News: Mid-East Events watch

Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 4, 2011

Kinda a catch all for all that is going on in the ME.

Turkey looks like they are ready to step it up a notch with Syria.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/world/meast/turkey-syria-relations/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Istanbul (CNN) -- As relations continue to deteriorate between neighbors Turkey and Syria, the Turkish armed forces announced Tuesday it will conduct a weeklong series of military exercises in a province along the Syrian border.
The objectives of the Yildirim ("lightning bolt") exercise include establishing coordination between military and civilian institutions and "testing of mutual activities performed during mobilization and war times," according to a statement on the Turkish Armed Forces website.
Some Middle East experts immediately interpreted the announcement as a warning to Damascus.
"Turkey is sending a signal to Syria," said Lale Kemal, a defense expert and Ankara bureau chief with the Turkish newspaper Taraf.
"The irony is that it was only a few years ago as part of improved relations that Turkey and Syria started joint border maneuvers."
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But here is where it becomes very interesting:

"We cannot remain a mere spectator to the developments in Syria," Erdogan told television cameras. "There are serious deaths against unjustly treated, oppressed and defenseless people. We cannot say 'keep going' to this ... we have to fulfill our human task."
Erdogan also said he planned to visit Syrian refugees living in camps along the Turkish border. That expected visit is likely to coincide with the Turkish military exercises near the border.

This week, a Turkish official told CNN on condition of anonymity that Turkey was considering taking "a series of steps" against the Syrian government. For weeks, the Turkish media has speculated about the possibility of Ankara establishing military buffer zones along the border, economic sanctions and the freezing of Syrian government assets.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Turkey hosted a group of opposition activists in Istanbul. They announced the formation of a Syrian National Council seeking to challenge the authority of the Syrian regime.
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Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 5, 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15177114

China and Russia have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria over its crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The European-drafted resolution had been watered down to try to avoid the vetoes, dropping a direct reference to sanctions against Damascus.
But Moscow and Beijing said the draft contained no provision against outside military intervention in Syria.

"Calls from the Arab League for an end to this bloodbath and statements from neighbouring countries to the suffering of the Syrian people show that this veto goes against the sense of history underway in Syria and throughout the region," said Mr Araud.
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No shock here really, given china and russia's own history of oppresion in Tibet and Georgia.

Another failure for the UN. Its time for the US and the allies to start supporting the people of Syria with weapons so they can fight for themselves.

Real Corona · Oct 6, 2011

Mr. Conspiracy said: ↑

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15177114

No shock here really, given china and russia's own history of oppresion in Tibet and Georgia.

Another failure for the UN. Its time for the US and the allies to start supporting the people of Syria with weapons so they can fight for themselves.
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Georgia no

The Caucasus yes.

edcalvi · Oct 6, 2011

Real Corona said: ↑

Georgia no

The Caucasus yes.
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Russia's unjustified military intervention in Georgia IS oppressing your small neighbor.

Real Corona · Oct 6, 2011

Popol Vuh said: ↑

Russia's unjustified military intervention in Georgia IS oppressing your small neighbor.
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All the evidence I have seen of that was that Georgia started the shooting. I'm no Russian apologist, and I think that the Abkhaz government has perpetrated one of the most successful and underreported ethnic cleansings in the world. But, the Georgian government seemed to think that it could take back it's breakaway provinces with military force, which was bound to elicit a Russian reaction. There is plenty to criticism Russia for, specifically in Chechnya, Dagestan, the Ingush republic and elsewhere, but I think using the war against Georgia is off the mark.

And just for you ..........

yasik19 · Oct 10, 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/iran-actress-sentenced-one-jail-report-191536998.html

She probably deserved it......speaking her mind.....how dare she.

Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 10, 2011

Tolerance in Egypt;

Egypt Christians vent fury after clashes kill 25

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Coptic Christians turned their fury against the army on Monday after at least 25 people were killed when troops broke up a protest, deepening public doubts about the military's ability to steer the country peacefully toward democracy.

In the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, armored vehicles sped into a crowd late on Sunday to crack down on a protest near Cairo's state television.

Tension between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians has simmered for years but has worsened since the anti-Mubarak revolt, which gave freer rein to Salafist and other strict Islamist groups that the former president had repressed.

Late on Monday, thousands marched from Cairo's main cathedral to the Coptic hospital where most of the wounded were treated, calling for religious unity and the removal of the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

"Why didn't they do this with the Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood when they organize protests? This is not my country any more," Alfred Younan, a Copt, said near the hospital.

Christians make up 10 percent of Egypt's roughly 80 million people. They took to the streets after accusing Muslim radicals of partially demolishing a church in Aswan province last week.

They also demanded the sacking of the province's governor for failing to protect the building.

On Monday, mourners packed the Abbasiya cathedral, where Coptic Pope Shenouda prayed over candle-lit coffins of the dead. Many wept and chanted slogans calling for Tantawi to step down.
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Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 10, 2011

Iran weighs in on Occupy Wall street:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/masoud-jazayeri-wall-street_n_1002598.html

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian military commander said Sunday that the protests spreading from New York's Wall Street to other U.S. cities are the beginning of an "American Spring," likening them to the uprisings that toppled Arab autocrats in the Middle East.
Gen. Masoud Jazayeri of Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the protests against corporate greed and the gap between rich and poor are a revolution in the making that will topple what he called the Western capitalist system.
The Occupy Wall Street movement started in New York City last month and is spreading to other parts of the country. The loosely affiliated movement is peacefully protesting the power of the financial and political sectors.
Jazayeri said President Barack Obama's election promises of change have reached a dead end.
"The failure of the U.S. president to resolve the Wall Street crisis will turn this economic movement into a political and social movement protesting the very structure of the U.S. government," the official IRNA news agency quoted Jazayeri as saying Sunday.
"A revolution and a comprehensive movement against corruption in the U.S. is in the making. The last phase will be the collapse of the Western capitalist system," he said, according to IRNA.
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LOL, how little he knows about the US. Still a humorous read nonetheless. Maybe iran should take note that no one in the US is gunning down these people.

nimaa · Oct 11, 2011

Mr. Conspiracy said: ↑

Iran weighs in on Occupy Wall street:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/masoud-jazayeri-wall-street_n_1002598.html

LOL, how little he knows about the US. Still a humorous read nonetheless. Maybe iran should take note that no one in the US is gunning down these people.
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ignorant bunch around here
Kent State shooting

Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 11, 2011

nimaa said: ↑

ignorant bunch around here
Kent State shooting

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LOL@you.

Really you had to dig up an event that happened 41 years ago, and was a singular event at that.

Talk about ignorance, lets move forward to the present, in iran you have the Govt. steal an election, then mow down people who had the termity to protest it and then lock up the leaders of the protests. Not to mention every protest since has seen beatings, shootings, etc...

Yet here in the US during this Occupy Wall Street event, there have been arrests, but by and large it has been peaceful and people are free to join the protests.

You truly were speaking of yourself when you said ignorant bunch.

JBigjake · Oct 15, 2011

Mr. Conspiracy said: ↑

Tolerance in Egypt;
Egypt Christians vent fury after clashes kill 25
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Muslim Egyptians attack their Christian countrymen:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBOOF0S1Qhg&feature=related"]Bloody Protests Erupt in Cairo - Islamists & Military Attack Christians - 25 Copts Killed - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWtTtoYSWYo"]Maspero Cairo, Egypt: Egpytian Military Ruthlessly Runs Over Coptic Christian Protestors - YouTube[/ame]
Apparently, reports of military deaths were false, possibly broadcast to inflame Muslims:
http://bikyamasr.com/45280/egypt-state-television-admits-to-making-up-news-over-soldiers-deaths/
http://bikyamasr.com/section/opinion/

Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 21, 2011

Obama: Iraq war will be over by year's end; troops coming home

Finally!

Real Corona · Oct 21, 2011

Mr. Conspiracy said: ↑

Obama: Iraq war will be over by year's end; troops coming home

Finally!
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http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/a-look-at-us-presence-in-iraq-after-troops-leave/

yasik19 · Oct 26, 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/teenager-pulled-turkish-quake-rubble-043250602.html

With thousands left homeless or too afraid to return to damaged houses, Turkey said it would accept international aid offers, even from Israel, with which it has had strained relations. The country said it would need prefabricated homes to house survivors during the winter. Israel offered assistance despite a rift between the two countries over last year's Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists.
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Glad to see politics are being set aside for the greater good.

Mr. Conspiracy · Oct 26, 2011

yasik19 said: ↑

http://news.yahoo.com/teenager-pulled-turkish-quake-rubble-043250602.html

Glad to see politics are being set aside for the greater good.
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Agreed.

yasik19 · Oct 27, 2011

Another smart move by Israel.

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-egyptian-swap-highlights-brittle-ties-192636644.html

Mr. Conspiracy · Nov 2, 2011

This is really sickening how these people are treated.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/02/world/meast/egypt-refugees/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Death in the desert: Tribesmen exploit battle to reach Israel

El Arish, Egypt (CNN) -- "I wanted to build a good future for my family, but I failed," a weak Issam Abdallah Mohammed said in a videotaped statement.
The refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan was trying to illegally cross the border from Egypt to Israel when he was discovered and shot by Egyptian border guards.
Less than an hour after taping the statement, Issam was dead, succumbing to the wounds inflicted by the gunshots.
Every year, thousands of refugees, mostly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, attempt the dangerous journey from their war-torn countries to Israel in search of economic prosperity and stability.
Very few make it, and the results of the failed migration can be seen in the morgue of the central hospital in the Egyptian port town of El Arish.
When a CNN crew visited there recently, all the refrigeration units were broken, leaving a biting stench of decaying corpses in the air, which staff members attempted in vain to cover up with chlorine-based cleaner and incense.
On any given day, the morgue will be packed with the bodies of African refugees who died trying to make it to Israel.
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Real Corona · Nov 2, 2011

Mr. Conspiracy said: ↑

This is really sickening how these people are treated.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/02/world/meast/egypt-refugees/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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How they are treated by whom?

Mr. Conspiracy · Nov 2, 2011

Real Corona said: ↑

How they are treated by whom?
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By the bedouins, extorting the families of the people trying to get to Israel, being shot, enslaved. ITs all there in the article.

Iranianfootie · Nov 2, 2011

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diploma...rills-preparation-for-an-iran-strike-1.393358

It looks like some analysts believe that Netanyahu has compromised with the Palestinians with the Gilat Schalit deal and the Egyptians to clear the front for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities...if this happens, this has to be the most telegraphed attack in world history.

Real Corona · Nov 2, 2011

Iranianfootie said: ↑

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diploma...rills-preparation-for-an-iran-strike-1.393358

It looks like some analysts believe that Netanyahu has compromised with the Palestinians with the Gilat Schalit deal and the Egyptians to clear the front for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities...if this happens, this has to be the most telegraphed attack in world history.
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That would be a ********* nightmare.

yasik19 · Nov 3, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/11/iraq.humanrights?fb=optOut

horrible.

tomwilhelm · Nov 3, 2011

yasik19 said: ↑

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/11/iraq.humanrights?fb=optOut

horrible.
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Where's an errant drone attack when you need one...?

yasik19 · Nov 3, 2011

tomwilhelm said: ↑

Where's an errant drone attack when you need one...?
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What's even more firghtening is the alleged support he received.

Iranianfootie · Nov 3, 2011

Real Corona said: ↑

That would be a ********* nightmare.
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I don't know how Israel can undertake something like this in the new environment for the region. Surprisingly, Israelis are split (about half support an attack on Iran's nuclear facilitie and the other half don't). I was expecting far more support.