European Union funds Al Qaeda in Syria

This video from Syria is called Public execution of three Syrians by Jihadist group in Raqqa.

Another video from Syria used to say about itself:

Al-Qaeda terrorists killing Syrian citizens in Al Musareb, Dayr az-Zawr.

That video was deleted by YouTube.

However, it still is somewhere else on YouTube.

By Johannes Stern in Germany:

European powers fund Al Qaeda looting of Syrian oil

20 May 2013

According to a report yesterday in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the European Union (EU) is directly funding US-backed Sunni Islamist terrorist groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. These groups are looting oil in parts of eastern Syria that they control and then re-selling it to EU countries at rock-bottom prices.

The Guardian writes: “The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country’s key resources.”

According to the Guardian, the main beneficiaries of the EU’s lifting of sanctions are the Al Nusra Front and similar Islamist terrorist groups. “Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated with Al Qaeda and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in al-Hasakah governorate.”

The EU’s decision to resume trade with oil fields held by Al Nusra explodes the lie that the imperialist powers are waging war in Syria to change the repressive character of the Syrian regime. In fact, they are building up and backing deeply reactionary and oppressive forces.

These events also expose the so-called “war on terror”—the claim that Washington and the EU are fighting Al Qaeda, which served as the justification for US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as a lie. Imperialism is arming and financing Al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups that commit terrible crimes against the Syrian population, handing over its wealth to the EU and Washington.

Germany’s Spiegel Online magazine recently reported how the Islamists dump Syrian oil on world markets at ultra-low prices: “Since February the Islamist rebel group Liwa al-Islam has controlled the al-Thaura oil-field in the ar-Raqqah governorate… The rebels in al-Thaura sell ten fuel truck cargos each day. They make good money and charge around $13 US for a barrel. On the world market, however, a barrel is traded for $100 US, but this is not of particular interest here.”

Abu Saif, an Islamist fighter of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Ahrar Brigade, gives another account of how Islamists militias loot Syria: “Jabhat al-Nusra is investing in the Syrian economy to reinforce its position in Syria and Iraq. Al-Nusra fighters are selling everything that falls into their hands from wheat, archaeological relics, factory equipment, oil drilling and imaging machines, cars, spare parts and crude oil.”

To secure the oil, the terrorists murder everyone who gets in their way. In one widely reported case, Al Nusra fighters levelled the village of al-Musareb near Deir Ezzor, murdering 50 of its residents after a conflict with local tribesmen over an oil tanker. The mass killings through which terrorist groups control the territory needed to supply oil to European imperialism are documented in videos posted on YouTube.

The imperialist powers rely on terrorist groups as part of their strategy to control the vast energy resources of the Middle East and Central Asia. This fundamental interest underlies the wars against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and on-going war preparations against Shiite Iran—to which the Alawite-dominated Assad regime has close ties. Like Syria, Iran has long been on imperialism’s hit list, since Washington and its European and Middle Eastern allies see it as one of the main obstacles to controlling the oil trade of the Persian Gulf, and thus of the entire world.

This rape of Syria exposes the cynical decision by middle class pseudo-left organizations—such as the International Socialist Organization (ISO), the German Left Party, the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) in France, and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain—to package the Syrian war as a “revolution.” Their class position emerges clearly in this point: they hail the looting of Syrian oil to boost the oil corporations’ profit margins as a “revolution,” and the looters as “revolutionaries.”

Increasing foreign support for the Sunni Islamist forces is accompanied by new threats by US imperialism and its allies to oust Assad, and increasing preparations for direct military intervention.

At a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan last Thursday in Washington, US President Barack Obama promised “to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working with the Syrian opposition. We both agree that Assad needs to go.”

On Friday, CIA chief John Brennan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, and Mossad head Tamir Pardo to discuss Syria. In a cabinet meeting the next day, Netanyahu threatened more Israeli air strikes against Syria, saying Israel would act “with determination… to ensure the supreme interest of the State of Israel [and] prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah and to [other] terrorist elements”.

Israel has already bombed Damascus two weeks ago, ostensibly to prevent arms being transferred from Syria to Hezbollah. The Lebanese Shia militia is a close ally of Syria and Iran and regarded as a main obstacle to Israeli military dominance in the Near East.

…

Assad made clear that he hopes to keep power by convincing Washington that he is a stronger and more reliable custodian of US interests in the region than Al Qaeda: “America is pragmatic. If they found out they were defeated and the regime is the winner, the Americans will deal with the facts.”

This subservience to Washington exposes the bankruptcy of Arab nationalism. In fact, as the Guardian report makes clear, Washington and its European imperialist allies are funding and backing the Islamist opposition to break up the Syrian regime.

The Obama administration is also increasing its efforts to reach an agreement with Moscow, Syria’s main ally. Last weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed with his American counterpart John Kerry to set up a so-called “peace conference” in June, supposedly to negotiate an end to the Syrian war. During such a conference, Washington would press for a “negotiated” ouster of Assad and his replacement with a more pliable stooge regime approved by Moscow.

Lavrov is also trying to calm US and Israeli concerns about potential Russian missile sales to Syria. He stressed that these weapons would “not in any way alter the balance of forces in this region or give any advantage in the fight against the opposition.”

Russia is reportedly only supplying SS-N-26 coastal defense but not SA-21 air defense missiles, as part of a weapons deal already concluded in 2011. Lavrov also pledged that Russia would not sign any new deals with Syria.

The spread of fighting from Syria to Lebanon and growing US and European efforts to arm the Syrian opposition point to looming region-wide conflagration: here.

Related articles

• From the EU and Russia with tough love (examiner.com)
• Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra split after leader’s pledge of support for al-Qaeda (telegraph.co.uk)
• Insight: Syria’s Nusra Front eclipsed by Iraq-based al Qaeda – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Jabhat al-Nusra faces al-Qaeda sanctions at UN under Anglo-French proposal (telegraph.co.uk)
• Free Syrian Army Condemns ‘Heart Eater’ (hispanicbusiness.com)
• EU Lifts Oil Embargo on Syria – Buys Directly from Al Qaeda (bellaciao.org)
• European Union enables Syrian war profiteering (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• European Union Directly Funds Al Qaeda Looting of Syrian oil (12160.info)
• UN Blacklists Syrian Al-Nusra Front (israelnationalnews.com)
• How Obama and Al-Qaeda Became Syrian Bedfellows by Shamus Cooke (zcommunications.org)

Nazi terrorism trial in Germany

This is a video about a demonstration in Munich, Germany, in April 2013, against nazi terrorism.

By Peter Schwarz in Germany:

Trial of neo-Nazi terrorist group begins in Munich

8 May 2013

The so-called NSU trial began on Monday at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Munich. The principal defendant, 38-year-old Beate Zschäpe, stands accused of forming the National Socialist Underground (NSU) together with Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. She faces allegations of complicity in 10 murders and of particularly hazardous arson and attempted murder.

The trio, who lived for 13 years under false identities under the eyes of the German security agencies, are believed to have committed 10 murders, two bomb attacks and numerous bank robberies. Except for a female police officer, those murdered were exclusively immigrants who died as a result of racially motivated attacks.

Zschäpe herself has not been charged in any of the fatal shootings. But she is accused of sharing responsibility for all the NSU crimes due to her membership in the organisation. Following the death of Böhnhardt and Mundlos, who allegedly killed themselves after they were discovered by the police, she also set the trio’s flat on fire, seriously endangering the life of a neighbour.

Four men are on the dock along with Zschäpe.

The neo-Nazi and long-serving Thuringia National Democratic Party (the extreme right-wing NPD) functionary Ralf Wohlleben is indicted for aiding and abetting murder. He is said to have helped the NSU after it went underground and procured the weapon that was used in most of the murders. Wohlleben, like Zschäpe, has been remanded in custody.

Carsten S. is also accused of complicity in murder for passing the murder weapon on to the trio. The 33-year-old is alleged to have renounced neo-Nazi involvement years ago. He has made a formal confession of his role in the events.

André E. is answerable to abetting a robbery and a bomb attack. He and his wife, Susanne, are said to have been close friends with the NSU trio up until their detection.

Holger G. is believed to have helped the NSU procure identity documents and another weapon. Like Carsten S., he has submitted a detailed confession.

In addition to the federal prosecutor, approximately 80 plaintiffs—who are either associates of the murder victims or members of their families—are involved in the NSU proceedings. Seven of the attorneys of these plaintiffs gave a press conference in Munich last Sunday. They made it clear that they expect the proceedings to uncover the background to the NSU and its operations. According to a joint statement from the attorneys, it is very difficult to imagine that the NSU had consisted of only three dangerous right-wing extremists.

“It is not our aim to achieve maximum punishment for the accused in the shortest possible time. What we are most interested in achieving is the broadest possible clarification of how these crimes eventuated”, said attorney Angelika Lex, counsel for the widow of Theodore [Theodoros] Boulgarides, who was murdered in Munich on June 15, 2005.

Lex stressed that her client wanted to know how her husband came to be selected and spied upon, and why he became a victim of the NSU. She also wanted to know what networks in contact with the killers were able to aid them and what the authorities knew about the murder.

Representing the daughter of Mehmet Kubasik, who was murdered in Dortmund, attorney Sebastian Scharmer said: “We are not concerned about securing a conviction of the five defendants as soon as possible. We intend making the failure of the state an issue in this trial”.

Scharmer is convinced that the NSU consisted of more than 100 people, among whom were undercover agents from the secret service. He wants to clarify why the three members of the NSU—who were known to the authorities—had not been arrested in 1998, who financed the NSU, and what role undercover agents played in the gang’s crimes.

“Since neither the investigating authorities nor any of the parliamentary inquiry committees have been able to fully explain the circumstances surrounding the offences, we will now endeavour to pursue this task”, Scharmer said. He criticised the federal prosecutor for excluding from the indictment any reference at all to the failure of the state investigative bodies.

Attorney Alexander Kienzle, representing the family of Halit Yozgat, who was murdered on April 6, 2006, said in an interview with the taz newspaper that the family expects that “in transparent constitutional proceedings the involvement and knowledge of state authorities will be clarified”.

He said the family members themselves had become the subject of an investigation immediately after the deed and were required to offer investigators transparency into the most private areas of their lives. “They now expect this transparency to be mirrored by that of the intelligence agencies and police authorities”, added Kienzle.

The Munich OLG and the office of the federal prosecution have made clear that they are not willing to meet the plaintiffs’ expectations of a comprehensive clearing up of the case. They will try to restrict proceedings to inquiry into the immediate circumstances surrounding the events and focus exclusively on the defendants.

Court president Karl Huber said the court would not be another inquiry committee. It would concentrate on “the core task”—i.e., it would “conduct proper criminal proceedings, that could not be challenged in an appeal court, and verify if the defendants were guilty according to criminal law”.

In advance of the proceedings, presiding judge Manfred Götzl had pointedly displayed his contempt for the concerns of victims and the public interest in the trial. Only 50 media representatives were allowed to attend the much too small courtroom, and these failed to include a single member of the Turkish media, although 8 of the 10 murder victims were of Turkish origin.

Only after a ruling by the Supreme Court did the Munich OLG reassign seating for the media—this time, through a lottery excluding major national media bodies that could have delegated legally trained journalists.

The federal prosecutor is planning a monumental trial lasting more than two years. It has compiled 600 folders with 280,000 pages of investigation files and will summon 600 witnesses. The indictment alone consists of 488 pages. But much of this detail—such as the brand of shampoo used by Zschäpe—is largely irrelevant to an assessment of the murders. The background to the crimes, however, remains in the dark.

At the press conference, the co-plaintiffs’ attorneys were confident they will be able to penetrate the obstructive stance of the federal prosecutor and the court.

Attorney Scharmer explained that they were intent on finding out more than what was mentioned in the indictment, and on making the background of the NSU a subject of the proceedings. “These questions cannot be suppressed. And we will ask them”, he said.

Representing the children of Enver Simsek, who was murdered in Nuremberg, attorney Stephen Lucas added that the plaintiffs had not only been victims of the murder of their family members; they were also victims of misguided official investigations, where “negligence or intent may well have played a role”.

Related articles

• Neo-Nazi cell survivor in dock for biggest German terror trial for decades (guardian.co.uk)
• Neo-Nazi trial starts amid tight security (thelocal.de)
• German nazi terrorism update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Beate Zschäpe goes on trial in biggest German terrorist case in decades (irishtimes.com)
• Germany riveted at start of neo-Nazi murder trial – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Germany’s “deep” Neo-Nazi trial begins on Monday (worldbulletin.net)
• German Neo-Nazi Trial Opens Amid Debate Over Media Access (bloomberg.com)
• ‘The NSU trial is an aim in itself’ (thelocal.de)
• Beate Zschäpe on trial in Munich accused of worst neo-Nazi violence in Germany since World War II (historychannelfromthewar.com)

German nazi terrorism update

This video says about itself:

Germany’s Neo-Nazi Killers

16 April 2013

The murder trial of Beate Zschäpe is a media spectacle in Germany. Beginning on April 17th, prosecutors will seek to prove her complicity in the murders of 10 people as part of a right wing extremist group calling itself the National Socialist Underground..the NSU.

Since her arrest, additional video recordings and interviews have been uncovered, allowing a deeper look inside the terror cell. It shows how easily Zschäpe and her accomplices, Uwe Böhnhardt und Uwe Mundlos evaded law enforcement as they went about their racist murder spree. German authorities failed in their investigations as law enforcement officials ruled out extreme right wing motives. It was a decision that cost many lives.

By Sven Heymann in Germany:

Latest disclosures link German state with neo-Nazi terrorists

1 May 2013

In recent weeks, numerous details have come to light, indicating close connections between German government bodies and the neo-Nazi terrorist network, the National Socialist Underground (NSU). The revelations confirm that state authorities and security services were directly in touch with persons closely associated with the NSU terrorists. It has also become clear that these state bodies are continuing their attempt to hinder and sabotage a full understanding of the background to the series of murder.

Many of the new allegations relate to the period immediately before January 1998, when the three suspected terrorists—Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos—went into hiding. The three NSU members now stand accused of 10 acts of murder.

Prior to the disappearance of the three terrorists, several government agencies had numerous opportunities to arrest Uwe Böhnhardt. The failure to arrest him shows that the authorities were apparently not interested in taking the neo-Nazis into custody.

According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, Böhnhardt was sentenced on October 16, 1997, to two years and three months incarceration for sedition and other offences. The verdict did not become final until December 10 of that year. Long-serving Berlin juvenile magistrate Helmut Frenzel complained to the Frankfurter Rundschau that this was followed by seven weeks, during which the then 20-year-old Böhnhardt was neither summoned to serve his sentence nor placed under arrest. On January 26, 1998, he finally dropped out of police surveillance while they were foraging through the trio’s bomb workshop.

However, Judge Frenzel criticises not only the Thuringia state judiciary’s negligent handling of the condemned Böhnhardt, who—he alleges—could have been arrested “before Christmas 1997”. In Frenzel’s view, the police had deliberately delayed the arrest. The emergence of the NSU could thus have been easily prevented.

But there are other points indicating that Uwe Böhnhardt was deliberately placed undercover and allowed to run free. Such a suspicion arises primarily from the operations of the state of Thuringia’s secret service department (LfV).

As the Frankfurter Rundschau reported in another article, the Thuringia criminal detection department (LKA) put Böhnhardt under observation in October 1997, after unknown persons had planted several dummy bombs in the town of Jena. But the LKA had to end their surveillance after three days, according to the testimony of several police officers to the Thuringia committee of inquiry.

Instead of the LKA, the secret service department was then tasked with the surveillance—something “uniquely exceptional”, said the officers. They claim they are still unaware of the reasons for the move. They also state that, during their surveillance, they had the impression they were not the only ones monitoring Böhnhardt. One officer testified: “We realised that someone else was already on to Böhnhardt. But we still don’t know who that was”.

It is also remarkable that the LfV secret service agents needed only two days to find the bomb workshop—and then let six weeks pass before informing the LKA about it. According to an earlier statement by former Thuringia LfV President Helmut Roewer, his office had been notified “by a human source” that the right-wing milieu was busily engaged in plotting with explosives. So there was probably another informant, whose existence and identity are so far unknown to the public.

As observed by television current affairs programme Die Story im Ersten, the investigation of the bomb workshop on January 26, 1998, did not result in any arrest warrants for the trio. Böhnhardt’s car, in which he was able to flee without hindrance, was also not searched. Moreover, it is striking that the police officers, who were dealing with the case until then, were not required to participate in the action undertaken on that day.

Mario Melzer, the leading detective involved in the case and determined to conduct a rigorous pursuit of the trio at the time, was subsequently transferred to another post. Since his testimony to the committees of inquiry in Erfurt and Berlin in 2012, he has been prohibited from receiving any further official information from the current leadership of the Thuringia LKA. Apparently, that authority still has important things to hide.

The TV programme suggested that the LfV wanted to protect its undercover agent, Tino Brandt, after the trio went into hiding. Whether this was the only reason for allowing the trio to remain free is currently unclear. It appears at least from the televised report that the federal criminal detection department (BKA) was aware of the official practice of covering up for secret service agents, even when involved in serious crimes.

The apparent sabotage of the investigation, which the responsible authorities in Thuringia are continuing to this day, is not a one-off affair. Elsewhere, state institutions are thwarting attempts to get to the bottom of the near decade-long series of murders and their connections to the state apparatus.

A few weeks ago, the state of Brandenburg’s LfV was forced to admit to having improperly passed on crucial facts about the NSU trio’s social environment to other state offices. In 1998, Brandenburg undercover agent “Piato” is said to have reported that three neo-Nazis in hiding were planning to obtain guns, commit robberies, gain access to passports, and then take refuge abroad. According to a report by the N-TV television station, the authorities in Thuringia and Saxony heard nothing of this intelligence information.

As recently announced, the federal intelligence agency (BfV) evidently shielded a former undercover agent until 2012 to save him from prosecution. In the summer of 2001, “Primus”—alias Ralf M., from Zwickau—was suspected of hiring the two vehicles in which the members of the NSU drove to southern Germany to commit two of their murders.

The name of the rental firm that provided the cars remains unknown. “Primus” denies any complicity in the crimes. But former intelligence officer Michael Faber considers the denial implausible, due to the timing of the rental and the murders, and “Primus’s” close connections with the right-wing milieu.

As the N-TV programme indicated in a further report, “Primus” was in close contact with the suspected arms suppliers, Jan Werner and André E. The latter is also in the dock at the NSU trial. The Zwickau undercover agent is thought to have been financially supported to a lavish extent by the BfV. If Faber is to be believed, “Primus” was initially only a casual worker: “Then, after an extremely short time, he opened a business and ended up as a haulage contractor. He must have earned a lot of money from federal government”, said Faber.

If “Primus” did indeed support the trio, then it is clear why the BfV waited until 2012 to reveal his employment as an undercover man: legal culpability for “supporting a terrorist organisation” lapses after a period of 10 years at the latest. The declaration that he had resigned from service in 2002 could have been used as an excuse for shredding his record “in accordance with the procedural deadline” in 2010.

It is also possible that state agencies in North Rhine-Westphalia are more deeply involved in the machinations of the right-wing terrorism than previously known. As a Cologne businessman said in a sworn statement, two civilian police officers appeared conspicuously early on the scene shortly after the bombing on Cologne’s Keupstraße. The June 2004 nail-bomb attack, which is attributed to the NSU, injured 22 people, some seriously; many of them were migrants.

The North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry has now admitted to the presence of the two police officers—more than eight years after the attack. Even the federal parliamentary investigation committee refuses to consider the occurrence coincidental. Clemens Binninger, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union, said that Keupstraße did not lie within the patrol domain of the two officers and their guard dogs. Furthermore, one of the city’s two police superintendents was also there—a rank hardly to be encountered on a normal police patrol.

As soon as 5 to 10 minutes before the arrival of the first police and fire vehicles, the two junior officers were on the scene, where—in Binninger’s words—they must have “almost stumbled over the feet” of the perpetrators.

Neonazi murder trial opens to protests: here.

Related articles

• Neo-nazi terrorism in Germany update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Germany’s “deep” Neo-Nazi trial begins on Monday (worldbulletin.net)
• German nazi criminal gangs update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Massive far-right network aided neo-Nazi gang (thelocal.de)
• ‘Nazi Bride’ case highlights rising influence of women in Germany’s far-right movement (worldnews.nbcnews.com)
• Neo-Nazi gang trial to get under way in Germany after chaotic start (guardian.co.uk)
• Neo-Nazi Nuremberg: Germany forced to confront its dark side (independent.co.uk)
• Turkish media fail to get seats at neo-Nazi trial (thelocal.de)

Boston marathon bomb tragedy, and media rush to judgment

This video from the USA is called Kathrine Switzer, Pioneering Boston Marathon Runner, on Fight to Stay in 1967 Male-Dominated Race.

First of all, today I wish recovery and strength for the survivors, families and friends of the Boston marathon bomb horror in the USA.

Then, I remember the Oklahoma bomb horror in the USA. Still many more people killed and wounded. The big media shouted: “Muslims! Muslims!” But the perpetrator of the atrocity turned out to be extreme Right Christian Timothy McVeigh; aided and abetted by other far Rightists.

I also remember the mass murders in Norway. The big media shouted: “Muslims! Muslims!” But the perpetrator of the atrocity turned out to be extreme Right Islamophobe Anders Behring Breivik, a killer with many links to neo-nazis and other far Rightists.

By Barry Grey in the USA:

Media rush to judgment in Boston Marathon bombing

16 April 2013

The explosion of two bombs Monday afternoon at the Boston Marathon has been accompanied by a rush to judgment by the media, in which claims of a broad new terror attack are being made without any factual substantiation.

The bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon in the heart of the city’s downtown area. According to media reports, at least three people were killed and 144 wounded, including 15 with critical injuries. Witnesses on the scene and at hospitals have reported that the injuries include amputated lower limbs.

The explosions took place within about 20 seconds of one another and 50-100 yards apart, while thousands of marathoners were still running and many thousands of spectators were lined up along the route. The blasts shattered storefront windows, sending shards of glass and other debris into the crowd.

No individual or organization has as yet claimed responsibility for this brutal and criminal act.

Copley Square was evacuated and will reportedly remain closed off for 24 hours. Parts of the city’s public transit system were shut down and aircraft grounded for several hours at Logan International Airport, but service resumed in the early evening.

The federal government increased security around the White House, and New York City announced it had elevated its security operations.

In a press conference several hours after the blasts, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said there was a third explosion several miles away at the John F. Kennedy Library, which authorities were treating as related to the bombings at the marathon. However, officials subsequently said the incident at the JFK Library was “fire-related” and not connected to the marathon bombings.

There were also multiple press reports of a third bomb deliberately detonated by authorities following the initial blasts, and the Associated Press cited an unnamed intelligence official as saying at least one other device was found in the area of the race.

In the absence of clear facts or forensic evidence, many of the statements made by the media amounted to pure speculation, aimed at promoting an unstated political agenda and encouraging a mood of panic. Many assertions contradicted one another. For example, some commentators claimed the explosive devices were small and primitive, while others said they were sophisticated and indicated the work of a terrorist organization.

Some media outlets in particular seemed bent on steering the public toward the view that the Boston events were a terror attack along the lines of 9/11. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer directed the network’s reportage along these lines, encouraging his “expert” commentators to make wide-ranging claims within minutes of the explosions and while the mayhem on the streets of Boston was still unfolding. Jane Harmon, the former Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, appearing as a CNN commentator, claimed the bombings pointed in the direction of Al Qaeda.

The Murdoch press’ New York Post ran a banner headline, “Clearly an Act of Terror,” and featured a second article headlined “Authorities ID suspect as Saudi national in marathon bombings, under guard at Boston hospital.”

NBC Evening News featured as its terrorism expert Michael Leitner, former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center under both the Bush and Obama administrations. Without any factual substantiation, Leitner declared that the bombings were the act of a “terrorist organization.”

However, President Obama, in a brief statement from the White House delivered at about 6 PM, pointedly refrained from labeling the incident as an act of terror. He said the “full resources of the federal government” and the “full weight of justice” would be deployed against those responsible, while admitting that the government did not know “who did this or why.”

There appeared to be an element of confusion or conflict within the state over the response to the bombings. The media widely reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had declared the bombings to be a terrorist act. And only minutes after Obama’s White House statement, a “senior administration official” told Fox News, “When multiple devices go off, that’s an act of terrorism.”

It is necessary to treat all of the initial reports by the media with extreme skepticism. Whether the Boston bombing was a terror attack by Al Qaeda or by a home-grown right-wing organization, or an act carried out with state involvement, remains unknown.

In maintaining a critical attitude and avoiding falling prey to media manipulation, it is useful to recall the role of the media in previous cases of alleged terrorist attacks. In the anthrax incidents that occurred shortly after 9/11, for example, the media made sweeping claims of Al Qaeda and Islamist involvement, none of which proved to be true.

The leading fighting group in the US-backed war against the Syrian government has announced its loyalty to Al Qaeda: here.

Havana, Apr 16 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban Government condemned today the terrorist attacks perpetrated yesterday near the finish line of a marathon in the city of Boston, in the United States, which killed three people and wounded another 176, including 17 reported in critical condition: here.

President Barack Obama used a briefing Tuesday to declare the bombings the day before at the Boston Marathon “an act of terror,” though the FBI and police still had neither suspects nor a motive for the attacks: here.

While the nation, including the people of Boston, have remained calm, deeply saddened and shocked by the bombings as they are, the media and their leading personnel present a picture of disorientation and panic: here.

Related articles

• Boston Marathon Explosions the Work of Amateur Terrorists, Says Expert (theepochtimes.com)
• You: TTP deny Boston Marathon blasts (nation.com.pk)

German nazi criminal gangs update

This video is called Germany‘s Neo-Nazi & Far-Right Extremism, The Immortals and Attacks on Immigrants.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Neo-Nazi network discovered in Germany

Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 17:54

The German judiciary has discovered a network of right-wing extremists. They sent messages to each other through letters and secret codes. It is also said to have sought contact with the NSU, the terrorist organisation which is held responsible for the murder of nine immigrants and a policewoman.

The network, according to German investigators, originates from an organization which tries to help right-wing extremists in prisons. That organization was already banned, but apparently its members have continued to maintain contacts. They are also said to have sought contact with Beate Zschäpe, the only survivor of the three neo-Nazis considered responsible for the series of murderous attacks.

This is yet another painful mistake by the German judiciary, which for many years had not thought about neo-Nazis as perpetrators of the murders of immigrants, our correspondent Wouter Meijer says. “Eight out of ten victims were Turks, so there was talk about gambling debts, Turkish gangs, conflicts with Kurds and other issues – anything but racism.”

Next week the trial of Beate Zschäpe and several co-defendants will begin.

See also here.

Related articles

• Neo-nazi terrorism in Germany update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• ‘German neo-nazis murdered 152 people’ (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Massive far-right network aided neo-Nazi gang (thelocal.de)
• Turkish media fail to get seats at neo-Nazi trial (thelocal.de)
• Westerwelle slams media limits for neo-Nazi trial (thelocal.de)
• Turkish media to challenge exclusion from neo-Nazi trial (irishtimes.com)
• German neo-Nazi cell bigger than thought (worldbulletin.net)
• Turkish Media Barred From Neo-Nazi Trial (eu.greekreporter.com)
• Media protest in Germany ahead of neo-Nazi trial (irishtimes.com)

Sack fascist football manager, Internet petition

This video from the USA says about itself:

Feb 18, 2011

Racism in association football (known in the US as soccer) is the abuse of players, officials and fans because of their skin colour, nationality, religion or ethnicity. Some may be targeted (also) because of their association with an opposing team. However, there have been instances of individuals being targeted by their own fans.

By Peter Lazenby in Britain:

Anti-fascists launch a sack di Canio petition

Wednesday 03 April 2013

Anti-fascist campaigners in Sunderland launched a petition today demanding the town’s football club sack its self-confessed fascist manager Paolo di Canio.

Sunderland Anti-Fascist Coalition launched the online petition with an initial target of 5,000 signatures.

It said: “Given Sunderland Football Club‘s commitment to anti-racist activities it should not be associated with such an unsavoury individual and betray the memory of the millions who have suffered under the politics of fascism worldwide.”

The petition is being backed by the Durham Miners’ Association, which is demanding the return of a miners’ union banner from the club.

Secretary Dave Hopper, who led calls for di Canio’s dismissal, has urged miners, ex-miners and all trades unionists to sign the petition.

He said more information was being revealed about di Canio’s fascist links, including his attendance at the funeral of a leading Italian fascist.

Mr Hopper told the Star: “We support this petition. We feel that with more and more information about di Canio coming to light, his position is completely untenable.”

On demanding the return of the Monk Wearmouth pit banner, Mr Hopper said: “Our banner represents the Durham miners’ long struggle for the rights of the working class – rights which were annihilated by fascism in Germany, Italy, Spain and Chile.

“The appointment of di Canio is a disgrace and a betrayal of all who fought and died in the fight against fascism, including miners from Wearmouth and indeed all of County Durham.”

You can sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/safcdicanio/

Pressure mounts on Sunderland and Paolo Di Canio with calls for clarification on fascist views: here.

Sunderland’s new manager Paolo Di Canio is believed to have attended the funeral of an Italian fascist linked to a terrorist bombing that killed 85 people: here.

Related articles

• British miners against fascist football manager (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Durham Miners’ leader takes stand against fascist Di Canio (shirazsocialist.wordpress.com)
• Paolo Di Canio: “a fascist but not a racist”. That’s ok then (leftfootforward.org)
• Miners remove banner after di Canio pick (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• Paolo di Canio belatedly claims he doesn’t support fascism (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• New photo alleges Di Canio attended fascist’s funeral (itv.com)
• Fascist becomes Sunderland football manager (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Neo-nazi terrorism in Germany update

This video is called Series of Crimes Linked to Germany’s Neo-Nazi Groups.

By Sven Heymann in Germany:

Germany: Inquiry committee posts interim report on neo-Nazi terrorist group

19 March 2013

On March 11, an interim report was released by the state of Thuringia’s parliamentary committee investigating a series of murders committed by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist group. The report constitutes a damning indictment of the police force and secret service agency that directly aided and reinforced the extreme right in Thuringia during the 1990s.

The committee adopted the interim report by a margin of six votes. The two representatives of the Left Party, Martina Renner and Katharina King, abstained and registered a dissenting opinion. The committee’s work was impeded by the shredding of files by the intelligence agency and memory lapses alleged by police and intelligence officials. However, the 554-page report draws on investigations extending over a year to produce a devastating picture of the state authorities’ involvement in the neo-Nazi scene.

The report only covers the period up to January 26, 1998, when Uwe Böhnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe went into hiding. The three then founded the NSU, which murdered nine Turkish-born business people and a female police officer, as well as committing numerous bank robberies in the following years. They had previously been active in the Thuringia Homeland Security (THS), a coalition of extreme right-wing groupings.

The committee accused the Thuringia State Intelligence Agency (LfV) of enlisting undercover agent Tino Brandt as “leader” of the extreme-right milieu. Brandt is regarded as the head of the Thuringia Homeland Security network and also deputy chairman of the Thuringia branch of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). The report claims that Brandt was the agent through whom the LfV “at least indirectly supported the structure that later radicalised the NSU trio”.

The report rejects the idea that Brandt was a “top source” in the intelligence service. Brandt was said to have provided no evidence likely to lead to prosecutions, and merely informed the agency about neo-Nazis gatherings. From 1994 to 2001, Brandt was paid more than 200,000 German marks (US$132,000) for his services—money he himself claims was invested in the consolidation of the extreme right in Thuringia.

The report assumes that the intelligence agency cautioned the police against investigating Tino Brandt, which amounts to an attempted obstruction of justice. Dorothea Marx (Social Democratic Party—SPD), chair of the inquiry committee, also regards as “not inconceivable” that members of the NSU were also protected from prosecution by forces from the ranks of the secret service.

The report also raises serious allegations against the Thuringia police. A special unit under the code name of “Rex” had been commissioned to combat right-wing extremism and operated in Thuringia until the mid-1990s, when it was disbanded. Furthermore, after 31 meetings and despite the interrogation of numerous police officers involved in the affair, the investigation committee was unable to uncover when, why or under whose authority this happened. Even leading officials professed they were unable to answer these questions.

The report also criticised the behaviour of the police in relation to the THS. Proceedings were opened against the THS on the grounds of its having established a criminal association, but they were “inconsistently” pursued and terminated in 1997. The opportunity to ban the THS, whose members included Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe, was therefore lost.

The inquiry committee certainly portrays the conduct of the police and secret service as serious errors in an otherwise worthwhile and viable system. The radicalisation of the alleged terrorists “was promoted in the 1990s by a dominant climate of turning a blind eye, failing to mount sufficient opposition and trivialising the deeds of right-wing activists”, according to the report.

Dorothea Marx (SPD) spoke of “serious errors”, and Dirk Adams (Greens) of a “fatal lack of resolution” in the fight against racism. Both saw the state of Thuringia as partly responsible for the NSU trio developing into murderers.

Martina Renner (Left Party) went a step further, saying the behaviour of the Thuringia intelligence department was the result of individual mistakes. The thinking and conduct of the state officials were “regulated by the system”. “When it comes to the intelligence agency, we don’t see slip-ups; we see liability”, she said, accusing the secret service of “criminal acts, immoral conduct and quashing of evidence”.

But the Left Party committee members failed to express what is obvious to any unbiased observer—i.e., that the promotion of and financial support for the extreme right in Thuringia was not the result of breakdowns and sloppy work, but was politically motivated.

At the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, right-wing groups were already being systematically channelled into former East Germany to steer protests against the Stalinist regime in a nationalist direction that eventually led to the reunification of Germany and the re-introduction of capitalism.

Related articles

• Expert: Neo-Nazi terror gang had more members (thelocal.de)
• German intel agency paid neo-Nazi mole $240,000 (theuglytruth.wordpress.com)
• German Cabinet Expected Not to Ban Neo-Nazi Party (israelnationalnews.com)
• Germany hunting 182 fugitive neo-Nazis (kansascity.com)
• Germany’s intel under fire for paying $240,000 to neo-Nazi informer (panarmenian.net)

British merchants of death in Libya

This video from Britain is called Why Campaign against the Arms Trade?

By Rory MacKinnon in Britain:

Britain’s arms dealers flogging guns in Libya

Sunday 27 January 2013

Britain’s arms dealers were hawking their wares in Libya the day before threats emerged of a terrorist attack with Western weapons, the Morning Star can reveal.

Ex-pats were streaming out of Benghazi on Friday after the Foreign Office warned of an “imminent threat to Westerners” in the wake of Britain’s planned drone strikes in Mali.

The strikes are part of a French-led campaign on behalf of Mali’s government to destroy Tuareg separatist militias and Islamists in the country’s north.

Both the US and Britain have acknowledged the fighters likely obtained their weapons from the stockpiles of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, prompting criticisms of Western arms sales in the region.

But a government trade official confirmed to the Morning Star on Friday that British firms were back lobbying Libyan brass at an arms expo in the capital of Tripoli just 24 hours before the warning went out.

The First Libyan Technologies Military Science Exhibition hosted 65 companies from 16 countries – including Cardiff’s BCB International, selling weapon accessories, projectile launchers and reconnaissance drones.

A Libyan liaison for UK Trade and Investment‘s defence and security organisation told the Star there had been “a fair amount” of British exhibitors at the Tripoli air base, although no major events had taken place.

But Campaign Against Arms Trade‘s Kaye Stearman said the news was “deeply worrying.”

“Libya is a deeply unstable country,” she said.

Britain’s Middle East Association, which is planning a trade mission in March to discuss “civil security” contracts, did not return requests for comment.

BCB International was removed from the DSEi arms fair in 2007 for promoting torture gear: leg irons: here.

Libya: Threats and Violence Against Journalists Reach Alarming Level: here.

Related articles

• ‘New’ Libya, run for your lives! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Al Qaeda’s British weapons (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Fears grow that Libya is incubator of turmoil (sfgate.com)
• Al-Qaeda targets Germans, Britons in Libya: Spiegel (dailystar.com.lb)
• Terrorists ‘may have carried’ British arms (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• Britons, Westerners told to leave Benghazi after ‘imminent’ terror threat… (telegraph.co.uk)
• Britons should leave Benghazi immediately, says Foreign Office (guardian.co.uk)
• British soldiers to Mali war (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Lufthansa halts Libya flights due to security worries (timesofmalta.com)

Al Qaeda’s British weapons

This video from the USA is called CIA Documents Show 9/11 Bin Laden Warnings Ignored.

British weapons go not only to dictators in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia …

By Rory MacKinnon in Britain:

Terrorists ‘may have carried’ British arms

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Terrorists “squarely” responsible for the deaths of Britons in Algeria could have been carrying British weapons from neighbouring Libya, William Hague admitted yesterday.

The Foreign Secretary was on the defensive following a firefight between Algerian soldiers and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade, which had taken staff hostage at the BP gas plant. Three Britons and one Colombian-born British resident were among 81 people killed in the battle.

Anti-war activists poured scorn on Mr Hague following speculation the group had bought its weapons from Libya’s missing stockpiles of arms supplied by Western nations to rebels two years ago in a bid to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.

Mr Hague admitted to reporters yesterday that terrorists in the region had “taken advantage” of the glut of arms in Libya.

But he insisted violence in the region could have been even worse had Britain and other nations had let the civil war continue without them.

“If the Libyan conflict had gone on for longer, there would have been an even greater flow of weapons and an even greater opportunity for extremists to take hold in Libya,” he said.

But Campaign Against the Arms Trade‘s Kaye Stearman said Mr Hague was “coming up with a counterfactual.”

“It’s speculative. William Hague is trying to evade responsibility for Britain and the EU selling arms to Libya.”

As recently as 2011 Britain’s trade officials considered Libya a “priority market” for arms sales, while EU figures showed Britain alone approved £238,608 in small arms to the Gaddafi regime between 2005 and 2009.

France, now embroiled in terrorist conflicts in both Algeria and neighbouring Mali, also signed off on €2.3m (£1.9m) worth of ammunition and fuses in the same period.

Even after Britain imposed a temporary embargo, EU members still approved another €34m (£28.5m) in arms export licences.

Meanwhile the group behind last week’s kidnappings threatened further plots against French and other Western nations’ Algerian holdings.

The Algerian government said yesterday that the death toll from the four-day siege at the Ain Amenas natural gas plant had risen to 38: here.

The war in Libya was seen as a success, now here we are engaging with the blowback in Mali: here.

Why Afghan ghosts haunt France’s Mali intervention: here.

West’s greed in new scramble for Africa: here.

Related articles

• David Cameron has created a new war on terror (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Most weapons used in attack came from Libya… (telegraph.co.uk)
• Algeria hostage-takers aided by Libyan Islamists: source (dailystar.com.lb)
• News & World Events – War against al-Qaeda in Africa could last decades (disclose.tv)

French, British neocolonialism in Mali

This video from Britain is called Mali: the west’s addiction to war is spreading terrorism, not reducing it.

By Paddy McGuffin in Britain:

Mali: the scramble for Africa

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Western powers are once again using anti-Islamist rhetoric to justify colonial interventions, anti-war campaigners Stop the War Coalition claimed today.

The comments came as Britain pledged to continue its “limited” support for French military action against Islamic militants in Mali, which has already seen numerous civilian casualties due to the indiscriminate nature of the bombing.

While France has taken the lead in the military intervention in Mali, Britain has deployed two C-17 transport planes in support of the operation, although one of the two aircraft has reportedly been grounded due to a technical fault.

But campaigners have expressed concern that Britain’s role could escalate as in previous conflicts such as Afghanistan, Iraq and most recently Libya.

A spokeswoman for the Stop the War Coalition said that France’s intervention in Mali was “part of a growing scramble for Africa.”

She said: “The civil war in Mali is a direct consequence of the disastrous intervention in Libya and shows that the war on terror is a source of instability in Africa as in Central Asia and the Middle East.

“France occupied Mali as a colony until 1960.

“It was at the centre of its historic colonial empire and is now at the heart of its effort to control a mineral-rich area including Senegal, Burkino Faso, the Ivory Coast – all former colonies in which the French once again have troops.”

Addressing the Commons on Monday night, Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds set out Britain’s approach and its support for the French military deployment to assist the government of Mali.

…

However, Stop the War Coalition slammed the decision.

The spokeswoman said: “That Britain was the first to support the French adventure, with no democratic discussion or debate, only shows how keen the government is to participate in a new rush for influence on the African continent.

“It is extraordinary that the government has not learned from the terrible legacy of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

“The experience of the last decade and more has been that foreign wars bring nothing but suffering, destruction and instability.”

Meanwhile Amnesty International called on all parties to the armed conflict to ensure civilians are protected citing human rights abuses on both sides.

Amnesty International Africa deputy director Paule Rigaud said: “There are real concerns that the fighting might lead to indiscriminate or other unlawful attacks in areas where members of armed Islamist groups and civilians are intermingled.

“Forces involved in armed attacks should avoid indiscriminate shelling at all costs and do their utmost to prevent civilian casualties.”

The situation in Mali is directly linked to the Nato mobilisation in 2011 to overthrow the Gadaffi regime in Libya: here.

Mali, Algeria, Libya and the new front line in ‘energy diplomacy’: here.

Related articles

• Top brass warn No 10: avoid Mali escalation (independent.co.uk)
• UK troops ‘must not get bogged down’ on Mali training mission (standard.co.uk)
• French public backs Mali intervention, but for how long? (csmonitor.com)
• Glenn Greenwald: The Bombing Of Mali Highlights All the Lessons Of Western Intervention (consciouslifenews.com)
• Nabila Ramdani: For France, Mali is a quagmire in the making (standard.co.uk)
• Colonial powers try to reconquer Africa as French imperialists bomb Mali (workers.org)
• UK tries to join in; plane breaks down on runway… (telegraph.co.uk)