http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=politicians Sat, 18 May 2013 22:18:04 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=politicians Sat, 18 May 2013 15:31:19 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=163_1368905071 th1sf8te Entering his second year of power, French President Francois Hollande has pledged to 'go on the offensive', especially on the European front. And with its calls to reform the EU and plans for an in-out referendum, the UK has become his main target. Hollande criticized Britain for 'splintering' the bloc, saying his duty was now to bring Europe out of its lethargy. But as RT's Tesa Arcilla reports, he could be trying to prop up his own plummeting popularity. VOTE UKIP, FUCK THE EU TYRANNY!!! DON'T BE ANOTHER LOST COUNTRY Just look at the mess it makes, either these politicians have shit in their eyes or they are corrupt as fuck.................wait a minute http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=163_1368905071 th1sf8te France v UK? Hollande vows to 'go on offensive' as London 'splinters' EU France v UK? Hollande vows to 'go on offensive' as London 'splinters' EU Sat, 18 May 2013 15:19:32 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=04b_1368904397 Detroit Iron BEIRUT, Lebanon - President Bashar al-Assad of Syria , in a rare interview with a foreign newspaper, appeared to dismiss the possibility of serious progress arising from peace talks planned for next month, and to back away from earlier statements by Syrian officials that the government was willing to negotiate with its armed opponents."We do not believe that many Western countries really want a solution in Syria," Mr. Assad told Argentina's Clar'in newspaper in an interview published online on Saturday, blaming those countries for supporting "terrorists" fighting his government. "We support and applaud the efforts, but we must be realistic," he said, referring to efforts by the United States and Russia to broker talks in June. "There cannot be a unilateral solution in Syria; two parties are needed at least." Mr. Assad took a hard line throughout the interview, according to a transcript in English provided in advance to The New York Times. He declared that he would run for election as scheduled in 2014 and would accept election monitors only from friendly countries like Russia and China. He also accused Israel of directly aiding rebels by providing intelligence on sites to attack, refused to acknowledge any mistakes in his handling of the two-year-old crisis, and disputed United Nations estimates that more than 80,000 people had died in the conflict. All those contentions are likely to fuel what is already widespread pessimism about the potential talks. It is unclear who will talk to whom, and about what. The opposition in exile remains unable to unify fragmented rebel groups behind its political leadership, even those that nominally fall under the umbrella of the opposition's Free Syrian Army, let alone the growing cadres of extremist Islamist fighters who openly reject the opposition leadership and are a source of increasing concern in the West. Mr. Assad's supporters have long contended that his wide array of foreign foes, including the United States, Israel and Sunni-led Persian Gulf states, benefit less from a resolution than from a prolonged Syrian conflict that weakens Mr. Assad and his allies, Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group. That view is increasingly shared by some rebel leaders, increasingly frustrated with the West's unwillingness to give them untrammeled support. In meetings with his supporters ahead of the talks, Mr. Assad has projected confidence, suggesting that the United States would accept his remaining in power if American officials believed that he was militarily strong and could curb jihadists. He told a group of Lebanese politicians visiting Damascus, the capital, this month that his forces were carrying out offensives to retake rebel-held territory in Homs Province and the suburbs of Damascus to increase his leverage at the talks. "The battlefield will decide who is strong when they enter negotiations," he said, according to one of the visitors, Abdelrahim Mourad, a former Parliament member whose party is allied with Hezbollah. "America is pragmatic. If they found out they were defeated and the regime is the winner, the Americans will deal with the facts." Whether that view is realistic or not, Mr. Assad's opponents inside and outside Syria widely doubt that he is willing to make meaningful concessions - doubts he reinforced in the interview, refusing to recognize any element of the armed opposition as representing legitimate Syrian demands or even to talk to the rebels unless they disarm. "We are willing to talk to anyone who wants to talk, without exceptions," he said. "But that does not include terrorists; no state talks to terrorists. When they put down their arms and join the dialogue, then we will have no objections. Believing that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground is unreal." Mr. Assad appeared to be backing off previous overtures by members of his government. On Feb. 25, Ali Haidar, the minister for national reconciliation, told Syria's Parliament that the government was ready to meet with armed opposition groups. "We, the government, and me, personally, will meet, without exceptions, with Syrian opposition groups inside and outside" the country, he said. "The president of the country has said that we will try with everyone that is against us politically. And even those who use arms - we must try with them." In continuing reports of violence, opposition activists in Syria said Saturday that government forces had killed and then incinerated at least 17 people in a two-day operation in an upscale neighborhood of northwest Homs, Syria's third-largest city and long a hotbed of the insurgency. Some died when government forces shelled the fields surrounding the neighborhood, Al Waer, starting Friday, and others were stabbed to death, said the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition news network with contacts in Syria. The bodies were later set on fire by soldiers and pro-government militias, the activists said. The activists' accounts could not be independently confirmed, but videos posted on YouTube and Facebook groups controlled by rebels showed charred bodies and shattered limbs, wrapped in red cloths and carpets. "They were found dead and burned," said Abu Rami, an activist from Homs reached through Skype. "We could only recognize nine men, but the rest were like black logs." Other residents said 10 of the dead belonged to two families and included four women and two 11-year-old children. In other developments, the elderly father of Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, was abducted Saturday by a gunman in southern Dara'a Province, close to the Jordanian border, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a network based in Britain with contacts inside Syria. The government later arrested relatives suspected to be involved with the abduction, the observatory said, adding that rebels in the area had denied any responsibility. Mr. Mekdad's office confirmed the abduction, and residents in a neighboring village said that around 30 men, some carrying weapons, raided the family home and took the 80-year-old father, who was described by residents as "not an outspoken regime supporter and not a troublemaker." A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army described the abduction as "unconvincing and strange," given that the father did not share his son's views and was seen as having good relations with the rebels around him. The Mekdad clan numbers in the thousands in Dara'a, where the uprising began, and includes government supporters and opponents. In the Clar'in interview, Mr. Assad also elaborated on his government's contention that the opposition was aligned with Syria's longtime foe, Israel, which has bombed Syrian territory three times this year in attacks believed to have targeted weapons being delivered to Hezbollah. "Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways," he said. "Firstly it gives them logistical support" - a possible reference to medical aid Israel has given to Syrians wounded near the Syria-Israel border - "and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them." Mr. Assad said that rebels had attacked a radar station instrumental to Syria's antiaircraft defenses against Israel, giving no further details. Mr. Assad said international monitoring of the 2014 elections would violate Syria's sovereignty. "We do not trust the West for this task," he said, proposing observers from "friendly countries such as Russia or China." "China?" the interviewer asked, presumably perplexed because China is not known for holding free elections. Mr. Assad was silent. The reporter then asked if Mr. Assad had any "self-criticisms." He replied: "It's illogical to carry out self-criticism before the events have been completed. If you go to watch a film you don't criticize it until it ends." He dismissed rebels' accusations that his forces had used chemical weapons, noting that such weapons "would mean killing thousands or tens of thousands of people in a matter of minutes. Who could hide something like that?" He disputed international estimates of the toll in the war, saying that it was unclear how many of the dead were Syrians and that "the terrorists often kill and bury their victims in mass graves" - an allegation that his opponents have leveled at his forces. Though foreign jihadists take part in the Syrian conflict, the vast majority of fighters are Syrians. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/world/middleeast/syria-developments.html?pagewanted=2&amp;_r=1&amp;hp http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=04b_1368904397 Detroit Iron Syria's Assad, in an Interview, Suggests Peace Talks Are Unlikely to Succeed President Bashar al-Assad of Syria Sat, 18 May 2013 14:15:30 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5a6_1368900722 tr3ntr3zn00r The africans are invading Sweden at the moment, and taking over all towns, with crime, rape, robberis etc. 99% of the crime are made of non-swedish people. Swedish politicians have sent out people to recruit even more african negores to invade sweden. And they are doing the same to muslims terrorists. Sweden wants more muslim terrorists. Mass-importing them too. Aint that weird? We got this perfect friendly country. Lets get more criminals in to it. Wtf are the politicans thinking? Its just a question of time, when the Swedish people had enough. And starts fight back. But do we really want a civil war? Keep it up and we dont have much choise. This goes for most friendly European countries aswell. Being flooded of filth. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5a6_1368900722 tr3ntr3zn00r Swedish police shoots a robber. Sweden = Northern Europe. swedish, police, shoots Sat, 18 May 2013 12:26:12 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a52_1368891711 GLEISE581 As many of you know the brown moses blog and michael weiss are well known they always get off the record statements from politicians their is talk going around that the russians are going to sell out assad and the iranians. now you might ask how the fuck is that going to happen putin would never do it he would not be able to go back on his word and it would make him and russia look like total fucking weak donkeys but look at the statements from Medvedev about assad and what he done in libya Medvedev is totally pro western and supports the FSA remember him attacking assad the FSB regime and putin croines despises him and have in the last two years done everything to weaken him in the media and the united russia party but all to no avail. Medvedev are two very different people when it comes to russian foreign policy and Medvedev is a moderating voice in putins ear Medvedev we are told took putin and FSB hardliners to task and told them we are at war with the entire muslim world just for the sake only some tiny ethnic shia group and the shia we are going to loss and loss badly. leaks have being starting to come out putin want the money the assad family owns russia just over 14 billion and thats after cutting half the soviet debt so here it is Medvedev has won the day and told putin its over sell them the rest of the weapons take the money from iran who is paying for them just over 1.7 billion Bibi Netanyahu will destroy them on the ground we will huff and puff and play the game we will still kept our rep intact and not look weak at home when assad gets the gadaffi treatment we will play the evil west card and we still keep our part of the deal with the SNC for russian debt to be paid and the keep our base in tartus all in all we we get what we wanted. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a52_1368891711 GLEISE581 RUSSIA TO SELL OUT ASSAD AND THE IRANIANS syria russia Tue, 14 May 2013 23:34:29 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ff_1368586200 roburat Before, I can say that although not perfec,t Filipinos are smart and have the idea of who and why will they vote for a politician. Now our politics here in the Philippines is garbage, not all voters in here are dumb, but it is safe to say that most of them are; how can I tell that most of the voters are dumb? Actors, Athletes, and people who are famous even without experience in the politics nor background in law are the one who get voted. Recently we have a Senatorial Election (May 13, 2013). 12 Senators are needed, 3 of them which I think is incompetent who make the magic 12 are the following: Note: The total votes are 70% only, they are still counting the 30% but their rankings may not change. No. 1 in Senatorial Ranking: (14,692,005 votes) = GRACE POE. When Benigno (Noynoy Aquino) became president she was appointed to become the head of MTRCB ( the one that regualtes movie and tv shows in the country). She is also an adopted daughter of Fernando Poe Jr. who is very famous actor before and run for the Presidential Election in 2004 but lost to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. No. 5 in Senatorial Ranking: (11,991,707 votes) = Nancy Binay. Daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay and an OJT for her Mother And Father for 20 Years, THAT'S IT NOTHING MORE! No. 10 in Senatorial Ranking : (9,972,312 votes) = Cynthia Villar. Wife of the former Senator Manny Villar who also run for President but lost to Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino. Poor people in here always complain of their lives but they are the one who are voting for the clowns. When the Filipinos are informed that those 3 are running for senate we (Netizens and people in the Cities) are confident that they won't win but we are so wrong. We forgot that people in the provinces are poor and they lack of education which makes them illiterate to know if what is right and wrong. They will also sell their vote for money not knowing that the politicians will get their money back thru pork barrel and funds of the government when they are elected. BOTTOM LINE: Filipinos are smart some of them are even genius, BUT MOST OF US ARE DUMB. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ff_1368586200 roburat <span class="highlight">Politicians</span> Of The Philippines Before And Today Politics Wed, 15 May 2013 14:03:26 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4af_1368640868 Salamander Whitest Kids U'Know: Clint Webb http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4af_1368640868 Salamander Sociopathic Narcissist for Congress politicians, narcissist, congress Fri, 17 May 2013 10:31:46 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0c_1368800021 m16carbine How Qatar seized control of the Syrian revolution By Roula Khalaf and Abigail Fielding-Smith As the Arab world's bloodiest conflict grinds on, Qatar has emerged as a driving force: pouring in tens of millions of dollars to arm the rebels. Yet it also stands accused of dividing them - and of positioning itself for even greater influence in the post-Assad era. FT investigation by Roula Khalaf and Abigail Fielding-Smith A short drive from the rising skyscrapers of Doha's West Bay, emblems of the once-sleepy Qatari capital's frenetic growth, the three-starred flag of the Syrian revolution can be seen fluttering over a modern villa guarded by police cars. The villa is the new Syrian Arab Republic embassy in Qatar , representing not the regime of Bashar al-Assad , but opponents fighting for his removal. It is the only such embassy in the world, inaugurated by a Qatari minister two months ago with the usual diplomatic pomp, after hard lobbying by Qatar led the 22-member Arab League to hand over Syria's seat to the opposition. The diplomats working inside have recourse to neither a government nor a bureaucracy to serve Syrians abroad, lacking even the means to renew a passport. "Maybe soon," mutters a hopeful junior diplomat. But Qatar is not a country that allows details to get in the way of ambition. The opening of the embassy was a theatrical expression of this small, massively rich country's single-minded lurch into Syria's crisis . When it comes to backing Syria's rebels, no one can claim more credit than the gas-rich Gulf state. Whether in terms of armaments or financial support for dissidents, diplomatic manoeuvring or lobbying, Qatar has been in the lead, readily disgorging its gas-generated wealth in the pursuit of the downfall of Assad. Yet, as the Arab world's bloodiest uprising grinds on into its third year, Qatar finds itself pulled into a complicated and fractured conflict, the outcome of which has a decreasing ability to influence, while simultaneously becoming a high-profile scapegoat for participants on both sides. Among the Syrian regime's numerous but fragmented opponents the small Gulf state evokes a surprisingly ambivalent - and often overtly hostile - response. In the shell-blasted areas of rebel-held Syria, few appear to be aware of the vast sums that Qatar has contributed - estimated by rebel and diplomatic sources to be about $1bn, but put by people close to the Qatar government at as much as $3bn. However, a perception is taking root among growing numbers of Syrians that Qatar is using its financial muscle to develop networks of loyalty among rebels and set the stage for influence in a post-Assad era. "Qatar has a lot of money and buys everything with money, and it can put its fingerprints on it," says a rebel officer from the northern province of Idlib interviewed by the FT. Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatar's minister of state for foreign affairs, and the point man on Syria, dismisses this criticism as nothing more than noise. "We're a state, we're mature ... If we were concerned about what people say, we wouldn't be here today and Qatar wouldn't be as prosperous." But Qatar's role in Syria seems uncharacteristically prominent for a country that lacks the diplomatic experience and traditional heavyweight status of a more discreet Saudi Arabia. To some extent, the fact that Qatar is so exposed reflects the reluctance of western governments to intervene in Syria. However, for Qatar, Syria is also the culmination of an opportunistic foreign policy which saw Doha become the unlikely backer of other Arab revolts in north Africa - and a friend of those who emerge as winners, in most cases Islamists. Qatar's ruling family, the al-Thanis, have no ideological or religious affinity with the Islamists - they are simply not choosy about the beliefs held by useful friends. Qatar has supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia's Islamist al-Nahda party, which won the first elections after the popular revolts. Some politicians in the region believe the emir is trying to position himself as the "Islamist Abdel Nasser", as one Arab politician put it, referring to the late Egyptian president and the Arab world's only true pan-Arab leader. Most of Doha's neighbours in the Gulf are hostile to the Islamist trend in the region, but this is of little consequence to a state that takes pleasure in being contrarian. Nor are the al-Thanis embarrassed by the contradictions of an autocracy cheerleading for revolution. "The Qataris say if there's a tsunami coming your way you ride it, not let it hit you," says a western diplomat describing Qatar's attitude towards Islamists. It is this kind of dynamism and risk-taking at an executive level that has enabled Doha to act as a regional power only a few years after being a diplomatic nobody. But the military stalemate of the Syrian uprising, in which more than 70,000 people have died, has also revealed the recklessness and political impotence that ultimately undermine Qatar's objectives. "The Qataris are overextended - their system runs on a few people at the top, and there isn't much in terms of a bureaucracy," comments another diplomat. In the case of Syria, those key players have been the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, his son and crown prince, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, the prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, plus Attiyah, the minister for foreign affairs. As the Qataris have attempted to unite the political opposition by championing the formation of the Syrian National Coalition (the main front) they have been accused of dividing it - just as their efforts to shape a fragmented rebel army into a more coherent form by helping to unify the brigades under one command have contributed to its incoherence. Not all of the criticism is fair. Partly it is driven by the irritation of many Arabs, at both state and street level, with what they see as an ambitious, nouveau riche state overreaching itself. "You can criticise them for hijacking the opposition but who else is helping?" acknowledges an independent-minded Syrian opposition member who, like many others in the region who were interviewed for this article, requested anonymity. But the disapproval levelled at Qatar is pervasive. A senior rebel commander who has dealt with the Qataris suggests that Doha should look long and hard at why its role has also sparked so much animosity. "After two years it is time for everyone involved in Syria to review their actions and engage in self-correction," he says. . . . For Sheikh Hamad, the 61-year-old emir who has ruled Qatar since 1995 after deposing his father, the road to Damascus has involved a spectacular U-turn. It wasn't long ago that Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma were regular visitors to Doha, as guests of the emir and his second wife, Sheikha Moza. Qatari institutions were big investors in Syria, with a $5bn joint holding company set up in 2008 to develop everything from power stations to hotels. The emir also championed the international rehabilitation of Assad during his gradual ostracisation by the US, Europe and his Arab peers; Sheikh Hamad was instrumental in restoring Syrian relations with France in the years before the uprising, when he counted the former president Nicolas Sarkozy as a friend. Back then Syria was part of an alliance - with Iran and Lebanon's Hizbollah - that seemed on the ascendant, and Qatar, with typical pragmatism and opportunism, saw a chance to ride the wave as well as to moderate Assad's policies. When the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Qatar, like Turkey, reacted cautiously; Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned television channel, was criticised for downplaying the first protests. Behind the scenes, both the emir and crown prince Sheikh Tamim advised Assad against a military solution. But when prime minister Hamad bin Jassim went to visit Assad a month after the outbreak of protests, it became clear to Qatar that the Syrian hardman wanted "to kill people", as bin Jassim recently recalled at a Brookings Institution meeting. One person who influenced the emir's thinking at the time is Azmi Bishara , a prominent former Arab Israeli MP, exiled in Qatar (like many other Arab dissidents) after the Israeli government accused him of passing information to the Lebanese group Hizbollah during Israel's onslaught on Lebanon in 2006 - a charge Bishara denies. An adviser to the emir and the crown prince, Bishara has become something of a court intellectual in Doha. He is said to have been involved in the formation of the Syrian National Coalition, now the main opposition umbrella group, and to have been used to "test" opposition figures. He, too, had known Bashar al-Assad well, but then became an avid enthusiast of Arab revolts and the people's thirst for democracy. Writing in July 2011, Bishara said that Assad could have stayed in power had he led the reforms that people wanted: "The regime chose not to change, and so the people will change it." (Bishara was not available for comment.) Although the emir did not make his position public until Saudi Arabia broke its silence over Syria in August 2011, the conviction took hold in Qatar throughout that bloody first summer that Syria's was as much a revolution as anywhere else in the region. Following the pattern of the other Arab uprisings, Qatar's instinct was to bet on the opposition. In January 2012, the emir told a US television network that Arab troops should be sent to Syria "to stop the killings". Doha's leaders were particularly emboldened by the revolt in Libya, where Qatar had played the lead Arab role in the Nato-led intervention. Although they knew that Assad's downfall would not be as easy as Muammer Gaddafi's, they expected western partners would eventually step in on the side of the opposition. One senior Qatari official suggested in late 2012 that Syria would go the way of Libya, but over a much longer term. Assad's removal, after all, served the strategic purpose of weakening Iran, his closest regional ally. So far at least, this gamble has proved a miscalculation. "We didn't want to take the lead. We begged a lot of countries to start to take the lead and we'll be in the back seat. But we find ourselves in the front seat," lamented prime minister bin Jassim recently. Even within the Arab world, Qatar found much stronger resistance to action than was the case with Libya. "Before we get disappointed by the west, we should ask ourselves as an Arab nation what we've done - it is an Arab issue in the first place," says Attiyah, the minister for foreign affairs. In the years before the Arab uprisings, Qatar had cultivated its role as a mediator, capable of talking to all sides on the divisions that polarised the Middle East. It hosted the US's biggest military air base in the region, while maintaining cordial relations with Iran; it held contacts with Israel while simultaneously backing the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hizbollah. On Syria, Qatar soon emerged as one of the few angry voices at Arab summits, pushing for a tougher line. "In Syria, Qatar became an active protagonist," says a western diplomat. Having worked to become a kind of Norway of the Gulf, he adds, it also wanted to be "the Gulf version of the UK and France, and you can't be both at the same time". . . . Ahfad al-Rasoul is a source of envy among other brigades fighting in Syria. A relatively new player put together from several fighting groups, it is often linked to the gas riches of Qatar. Ahfad al-Rasoul is one of the few fighting coalitions in Syria that can be considered "effective", boasts Khaled, a smartly dressed, laptop-carrying "liaison" officer for the group, interviewed by the FT in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border. Not so, says Abu Samer, a commander from a rival group, who complains about shortages of weapons and ammunition. "If I was getting 15 per cent of what they're getting, I'd do a lot," he grumbles. Though Khaled insists his battalion's good fortunes are thanks to a mix of funding sources, others such as Abu Samer see the hand of Qatar at work. Supporting the armed rebellion was the inevitable next stage of Qatar's deepening involvement in Syria. By early 2012, as peaceful protests gave way to an armed opposition, Qatar was scouring around for light weaponry, buying arms in Libya and in eastern European states, and flying them to Turkey, where intelligence services helped deliver them across the border. At first, say people with direct knowledge of the arms shipments, Qatar worked through Turkish intelligence to identify recipients, and then, as Saudi Arabia joined the covert military effort, through Lebanese mediators. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms transfers, says that between April 2012 and March this year, more than 70 military cargo flights from Qatar landed in Turkey. Elizabeth O'Bagy, an analyst at the US Institute for the Study of War, which has published extensive studies of Syria's fragmented rebel movement, says that as the conflict progressed, the Qataris worked through members of the exiled Muslim Brotherhood to identify rebel factions that should be supported. For example, she says, that is how they linked up with the Farouq brigades, one of the largest and more mainstream factions. Meanwhile, opposition sources say the Qataris have also sent their own special forces to find insurgent groups, and people involved in the weapons business say a Qatari general has been the point man on arms deliveries, travelling to the "operations" room that was set up first in Istanbul and then in Ankara. However, it is difficult to point to rebel brigades that are exclusively Qatari-funded or backed. Ahfad al-Rasoul, for example, is also thought to be receiving support from Saudi Arabia. Equally, the erratic and limited nature of weapons shipments means that even recipients of Qatari support are not always aware of Doha's role. Mahmoud Marrouch, a young fighter from Liwaa al-Tawhid, the rural Aleppo group that is believed to have been a major recipient of Qatari arms, says Qatar is like the rest of the world - promising weapons but not delivering. What the fighters have, he says, was seized from regime bases, or purchased on the black market. "The Qataris and the Saudis need a green light from America to help us," he adds. A rebel leader in the northern Aleppo province, who works with Liwaa al-Tawhid, says he has also received a Saudi intermediary who goes around rebel-held areas distributing funds. "Groups get funding from both Qatar and Saudi Arabia and they deceive sponsors sometimes," comments O'Bagy. Indeed, if Qatar is, as its detractors say, seeking to build up a proxy force in Syria to implement its regional agenda, it is doing so in an environment which is not conducive to either loyalty or cohesion. With so many different outside sources of sponsorship and no stable organisational structures, rebel groups lurch from alliance to alliance and continually rebrand themselves in the search for support. Ironically, although the relationship between Riyadh and Doha has long been characterised by mutual suspicion, in many ways they have worked very closely on Syria. However, a crucial division over the Muslim Brotherhood has undoubtedly led to the pursuit of divergent agendas on the Syrian battlefield, with harmful consequences for an opposition in desperate need of unity. For the Saudis, the handful of secular rebel factions, plus the Salafi groups that espouse a stricter Wahabi Islam practised in Saudi Arabia, are vastly preferable to the Brotherhood, a more organised political group and therefore a greater political threat. "The Saudis say 'No to the Brotherhood,'" says Riad al-Shaqfa, the leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Qataris, on the other hand, are "playing a positive role", though Shaqfa insists that his group's funding is from its own members, not from Doha. Khalid al-Attiyah denies any tensions with Saudi Arabia, saying co-operation is much closer than people assume, with daily consultations. However, rebel sources and analysts say that by September last year, the rivalry had intensified to the point where the Qataris and Saudis were creating separate military alliances and structures. As complaints poured in from opposition leaders and western officials, the two states agreed to bring the structures together under the supreme military command, headed by the western-backed general Selim Idriss . However, commanders who work with Idriss say that neither country is following through with its promise to bolster the supreme military command, instead continuing to work independently. One reason could be that the Gulf states worry that their limited supplies would be distributed too broadly by the supreme command, instead of reaching only the most effective factions. But the behaviour has bred resentment. "Qatar and Saudi Arabia ... are playing out their rivalries here, they are dividing people," says Abdul Jabbar Akaidi, the head of the Aleppo revolutionary military council. Speaking from one of his bases on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey, he adds: "People will remember those who gave without having an agenda. The Syrians are clever, they know when there is an agenda." . . . By late 2012 a new factor was emerging in Syria, one that had the potential to complicate Qatar's relationship with the west. The extremist group Jabhat al-Nusrah was gaining ground, playing a prominent role in dislodging the regime from military facilities in northern Syria. In December, the US felt sufficiently alarmed to add Nusrah to its global terrorist list. Concerned that Qatar's level of tolerance for radical Islamists was higher than theirs, western governments also wanted safeguards in place to ensure that weapons did not end up in the hands of jihadi groups like Nusrah. The problem, says one former senior US official, was that "the Qataris felt it didn't matter who you give to, what's important is to bring down Bashar." According to him, the objective in Washington became "to keep the Qataris from doing whatever they want". So the US instituted a "consultative process". Two "operations" rooms that oversee weapons deliveries were set up, one in Turkey, the other, more recently, in Jordan. They include representatives from nearly a dozen countries. The Qataris, says the former US official, were co-operative. Yet allegations that the Qataris have - directly or indirectly - helped Jabhat al-Nusrah have not gone away. At least one Arab government recently said as much, although experts on jihadi movements say the extremist group's funding comes from al-Qaeda in Iraq and from private donors in the Gulf, not from governments. Yet even with the "consultative process" in place, leakage might be inevitable, whether through the funding of rebels or through the massive charitable contributions from the Gulf that reach Syria. "Because the Free Syrian Army groups work so closely with non-FSA groups these weapons are spreading just because they are fighting side by side - and maybe the groups trade arms with each other as well," says Eliot Higgins, who examines and records weapons used in the Syrian conflict on his well-followed Brown Moses blog. Attiyah says Doha has never backed Nusrah, and blames the international community's inaction on Syria for allowing it to flourish. "Is it the Security Council's delay in taking a firm resolution against Bashar al-Assad and his regime that has made emerge? In my opinion, yes," he says. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, the prime minister, is even more dismissive of allegations of Qatari support for extremists, joking in his Brookings presentation that such rumours are spread by jealous neighbours to tease Qatar. Beneath the quips, however, are signs that Qatar's influence over military supplies to the rebellion may be waning, as its role in weapons deliveries takes second place to that of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has more developed networks to source weapons and it has been working closely with Jordan to bolster rebel groups in southern Syria that are not tied to Nusrah. . . . Many Syrians have probably never heard of Mustafa Sabbagh, though he is considered the most powerful man in the political opposition. The owner of a building material and contracting company, the 48-year-old secretary-general of the National Coalition lived in Saudi Arabia for much of the past decade. He doesn't make many speeches, or issue statements, but he does oversee the coalition's budget, to which the Qataris are the biggest donors, and is responsible, as one western official says, "for writing the cheques". While seen by both friends and detractors as a shrewd man who appealed to Qatar officials' business-minded attitude, Sabbagh has come under criticism for supposedly using his position to control the opposition and further Qatari influence. Tensions between him and some of the secular members of the coalition exploded into the open recently after the controversial election of an interim prime minister, Ghassan Hitto , in March. The row over Hitto's appointment was so bitter it caused tension between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and pushed the Saudis to become more active in opposition politics, which they had largely left to the Qataris. According to pro-Saudi opposition figures, negotiations are now under way to resolve the dispute. Qatar's involvement with Syria's political opposition has generated even more controversy than its support of rebel groups. The dissidents are a fractious assortment of cliques, but they play an important role in shaping international policy. While it was Turkey that helped form the first credible opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council , in August 2011, Qatar quickly embraced it and contributed to its funding. The SNC, however, fell victim to infighting, which gave the Muslim Brotherhood, the only organised bloc within it, the greatest influence. As secular voices began dropping out of the SNC, western nations, led by the US, pressured the Qataris to help form a broader opposition based on an initiative proposed by Riad Seif, a well-respected Syrian dissident. The new body, the National Coalition, was announced in Doha in November 2012. It was no secret that Qatari officials were less convinced of the need to improve the SNC. Their view appeared to be that dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood was neither as great as claimed, nor an issue. A former US official who tracked the process of the creation of the coalition said dealing with the Qataris at the time was like a "war of attrition". However, claims of Qatari dominance of the opposition persisted, even after the coalition was created. True, the Muslim Brotherhood was no longer the main component, but a new bloc of more than a dozen members, brought in by Sabbagh as representatives of local communities in Syria, sparked new disagreements. It was seen as another bloc that was loyal to Qatar. Each of these members was supposed to represent a local council in Syria's different provinces, and together the councils received $8m from Qatar soon after the formation of the coalition. Qatar was also the first - and possibly the only - country to provide funding for the coalition budget, to the tune of $20m, and it delivered the first $10m out of a pledged $100m package for the organisation's new humanitarian assistance unit. In an interview with the FT, Sabbagh said that the Qatar label that has stuck to him is inaccurate and unfair. Peppering his words with praise for Saudi Arabia's contribution to the Syrian cause, he says his relationship with Qatar is confined to what he calls "logistics" support for a business forum that he founded after the revolt against Assad broke out. The forum had mobilised funds from merchants inside and outside Syria to support the Free Syrian Army. Sabbagh insists that the representatives of local councils that he invited into the coalition were an attempt, even if imperfect, to raise the representation of people inside the country in the main opposition front. "It's inevitable because there are no elections. It was an experience that needed maturing," he says. Attiyah, meanwhile, says he has no closer relationship with Sabbagh than anyone else in the coalition. He also points out that the coalition with its various components, including the local representatives, was not created by Qatar alone but with the help and blessing of Arab and western officials. . . . In Syria itself, the number of dead continues to rise and Bashar al-Assad is still stubbornly clinging on to power. Whether Qatar's venture into Syrian opposition politics will have any returns will depend on whether Syria survives as a country - something that is by no means assured. Perhaps for the Qatari emir, the demise of Assad will be sufficient satisfaction. In theory, Qatar could also emerge with multiple points of influence through Islamists and loyal brigades. But it has already created many enemies inside Syria, and not just among pro-regime supporters. So torn apart is the fabric of Syria's society, and so radicalised and suspicious its battered population, that the Qataris are more likely to find that they are neither thanked - nor even wanted - there. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0c_1368800021 m16carbine How Qatar seized control of the Syrian revolution syra, syrian civil war, qatar Fri, 17 May 2013 06:32:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cbe_1368786020 Moron Watch It's an interviewers job to push politicians hard during an interview. In the UK there's none of this Fox type cosying up to an interviewee - you push them hard in order to draw out their opinions. Here Farage shows us that he's not up to the task, and is a failure as a politician; but of course we all know that anyway. LMAO!! The backdrop says it all! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cbe_1368786020 Moron Watch Farage can't take questioning &amp; hangs up on radio interview UK, Scotland, Farage, Can't take some questions, Failure Fri, 17 May 2013 05:43:54 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=545_1368783199 buoymarker http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/chris-matthews-sours-on-obama-164095.html President Obama "obviously likes giving speeches more than he does running the executive branch," Chris Matthews said tonight. Yes, you read that right: The MSNBC host who in 2008 felt a " thrill going up my leg " after hearing Obama speak has grown disenchanted. Tonight's episode of Hardball saw Matthews delivering a rare, unforgiving grilling of the president as severe as anything that might appear on Fox News. ( Watch POLITICO Junkies: Obama's week of damage control ) "What part of the presidency does Obama like? He doesn't like dealing with other politicians -- that means his own cabinet, that means members of the congress, either party. He doesn't particularly like the press.... He likes to write the speeches, likes to rewrite what Favreau and the others wrote for the first draft," Matthews said. "So what part does he like? He likes going on the road, campaigning, visiting businesses like he does every couple days somewhere in Ohio or somewhere," Matthews continued. "But what part does he like? He doesn't like lobbying for the bills he cares about. He doesn't like selling to the press. He doesn't like giving orders or giving somebody the power to give orders. He doesn't seem to like being an executive." I agree to the terms and conditions this is for information content http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=545_1368783199 buoymarker Chris Matthews sours on Obama thrill is gone, chris mathews, obama, executive, failure Fri, 17 May 2013 05:40:24 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=59e_1368781004 bullarwithtzatziki Lately Turkey is very visibly and systematically penetrating areas of economy and education in Albania. Also the entry of Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia in Turkish zone of influence is confirmed from diplomatic sources. Needless to mention that this subject can only be under the blessing of the U.S., after all Washington sees Turkey as a model for the Islamic world. Many political parties in Albania and Bosnia are being funded by the Turkish leadership. One of them is the Albanian party Aleanca Kugeci led by Kreshnik Spahiu. Spahiu is known for the fierce struggle against Northern Epirus. Not long ago he told the Reuters news agency that Albania extends far beyond its current borders. The recent trip to the U.S. and his meetings with members of Congress were mediated and financed from the Turkish lobby in America. At the ''Aleanca Kugeci'' headquarters in Tirana you can see logos where distinguished Greek names, such Korfuzi (Corfu), Janina (Ioannina), Selaniku (Thessaloniki) and Cameria (Epirus) dominate. Albanian Prime Minister Berisha also recently mentioned "Greater Albania" having a map behind him showing Greek Epirus as albanian. The focus of political and public debate in Albania is dominated around the so-called creation of "Greater Albania", which they believe will result from the annexation of Greek territories through armed action. The equipment of the Albanian gangs operating in our country testifies that at this time we are in the initial phase of the Albanian design in regards to Greece. Regarding Kosovo, i will mention the issue of common textbooks of Turkish finance, public power supply system controlled by Turkish company and construction Durres - Pristina held by the consortium Bechtel-Enka (american-turkish consortium). Something else we should take in very serious consideration of from this'' de facto Albania - Kosovo union'' is that in 2050 the Albanian population in the Balkans is expected to reach 8 million The Albanian demographic gallop over our national depopulation and illegal immigrants is a "time bomb" in the bowels of our society. This "bomb" have to be neutralized by all means immediately otherwise the next generations of Greeks will speak Albanian, Turkish and other Islamic dialects. The creation of the Islamic arc Turkey-Albania-Bosnia, part of which is the "Greater Albania" is not only inspiring Neoothomans who are trying to return to the Balkans, following the doctrine Davutoglu.Its mostly about American plans who want to settle permanently in the Balkan Peninsula to control energy reserves and controling strategic penetration of Russia to the Mediterranean. THE GOLDEN DAWN will defend by any means national interests and the Greeks of Northern Epirus. THE GOLDEN DAWN will punish politicians who dare not and do not want to resist obvious patterns of Turks and Americans in the Balkans, which challenge our sovereignty and our rights to the unredeemed homelands. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=59e_1368781004 bullarwithtzatziki American Turkish plan &quot;Greater Albania'' golden dawn, hellas, albania, turkey, Islam in balkans,american interests Thu, 16 May 2013 17:23:01 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f96_1368739243 copperdog3 Baron_Kaz cannot seem to deal with opinions that don't agree with his position. Here is the same post only no comments will be deleted. --cd3 ------------------- Note: For a country which doesn't get things right very often, India is taking steps to make universal health care affordable to all. THIS is something that all of us would like to see our tax dollars and elected representatives working on, instead of making laws (e.g.) to regulate the size of sodas being sold in restaurants at NYC. We need politicians with testicles in the US, not just money guzzling pigs, who wouldn't know their asses from their elbows unless their lobby groups told them what was what. NEW DELHI: Prices of 348 medicines, including life-saving drugs, will be cheaper soon by up to 80 per cent as the new drug price control order (DPCO) has come into effect. Industry experts said the implementation of the new drug policy will lead to slashing of prices of many anti-cancer and anti-infective drugs by 50-80 per cent. According to the website of department of pharmaceuticals, the government has notified the drug prices control order (DPCO), 2013, with effect from May 15, replacing the 1995 order. The new order will give power to the national pharmaceutical pricing policy (NPPP) 2012 to regulate prices of 348 essential drugs. Drug prices control order, 1995, regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs. The NPPP 2012 was approved by the Cabinet on November 22, 2012 and later it was notified on December 7, 2012. As per the new drugs policy, all strengths and dosages specified in the national list of essential medicines (NLEM) 2011 will be under price control. According to the approved policy, prices of medicines will now be capped by taking simple average of all brands which have more than one per cent market share instead of input costs. The DPCO 2013, issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, will lay the framework of the drug policy and mechanism of regulating prices. According to it, the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) will be the implementation authority for the new policy and the new DPCO. NPPP-2012 took long to finalize due to differences between ministries of health and chemicals and fertilizers. Other stakeholders, industry and NGOs had also expressed their concerns on the pricing model which was suggested. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f96_1368739243 copperdog3 Update: Life-saving drugs' prices set to fall by up to 80 per cent in India India, healthcare, drugs, free, universal, healthcare, Baron_Kaz, idiot Thu, 16 May 2013 15:43:50 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b0_1368732741 Furiza I have a new and self-imposed policy that I follow when I see a news report of some bull-headed politician proposing some law to put low-level drug possessors in prison. That rule? Follow the money, of course.Because something hideous is festering under the surface of these laws. It's the private prison lobby, which makes campaign contributions to secure harsher penalties. You see, these prison companies are in need of warm bodies, since they can put those people to work inside the walls of those prisons. The companies double-dip, too, pulling in a guaranteed sum from the state in addition to whatever they can make with their legalized slave labor. Weed offenders are just the sorts of people these prison profiteers are looking for. They're mostly non-violent people who will comply. They can be put to work without much worry. This week, Indiana got into the mix, as its governor Mike Pence pushed for changes to legislation on drug crime. Among his suggested changes: Tougher marijuana possession and dealing penalties could be added to a proposed overhaul of Indiana's criminal sentencing laws by legislators after Gov. Mike Pence questioned whether the plan was strict enough on low-level drug offenders.One proposed change expected to be voted on Thursday would make possession of between about one-third of an ounce and 10 pounds of marijuana the lowest-level felony rather than the highest-level misdemeanor. Why would this Republican governor suggest policies designed mostly for the destruction of communities and budgets alike? Mostly because he and others are politically aligned with the very prison companies that run the show. GEO Group is one of the largest private prison companies in the country. Based in Florida, GEO is a nationwide political player. It makes the majority of its contributions in its home state, but it's been known to contribute to federal and state elections in places like California, New Mexico, Virginia, and, believe it or not, Indiana. Over the last decade, GEO Group has spent more than $3 million in direct campaign contributions, the majority of that money going to Republican candidates and causes. This is most likely on the low end of estimates, too, since many state contribution records are either incomplete or missing altogether. Indiana is eighth on the list of states where GEO does its spending, as it's sunk more than $60,000 into state elections there. It specifically contributed $12,500 to the 2012 Pence campaign, which doesn't seem like much without context. That contribution made GEO one of Pence's top 30 corporate contributors, ranking in front of US Steel Corp, Caterpillar, and Koch Industries. The group has also thrown its financial weight behind Brian Bosma, the Indiana State House Speaker, who has been quoted as saying: "As an entry drug, I think marijuana is more powerful than it's given credit for," he said. "I know some states have taken that step (to legalize it), but I don't find it advisable at this point."Business has been quite good for GEO in Indiana. In 2005, they signed a contract to operate a prison in New Castle. That first contract reads like many that GEO signs with its depraved partners. Indiana guaranteed a prison population roughly 90% of capacity. Or, as the state's excited press release put it: During the first year of operation, the 2,416-bed prison is expected to house approximately 1,068 security level 1-4 adult male inmates for the Indiana Department of Correction and generate approximately $12.8 million. Under the terms of the contract, GEO will be paid for a guaranteed average daily population of 961 inmates, or 90 per cent of the initial contract capacity, following a ramp-up period of approximately four weeks.Some might argue that private prison companies are worth it. After all, the private market is better equipped to handle things effectively and efficiently, right? Wrong : State Police responded to the prison around 2 p.m., where inmates set fires outside the cell blocks.Mayor Tom Nipp described the situation as, "A full-scale riot." Nipp says police have set up a perimeter around the prison, assuring residents that no one has escaped. Video taken by Chopper 13 shows inmates standing near small flames that appear to be mattresses set on fire. The Indiana Department of Corrections confirms the disturbance involved prisoners from Indiana and prisoners from Arizona. Tear gas was used by correctional officers and State Police to gain control. Police moved hundreds of prisoners outside to an area along the outer fence line while cell blocks were searched for others involved in the riots. The Indiana governor wants to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a felony because, apparently, we aren't nearly hard enough on those non-violent pot smokers. Or something. Lurking beneath the surface is an insidious actor. The unmentioned hand of political influence guides his actions, as prison corporations like GEO own their candidates and wreck state criminal codes. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/01/1198564/-Indiana-Governor-Rewards-Private-Prison-Lobby-with-Draconian-Marijuana-Punishments# yes yes this is a progressive news blog, however if you fact check, you will find no lies, propaganda here. only politicians who want to enslave you for a couple of bucks into their campaign. governor mike pence is also getting rid of occupational license "eraser bill", claiming its too much regulation, and it slows job growth? right... next time you get your blood drawn in indiana, remember we don't believe in regulations/qualifications. Have you ever seen the classic republican, creepy this is good for you, ram this shit down your throat? yeah i'm tired of these scum. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b0_1368732741 Furiza Indiana Governor Rewards Private Prison Lobby with Draconian Marijuana Punishments prison lobby, right wing, fraud, republican, prison for profit