Critics question Catholic nun’s ‘alternative story’ on Syria civil war

Critics question Catholic nun’s ‘alternative story’ on Syria civil war | World news | theguardian.com.

I am quoted in this article about the visit of Assad propagandist and genocide denier, Mother Agnes:

…. But her supposed anti-Assad stance has been called into question. “The regime maintains tight controls over all religious institutions in the country: Islamic, Christian, Druze etc,” said Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian dissident and democracy activist living in exile in Washington. “Not a single appointment happens without its approval, even in-church appointments … Considering Mother Agnes’ position, she must have had regular contacts with ranking security officers.”

Into the Quagmire!

Through inaction and contradictory policy statements, the Obama Administration has plunged the U.S. into the very sectarian quagmire in the Middle East officials were hoping to avoid.

Amarji Special

If major segments of the Sunni communities in the Middle East have come to develop unfavorable views of American policies, especially those of the Obama Administration, the perceptions of Shia communities (and by extension Alawite communities as well) of Obama’s policies are not that favorable either. Indeed, despite the gains that Iran and Shiite communities across the region have made over the last few years as a result of American policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and despite the recent “breakthrough” with Iran, anti-Americanism remains rampant in Shia circles, and stoking its fires will continue to a favorite pastime for political and religious leaders of Shia background for years, if not decades to come. Obama’s policies are alienating old friends and allies, but they are not making new ones.

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Syria conflict threatens to tear Azerbaijan apart

Syria conflict threatens to tear Azerbaijan apart | Washington Times Communities.

But of course. Add to this reports that Armenian authorities are settling Armenian immigrants who escaped from the chaos in Syria in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and the picture will become even more complicated, and the prognosis more ominous. At the beginning of the revolution when I warned this conflict will have spillovers beyond the region and that the impact will be global, I was dismissed as naive. But I was neither naïve, nor that intelligent really. I simply refused not to see the obvious. The sectarian overtones were just too strong, carnage too bloody and the region too central to the thinking of so many Muslim peoples across the world for this not to have a larger impact. The situation in Pakistan and parts of India, as well as parts of Southeast Asia and a number of African countries will be affected in due course of time. And soon, even areas where there are no Muslims will begin to boil as a result of Western inaction on this. I hate being a prophet of doom, but I hate its agents more, some of whom are world leaders.

Wrong Calculus!

Amarji Special

My opposition to the deal with Iran is not premised on any assumptions about her potential future behavior, but on facts related to her current one, especially her financial, logistical and military support of Bashar Al-Assad even as he perpetrates genocide against the majority Sunni population in Syria. When I say that Iran seeks to project power in the region by exploiting Shia communities there, this, too, is not on assumption, but an observation of a decades-long trend.

Continue reading “Wrong Calculus!” →