CounterCurrents: Proxy Politics In Syria

Dear Friend,

Russia, Iran And Turkey issued the "Moscow Declaration" which  declared the three countries’ support for “the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” while affirming that “there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict.” This declaration may send shock waves through the western capitals. 

However a question arises,  the three parties who issued this declaration, are they paragons of virtue? Franklin Lamb who reports from Syria says No, they are not. He depicts the sufferings of millions of Syrians through the story of Madaya Siblings ,Manal And Mohammed-Kamal, who were separated from their family due to the civil war in Syria. He says there is glaring proxy politics being played out in Syria. 

The Berlin Christmas market terror attack was a terrible tragedy. Now the right-wing has seized upon this opportunity to unleash an anti-immigrant offensive. 

A few days back, I wrote in one of these news letters, that most of the digital wallets in India are vulnerable. Now, reports are coming from different parts of India of people losing money just because of using these wallets. India's most popular digital payment app PayTM disappered from the App Store, due to bugs. It shows that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is paving the roads for  a 'digitised India' doesn't see the craters on the road. 

Economist Aseem Shrivastava  puts it this way  "we are in the hands of a digital-romancing political fantasist of extraordinary unrealism, gambling with the real lives of unsuspecting millions across the country. He makes the adventurous Tughlaq seem sane by comparison."

Talented and politically radical artist Priti Gulati Cox's latest 'JatiIndia' painting series is focused on Kashmir. There are three paintings and an interview with the painter today. 

Also other stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Russia, Iran And Turkey Issue Joint Declaration On Syrian Settlement
by Bill Van Auken 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/russia-iran-and-turkey-issue-joint-declaration-on-syrian-settlement/

After meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, top officials of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish governments issued a joint eight-point statement of principles calling for the extension of a ceasefire throughout Syria and a negotiated settlement between the Syrian government and its opponents. Much of the statement, dubbed by Russian officials as the “Moscow Declaration,” was boilerplate. It declared the three countries’ support for “the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” while affirming that “there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict.”






Will Proxy Politics Bring Death For Madaya Siblings Manal And Mohammed-Kamal?
by Franklin Lamb 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/will-proxy-politics-bring-death-for-madaya-siblings-manal-and-mohammed-kamal/

According to a new Iranian draft relating to the East Aleppo evacuations, which I was shown a copy of, it contains this key language: “The evacuation of humanitarian cases from the (ed: mainly Shia) Villages of Foah and Kefraya, in Idlib Governarate are to be achieved simultaneously with the evacuation of wounded from (ed: two government-besieged Sunni towns 25 km Northwest of Damascus near Lebanese border)  Madaya and Zabadani.”    Dear reader will note that two different standards for civilian evacuations are included by Iran, i.e. “humanitarian cases” for the Shia villages of Foah and Kefraya and “wounded” from the Sunni villages of Madaya and Zabadani. If literally applied, these evacuation standards would mean that potentially many Shia would be evacuated but few Sunni.






Weapon Of Mass Digitisation: Notebandi, A Superseded RBI & Elites Misreading Society
by Aseem Shrivastava 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/weapon-of-mass-digitisation-notebandi-a-superseded-rbi-elites-misreading-society/

We are in the hands of a digital-romancing political fantasist of extraordinary unrealism, gambling with the real lives of unsuspecting millions across the country. He makes the adventurous Tughlaq seem sane by comparison.






Right-Wing, Anti-Immigrant Offensive Escalates In Aftermath Of Berlin Terror Attack
by Peter Schwarz 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/right-wing-anti-immigrant-offensive-escalates-in-aftermath-of-berlin-terror-attack/

Although the background to Monday’s attack on a Berlin Christmas market remains unclear, politicians and the media are using it to mount a right-wing offensive in Germany and throughout Europe. The attack claimed 12 lives and left 48 people injured.






Scorning The Dead: The Berlin Truck Attack And The Refugee Question
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/scorning-the-dead-the-berlin-truck-attack-and-the-refugee-question/

The hard-nosed neo-cons were certainly showing little interest in linking arguments, examining evidence, or even considering elementary logic in the aftermath of the Berlin truck attack near the Gedächtniskirche.  With the bodies fresh in the morgue, former US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, peered into the mind of the everyday German, and found teeth chattering fear.






Growthism: Part 2
by Erik Lindberg 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/growthism-part-2/

The universe may be infinite but our biosphere is not.   Innovation may be able to stretch our biosphere’s carrying capacity, but it cannot breach its limits without dire consequences.  And as the cosmology that carried humanity to the brink of extinction (if, indeed, it does not), our present faith in the infinite universe, or in knowledge as power, as controlling metaphors for human behavior will someday be viewed with as much contempt and derision as we direct toward pre-modern, pre-Growthist thought today.    School children will stand agape, wondering how?—how people once believed that there were no thermodynamic or biological limits to how much they might have and do.






Now You Don’t See Me, Now You Don’t-JatiIndia: A Flag of Atrocities Caste, Present And Future
by Priti Gulati Cox

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/now-you-dont-see-me-now-you-dont-jatiindia-a-flag-of-atrocities-caste-present-and-future/

The people of Kashmir have demonstrated time and time again that they want nothing short of Azadi (freedom) from occupation. That’s what they’re fearlessly running toward, stones in hand, in the crosshairs of the Indian security forces, chanting “Hum Kya Chahte (What do we want)? Azadi (Freedom).”






Kashmir: Flood Protection Measures
by Mohammad Ashraf  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/kashmir-flood-protection-measures/

In spite of a lapse of more than two years, one is still waiting for the execution of the urgent and credible flood protection measures leaving an option open for the next disaster!






Forced Nationalism And The Follow Ups Of The Supreme Court Order On National Anthem
by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/forced-nationalism-and-the-follow-ups-of-the-supreme-court-order-on-national-anthem/

PUDR is concerned at this growing political climate in which the judicial verdicts have been echoing the executive actions in creating an official discourse of state-centred nationalism, even the slightest defiance of which invites both legal and social prosecution. This will shatter the belief in judiciary as an independent institution and diminish hope in approaching the courts as the custodian of the rights of the people in the wake of their violations in the hands of the governments






Press Council Of India Fails Its Mandate
By The Right Livelihood Award Foundation

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/22/press-council-of-india-fails-its-mandate/

The instance involving Swami Agnivesh is far from the only instance when the India media has breached ethics and reported calls to violence without discretion in recent times. The Press Council had a golden opportunity to send a message consistent with Section 19(A) of the Indian Constitution that freedom of speech cannot be used to spread hatred and incite violence against individuals and groups.