بعد اعتماد الحكومة السورية النموذج الصّيني، محافظة دمشق تعتمد النموذج الصهيوني

"محافظة دمشق تشدد على أنها لن تتراجع عن القرار رقم 281 القاضي باستملاك الحي ومحيطه لتجنب مضاعفات اجتماعية واقتصادية بالرغم من صدور سبعة اقتراحات بقوانين عن مجلس الشعب توصي بإلغاء الاستملاك، من بينها اقتراح عام 1982 أشارت مقدمته إلى "أن الاقتراح تم بناء على توجيهات السيد رئيس الجمهورية لأمين فرع دمشق للحزب" ، وقرارات وتوصيات أخرى حكومية وأهلية (بالمئات) ، وآخر أممي اعتبر مدينة دمشق الواقعة داخل السور القديم منطقة أثرية يمنع فيها الهدم والبناء والترميم وشق الطرق."

المقال بكامله هنا :

http://syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=79247

ما تنسى كاتبة المقال ذكره، على الرّغم من الحقائق و الدّقائق التي يحويها، هو أنّ رئيس الجمهورية يمكنه إلغاء الاستملاك مباشرة بمرسوم جمهوريّ إذ أنّ الاستملاكات تمّت بموجب مراسيم من النّوع نفسه، و لكن من يجرؤ على ذكر مقام الرئاسة المقدّس؟

What the hell is happening in Seydnaya prison?!!!

Are we ever going to know exactly what happened today?

مجزرة جديدة في سجن صيدنايا

مصادر حقوقية: مقتل 25 في عصيان بسجن سوري

Rather than send a president and a minister to get a sun tan with Nicolas Sarkozy on Place de la Concorde during the Bastille Day parade, the Syrian regime has a duty to inform its people about that prison, to stop the killing immediately, to hold fair trials, and to free all political and opinion prisoners.

عدوى التنميط تنتقل إلى صحافة الإنترنت السورية

طالعتنا سيريانيوز هذا الصباح بمقالٍ عنوانه "الماتادور الاسباني يروض الدب الروسي بالثلاثة ويصعد لنهائي الأمم الأوروبية" . متى صارت القولبة على طريقة المعلّق الرّياضيّ الفرنسي تييري رولان المعروف بعنصريّته مقبولة ؟
هل كان معلّق سيريانيوز سيتقبّل فرضاً تعليقاً من قبيل "الأمير الكويتي يقلي فلافل بائع الروبابيكيا المصريّ بهدفين يَقطِران نفطاً"؟
ما علاقة ذلك بالرّياضة؟

Goodbye George

Miracle du XXe siècle ?!!!

Ehud Olmert dans Libération du 11 juin 2008:

"Il n’y a pas si longtemps, au cours d’une conversation privée, le Président français m’a dit qu’il pensait que l’établissement de l’État d’Israël était le miracle du XX^e siècle."

Voici maintenant le véritable miracle du XXIe siècle : le premier flic de France qui parlait de "racaille" et de "Kärcher" a été élu président en 2007.

9 April 1948 - The massacre begins...

60 years and no justice in sight.

http://www.deiryassin.org/

Since the US-Led Invasion...

And now, the American invasion is producing another "side effect" which was easily foreseeable: Depleting Iraq of its Christians.

"The archbishop, 65, was the latest in a long line of Chaldean clerics to be abducted in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003."

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"The Chaldeans are the largest sect within Iraq's Christian community, which was estimated at 800,000 before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Many have left their homes after attacks linked to the continuing insurgency."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7294078.stm

Talent!

At last, some hope! أخيراً، قليل من الأمل

Those people have set an example to be followed:
أعطانا أهل الضبية مثالاً يُقتدى به

http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=69714

16 September 1982. 6:00 p.m. The massacre begins...

Sabra and Shatila.
Twenty five years already.
Nobody was prosecuted.
Nobody received compensation.
The Lebanese "justice" does not want justice.

I will not forget.

Dellllicious: In 1994, D. Cheney said that invading Iraq would make it "a quagmire"

Let's hear it from the American Vice President's mouth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

In the Aftermath of the Presidential Poll in Syria

لا

A Word about the Upcoming Presidential Poll in Syria

لا

To Those Who Accuse "Syria" - Who Are Fatah Al-Islam?

Far be it from me to defend a regime which, I believe, should go, but the accusations already thrown at "Syria" (meaning the Syrian regime, I suppose) call for a reminder that while fighting for a cause - democracy in Syria, in that case - we should keep in mind that not every accusation can be used in support of that cause. Unfounded finger-pointing is not only counterproductive, it is morally unacceptable.

I re-read Seymour Hersh's "The Redirection", published on 5 March in the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh
Here's an excerpt from it which should be sobering:

Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.” Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. “I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests—presumably to take on Hezbollah,” Crooke said.

The largest of the groups, Asbat al-Ansar, is situated in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. Asbat al-Ansar has received arms and supplies from Lebanese internal-security forces and militias associated with the Siniora government.

In 2005, according to a report by the U.S.-based International Crisis Group, Saad Hariri, the Sunni majority leader of the Lebanese parliament and the son of the slain former Prime Minister—Saad inherited more than four billion dollars after his father’s assassination—paid forty-eight thousand dollars in bail for four members of an Islamic militant group from Dinniyeh. The men had been arrested while trying to establish an Islamic mini-state in northern Lebanon. The Crisis Group noted that many of the militants “had trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.”

According to the Crisis Group report, Saad Hariri later used his parliamentary majority to obtain amnesty for twenty-two of the Dinniyeh Islamists, as well as for seven militants suspected of plotting to bomb the Italian and Ukrainian embassies in Beirut, the previous year. (He also arranged a pardon for Samir Geagea, a Maronite Christian militia leader, who had been convicted of four political murders, including the assassination, in 1987, of Prime Minister Rashid Karami.) Hariri described his actions to reporters as humanitarian.

In an interview in Beirut, a senior official in the Siniora government acknowledged that there were Sunni jihadists operating inside Lebanon. “We have a liberal attitude that allows Al Qaeda types to have a presence here,” he said. He related this to concerns that Iran or Syria might decide to turn Lebanon into a “theatre of conflict.”

Should Syrian Women Vote?!!!

I just read this interesting article: http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=54123

Here is the situation as I understand it:

• You are a Syrian woman.
• Your husband is a foreigner.
• You have children.

As a result:

• Your children are not considered Syrian by the Powers that be. Some Syrian law says so (but not the Syrian constitution which bans such discrimination.)
• Your children will need a visa whenever you decide to go back to Syria to see the family.

Isn't that strage? The law considers you a second class citizen, but you will still be encouraged, not to say required, to vote for the only candidate out there. He had seven full years to restore some dignity to you but did not do so.

Should you vote?
No one but you can answer.

Arméniens - Portrait d'un peuple

Hratch Arbach, jeune artiste syrien d'origine arménienne, mélange peinture, photograhie, installations et jeu d'acteur dans un parcours qui raconte l'Arménie sans discours et sans prétention.

De passage à Paris récemment, j'ai pu moi-même me rendre compte comment cette exposition qui défie la catégorisation atteint nos sentiments tout droit.

Si vous êtes à Paris avant le 26 mai, une simple recommandation: allez-y !
Pour en savoir plus, cliquez sur l'affiche.


Remarque : C'était une publicité gratuite, et j'en ferai d'autres dans l'avenir. Quand une oeuvre ou une manifestation artistique nous touche, pourquoi ne pas en parler ?

The US Military Copies the Syrian Regime

All of us who thought that the Syrian regime was "backwardly" should recognise that it is in fact far ahead of its time. Its qualities and methods are recognised by none other than the US Department of Defense!

Just read this: "Military puts MySpace, other sites off limits".

One day, they will even learn the verb حجب , i.e. "to veil" or "to screen off". The English language is so poor that it has to struggle with no less than four words - "to put off limits" - to express this ultimate Baathist cyberconcept.

What the Hell is That?!!!

Yes, do click on the picture to see the damage more in detail:

- A beautiful, unique house is collapsing.
- Wires all over the place.
- Utter neglect.

While the Municipality of the City of Damascus and the Ministy of Culture were taking a leave from their responsibilities by approving what came to be known as the King Faisal Street Project (or the KFSP), the city itself kept rotting more each day.

The KFSP seems to be halted for the moment. Isn't it time for the Municipality, the Ministry and "Maktab Anbar" to suggest a plan to save the old city instead of building malls in the air for imaginary tourists and investors?

For the record, I took this picture in January 2007. This house is in the "Street Called Straight". I don't know to whom it belonged or belongs and what is going to become of it. What I do know, however, is that it should be renovated.

What can we do? Any suggestions?

More pictures of damage soon. I look forward to being able to post pictures of houses in a better shape..

Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day

An estimated 250 Armenians were arrested on the night of 24 April, 1915, then came executions, expulsion, starvation and mass murder.

To this day, humanity has not found a cure for mass murder. The least we can do is commemorate and try to understand.

Save Old Damascus

I am aware that a petition has a limited range of action, but isn't that better than no action at all?

Big plans for Damascus are underway. By "big", I mean: expropriations, demolition of houses and markets without regard for historical value or beauty, loss of jobs, and another big scar added to the face of Damascus.

Here are a couple of links on the subject, providing you can read Arabic:

http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=49301

http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=49690

Don't let that happen! The city needs care, not a commercial project built over a dead body.
Please sign this petition. It may not be comprehensive enough or accurate enough, but it is a first step in the righ direction, in my opinion:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/damascus/index.html