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Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper gives a speech after receiving an award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in New York City, September 27, 2012
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under fire for skipping the 67th session of the UN General Assembly to attend a private ceremony where he received an award from a Jewish-sponsored organization.
Passing up the opportunity to address the General Assembly, Harper chose to receive the New York-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) award from former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Thursday.
The Canadian official seized the opportunity to level criticism at the UN and accused its members of using the world body as a “forum to single out Israel for criticism.”
Harper further added that the policies of the Israeli regime are not to blame for “the pathologies present in that part of the world,” while reaffirming Canada’s support for Tel Aviv.
However, the Canadian prime minister’s decision not to speak at the opening of the General Assembly drew harsh criticism in Canada from opposition leaders, who called the move “absolutely ridiculous.”
“I think the message is that Canada, that the Harper government doesn’t care about the United Nations,” said Bob Rae, the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
This is the second consecutive year that Harper has shunned the UN event, preferring to send Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in his place.
Many in Canada are concerned about Harper’s conservative policies as he is also accused of locking his government behind a wall of secrecy, defunding democratic institutions and giving away Canada’s sovereignty to the UK and the Israeli regime.
The French cabinet has approved the “toughest budget in 30 years.” It is seen as a major political test for the president Francois Hollande, who is resorting to a standard method of shoring up the budget: Taxing the rich and cutting spending.
France needs to make an estimated 30 billion euro in savings in its next fiscal year to reach Hollande’s ambitious target of reducing the country’s deficit from 4.5 per cent in 2012 to three per cent by 2013. The three percent figure is the EU’s mandated deficit ceiling for member-states.
Higher tax rates on business and wealthy individuals are expected to bring in revenues of 20 billion euro. Hollande outlined a plan to achieve the other 10 billion in needed savings by cutting public spending.
But experts believe the austerity measures risk further pressure on France’s stagnant economy, which has teetered on the brink of recession for the last three fiscal quarters. The country’s unemployment rate has also risen above ten percent – a 13-year high.
Francois Asselineau, veteran of several French Ministries over the last 20 years and head of the Popular Republican Union, said that Hollande may fall into the same trap as many of his predecessors.
“The past decades the governments have been cutting and cutting and cutting the state’s expenses to balance budgets, but in fact, the more they cut, the slower the economic growth,”Asselineau told RT. “It leads to recession, and an even bigger deficit, and consequently more cuts. This will be a catastrophic budget, I think.”
One of Hollande’s key promises during this year’s election was to tax France’s wealthiest at an unprecedented 75 percent for those earning more than 1 million euro a year.
Some experts warned that the higher rates may cause foreign capital to flee the country. And while France’s government claimed that austerity was not its top priority, there are no indications the sluggish economy is growing at a fast enough rate to make up for the budget shortfalls.
French publisher Alain Lefebvre believes the move is simply an empty political gesture.
“He did this to make his electorate calm down – to make an impression he’s doing something,” he told RT. “But this is all bluffing! It can't help. It's simply not enough, there’s not that many rich people in France.”
“The worst is that people who are now happy that the rich are being punished don’t understand, the government will start with rich but when [they] fail to succeed – and I’m 100 per cent certain they’ll fail – they’ll descend down the totem pole and tax the poor,” Lefebvre said.
A group of Syrian rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) defected and joined pro-government forces on Wednesday. The troops’ commander announced that “the road is open,” and called on to other rebels to abandon their uprising.
Eleven rebel troops – three officers, two warrant officers and six civilians – defected from the FSA and now support President Bashar al-Assad, AFP reported.
"We have decided to return to the army and cooperate with the Ministry of National Reconciliation," Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled Abdel Rahman al-Zamel said during a conference of non-combatant Syrian opposition groups.
“We are all Syrians, we reject a revolution that starts with the shedding of blood,” al-Zamel said, eliciting applause from the audience.
"The solution can't be achieved through holding weapons, blasts, sabotage or killing the innocent, but repenting from the wrongdoing and through political means,” Xinhua quoted al-Zamel as saying. He previously served as a captain in the Syrian Army, before joining the FSA months ago. He was reportedly the head of the FSA’s leadership in southern Syria, and acted as the deputy chief of the rebels' military council.
The appearance of al-Zamel and his men came as a surprise to the Damascus conference, organized by some 30 Syrian opposition groups with the aim of opening peaceful dialogue with the Syrian government to resolve the ongoing crisis in the country. The gathering was attended by ambassadors from Russia and Iran, and China’s temporary charge d'affaires for Syria – three nations who consistently supported the Assad regime over the past 18-month uprising.
Al-Zamel’s statement sparked debate among anti-regime activists – some argued that al-Zamel was forced to make his statement; others claimed that they had no idea who he was.
Yaser al-Abed, another FSA officer who attended the conference, formerly commanded a rebel group in Aleppo province. During the conference, al-Abed called on other insurgents to disarm and surrender: “Work your minds and know that holding weapons is nothing but a violation to the minds and freedom alike.”
“Syria is our home and honor, but they wanted to burn it. The most targeted things are our religion, nation and land,” al-Abed said.“I have known all that, and that is why I have decided to lay down my weapon to be a loving person who seeks the good and the humanity.”
The conference of opposition groups in the Syrian capital of Damascus called on both the Syrian authorities and the rebels to “immediately” end violence in the country though an international peace plan.
On Wednesday, twin car bombings by rebels targeting military command headquarters in Damascus, and a separate rebel attack killed four Syrian security officers and injured another 14.
That same day, rebel snipers killed a journalist with Iran’s Press TV, Syrian national Maya Nasser, as he reported on live TV about the bombings at the army headquarters.
Russia and the US continued to clash in the UN Security Council over the ongoing Syrian crisis: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned Western nations for their stance on Syria. "The states that encourage the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up on the ceasefire and dialogue and to demand that the regime capitulate, bear responsibility for the continuing bloodshed," he said. "Such an approach is unrealistic and encourages terrorism, which is used by the opposition.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of “murdering of his own people,” and argued that the UN is paralyzed by Russia and China’s vetoing of Western-backed resolutions on Syria.
Rebel fighter commander Khaled al-Zamel, or Abu al-Walid at a conference organised by opposition groups tolerated by Assad's regime, Damascus, September 26, 2012. (Screenshot from AFP video
Russia Foreign Affair Minister Sergey V. Lavrov speaks at a United Nations Security Council meeting on peace and security in Middle East on September 26, 2012 in New York City. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images/AFP
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the ongoing violence in Syria on “some states,” which encourage Syrian rebel terrorism and their refusal to negotiate. Lavrov made his remarks during a UN Security Council session.
In a high-level meeting of the Security Council on Middle East security, two world powers – Russia and the United States – clashed over interpretations of the ongoing violence in Syria, and how to end the bloodshed.
"The states that encourage the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up on the ceasefire and dialogue and to demand that the regime capitulate, bear responsibility for the continuing bloodshed," Lavrov said. "Such an approach is unrealistic and encourages terrorism, which is used by the opposition."
Lavrov reiterated Russia’s longstanding position that “stable settlement of the crisis can only be achieved through negotiation and compromise, taking into account the interests of all the faiths and ethnic groups of Syrian society." The Russian FM argued that the groundwork for a peaceful resolution should follow the Kofi Annan peace plan and the Geneva communique, and related Security Council resolutions.
"We see that the initiative put forth by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has potential,” he said. In August, during a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca, Morsi called for the creation of "a quartet" to resolve the Syrian crisis. The group would include Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, the latter two being understood to have strong influence in the region.
Washington accused the UN's decision-making body of paralysis, and the Syrian leader of “murdering of his own people.”
“The atrocities mount while the Security Council remains paralyzed, and I would urge that we try once again to find a path forward,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Council, referring to Russia and China’s previous vetoes of Western-backed resolutions. Clinton was not present for Lavrov's remarks to the Security Council, citing a previous engagement.
As permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China blocked three resolutions that would have imposed further sanctions on the Syrian government. Both countries argued that the only way to solve the crisis is through negotiations.
Other states of the 15-member council also called for action. “As the international community, we must be united to stop the violence and help initiate a process of political transition. We must find a common response. We owe it to the people,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said that “there is no military solution to this crisis” in Syria, and urged a political solution.
Punishing blasphemy
Another topic that dominated the Security Council's discussion was the Islamophobic, US-made amateurm film that sparked massive protests across the Muslim world.
Arab League representative Nabil Elaraby demanded that the Security Council criminalize acts that insult or cause offense to religions, arguing that unless blasphemy laws are enacted and enforced, similar violence could once again erupt.
"If the international community has criminalized bodily harm, it must just as well criminalize psychological and spiritual harm," Elaraby said.
The League of Arab States "calls for the development of an international legal framework which is binding … in order to confront insulting religions and ensure that religious faith and its symbols are respected."
France seeks no-fly zone over Syria to repeat the Al Qaeda Benghazi-blowback.
As NATO desperately attempts to coverup a botched false flag operation in Benghazi, Libya which left a high ranking US diplomat dead, France has urged a repeat performance in Syria. That is, arming and providing air support for the very terrorist battalions now operating in Syria that have ravaged and overrun Libya, leaving it a perpetually wrecked, destabilized terrorist epicenter.
The announcement made by French President Francois Hollande came on the heels of a deadly terrorist bombing in Damascus targeting a school rebels senselessly claim was being used by Syrian security forces. Western propagandists are now calling the school a “security building.”
Protection for “liberated” areas would require no-fly zones enforced by foreign aircraft, which could stop deadly air raids by Assad’s forces on populated areas. But there is little chance of securing a Security Council mandate for such action given the continuing opposition of veto-wielding members Russia and China.
Before quoting Hollande who said:
“How long can we accept the paralysis at the U.N.?”
To answer Mr. Hollande’s question, one might look toward Libya where an identical campaign of violent subversion based on similar lies regarding the “protection of civilians,” was carried out by NATO and proxy terrorist organizations who were in fact listed by the UN itself as affiliates of the notorious global terror network Al Qaeda. The NATO-led, UN mandated evisceration of Libya put power into the hands of genocidal, racist terror battalions who literally scoured entire cities of their inhabitants either massacring, imprisoning, or exiling them all beyond Libya’s borders
Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of theUS State Department, United Nations, and theUK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as “foreign invasion.”
It should be clear then, to Mr. Hollande, that the UN is not in fact “paralyzed” but that the member nations that constitute the Security Council and the General Assembly are increasingly aware of and opposed to the duplicitous and untenable nature of NATO’s wars of conquest, merely dressed up as humanitarian intervention. As France Pushes for A Libya Repeat, Media & Politicians Desperately Attempt to Rewrite Narrative
One attack in Benghazi, Libya, left the US consulate ablaze, unexpectedly trapping US Ambassador Christopher Stevens who succumbed to smoke inhalation. Despite the attacks, and the subsequent media circus and staged rallies to depict Libya’s client regime as “disbanding” terrorist militias, the fact remains that vast terrorist networks stretching from Libya to Syriaare still fully armed, funded, and covertly backed by the very corporate-financier interests that sold the last decade of “War on Terror” to the West.
In addition to a myriad of staged events to portray a divide between the West and its terrorist proxies, there are also sophomoric and desperate attempts throughout the corporate-media to rewrite the Syrian narrative as public awareness grows, and support for Western destabilization under the guise of “humanitarian causes” collapses.
One such attempt was published in the Washington Post in a piece titled, “Among Assad’s opponents, moderation reigns,” where David Pollock of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy attempts to argue that Syria’s “opposition” is overwhelmingly moderate, with sectarian extremists being an exception to the rule, based on a poll conducted by the International Republication Institute.
However, Pollock’s think-tank, the Washington Institute, is in fact a Wall Street pro-war think-tank, lined by notorious warmongering frauds and Neo-Cons including Richard Perle, Max Kampelman, US Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis, accused war criminal Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and James Woolsey, all signatories of the now infamous Project for a New American Century (PNAC), and all signatories of numerous letters calling for war with both Libya and Syria.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is in fact funded by the US State Department and is chaired by Senator John McCain, who had shaken hands with the very terrorists responsible for the US consulate attack that left Ambassador Stevens dead in Benghazi, Libya. McCain has also traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to provide these same terrorists with support. The IRI itself had played an instrumental role in engineering the allegedly “spontaneous” “Arab Spring,” training and organizing activists years before unrest took to the Arab World’s streets.
Image: Senator John McCain (with the now deceased US Ambassador John Christopher Stevens on the right with blue tie) in the terrorist rat nest of Benghazi after marshaling cash, weapons, and political support for militants tied directly to Al Qaeda. McCain’s insistence that the terrorists he helped arm and install into power were “not Al Qaeda” runs contra to the US Army’s own reportswhich state that Benghazi’s terror brigades officially merged with Al Qaeda in 2007. McCain’s “Libyan patriots” have now killed US Ambassador Stevens with weapons most likely procured with cash and logistic networks set up by NATO last year, part of a supranational terror campaign that includes violently subverting Syria – a campaign McCain also supports.
Clearly the “poll” which was conducted over “Skype” by IRI with “activists” inside Syria was produced for public perception only to cook up numbers that would allow Pollock, CNN and others to conclude, “all in all, the data show that most Syrian opposition activists are far from being Islamic fanatics or extremists,” as well as “the argument that providing this help might result in trading Assad’s hostile secular dictatorship for a hostile Islamic one does not square with these facts.”
The idea is to maintain the narrative that the US is backing “freedom fighters” not terrorists, and it is an idea perpetuated by the very pro-war advocates behind the Libyan disaster and the Arab World unrest in the first place.
We can expect calls for arming and defending terrorist proxies in Syria to continue while the corporate-media continues its attempt to portray what is literally Al Qaeda operating in Syria with NATO backing as instead, “pro-democracy” “freedom fighters” in desperate need of Western assistance. Conversely, we must continue to expose the corporate-financiernarrative as the lies they are, while resolving to undermine the very source of their unwarranted influence which allows them to meddle globally in the first place.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejiad’s eighth address to the UN General Assembly was defined mostly by its absences: The Syrian conflict and an infamous anti-Muslim film weren’t mentioned, and the US delegation wasn’t present in the chamber.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejiad called for world leaders to serve their people, not rule over them during his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
Despite an address more centered on peace and justice than specific geopolitical events, a few barbs were directed towards the West.
Evoking a litany of injustices that had occurred throughout history despite the striving of “righteous people and justice seekers,” he said the “current abysmal situation of the world” resulted from “the self-proclaimed centers of power who have entrusted themselves to the Devil.”
Ahmadinejiad lambasted the “arms race” and “nuclear intimidation” being perpetuated by “hegemonic powers," as well as “the continued threat by uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action.”
His comments came as the seats for the US diplomatic mission remained conspicuously empty.
The US had called for a boycott of Ahmadinejad's address on Wednesday, accusing the Iranian President of spouting "paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel."
"It’s particularly unfortunate that Mr. Ahmadinejad will have the platform of the UN General Assembly on Yom Kippur, which is why the United States has decided not to attend," a statement posted by Erin Pelton, the spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations, read.
The president of the Islamic Republic had made several comments in the run-up to Wednesday's address which incited the ire of Western powers.
On Tuesday, Ahmadinejiad talked at length with the AP on the sidelines of the UN summit.
Speaking through a translator, the Iranian president claimed that Western outrage over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program was a pretext for dominating Iran, as “even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying.”
While speaking before the UN General assembly on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said that the window of opportunity to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Though Obama charged that the US would not allow Tehran to acquire of nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejiad reiterated his country’s longstanding claim that their uranium enrichment program was strictly for energy production.
“Everyone is aware the nuclear issue is the imposition of the will of the United States,” Ahmadinejiad said. “I see the nuclear issue as a non-issue. It has become a form of one-upmanship.”
One problem central to the current tensions is that the US never accepted the legitimacy of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejiad said, calling for the creation of a new, less polarized world order.
"I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it," he said.
His comments echoed the contentious statements he made before the UN Generally Assembly last year, when he referred to current international powers as “the same slave masters” who “imposed colonialism for over four centuries upon this world.”
He incited further walkouts with his insinuations that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks, proclaiming that “instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator [Osama bin Laden] and threw his body into the sea.”
The Iranian president also stirred controversy on Monday when he referred to modern-day Israel as a mere blip in world history.
“Iran has been around for the last seven, ten thousand years. They [Israelis] have been occupying those territories for the last 60 to 70 years, with the support and force of the Westerners. They have no roots there in history,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “We don't even count them as any part of any equation for Iran. During a historical phase, they [Israelis] represent minimal disturbances that come into the picture and are then eliminated.”
Ahmadinejiad also dismissed threats of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities: "Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists…We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves."
Despite Western condemnation of his remarks, the Iranian president refused to back down during Wednesday interviews.
“When have we threatened to attack the Zionists? We have never threatened them,” Ahmadinejiad said in an interview broadcast on CBS’s ‘Early Morning.’ He argued that Israel’s “occupation,” “war-like behavior” and “terrorism” need to end, repeating his long-running claim that Palestinians should be allowed to achieve democratic self-determination on their own historical lands.
He also called on the United States to patient, as he routinely was forced to exercise patience as he listened to the US president berate Iran before the General Assembly.
Having served two terms as Iran’s president, Ahmadinejiad will step down once his term ends next year.
Iran’s Press TV claimed its Damascus correspondent was killed Wednesday by a rebel sniper while reporting on bombings in the Syrian capital. Two car bombs struck the Syrian Army’s command headquarters, setting one of the buildings on fire.
Maya Nasser, a 33 -year-old Syrian national, was killed while reporting from the scene, Press TV said. Hussein Murtada – Press TV’s Damascus bureau chief and head of the Arabic-language Al-Alam TV network – was also reportedly injured in the attack.
In recent months, Nasser reported from the frontlines of the Syrian conflict. His video reports from war-torn Aleppo were a valuable source of on-the-ground information.
“Maya Nasser was a true professional, and his help to me was priceless while I was reporting from Syria,” RT’s Oksana Boyko said, recalling how Nasser gave her advance warning of which conflict zones were particularly dangerous.
Nasser maintained excellent relations with foreign journalists working in Syria, and was often cited by colleagues as the only source of reliable information on the conflict.
“In private he always stressed that it is the hardship of war that had fallen on the Syrian people is what disturbed him the most,” Boyko said. “Maya always stressed that ordinary people are those who suffer the most in the conflict.”
Nasser never hid his identity, and frequently debated political opponents on his Twitter account. Though he was threatened on the Web more than once, he was remembered as always being fearless about his work.
Journalists in Syria killed in spate of rebel violence
French journalist Gilles Jacquier was killed in January by 81mm mortar fire from a rebel-held area.
On June 27, seven journalists and four security guards were killed in a rebel attack on the pro-government Al-Ikhbaria TV station in the town of Drousha, south of Damascus. One building in the complex was nearly demolished.
Syrian state TV host Mohammed al-Saeed was kidnapped and executed on July 19; a militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for the killing.
Two more Syrian journalists were kidnapped on August 4: Talal Jinbakly, a camera operator for Syrian state TV, and Mohammad Ali Hussein, who worked for an educational channel in Syria. That same day, Syrian rebels attempted to seize a state-run radio and TV broadcasting complex in Aleppo, and reportedly raised a rebel flag on top of the building.
Three TV journalists and their driver were kidnapped while reporting from a Damascus suburb on August 10.
On August 11, the head of Syrian news agency SANA was killed in Damascus.
In a mid-August statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the “terrorist attacks against journalists” who “ensure the democratic rights of people to receive objective information, freedom of speech and opinion.”
