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Another one bites the dust: Ahrar al-Sham leader killed in Syria

Chris Tomson
Al-Masdar News
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 23:24 UTC
ahrar al-sham
© REUTERS/AMMAR ABDALLAH
We're all 'moderate' here: Rebel fighters carry Ahrar Al-Sham (left), Free Syrian Army (center) and Nusra Front (right) flags in Idlib city in northern Syria, after they took control of the area March 29, 2015.
Moments ago, Abu Rateb, leader of the influencial Islamist rebel group 'Ahrar al-Sham' was killed in Homs governorate in central Syria. He was assassinated by unknown gunmen while driving towards Farhaniyah near Talbiseh in the southern part of the rebel-held Homs enclave.

His sudden demise comes less than two weeks after Zahran Alloush, leader of Jaish al-Islam, was killed by a Syrian airstrike in East Ghouta, Damascus. With several prominent Islamist leaders dead and rebel setbacks in Aleppo, Lattakia, Damascus and Daraa during the past month, rebel morale is on the decline while the Syrian opposition seems to be slowly falling apart.

Until his death, Ahrar al-Sham commander Abu Rateb had been overseeing remaining Islamist strongholds in the northern Homs. Furthermore, at his direct orders, insurgents launched a surprise December offensive intending to cut off the government-controlled Salamiyah-Hama road. However, this offensive was rolled back by the Syrian Army over the past week.
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Sherlock

Oregon standoff: Real militia calls out agents provocateurs as special ops move in

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 21:57 UTC
militia men
© uscrow
With tensions running high at the Malheur Wildlife Reserve, the Oath Keepers organization is reporting that they have been informed by sources within the U.S. special forces community that special operations assets have been moved into the area.

It was reported on Tuesday that federal authorities are planning to cut the power to the commandeered facility, with hopes that the sub-zero Oregon winter would drive them out without incident, but the potential exists that cutting the power is a simple precursor to laying siege to the building.

According to a report by the Oath Keepers founder and National President, Stewart Rhodes:
Oath Keepers has received very credible information from an active duty source within the special operations community that at least one SOD-X (Reserve/National Guard Special Operations Detachment, see this, this, and this) unit under the command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been tasked for this standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Reserve and moved to the area. Given this, we should expect that other special operations assets, such as Delta Force, will also be involved if the Obama Administration decides to give the green light on a military raid/strike. And we should expect the presence of the infamous FBI HRT (which were present at both Ruby Ridge and Waco).

Comment: It will be interesting to see how this plays out and how the government will use the situation to its benefit.

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Nuke

California Governor declares state of emergency over LA county methane leak


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 14:23 UTC
gas leak
California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over a large Southern California gas leak in Los Angeles County, which has led to months of protests and the displacement of thousands of families.

Governor Brown made the declaration on Wednesday, which will make more resources available for dealing with the leak at Porter Ranch, which is within LA County.

In the press release announcing the state of emergency, Brown's office said the order has come due to the "prolonged and continuing duration of the Aliso Canyon gas leak."

The leak at the Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon storage field, which began on October 23, has steadily leaked 62 million cubic feet of methane into the air daily, according to an estimate by the Environmental Defense Fund.

The proclamation calls for the SoCal Gas to maximize the amount of natural gas being removed from the facility, capture leaks while relief wells are being built, and to identify how the company will stop the leak if relief wells don't seal the problem, or if the existing leak gets worse.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Palestinian Bedouin village bulldozed in Israel's path of destruction


Press TV
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 06:54 UTC
Abu Nuwar destruction
© AFP
Palestinian Bedouin surveys what remains of his home and belongings.
Israeli forces have demolished five dwellings belonging to Palestinian Bedouin families in the Abu Nuwar community east of al-Quds (Jerusalem), leaving more than two dozen people homeless. According to Dawood al-Jahalin, a spokesperson for the Abu Nuwar Bedouin community, the Israeli military and police vehicles surrounded the area on Wednesday morning and bulldozers razed the dwellings as well as an agricultural structure afterward, Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.

He added that Israeli forces did not give the Palestinian families any time to collect their belongings before the demolition process. "I showed them a court decision banning demolition, but the officer in charge refused to see it and instead told me he had a demolition order from the Civil Administration," Jahalin said, adding that the families will rebuild their dwellings.

Abu Nuwar is one of several Bedouin villages that have faced forced evacuation as the Israeli regime is seeking to build thousands of illegal settler units in the E1 zone. Settlement construction in the E1 zone would divide the occupied West Bank and make the creation of a Palestinian state almost impossible.

Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949. The demolition of Bedouin homes is part of the regime's massive land-grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.

Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services. Human rights groups say the measure will lead to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians living there.

Comment: Locate Target √ Deny Services √ Refuse Rights √ Forcefully Displace √ Demolish √
Israeli greed is right on schedule.

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Cupcake Choco

Monsanto, US, & Gates Foundation pressure Kenya to reverse GMO ban


RT
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 19:38 UTC
Cocao
© John Vizcaino / Reuters
Kenya may soon allow the use of genetically-modified cotton and maize seeds following pressure from agribusiness giant Monsanto, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The growing African nation banned imports of GMO products in 2012, but a recent application by Monsanto's Kenyan subsidiary could open the door to the controversial "seeds".

Last year, Kenyans took to the streets to protest the potential change.
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Alarm Clock

The United States Military child sexual assault epidemic - what you don't know

Claire Bernish
The Anti Media
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 18:26 UTC
military sexual assault
© colombiareports.com
A grim new study revealed a startling number of children in military families, hundreds each year, are sexually assaulted. Most often, this abuse occurs at the hands of enlisted male troops who are not related to their victims.

According to the study, there "were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.

Comment: The US military will continue to do nothing to address the heinous epidemic of sexual assault by military personnel, whether it is children, women or even men! According to the following articles, rape is rampant in the US military and perpetrators go unpunished:
The military justice system is broken, riven with inherent bias, conflicts of interest and a hierarchical structure that ensures perpetrators go unpunished, survivors of military sexual assault told Congress on Wednesday.

At the first Senate hearing into sexual abuse in the armed forces for a decade, victims said the system helped encourage predators in uniform, and urged senators to change the law to give survivors the same protections as civilians - namely an independent justice system.


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Attention

Contaminated 'food': Walmart recalls 90,000 pounds of beef containing wood materials

John Vibes
Natural Blaze
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
walmart beef recall
Walmart announced this week that they will be recalling 90,000 pounds of beef because they could possibly contain "extraneous wood materials."

According to a press release from the USDA, The Sam's Choice Black Angus Vidalia Onion items which were produced on various dates between Nov. 19, 2015, and Dec. 9, 2015 are at risk of contamination.

The press release stated that:
The foreign material originated with an incoming ingredient and was discovered during production. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
The beef patties were produced by the Huisken Meat Company, which is based in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.

The food products sold at Walmart are known to be questionable.

Comment: Walmart's low prices are maintained by refusing to pay its staff a living wage and by driving down wages in its global supply chain where overwork and unsafe conditions are prevalent. Whether this latest recall is accidental or something more nefarious remains to be seen, but as cutting corners is a hallmark of Walmart's business model, it would not be surprising that their suppliers could be engaging in the same tactics.

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Music

Pierre Boulez, French conductor and composer, dies at 90

Paul Griffiths
New York Times
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 12:51 UTC
Boulez
© Hiroyuki Ito for New York Times
Pierre Boulez leading the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, New York City, 2010
The giant French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, known for his ardent advocacy of the contemporary music, has died. He was 90.

Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor who was a dominant figure in classical music for over half a century, died on Tuesday at his home in Baden-Baden, Germany. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his family in a statement to the Philharmonie de Paris.

Pierre Boulez was born on March 26, 1925, in Montbrison, a town near Lyon, the son of an industrialist, Léon Boulez, and the former Marcelle Calabre. He studied the piano and began to compose in his teens.

Mr. Boulez belonged to an extraordinary generation of European composers who, while still in their 20s, came to the forefront during the decade or so after World War II. They wanted to change music radically, and Mr. Boulez took a leading role. His "Marteau Sans Maître" ("Hammer Without a Master") was one of this group's first major achievements, and it remains a central work of modern music.

Mr. Boulez gradually came to give more attention to conducting, where his keen ear and rhythmic incisiveness would often produce a startling clarity. (There are countless stories of him detecting, for example, faulty intonation from the third oboe in a complex orchestral texture.)

He reached his peak as a conductor in the 1960s, when he began to appear with some of the world's great orchestras, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. His style was unique. He never used the baton, but manipulated the orchestra by means of his two hands simultaneously, the left indicating phrasing or, in much contemporary music, counterrhythm.

Comment: An amazing talent and major contributor to classical music. Pierre Boulez will be greatly missed.

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Arrow Down

Children escaping the wrath of Islamic State: Yazidi survivor camp in Syria


RT
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:05 UTC
Yazidi survivor camp in Syria
© RT
RT talks to Syrians rescued from ISIS-besieged Shia villages after UN swap
The ethnically Kurdish Yazidi minority in Iraq is on the run from Islamic State in Syria, which continues to systematically hunt down and enslave them. RT's Murad Gazdiev made the perilous journey to Nowrooz camp in Syria to hear the stories firsthand. The camp is home to hundreds of Yazidis lucky enough to have escaped the intolerant wrath of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). Syrian Kurds with the YPG in Al-Hasakah gave them shelter, where the camp is located.

Del Shad recalls the harrowing scenes of August 2014, when a mass exodus took place. Over 50,000 Yazidis made the trek from war-torn Iraq to higher, safer ground. Plenty were abducted and at least 5,000 were massacred. For 12 days they walked without food or water. Del Shad and his mother were among the escapees who he says were offered a simple choice: convert to Sunni Islam, or die. "We are Yazidi, and we will stay so... We tried to resist, but we didn't have weapons," he says. "They came for all of us. The men were killed, the women and children were taken. In the village of Kocho, they never got a chance to run. ISIS took thousands there."


Comment: Yazidi girl tells of horrific ordeal as sex slave to Western-sponsored ISIL group:
"They treat us as if we are their slaves. The men hit us and threaten us when we try to resist. Often I wish that they would beat me so severely that I would die.

"Our torturers do not even spare the women who have small children with them. "Nor do they spare the girls - some of our group are not even 13 years old. Some of them will no longer say a word."
See also:

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Hearts

"They've become our friends" - Russians receive warm welcome in Syria


Sputnik
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 04:05 UTC
Russia airstrikes Syria
© Unknown
While Western nations criticize Russia's airstrikes in Syria, every day Syrians are praising Moscow for pushing back against terrorist groups like Daesh, also known as IS/the Islamic State. Local businesses are all too happy to oblige their new Russian friends.

Since September 30, the Russian Defense Ministry has launched a devastating air campaign against Daesh targets in Syria. Operating out of an air base in Latakia, Russian bombers have carried out over 5,000 sorties.

But the presence of the Russian military is good for more than just security; it's also helping the country economically, and local shops are more than happy to cater to the soldiers who have kept their country safe.

Comment: Compare and contrast the effects of Russia's intervention to those of America's:

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