There needs to be a political analysis of why so many progressives have become ardent supporters of the Assad dictatorship. It represents a tsunamic shift in politics devastating the international antiwar movement at a time when it is more critical than ever. Partly it is the influence of people like Tariq Ali & John Pilger & as this article points out with Russian & Syrian trolling with their stable of paid propagandists like Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley. But there is also the syphilitic influence of Islamophobia & anti-Semitism that must be accounted for.

This article is an excellent introduction to that necessary analysis. One would hope it is not too late for most who were confused to come to a real understanding of the Syrian revolution & counter-revolution. Surely the fact that Bartlett, Beeley, & other prominent Assadists have open associations with European fascists & that they endorse or deny the Rohingya genocide will lead those of good will to reassess their understanding of what is going on in Syria.

This article is so important because Bartlett & Beeley Ltd have made the White Helmet rescue workers the primary target of their propagandistic lies as part of denying Russian & Syrian bombing of civilians, including with gas & barrel bombs. They never address US military intervention because it would show that Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the US-coalition & all the other military players are partners to the Syrian counter-revolution led by Bashar Al-Assad.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/syria-white-helmets-conspiracy-theories

This is a photo of 22-year-old Asif Iqbal, the young taxi driver shot down in front of his family home as he prepared to drive someone to the hospital. He was fatally shot by Indian troops on one of their late night prowl to kill operations. In Pentagon parlance, he would be called “collateral damage” but we know well that unarmed defenseless civilians are not accidentally killed in military operations but are always the primary intended victims. The purpose is to terrorize, brutalize, demoralize resistance to war & occupation.

Let his death not be in vain. Build solidarity with the Kashmiri struggle against occupation & for self-determination. May Asif Rest In Peace.

This is a protest today in Kashmir against the fatal shooting last night of 22-year-old Asif Iqbal. He was a sumo/taxi driver shot within a few feet of his family home as he was leaving to transport someone to the hospital. The occupying army who shot him were engaged in one of their late night hunt to kill operations. Military officials called this young man’s death “very unfortunate & regrettable,” claimed it was a case of “mistaken identity,” & of course portrayed a different version of events from Iqbal’s family & neighbors so that young Iqbal was somehow responsible for his own death. India blocked internet services in the district so that the brutalities of their occupation cannot be exposed.

This protest is in the district where Iqbal was killed. Thousands of mourners also attended his funeral prayers today. May he Rest In Peace.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

https://www.facebook.com/breakingnews0786/videos/1540815912671635/?hc_ref=ARTXiWUWr3qQGLWmety80O2bqFs34Go5-mq2JquyRN68t7dElogh7ruufRNw8vxOGi4&pnref=story

This is a very cogent, impassioned article by Aijaz Zaka Syed on Trump moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. I do take exception to his characterization of the Palestinian struggle as “a political wilderness” & inactive because there are hundreds of protests, thousands arrested & beaten, & many killed. The crisis of leadership is an international problem, hardly unique to the Palestinian struggle. Isn’t that always the problem in politics?
Otherwise, to my mind, Aijaz’s analysis is powerful.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/256176-a-time-for-action-not-words

Yesterday, India’s chief minister in Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti said “there is a need for a healing touch policy” in Kashmir.

This is Farhan Rasheed Gandroo’s response today:

“It was only yesterday that this Lady Chief Minister was talking about that much touted #HealingTouch & today we received that touch in the form of innocent martyr Asif Iqbal’s dead body. I would personally prefer electric touch rather than her duplicitous healing touch.”

“#Kashmir

Before an encounter we are killed as “Mistaken Identity”.
During an encounter we are killed by “Stray Bullets”.
After an encounter we are killed “To mantain Law and Order.”
#KupwaraFakeEncounter”

–Zahid Zubair

Which Erdogan are we to believe? The man of the people, champion of the oppressed one who speaks out for Palestinians, Rohingya, Syrians? Or the realpolitik guy who brokers economic & political deals with Israel & Burma & violently represses Kurds; who houses US nuclear weapons on Turkish soil, allows US warplanes in Syria to use Turkish airbases, has the second largest army in NATO; makes unsavory deals with the European Union denying refugee rights to Syrians & other refugees trying to reach Europe; & who represses democracy protesters, raids newspaper offices & arrests reporters?

Did those Turkish naval ships he promised in May 2015 to rescue Rohingya refugees stranded in the Andaman Sea ever arrive? Did the millions in humanitarian aid he promised to refugees in Bangladesh ever get delivered? Did the humanitarian aid he promised to Gaza ever get delivered? Only the Turkish media controlled by Erdogan answers those questions in the affirmative because if they didn’t, they would be incarcerated.

Erdogan could be called a master of grandstanding empty gestures but his actions & inactions speak louder than words. This photo is a billboard in Ankara, Turkey in 2013 with images of Netanyahu & Erdogan celebrating their economic & political rapprochement. Turkey dropped the demand that Israel end the blockade of Gaza in exchange for an apology, some economic contracts, & $20 million compensation for Turkish activists killed by Israeli commandoes on the 2010 humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza. Erdogan eventually threw the organizers of the flotilla under the bus by publicly asking, “Did you even ask me before you set sail?”

Always in politics, there is the deed before the word.

Can Kashmiris explain to us what this two model villages with human rights thing is all about? Isn’t it an admission that under AFSPA & the occupation there are no human rights?

Got another nastygram complaining that I write my own posts rather than post articles. What can I tell you? I’m a political writer so that’s what I do. If you don’t like my point of view, let me refer you to Twitter or you might even try googling. But don’t pester me with your nonsense. I’m already behind in my writing.

When pressed by an interviewer from France 24, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina refused to characterize the human rights crimes in Burma as ethnic cleansing or genocide but simply repeated that the atrocities were “unacceptable.” There are stronger condemnations for children farting or picking their noses at the dinner table.

The reason she’s watering down the scale of criminality against the Rohingya people is to avoid public outrage (certainly not UN or governmental censure) over their forcible repatriation. She said Bangladesh has received guarantees from Burma for the safety & security of Rohingya refugees on their forcible return. There are over one million Rohingya refugees just in Bangladesh from successive waves of genocide so Sheikh Hasina knows exactly what is going on in Arakan state. Rohingya refugees have been quoted as saying they would rather die than return to Burma & it is what they say that counts. The fate of Rohingya refugees is for them to decide.

Photo is Sheikh Hasina doing her humanitarian schtick with a Rohingya child she will try to forcibly return to a concentration camp in Burma & to another genocidal offensive.