Eric Draitser of StopImperialism.com appears on AMTV to discuss the current situation in Syria. He 
explains some of the motivations of key regional players and their Western backers in terms of economics and geopolitics. Draitser examines various scenarios that could play out in the coming weeks and months depending on how events unfold on the ground and diplomatically. Additionally, he explores the discredited US narrative about the use of chemical weapons and the historical precedents for such lies.
Azerbaijan: Opposition Journalists Face Free-Flat Conflict
by Shahin Abbasov
In Azerbaijan, opposition journalists have long been beaten, blackmailed and some even killed. But now, it appears a few are being bought.
When it comes to media freedom, President Ilham Aliyev’s administration has a dismal record. In recent years, the government has tended to 
resort to the stick to go after journalists who expose official misdeeds, or otherwise vex people in high places. With a presidential election fast approaching in early October, however, authorities have evidently opted to offer a few carrots in the hopes of quelling critical news coverage
In late July, the government opened an apartment building with 155 one-, two- and three-bedroom units to be occupied exclusively by working journalists and their families. The 17-story structure, built at a cost of 5 million manats ($6.37 million), is located in the Baku suburb of Bibi Heybat. Many of the takers are affiliated with pro-government media outlets and information entities. But a few new tenants work for opposition-oriented and independently owned outlets.
President Aliyev clearly hopes the apartment building’s opening will help soften his administration’s troubled democratization image. The fact that “journalists of various media outlets and people with different political views have received apartments … shows the absence of any political discrimination in Azerbaijan,” Aliyev claimed.
Some journalists contend that the offer of free housing is a thinly disguised government bribe, designed to influence media coverage. “Authorities have finally turned the fundamental right to freedom of speech into the right for freedom from paying rent for an apartment,” quipped former newspaper editor Shahveled Chobanoglu in a Contact.az op-ed.
Two employees of the government’s most outspoken media critic, the newspaper Azadliq (Freedom), a periodical associated with the opposition Popular Front Party of the Azerbaijani Republic, applied for and were given free apartments in the Bibi Heybat building. Several employees from other opposition newspapers, Yeni Musavat (linked to the Musavat Party) and Bizim Yol (Our Way), are also tenants.
Azadliq Editor-in-Chief Rahim Hajiyev told EurasiaNet.org that, despite his strong objections to the project, he did not refuse when two employees “really in need” informed him that they wanted to apply for the flats. “They asked me and I just could not say no because the newspaper cannot fulfill their financial needs,” Hajiyev said. He underlined though, that he is not comfortable with their decision. “I agree, it is a vicious practice to take grants and apartments from the government. I cannot say we are right,” he said. The paper also receives revenue from the government’s Media Support Fund.
“We are working in very tough conditions, deprived of any foreign donor support and advertising revenues and have to survive,” Hajiyev added
Both Hajiyev and the opposition journalists who live in the building insisted that the acceptance of a government-funded apartment will not influence the way either the journalists in question, or the outlets they work for, carry out their watchdog functions.
The Turan news agency was the only privately owned, pro-opposition outlet that refused — despite several supposed invitations from the government – to seek any apartments for its employees.
One Turan reporter, Huquq Salmanov, suggested that the government seemed more interested in trying to compromise the journalistic integrity of opposition media outlets, than in helping any specific journalist in need. When Salmanov, whose family faces acute economic hardship, applied for an apartment as an individual, officials told him he could “only get an apartment as a Turan correspondent.”
“They wanted to have Turan in the list of recipients,” Salmanov claimed. “I did not want to play these games, and refused.”
Media Support Fund Director Vugar Aliyev was not available for comment to EurasiaNet.org.
Salmanov is far from the only journalist struggling to make ends meet in Azerbaijan. On average, monthly salaries for broadcast, online or print journalists amount to just 450 manats ($574), while the typical rent for a flat in central Baku can easily be double that, if not more. The comparatively high cost of living in Baku is what drove most, if not all the opposition journalists to apply for a place in the Bibi Heybat building.
“It is not possible to have a decent life with our salaries when you need to rent a place to live,” said one of the opposition journalists/ Bibi Heybat residents, a married father of two children. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The opposition journalist saw no conflict of interest in his actions. “The building was not built with Ilham Aliyev’s personal money,” he reasoned. “I received the apartment from the state and, therefore, do not feel under an obligation” to the Aliyev administration.
In general, the scramble for apartments seemed to highlight a shortcoming in Azerbaijani journalists’ understanding of what constitutes a conflict of interest.
Another opposition journalist, Aygun Muradkhanly, a Yeni-Musavat correspondent, believes the government has an obligation to financially assist journalists. When Muradkhanly’s name was removed from the list of apartment recipients a few days before the building’s opening, she appealed to President Aliyev. “I have 22 years of experience and have rented an apartment for the last 14 years,” she told to EurasiaNet.org. “I also deserved an apartment.”
Such sentiments harken back to the Soviet era, when the state provided apartments and other perks to members of the creative class who toed the government line. Rejected from the first media building, Muradkhanly expressed gratitude that the presidential administration subsequently promised her an apartment in the future.
Meanwhile, at least one recipient of a Bibi Heybat apartment has acknowledged owning another flat, a violation of the eligibility requirements. Rashad Majid, editor-in-chief of the privately owned 525-ci Gazet, admitted in an editorial that he has an apartment in Baku, but sees nothing wrong with getting a new one for free. “I am in journalism for many years and deserved it. My son, who is also a journalist, will live in the new apartment,” Majid wrote. “I want the government to give me two more apartments for my two other sons.”
Such apartments will soon be on offer. In late July, President Aliyev allocated another 5 million manats for the construction of a second media residence, next to the first. Construction already has begun.
Editor’s note:
Shahin Abbasov is a freelance correspondent based in Baku.
50 killed in MKO, forces clashes in Iraq (Video)
At least 50 people have been killed in clashes between Iraqi security forces and members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in the eastern province of Diyala.
Iraqi officials and the terrorist MKO members gave conflicting reports about the clashes and explosions that took place at Camp New Iraq on Sunday.
The MKO said the security forces raided the camp early on Sunday, killing more than 50 of its members.
The group said Iraqi forces set fire to property inside the camp.
The Iraqi government has denied any involvement.
Officials said MKO members attacked an army brigade responsible for the camp after the incident, killing four Iraqi soldiers and injuring four others.
Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, confirmed that some MKO members had been killed, but said the deaths were the result of infighting among the camp residents.
The MKO — listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community — fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator, Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, to Camp Liberty — a former US military base near Baghdad International Airport.
The group is notorious for carrying out numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials, involvement in the 1991 bloody repression of Shia Muslims in southern Iraq, and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country’s north under Saddam.
Tehran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the terrorist group, but the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.
Source: PressTV
Rights Group: Azerbaijani Freedoms Attacked Ahead Of Election
By RFE/RL
September 02, 2013
Human Rights Watch says the Azerbaijani government has been carrying out a “deliberate” strategy to “limit dissent” ahead of the Caspian Sea country’s October 9 
presidential election.
presidential election.
In a report released on September 2, Human Rights Watch accuses the authorities of seeking to “curtail opposition political activity, limit public criticism of the government, and exercise greater control over nongovernmental organizations.”
“It is a very comprehensive crackdown. And we are not talking about just numbers, we are talking about actual legislative framework, the qualitative changes for the work of the civil society in the country,” Human Rights Watch senior South Caucasus researcher Giorgi Gogia said.
The report says the clampdown on freedom of expression, assembly, and association has accelerated as authorities prepare for the election that incumbent President Ilham Aliyev is widely expected to win.
The report says the authorities were responsible for a “dramatic deterioration” of freedom of expression, assembly, and association over the past 18 months.
It adds that the authorities have arrested dozens of political activists on “bogus charges,” imprisoned critical journalists, and broken up peaceful public demonstrations.
“Seven members of [the youth opposition movement NIDA] are behind bars currently on various trumped-up charges. And it is striking that the youngest member of this group is 18 and the oldest is 28, and they are in prison on various trumped-up charges,” Gogia said.
“When I say the trumped-up charges, we investigated these cases in great detail and there were numerous due-process violations.”
Gogia also urged the international community to pressure Azerbaijan to live up to its commitments on human rights.
“As a partner to [the] European Union, as a member state to the Council of Europe, as a member state to the United Nations, Azerbaijan should be urged to protect those rights, should be urged to release the government critics who are currently detained on spurious charges — whether it’s a journalist, human rights defender, lawyer, or any other government critic.”
With reporting by Reuters
Kurdish Jihadists Fight Kurds in Syria
By: Fazel Hawramy for Al-Monitor
On Aug. 17, Abu Jihad picked up his cell phone near Aleppo in Syria and dialed a number in Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. Abu Jihad was a messenger of death for the family of his co-jihadist friend, Osman Abdulrahim, 24, who had been fighting against the Syrian government forces for less than three months with the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra.
The day before, Osman was killed in a building near Aleppo which was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by government forces, according to Abu Jihad. He and other Jabhat al-Nusra fighters tried to transport him to Turkey for treatment, but Osman died en route.
Osman was among a growing number of jihadi Sunni fighters, including Iraqi Kurds, who are traveling to Syria in the name of “holy war.” The number of foreign fighters is estimated between 6,000 to as many as 15,000, according to media reports citing Western and Arab intelligence sources.
Ali, Osman’s eldest brother who works for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), sat down with Al-Monitor at the Sheikh Abdul Aziz mosque in Halabja on Aug. 25 to explain what he knew about his brother’s death.
“I was out, and it was around 8 a.m. when my sister called me and said someone had just called and wanted to talk to one of Osman’s brothers.” Ali knew that Osman was with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. “I used to talk to him two or three times a week, and every time I told him to come back to Halabja, but he didn’t listen.”
Ali had dialed Abu Jihad’s number — obtained by Al-Monitor and starting with +90, the Turkey’s international dialing code — and was told of his brother’s death.
Halabja itself is not alien to jihadist ideology and Islamist foreign fighters. From the late 1990s until February 2003, Halabja’s border with Iran was controlled by an extremist Islamic Kurdish group called Ansar al-Islam, which consisted of foreign fighters who had fled Afghanistan during and after the 2001 war in the wake of 9/11. Halabja is still considered a stronghold of Islamic political parties in Kurdistan.
According to his brother, Osman was a devout Muslim who recited the Quran on a regular basis and was a fervent believer in the Islamic duty of jihad. Osman’s education was limited, having only completed four years of primary school before dropping out due to the international sanctions on Iraq, and the severe financial strain it imposed on millions of Iraqis. He did not watch much TV except for the news.
Ali claims that Osman told no one that he was going to Syria in early May, including him. However, Osman called Ali one week later to inform his brother that he was in Syria to perform jihad. Prior to that, he had been a laborer in a nearby mosque and managed to save up just over $1,000. “That morning, when Osman left, he was short of money and asked to borrow 300,000 Iraqi dinars (about $250) from my father,” Ali recalled.
Arsalan, Osman’s first cousin and close friend, noted some behavioral changes in Osman prior to his departure to Syria. “Sometimes, Osman would look at the contents of my cell phone and delete music and some photos, and he would say they are not Islamic,” he told Al-Monitor, standing next to his cousin Ali at the Sheikh Abdul Aziz mosque.
It was this sense of self-righteousness, the feeling that he was following the true teaching of Islam that pushed Osman and many others to go to Syria. Before he died, he told his brother Ali that there were around 70 Kurds from Iraqi Kurdistan in the ranks of Jabhat al-Nusra.
Less than a week after Osman’s death, Rabar Tariq Maroof, 17, from Halabja was also killed near Aleppo. One of his former teachers, who did not want to be identified, told Al-Monitor that Rabar had recently finished the fifth-grade exams at the private Halabja Shaheed secondary school. The school where Rabar studied is run by the Turkish Islamic Fezalar group which has close ties with the powerful Islamic Turkish scholar Fethullah Gulen. It is unclear whether the school, which attracts the brightest in the area, had any influence in the radicalization of young Rabar.
What is certain is that during the last month of fighting in Ras al-Ain in northern Syria between the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, Rabar’s passport was left behind and published by the PYD in the Kurdish media, to prove that Iraqi Kurdish jihadists were fighting against their brethren in Syria.
Iraqi Kurds have largely supported Syrian Kurds in their efforts to clear their area of Assad forces, the Free Syrian Army and jihadists groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra. In recent days, the KRG and the public have provided shelter to thousands of fleeing Syrian Kurdish refugees. Almost everyone in Iraqi Kurdistan, including the main Islamic parties, disapproves of the actions of young Kurdish men who join groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, especially if they fight against Kurdish nationalist groups such as the PYD. While it is difficult to ascertain exactly how many Iraqi Kurds have gone to Syria for jihad, reports in Kurdish media suggest that the number is growing.
While Rabar and Osman came from two different backgrounds, they both believed in the same interpretation of jihad, even if that meant they had to lie to their families to reach Syria.
Osman told his brother on the phone that he was fighting against Bashar al-Assad and the kuffar (infidels) in his service, naming the Lebanese Hezbollah specifically. “Once the fight is over here [in Syria], we go anywhere the kuffar are fighting against Muslims,” Osman told his brother, according to Ali. Osman had promised his brother that he would not fight Kurds in Syria, Ali said.
The responsibility of informing his mother about Osman’s death weighed particularly heavy on Ali. She did not know her son was in Syria, for Ali had told her that Osman was in Greece on his way to Western Europe. Ali wanted to be completely sure before delivering the devastating news to his mother, who was still mourning her other son’s death in a car accident in 2012.
Ali asked if Abu Jihad, who also claimed to be from Halabja, could provide any photographic evidence of his brother’s death. Abu Jihad agreed to send a photo of Osman’s body via Facebook — a photo obtained by Al-Monitor. “I swear to Allah that I buried him with my own hands,” Abu Jihad assured Ali.
Ali waited for three days before delivering the devastating news to his family. When the moment came, his mother and sisters screamed and cried hysterically, their worst fears about Osman come true. “I thought she would not be able to cope with the fact that Osman was gone. I even expected her to be hospitalized, but she is doing better now, even though she is still mourning,” Ali said.
Al-Monitor called Abu Jihad’s number provided by Ali on Aug. 26. Someone speaking with an Iraqi Kurdish dialect answered the phone and stated that he had never heard of Abu Jihad or Osman before disconnecting.
Fazel Hawramy is the editor of kurdishblogger.com and an independent journalist currently based in Iraqi Kurdistan. On Twitter: @Kurdishblogger
Pope Francis on Twitter account says no more war
Pontiff called for a day of fasting and prayer for peace on 9/7
(ANSAmed) – Vatican City, September 2 – Pope Francis on Monday, in multi-lingual, impassioned message on the @Pontifex Twitter account wrote “War never again! Never again war!”.
During Sunday’s Mass in St Peter’s Square, the Argentine pontiff called for a fasting and prayer for peace “in Syria, in the entire Mideast region, and throughout the whole world” to be held next Saturday. “On the 7th of September, here [in St Peter’s Square], from 7 pm until midnight, we will gather together in prayer, in a spirit of penitence, to ask from God this great gift [of peace] for the beloved Syrian nation and for all the situations of conflict and violence in the world”, Pope Francis said.
Francis also invited non-Catholic Christians and non-Christian believers to participate in ways they feel are appropriate. “We want a peaceful world…we want to be men and women of peace,” he said.
He called on all parties “to seek negotiations” and urged the international community to take concrete steps to end conflicts, especially the war in Syria.
Turkish consul general’s convoy hit by bomb in north Iraq
BAGHDAD – Agence France-Presse
A convoy transporting Turkey’s consul general was hit by a bombing between the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Arbil Sept.2 causing no casualties, diplomatic sources said.
The blast, which struck in Mosul, damaged all four vehicles in the convoy as it was en route to the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil.
It was not immediately clear if the consul was explicitly targeted.
“There were no casualties, no wounded,” a Turkish diplomat in Baghdad told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It’s not clear whether they aimed at our convoy or if it was an indiscriminate attack.” The diplomat said that the convoy’s cars were damaged.
Target remains unclear
A spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry in Ankara confirmed the attack, and said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had called the consul general for more information.
“It’s not yet clear who carried out the attack and against whom,” the spokesman said. “The investigation is continuing. We have contacted the Iraqi authorities immediately after the incident and asked that the culprits be found out and that the security of our missions be enhanced.” Violence has spiked sharply in recent months in Iraq, and Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province in particular remains one of the country’s most dangerous areas, regularly suffering deadly gun and bomb attacks.
Ties between Iraq and Turkey have worsened considerably in recent years, and the blast against the consul is not the first suffered by Turkey’s diplomatic mission to the country.
In January 2012, at least one mortar round struck the outer compound wall of the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, but caused no casualties.
That attack came just a day after Turkey summoned Iraq’s ambassador to protest claims it was meddling in Baghdad’s affairs by voicing concern over a domestic political crisis.
Russia sends reconnaissance ship to Mediterranean, Interfax says
MOSCOW – Agence France-Presse
Russia has sent a reconnaissance vessel from its Black Sea fleet to the coast off Syria, a report said Monday, as Moscow anxiously watches Western plans for military action against the Damascus regime, a report said Monday.
The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye on Sunday evening started its voyage “to the appointed region of military service in the eastern Mediterranean,” a military source told the Interfax news agency.
“The crew have the mission… of collecting operative information in the region of an escalating conflict,” it added.
Russia ‘absolutely’ unconvinced by Syria chemical attack claims
Russia is totally unconvinced by evidence presented by the United States and its allies of an alleged chemical attack outside Damascus that the West says was perpetrated by the Syrian regime, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Moscow vehemently opposes US-led plans for military action against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in response to the alleged attack, even though the timetable has now been put back by President Barack Obama’s decision to put it to Congress.
“What we were shown before and most recently by our American partners as well as the British and the French absolutely does not convince us,” Lavrov said at a university lecture in Moscow. He added there were “many doubts” about images of the alleged attack posted on the Internet. President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend it would have been “utter nonsense” for the regime to launch such an attack when it has the military ascendancy.
Lavrov said Russia had been shown some evidence by the West but expressed scepticism over its validity, saying “there was nothing concrete, without geographic coordinates or names.” He accused the West of concealing comments by “many experts” who have expressed “serious doubts” about the validity of the video footage of the attack posted on the Internet.
“If we are going to state that these are pictures of the use of chemical arms and of the effects on the victims then there is a mass of disparities and absurdities,” Lavrov said.
“There are very many doubts,” he said. “There are no facts, just talk that ‘we probably know this’,” he added.
“And when you ask for more detailed evidence, they say that it is all secret and they cannot show you. Thus, there are no such facts for the purposes of international cooperation,” he added.
The dispute between the West and Russia over Syria is expected to be at the centre of the G20 summit which is to be hosted by Putin later this week in Saint Petersburg.
US has no proof against Syria – Scott Rickard
Press TV has conducted an interview with Scott Rickard, former American intelligence linguist, about the statement from Russia that the US in bypassing UNSC 
would undermine international law and that their allegations against Syria show no logic.
– What is wrong with what the Russian leader is saying – If the United States is saying they have the proof then why don’t they show it especially out of respect for its partners?
– It’s clear that the United States does not have proof. The recent pull out by the UN inspectors, actually pulling out early and going to Lebanon, is clear evidence that the American military is preparing for a limited attack.
It will probably be by airborne-based missiles. Most of these systems are very easy for Americans to launch from as far as 900 miles away as well as some not-so-smart arsenal that they can fire from easily within probably 50-60 miles away.
So they won’t have to even over-fly Syria airspace to continue to basically fight against Assad as they’ve done over the past two years using covert warfare with the CIA.
So, clearly this is not about evidence of Assad using any kind of chemical weapons. This was a dog and pony show that was basically to fool the American people as well as people around the world.
Ali Hashem from Al-Jazeera recently quit his job because of complete misinformation coming out of that network.
– What does it mean – you said that they would probably do limited strikes. What can that accomplish?
– It’s clearly evident to the Americans and British and French as well as their allies in the Persian Gulf. They know that they cannot beat Assad using the mercenary warfare that they’ve tried for the past two years. So they are hoping to turn the tide and allow these mercenaries to be more successful.
And so I think they are just trying to use these strikes just as they’ve used strikes already out of Israel – three major strikes this year alone to weaken Assad’s forces. I think they are just trying to weaken Assad’s forces to give the mercenaries that they’ve hired a better chance.
– Well, there is outrage throughout the world as we see more and more regular people taking to the streets against this possible US action in Syria. How likely is it that the United States will actually not end up carrying out these strikes?
– I think it is very unlikely that they will not.
Unfortunately there are billions of dollars at stake for the American military industrial complex – over ten billion dollars alone annually just for the type of weaponry that can do these strategic strikes and what they call ‘limited strikes’.
By no means are these limited applications when it comes to the armament that they’re going to use. These strikes will be devastating to the individuals that are working at those sites, they call them basically combatants.
These are not combatants. These guys are not fighting against the Americans or their allies right now. These are innocent soldiers who are working to fight mercenaries that have been hired by the West and they are not combatants against the West.
Armenia Frees Azeri POW
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenia has unexpectedly deported an Azerbaijani prisoner of war to an unpublicized third country just two weeks after offering to swap him for an Armenian soldier who was captured by Azerbaijani troops near Nagorno-Karabakh.
Deputy Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan made the announcement on Friday at a meeting with Lorenzo Caraffi, the Yerevan-based representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
A statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry said Tonoyan asked the ICRC to inform the family of Firuz Farajev that he has been transferred to a “safe, prosperous and democratic country” and already granted a refugee status there. He did not name that country.
Farajev was detained by Armenian troops at a western section of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan in July 2012. The Armenian military said at the time that the 20-year-old deliberately surrendered to its forces.
The Defense Ministry statement issued on Friday said that Farajev defected because of having been subjected to “inhumane tortures and pressures” at his Azerbaijani army unit. It insisted that the soldier made an “unequivocal decision” not to return to Azerbaijan.
The announcement came two weeks after Tonoyan told another Red Cross official in Yerevan that Farajev has “changed his mind and expressed a desire to return to Azerbaijan.” The Armenian military thus expressed readiness to swap him for Hakob Injighulian, an Armenian soldier who crossed into Azerbaijani-controlled territory east of Karabakh on August 8.
The Azerbaijani side never responded to that offer. Instead, Injighulian was again paraded on Azerbaijani television last week, saying that he surrendered to Azerbaijani forces after being ill-treated by one of his commanders. He said he therefore wants to be sent to a third country.
The authorities in Yerevan as well as Injighulian’s family dismissed that statement, saying that the 22-year-old was presented a false version of events under duress. They insist that he crossed the “line of contact” around Karabakh by accident.
Armenian officials argue that international conventions on treatment of POWs forbid any public exposure of captured enemy soldiers. They say the fact that Injighulian wore an Azerbaijani military uniform in his two televised appearances was another gross violation of international law.
Red Cross officials in Baku were allowed to visit Injighulian on August 20.