FG

Downfall

I've seen the movie and it is absolutely great. The most interesting thing was the absolute denial that it was over until the last minute. 

 I wonder if Bashar Assad will commit suicide in the end though. I hope Syria will find peace one day - like Germany did.  

MIG does down, Pilot shot in head after bombing civilians

He was shot whle parachuting near Idlib. See photos

//brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/mig-21-shot-down-in-idlib.html

Iranian media has been ordered to avoid bleak reportoing regarding conditons in Iran, sanctions, protest, etc.   Instead reporters should create an image of "hope and joy," Tehran's chief prosecutor wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece published by Fars news agency.

//www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=433192 

Not Iran's image, IRI image

Beg to differ.

HATRED: Syrian Children Offer Glimpse of a Future of Reprisals

Excerpt from NY Times 

Like all the small children in the desert refugee camp here, Ibtisam, 11, is eager to go home to the toys, bicycles, books, cartoons and classmates she left behind in Syria.

But not if that means living with Alawites, members of the same minority offshoot of Shiite Islam as Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. “I hate the Alawites and the Shiites,” Ibtisam said as a crowd of children and adults nodded in agreement. “We are going to kill them with our knives, just like they killed us...”

Children as young as 10 or 11 vowed never to play with Syrian Alawite children or even pledged to kill them.

Parroting older relatives — some of whom openly egged them on — the youngsters offered a disturbing premonition of the road ahead for Syria....

“We hear it all the time from the kids, but also from the parents — that this is not political at all, and not a call for democracy, but is about people fed up and angry at rule by a minority, the Alawites,” said Saba al-Mobaslat, director for Jordan of the nonprofit group Save the Children, which provides toys to refugee children and tries to teach them understanding. “There is a concern that this is a whole generation that is being brought up to hate, that can’t see the other’s side...”

“Why are they bombing us?” Ahmed, 12, from the Hauran region near the border with Jordan, asked rhetorically. “Because we are asking for our freedom.”

His father interrupted to explain what freedom might mean. “The biggest general in Hauran, a young Alawite soldier can step his foot on the general’s head,” his father said. “A young Alawite soldier can humiliate the biggest officer.”

His son picked up the theme. “The Alawites say, ‘Kneel in front of my shoe,’ ” Ahmed said before looping the subject back to the revolt. “We can’t be free with Assad because he kills us.”

The convictions of Heza, 13, were blunt. “We will never live together,” he said. “All the Alawites are security agents. After the revolution, we want to kill them.”

Even if it might mean killing a Syrian child his own age? “I will kill him,” Heza said. “It doesn’t matter...

Ranya, 13, insisted that “there will always be a problem between Sunnis and Alawites, because they are the ones who are doing this to us.”

She hates the Alawites, she said, but not exclusively. She also hates Hassan Nasrallah — the leader of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which supports the Assad government — as well China and Russia, Mr. Assad’s other foreign backers.

(Note: I'm sure the Islamic Republic of Iran is also on that hate list.  The best thing about that is that once Khamenei falls, a secular and democratic Iranian governent may be in the best position to undo all this hate in Syria) 

ASSAD'S THREE "GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS" FOR SYRIA

--HATE CREATION: His tactics and the use of Alawaites to carry them out are creating hated.  No doubt those who supported his crimes will pay.  Assad's real goal was NOT to protect Alawites against a once imagined and now very real threat.  His real goal was to maintain himself and his Mafia cohorts in power.  Assad stirred this sectarian hate up for the same reason Milosevic did.

--JIHADIZATION: His refusal to leave (now is too late) aids radicalization of the population with each month he remains in office.  If you don't like Al Queda or jihadis (as Putin claims) the most intelligent move would be to dump this guy immediately and not keep him afloat for any longer than necessary.  Either way he is going down so what good does it do.

--MASS MURDER & MASS DESTRUCTION 

What a legacy the man will have!  Like Khamenei he will be cursed for years after his death. 

LINK

 //www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/in-syrian-conflict-children-speak-of-revenge-against-alawites.html?_r=1&hp

Assad calls up former soldiers but 50% Are No Shows : Roundup

THIS IS A REAL GEM SO I INCLUDE A LONG EXCERPT

Even some Alawites are dodging the call is nice to hear.   You know a regime has lost all legitimacy and is going down when that happens.  To be forced to fight for Assad is to be forced to participate in his crimes.    

Excerpt:

(Reuters) - Syria is calling up former soldiers from the reserves to active army service in growing numbers, a sign of the strain of efforts to crush the 17-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Several fleeing reservists and a serving army officer told Reuters that thousands of men had been called up in the past two months to bolster the 300,000 strong army, and many of them are failing to report for duty.

"We have two choices: Stay and kill fellow Syrians, or desert, and be on the run from military courts," said a legal assistant summoned for duty in Damascus...

Residents in Damascus say checkpoints across the city now inspect young men's IDs to check they are not fleeing army service or have not been called up from the reserves. Some deserters dare not leave their homes, fearing neighbors who might report them...

Even opponents of Assad have been called up. Tamouz, a 28-year-old playwright who was arrested earlier this year for opposition activism, said he was called up for military service last week and fled the next day.

"I did my service in the infantry," he said. "Nowadays, that basically means: 'Go, die.'"

//www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/04/us-syria-crisis-army-deserters-idUSBRE8830CH20120904

RUSSIA CONSIDERED QUITTING SYRIAN NAVAL BASE 

//www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/04/us-syria-crisis-russia-base-idUSBRE8830BS20120904

SNIPER EMPLOYED BY M JOON'S FAVORITE DICTATOR KILLS LITTLE GIRL IN MOTHER'S LAP\

//www.cnn.com/2012/09/03/world/meast/syria-desperate-family/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

EXCERPT: Aleppo, Syria (CNN) -- Rena was playing on her lounge floor, in her mother's lap, when the shot tore through her cheek. She grimaced, cried for her mother and then went silent, as the blood began to flow in her mouth.

ASSAD'S FORCES KILLED 250 CIVILIANS ON MONDAY

That's about average for the regime.  Unable to defeat the FSA on the ground and fearful of defections, it relies on bombing civilian areas where the regie i known to be unpopular then moving in to execute all males of mlitary age.  

As with the Nazis, on whom the Baathist Party is based, the intent--to intimidate--is not achieved.  The effect is to add to hatred of the regime, draw more recruits and encourage further defections.

The bullet came from nowhere, bursting through the frosted-glass window on the family balcony, knocking out one of her teeth, and shattering her family's world. 

IRAN INVENTS NEW WEAPON, SAY FARS

An Iranian innovator said he has invented a fragrance-making and spraying device to deceive enemies in the battlefield by camouflaging the gunpowder smelt in the area.

Mohammad Sadeh Pir-Tavana, the inventor of the aroma producing and spraying device, told FNA on Monday that his invention pumps and spreads the smell of fresh air, rainy weather, seaside weather and tea fragrance in vast areas to change the smell of the battlefield...

A member of Assad's minority Alawite sect, Fadi, 30, is trying to find a way to bribe a security officer to let him flee the country.

Many Alawites like Fadi have stood by Assad, fearing sectarian retribution from the Sunni Muslim majority leading the revolt. "If my community found out what I was trying to do, they would call me a traitor," he said. "No one would help me hide."...

Even opponents of Assad have been called up. Tamouz, a 28-year-old playwright who was arrested earlier this year for opposition activism, said he was called up for military service last week and fled the next day.

"I did my service in the infantry," he said. "Nowadays, that basically means: 'Go, die.'"...

IRANIAN POLICE BROKE TEETH & JAW OF A BLOGGER'S WIFE

The opposition site Iran Green Voice claims that a commander of the NAJA police force broke the teeth and jaw of the wife of blogger and former political prisoner Mohammad Esmailzadeh, putting her in hospital.

Like his fraternal twin in Syria, Khamenei resorts to many of the same practices--attacks on relatives, use of snipers, total censorship, plainclothes thugs who rip up homes and invade mosques, attacks on funerals, hospitals and doctors whenever there is opposition, etc. 

RAFSANJANI RESPONDS TO KHAMENEI SPOKESMAN

Earlier this week Ali Saeedi, Khamenei's representative, said that the Islamic Revolution could not rest solely upon the people but had to be embodied in the Supreme Leader (which confirms the sort of mindset that led to the rigged election of 2009).

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, responded with thi accurate accuation responding to the Supreme Leader's representative Ali Saeedi, has complained that "people have no place in the Islam of reactionaries", whose "voices have become louder now".

Is he saying that Khamenei is a reactionary?  It may be true but will it be tolerated? 

 A SPEECH WITH TWO WHOPPERS

Opening the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani noted that the recent Non-Aligned Conference had demonstrated that the regime was highly respected by the world and not an isolated pariah state (contradicting reality).

Kani also praised the "enthusiastic participation of people" in all aspects of Iranian life.

FEEDBACK REQUEST: HAVE YOU SEEN "DOWNFALL?"

More than once, I've mentioned the German movie Downfall as "must" watching for folks interested in Syria or Iran.  Regardless of which side you are on you'll find this dramatic re-enactment of the final days of a fascist state mesmerizing and intense.   

Has anyone here seen in yet?   What did you think?  If you do see it, let us know.  Here are some places to check out reviews:

On Amazon, 456 people reviewed the film and only eleven gave it three stars.  Not a single person gave it less. 

//www.amazon.com/Downfall-Bruno-Ganz/dp/B0009RCPUC

At Rotten Tomatoes, both professional critics and the public rated it above 90%.  

//www.rottentomatoes.com/m/downfall/

In most cases, negative criticism centered on complaints that top Nazis could behave like nice, normal people when relating to families and friends.  Thus, Hitler was a vegetarian who was nice to his dog (Blondie), his sectretary and other help.  Thus, a doctor who engaged in medical experiment smiles at his wife and kids as he pulls a grenade under the dining room table.  With the Russians a few blocks away he had been denied permission to leave Berlin.

FG, Great Update

Thanks for continueous reports in Syria and IRAN.

So many topics that are painful to poor MaryanneJ

Of course they would be painful to any defender of worthless and completely discredited regimes.   Observe how closely Maryanne's reaction to my post resembles Khamenei's reaction to all the awful new reports about Iran and its pitiful conditions in the world press.  That it's enough to make one cry in understandable--an observation that applies to Assad as well.   

Maybe Maryanne, Khamenei and Assad can exchange handkerchiefs. 

So many topics ... so little time ... yawn

Downing of Syrian Helicopter?

Female education?  (I think he meant gender equality)

Israeli attack?

Iraqi fashion? 

Enron?

KKK? 

.

The outrageous wrongs committed by the inner circle of SL, and others who are closely associated with the regime's power centres don't nullify the sacred ideals of the Great Revolution in 79.............Ironically, our nation is now standing more resolute for Reform.........it is a must.............and it's undoubtedly coming.....