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© Murad Sezer / ReutersSyrian Kurds from Kobani
"The Syrian Kurds are an important component of the country, so we need to find a formula in which they are able to express an opinion on the constitution and the governance of the country," de Mistura told Swiss Le Temps newspaper on Saturday. He added that he has "a mandate to find the formulas ... that are as inclusive as possible."
In another interview published on Saturday, de Mistura said there is no 'plan B' if the peace negotiations fail in Geneva. "The plan B, as far as we can see, is just a continuation of a horrible conflict which will go on and on and on," de Mistura told Al Jazeera.
"And you know who will be the only victims? The Syrian people. And I don't think there is a real plan B except for pushing hard for this to go on into a successful outcome of a political solution according to the Geneva Communique."
© AP Photo/ Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press/File PhotoIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington
The US has long turned a blind eye to Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, and during Biden's previous official visit to Israel, the Netanyahu government announced the construction of additional settlements. According to Talhami, one of the reasons why the US cannot take effective action against Israel, America's biggest recipient of foreign aid, is the power of the Israeli lobby in Washington, DC.
"The work of the Israeli lobby has been unbelievable in the United States, to the extent that [Arabs in the US] call the United States Congress 'Israeli occupied territory'" Talhami said. "This is quite a machine; it has been built over the years and...has managed to restrain the chief executive in our government."
© REUTERS/ Khalil Ashawi
When in 2013 these groups stormed government held positions in Idleb, Nusra, Ahrar and Islamic State Jihadis were leading the fighting and employed suicide bombers. Their attacks were supported by electronic warfare measures from Turkey which disabled the Syrian Army's communication. The CIA "moderates" were integrated as anti-tank teams using their U.S. supplied weapons in support of the Jihadi offense.
The U.S.-supported groups in Idleb are currently grouped under the moniker "Division 13" or "Brigade 13". The cessation of hostilities in Syria means that all these "moderates" in Idleb province have time to discuss their ideological differences. Jenan Moussa (@JenanMoussa) is the "Roving reporter Arabic Al Aan TV. Based in Dubai but roams around MidEast". She reports on Syria from a mostly pro-opposition standpoint and has long favored "moderate" as well as "not-so-moderate" Jihadis.
© Ivan Sekretarev / ReutersSerbian President Tomislav Nikolic
Speaking to host Oksana Boiko on the Worlds Apart program, Nikolic hailed Russia's role in trying to resolve the Syrian crisis, slamming as biased claims that Russia started its operation in the Syrian conflict with malicious intent.
"If the United States intervened in Iraq, Libya and Syria with good intentions, why is it suggesting Russia has malicious intentions, especially since it has been shown that the Russian intervention in Syria against Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] directly stopped the formation of a state in the way that was used earlier in Kosovo, and thank God we have our friends and protectors in the UN Security Council, particularly Russia, who will never allow that to be formalized in the UN," Nikolic said.
Comment: Indeed the partitioning of Yugoslavia and the subsequent slaughter was a wake-up call to the Russians of what NATO was capable of. Heading off a similar tactic with respect to ISIS/ISIL was a top priority for Russia.
© AFP 2016/ STRINGER
The Russian monitoring group registered 10 ceasefire violations, including attacks on the Syrian army in Damascus and on Kurdish militias by the so-called moderate Free Syrian Army. It was an average day. However, today saw a threefold increase in violations, with 29 registered, mostly in Latakia, using large-caliber machine guns and mortars. Turkey continues to shell Syrian territory. The Russian Center for Reconciliation, which was set up in Aleppo yesterday, also went into operation, monitoring the ceasefire and humanitarian situation there.
© Russia InsiderThe "Commander-in-Chief". Make one wrong move...
So he was by no means inconsequential.
After retiring, the Agency awarded him its Intelligence Commendation Medal. But as a measure of McGovern's character, he explains in this interview why he felt he had to return that medal.
McGovern instils hope that there are good people such as him in such organizations, in spite of these organizations seeming to have become drunk on their power.
In fact, so out of control have they become, McGovern suggests, that Obama is likely afraid of the CIA and the NSA and so won't rein them in, Obama explaining to close supporters some years back that he was afraid of having what happened to Martin Luther King happen to him.
© twitter.comTri-partition, federalization, Plan B, whole and new country...what is to become of Syria? Not as simple as it looks.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Russia was engaged in talks with other global powers on the possibility of turning Syria into a federal state. "While insisting on retaining the territorial integrity of Syria, so continuing to keep it as a single country, of course there are all sorts of different models of a federal structure that would, in some models, have a very, very loose center and a lot of autonomy for different regions," a diplomatic source at the UN Security Council told the agency
However, the Kremlin responded by saying that no such talks were on the table - a message that was emphasized by Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday. "That is total nonsense. We are not voicing such ideas; they must come from the Syrians themselves - it is up to them to discuss and agree on such things," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, as cited by TASS. Bogdanov added that, from Russia's point of view, it is better to maintain Syria's territorial integrity and keep its people intact.
Comment: At the end of the day, it is up to the Syrian people to decide the future of their country. There should be no other self-serving plans or agendas on the table.
© truthstream media
This video is a few years old now, but it's more relevant today with what's going on in the Middle East than ever. They don't teach you this in school, kids, but whatever happens over there, just realize how absolutely manufactured all of it is.
Comment: We're already in 'WWIII' - it's the 'perpetual war' the Pentagon launched after 9/11, another false-flag.
For now at least, the Western powers have taken a different tack with respect to Iran.
It's also worth noting that the interventions in Libya, Syria and Yemen were undertaken using proxy forces that relied simply on the manipulation of information (lies) rather than false-flag attacks.
Since 9/11, we've been in a kind of 'permanent state of false-flag' in the form of 'Islamic' terrorism that is controlled by the Western powers.
© Sergei Lazovsky/TASS
In his verse entitled "An apology to the great Russian people", Haydar wrote that "fraternal bonds were severed right in front of our eyes".
The Turkish Air Force's F-16 fighter on November 24, 2015 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, involved in Russia's antiterrorism operation in Syria, that Ankara claimed violated the country's airspace on the border with Syria.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the Su-24M was above Syrian territory and "there was no violation of Turkey's airspace."
Comment: According to the AFP, Nusra also kidnapped many Division 13 members. Division 13 also released a video "showing apparent widows of FSA men killed in the conflict protesting against al-Nusra Front at a graveyard."