Groups clashed in the northern city of Tripoli, most recently this month, and rockets launched from Syria fell on Shiite areas in Lebanon. Lebanon's army leadership urged restraint last night following the killing of four people in a remote Bekaa Vally area close to the Syrian border. The victims included three Shiites and a Turk with a Shiite mother, the Daily Star reported. Gunmen fanned out in the region following the killings, that show how Shiite-Sunni tensions have spilled over from the Syria crisis. The army, in a statement carried by the official National News Agency, called on residents to "transcend their injuries" and said it won't allow anyone to exploit the incident to "strike national unity." Risk Premium The chaos in Syria is already weighing on the economy of Lebanon, whose modern history is marred by sectarian conflicts. Growth, which averaged 8 percent from 2007 to 2010, won't exceed 2 percent in 2013, Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi said in a June 5 interview. The risk premium investors demand to hold Lebanon's debt over U.S. Treasuries surged in the past four weeks to 467 on June 14, the highest since September last year, according to JP Morgan Chase & Co. data. Lebanon's benchmark BLOM Stock Index (BLOM) fell for a sixth day today, declining 0.1 percent. The measure dropped 2.7 percent last week, the biggest weekly slide since December 2011. Arabic for "Party of God," Hezbollah, is the only group that refused to disband following the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, swelling from a small militia in 1982 to the most powerful political group in the country with seats in parliament and ministers in the cabinet in Beirut . Hezbollah says it needs its arsenal of weapons to defend against Israeli attacks. It spearheaded the fight against Israel's 18-year occupation of an enclave in south Lebanon. Israel withdrew in 2000, a move Hezbollah claimed as a victory. The group also fought an inconclusive war against Israel in 2006, earning popularity among Sunnis as well as Shiites. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has linked the group's involvement in Syria with its resistance narrative. He called the fighting part of a broader struggle against Israel, saying Hezbollah "won't keep silent and watch its back break." Loyal Fighters In funerals this month for fighters who died in Syria, Hezbollah officials repeated that message, while members of the group say they are not fighting a sectarian war. "No one should consider the al-Qusair achievement as a victory for Shiites against Sunnis," said Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein al-Moussawi in Nabi Sheet on June 5, according to a transcript of his comments e-mailed by Hezbollah. He said it was a victory against the Zionist-Western plot targeting Syria. Syrian opposition groups, which the U.S. government will supply with small arms and ammunition, say Hezbollah is mobilizing its fighters along with Syrian troops outside Aleppo in the north for a push into the city, which unlike al-Qusair, is far from the borders of Lebanon. One of the consequences of Hezbollah's engagement in Syria is the possibility that Lebanese Shiites who work in Gulf countries and send money back home would be expelled, said Peter Harling, project director with the Middle East Program of the International Crisis Group think tank. Dire Impact "It's happening on a small scale, but you could have an exodus of Lebanese Shiites who are present in the Gulf in large numbers, making a lot of money which they send home," he said in a phone interview. "This can have a very dire economic impact on the Shiites in Lebanon." The crisis in Syria has also deepened tensions between the Western-backed March 14 group and the Hezbollah-led March 8 group, which dominates the caretaker government of Najib Mikati . What is Hezbollah "doing in the alleys of al-Qusair and amid the rubble of its houses and buildings?" former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who heads the Future Movement in the March 14 bloc, said in a June 7 statement. "What is Hezbollah doing to Lebanon and the Lebanese, to the Arabs and Muslims?" For now, the group is stuck on its side of the sectarian divide. Hezbollah won't change its position on Syria or give up support for Assad government, leader Nasrallah said in a June 14 speech. "The alternative in Syria is chaos," he said. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1c1_1371474108 KingSize0 Hezbollah's Involvement in Syria Creates More Tentions Between Shiites & Sunnis in the Region syria,lebanon,egypt,middle east,shia,shiite,sunnah,sunni,war,conflict,islam,muslims Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:23:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a36_1371434909 DEADBEEF Here's an easy way to determine the agenda of the uploader of an item in the Syria Channel. The following are a list of well known terms and phrases in the description to make it easy to cheer or boo any particular upload. The term is in bold. The likely uploader affiliation follows. I distinguish the following major classes Insurgent Supporter - General FSA and moderate Islamist Terrorist Supporter - Sharia Law and beheadings in the town square Government Supporter - As per the name Ahrar Al-Sham Neutral term, used by all sides - name of terrorist organisation The term Insurgent includes the term Terrorist in most cases. Alawite Usually insurgent supporter Al-Addounia Government supporter - Government TV channel Al-Ekhbarya Insurgent supporter - This is a Saudi Government owned TV channel and fiercely anti Syrian Government Al-Ikhbarya Government supporter - Pro-Government TV Channel not to be confused with the Saudi Al-Ekhbariya Al-Jazeera Almost always insurgent supporter - TV channel owned by the Emir of Qatar and used for Qatari propaganda Al-Qa'ida Neutral term, used by all sides but more often by Government supporters - name of terrorist organisation Al-Tawheed Neutral term, used by all sides - name of terrorist organisation Abu Usually insurgent supporter. Abu is the first part of many insurgent nom-de-guerres ANNA Guaranteed to be a Government supporter (And anyone who likes shouting woo-hoo! When the tanks fire) Apostate Guaranteed to be a terrorist supporter - usually used to refer to Shias or Alawites Assad Most commonly used by insurgent supporter. Less often by Government supporters who tend to use "Bashar Al-Assad" or "Bashar" Assad <somthing> Insurgent supporter - e.g. "Assad MiGs" Assadist Insurgent supporter Bashar Usually a Government supporter Behead(ing) Used equally by all types of supporter Brave Mostly insurgent supporter except when the item is from Syrian Government TV Brigade Mostly insurgent supporters Cannibal Government supporter - refers to famous incident of terrorist eating internal organs of recently killed soldier Citizen Mostly insurgent suporter, sometimes Government supporter Christian Government supporter Crime / Criminal Usually insurgent supporter referring to Government forces Dictator Guaranteed to be an insurgent supporter - usually used by ESL uneducated types Free (Army) Insurgent supporter Freedom Insurgent supporter Freedom Fighter Insurgent supporter Hezbollah Trending. Originally always used by insurgent supporters, now more openly used by Government supporters Hezbollat Terrorist supporter (note spelling difference) Hezbshaytan Terrorist supporter. Disparaging term meaning Party of Satan - as opposed to Hezbollah - Party of God. Hideout Government supporter Hizbollah Terrorist supporter (note spelling difference) Insurgent Neutral term with a bias towards Government supporters Invade / Invasion / Invader Insurgent supporter describing Government operations in insurgent areas Jabhat Al-Nusra Neutral term, used by all sides Jihad(i) Usually terrorist supporter - sometimes used by Government supporter or quoting MSM Liberate(d) Insurgent supporter though trending to Government supporters in the future e.g Al-Qusayr Mandate (Flag) Government supporter referring to the FSA flag originated in the French Colonial Period Martyr Terrorist supporter - see also Shaheed / Shahid. However the term Martyr is also used by the Government to refer to fallen soldiers MiG Almost always insurgent supporters - and almost always wrong. For them, anything with two wings is a MiG Militant Usually government supporter referring to insurgents Militia(man) Government supporter or neutral Morsi Usually Government supporter when referring to a well known insurgent propagandist Mujahideen (and spelling variants) Guaranteed to be a terrorist supporter - not even insurgent supporters say that Pedophile Neutral anti-Muslim Rat(s) Government supporter describing terrorists of various sorts Rebel(s) Usually insurgent supporter but can be from quoting MSM sources or YouTube Regime Insurgent supporter or MSM (Aren't they the same thing?) SAA Government supporter talking about the army Shabiha (and similar spellings) Insurgent supporter talking about Government Militias and/or pro-Government civilians Shahid / Shaheed Insurgent supporter and most often terrorist supporter. It means 'Martyr' but is actually anyone killed in fighting Snackbar Government supporter or Neutral - Humorous mangling of "Alahu Ackbar" which is grossly overused by the insurgents in just about every video upload SOHR Usually insurgent supporter quoting a well know insurgent propaganda outlet Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Storm(ing) Insurgent supporter. Rarely used by Government supporters Sukhoi Government supporter or neutral. At least they know their aircraft Syrian Girl Government supporter Tactical Insurgent supporter. Used to explain any unfortunate change in insurgent military situation Terrorist(s) Mostly used by Government supporters. Sometimes insurgent supporters use it to describe Government forces Thug Almost always used by insurgent supporters describing Government soldiers/militia/citizens/Shabiha Tyrant Insurgent supporter - usually used by ESL uneducated types War Crime Usually insurgent supporter referring to Government actions. However there many cases where it is used in reverse e.g. see cannibal http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a36_1371434909 DEADBEEF DEADBEEF's Guide to Syria Channel Terminology phrasebook