Obama/Clinton On Path for Mid-East Balkanization [Update]

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US State Department was surprised by the Arab Spring and had no contingency plans in place. Clinton is operating in survival mode and acts in pure self-interest. Similar to all previous administrations the priorities are political self-preservation (pro-Israel) and oil interests (Gulf States, especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia). As I have previously written in a number of diaries, US ambiquious stance on Syria will lead to Mid-East upheaval and the destruction of the multi-etnic state of Syria. The GCC, Saudi Arabia and Libya provide arms and munition to a band of militias who try to operate under the umbrella of the Syrian National Council (SNC). The militants are Sunni insurgents with Al-Qaeda links and are well trained in suicide bomb operations. See previous attacks on Damascus and Aleppo. Today in a coordinated attack on Damascus …

UPDATE Annan condemns ‘abhorrent’ bombings in Damascus

AFP – International envoy Kofi Annan condemned today’s blasts in the Syrian capital Damascus that left at least 55 people dead and 372 wounded. A statement issued by Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said he “condemns in the strongest possible terms the attacks that took place earlier today in Damascus.

“He is saddened by the loss of life resulting from the two blasts and extends his condolences to the families of the victims. These abhorrent acts are unacceptable and the violence in Syria must stop.”

UPDATE Hillary Clinton’s Wishy-washy Statement

Double suicide bombing in Syrian capital Damascus kills 55

WASHINGTON DC (AP) – State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says “any and all violence that results in the indiscriminate killing and injury of civilians is reprehensible and cannot be justified.”

Her statement called on Syria’s government to accept a U.N. peace plan to prevent an escalation of violence.

Syria’s government said Thursday’s two suicide blasts also wounded more than 370 people, calling it the deadliest bombing in Syria’s 14-month uprising. It apparently targeted a military intelligence building.

Twin blasts rip through Damascus neighbourhood, death toll at 40 plus video

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP/France24) – Two powerful blasts rocked Damascus killing and wounding dozens of people during morning rush hour, state television said, as UN leader Ban Ki-moon warned of a looming civil war in Syria.

“Two explosions caused by terrorists took place on the freeway in the south of Damascus,” the television said, adding that the blasts occurred “as people were heading to work and children to school.”

The blasts took place in front of a multi-storey security building, the facade of which was destroyed along with several surrounding residential buildings, an AFP correspondent at the site reported.

Television showed gruesome images, including the charred hand of a woman on a steering wheel, her gold bracelets dangling from her wrist. Other burnt and mangled bodies lay in the street amid the carcasses of smouldering vehicles.

There was no immediate breakdown on the number of people killed and those wounded, but state television said most of the casualties were civilians. A crater three metres (10 feet) wide was caused by one of the explosions, the AFP correspondent reported.

Major General Robert Mood, chief of a UN observer mission in Syria, visited the site to survey the aftermath, the television said.

The attacks came a day after the Norwegian general escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded as he led a team of UN observers into the southern flashpoint city of Daraa. Mood said that attack was “a graphic example of violence that the Syrian people” were suffering on a daily basis.

The blasts come despite a UN-backed ceasefire that went into effect on April 12 with the aim of ending 14 months of bloodshed in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said Thursday’s explosions targeted an intelligence services base in Damascus. It said at least one of the blasts was caused by a car bomb.

An opposing view below the fold …
I know, but it’s an opposing view dating back to NATO’s intervention by bombing Serbia in the 90s …

Mujahideen training-camps in Kosovo, thank you NATO nations

PRISTINA, Kosovo – A delegation of Syrian rebels has made a deal with Pristina authorities to exchange experience of partisan warfare. Syrian opposition is sending militants to Kosovo for adopting tactics and being trained to oust President Bashar Assad’s regime.

On April 26, a delegation of Syrian opposition members made a stop in Pristina on their way from the US to hold talks on how to make use of the experience of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in Syria, reports Associated Press.

So far, a poorly-organized Syrian opposition has proven unable to self-organize and form a steady front against the forces of President Assad. Terror tactics used by militants allow them to kill military and governmental officials, but do not help to hold positions against a regular army.

“We come here to learn. Kosovo has walked this path and has an experience that would be very useful for us,” says the head of the Syrian delegation Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian-born human rights activist and dissident. “In particular, we’d like to know how scattered armed groups were finally organized into KLA.”

“We’re in vital need of joint actions as a coalition opposition,” stressed Ammar Abdulhamid, a long-time opponent of the Syria’s President Bashar Assad. In 2005, he left Syria to settle in the US.

The training camp on the Albanian-Kosovo border that has welcomed Syrian attendees was originally organized by the US to help the KLA train its fighters.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was considered a terrorist organization by the US, the UK and France for years until, in 1998, it was taken off the list of terrorists with no explanation given. The KLA used to have up to 10 per cent of underage fighters in its ranks.

There were numerous reports of the KLA having contacts with Al-Qaeda, getting arms from that terrorist organization, getting its militants trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and even having members of Al-Qaeda in its ranks fighting against Serbs.

Get to Know the Syria Experts: Ammar Abdulhamid and Joshua Landis