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Tuesday, 27. August 2013 by Sibel Edmonds:
Ayssar Midani, a French Syrian citizen and political activist, joins us from Damascus to talk about the latest developments in Syria. We talk about the history of the terrorist jihadi insurgency in the country and their prior use of chemical weapons, the latest attack and claims of satellite evidence proving that the attack was not launched by government officials, and the likely consequences of a US-led strike on the country.
Michael is a television host, radio personality, syndicated columnist, author, and speaker. His TV show The Arena airs on Sun News Network every weeknight. Michael 
won numerous awards, both in Canada and the US, with his last TV show, hosted more than 3000 episodes and was also its producer for its final year. The Arena features numerous exciting, original, and provocative guests, with interviews in studio and from around the world.
Michael is a weekly columnist, published every Saturday, with the Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg Sun newspapers and in more than a dozen other newspapers across Canada. He is also a columnist for the Catholic Register, Catholic Insight, Catholic World Report, The Landowner and The Interim, and appears on Newstalk 1010 radio every week. He is also a regular contributor to Britain’s Standpoint magazine and the UK’s Catholic Herald.
Following last week’s chemical attack, the West has engineered a media campaign to facilitate a military incursion, says Russia’s Foreign 
Minister Sergey Lavrov. The minister also cast doubts on the veracity of US and European claims about the incident.
“Official Washington, London and Paris say they have incontrovertible evidence that the Syrian government is behind the chemical attack in Damascus, but they have not yet presented this evidence. Yet, they keep saying that the ‘red line’ has been crossed,” Lavrov said during an emergency press conference in Moscow.
“Now, we are hearing calls for a military campaign against Bashar Assad.”
Lavrov said that the US, Britain and other countries have assembled a “powerful force” and are “readying their ships and planes” for a possible invasion.
The minister said that the development set the world on a “perilous path” and warned that “repeating the Iraqi and Lybyan scenario” and bringing in outside forces, would be a “terrible mistake that will lead to more blood being spilt”.
The minister reserved particular outrage for the newly-mooted possibility of NATO staging a strike on chemical storage facilities without a United Nations mandate.
Asked if Russia was going to join in the potential conflict on either side, Lavrov said “We have no plans to go to war, but we hope that others think of long-term interests.”
Last Wednesday, footage began to emerge of civilians in a Damascus suburb suffering from what appeared to be the effects of a neurotoxic gas.
Previously, Barack Obama stated that use of chemical weapons would be a ‘red line’ in the conflict, which would have “enormous consequences” for the Syrian regime, though the US president appeared more cautious about possible intervention in interviews over the past few days.
Medical aid group, Doctors without Borders, have reported that at least 355 people have died as a result of the incident.
The Syrian opposition, which has been involved in the 30-month conflict with the government of Bashar Assad, said state forces had been behind the attack. The Syrian government has denied the claims, saying that the use of chemical weapons after repeated warnings from the international community would be “illogical”.
In his conference, Lavrov questioned the rebel version of events.
“There is information that videos were posted on the internet hours before the purported attack, and other reasons to doubt the rebel narrative.”
“Those involved with the incident wanted to sabotage the upcoming Geneva peace talks. Maybe that was the motivation of those who created this story. The opposition obviously does not want to negotiate peacefully.”
“Those involved with the incident wanted to sabotage the upcoming Geneva peace talks. Maybe that was the motivation of those who created this story. The opposition obviously does not want to negotiate peacefully.”
Lavrov also said that the UN expert team that is currently in Damascus, investigating the attack, “does not have the mandate” to produce an official ruling on who was responsible for the chemical release.
“The experts in Syria have the mandate to determine if chemical weapons were used, and if so, which ones, but not who unleashed this attack” Lavrov told the gathered media.
“The UN security council will make the final decision about the perpetrator based on this evidence and all the analytical and factual materials available on the internet and in other media.”
While Lavrov said that he is continuing to work on the Geneva peace conference with his US counterpart John Kerry, he stated that it was now unlikely that the long-postponed talks would take place in September.
He also explained the reasons he believes the opposition has been unwilling to participate.
“Why go to a conference if you believe that the regime’s infrastructure will all be destroyed anyway by allies, and then you can just march into Damascus unopposed, and take control?”
Syrian television present Armenian Genocide and compare it with today’s Turkish invasions of Syria, expending Turkish Empire to concur Arab countries 
again. However the Syrian people will stop Turkish invitations at any price.
After 12 long years, iconic diva Cher is back to making music, premiering her new song “Woman’s World” complete with music video today. The 67-year-old singer brings out her wide array of wigs for the visuals of her new dance track that’s sure to be another club banger for the next many weeks, 
AceShowbiz said.
For the almost four-minute clip, Cher whips out a headgear made out of shredded newspaper, a long, frizzy redhead imitation and a white disco hairpiece with black speckles. For her outfits, however, she “borrows” from other different stars in the video, ordinary women of varying races, appearances and ages, as split screens mix and match their bodies with the head of the Goddess of Pop.
“Woman’s World” is the first single to be released from her forthcoming comeback album “Closer to the Truth”, serving as the much-awaited follow-up to her 2001 studio album “Living Proof”. It was debuted around the time Cher performed it live back in June on the season finale of “The Voice”.
Although it took her more than a decade to return to recording, Cher has been keeping busy performing live, that includes a three-year Las Vegas residency. She has also managed to squeeze in the duet “The Greatest Thing” with Lady GaGa, which got leaked online last week after hackers also leaked the “ARTPOP” artist’s new single “Applause”.
Source PanARMENIAN.Net
“The Turkish government probably has some interests among the Sunnis and the surrounding countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, also Turkey, don’t like to have a government [in Iraq] which is generally a Shia government.”
Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Jafar Hadi Hassan, a Middle East expert from London, about ongoing demonstrations in Iraq.
The amazing journey of Lord Ara Darzi
The Rt Hon Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham KBE received the third RCSI honorary doctorate at the June conferring ceremony 2013 which was held in the National Concert Hall on Thursday 6th June 2013. Lord Ara Darzi, an alumnus of RCSI also delivered the keynote address to approximately 260 graduates.The first Honorary Doctorate was awarded in 2011 to former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. In 2012 Professor Fr. Michael Kelly, Jesuit and internationally renowned expert on HIV / AIDS was awarded the second RCSI honorary doctorate.
And very thank you to yanos yano from Germany for emailing the link.
Darzi was born in Iraq to Armenian parents displaced by the 1915 genocide. He moved to Ireland at the age of 17 to study medicine.[19] He studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and subsequently obtained the postgraduate degree of MD at Trinity College, Dublin. He has become strongly identified with reform of the National Health Service (NHS)[5][6] in England and is recognized internationally as an advocate for applying innovative reforms to health systems globally.
He moved to the UK from Ireland in 1990 to further his career in surgery. In 1991 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at Central Middlesex Hospital at the age of 31 and then moved to St. Mary’s Hospital in 1994. In 2002 He was awarded a knighthood for his services to medicine and surgery and subsequently elevated to the peerage in 2007. He was appointed to Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council in June 2009.
He is married to Wendy with whom he has two children, Freddie and Nina.[
By Kurt Nimmo
According to a report posted on the Al-Alam News Network, the al-Nusra Front has massacred 120 children and 330 men and women in the town of Tal Abyad located in a district of northern Syria that is part of the Al-Raqqa governorate.
Kurds in the area have recently formed militias to fight against terrorist mercenaries from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front.
Kurds have come under attack in Aleppo, Tal Aran and Tal Hasel. Terrorists have killed and abducted residents of the towns and forced others to flee.
Photo: Fars News Agency
On August 1, the Saudi-owned pan-Arab television news channel al-Arabiyareported that an “al-Qaeda-linked group took around 200 Kurdish civilians after violent clashes with Kurdish fighters in Syria” after seizing control of Tal Aren (see video below).
Kurds say the attacks remind them of the al-Anfal campaign launched by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. In addition to Kurds, the campaign launched during the final stages of the Iran-Iraq War targeted other non-Arab populations, including Assyrians, Shabaks, Iraqi Turkmens, Yazidis, Jews, Mandeans, and others.
In June, a former member of al-Qaeda accused Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, the leader of the al-Nusra Front, of working for the CIA. “I personally believe that the leader of the Nusra Army who declared his support for Ayman al-Zawahiri is a CIA operative,” said Sheikh Nabil Naiim.
In addition to probable CIA connections, al-Nusra is said to be connected to Turkish intelligence. Turkey has waged a long and relentless war against the Kurds.
Press.TV – Militants kill 450 Kurdish civilians in northern Syria
Source: Global Research, August 06, 2013
May 04, 2013 | 00:20
By Anna Ghazaryan
Armenian media outlets have recently published a photo of The Game wearing a T-shirt with “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915” – the name of a movement launched 
ahead of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Meanwhile, “Open Wounds” song by R-Mean was quickly spread in the Armenian social networks. It was revealed that the movement was organized by a group of American Armenian young people who wanted to pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims and raise Genocide awareness all over the globe. Those who were behind the idea – rapper R-Mean and active Armenian community member from Boston Zareh Zurabyan told about the project in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Who is the author of this movement? How did the idea come along to write “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915”? Who designed it and whose idea was it to have a design like that?
R-Mean: My manager Alex Kodo and I had the idea of making a new video for this song because we knew it was a jewel. And along with it we wanted to do t-shirts…. I had written the song and called it “Open Wounds” so I felt like the shirt had to make the same statement as the song. “Our Wounds Are Still Open” was perfect. It was Alex’s idea to add the “1915”. Then we contacted our graphic designer, the owner of “Extra Good” clothing line, Narek Churukyan who we sat down and did the actual design with.
How did you start to spread the shirts? What makes people of other nationalities buy the shirt?
Zareh: The social medias were very helpful in spreading the new video, and the shirt sales. R-Mean having a huge following throughout the world specifically in the West Coast of USA, and me having a large connection here in the East Coast specifically Massachusetts, Boston and Rhode Island, Providence and NY, Brooklyn, I was able to spread the shirts around here. We kind of combined our large network of friends and jointly promoted the video and the shirts. Everybody was happy to be part of the movement, and to help the cause. Having all my friends and family being back home in Armenia, some studying abroad in Germany, Moscow, France, R-Mean having family and fans back in Amsterdam and other parts of the world, it was easy to spread the word and have all the communities in these cities to buy the shirts – especially when they knew the proceeds will go to ArmeniaFund.
Just from top of my head, shirts were bought from all over USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Budapest, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Armenia.
What got other races to buy the shirt has to do with couple of things. One of the reasons is the design of the shirt. Just from a style point of view, the design and the colors that are used are modern and it speaks to the youth. People want to wear it to look good. Another reason is the saying, it is different, and it doesn’t say Armenian Genocide on it as many other shirts say, which in turn isolates us from others. In this case the shirt is somewhat universal. It can be related to many injustices in the world that are not recognized. The 1915 pinpoints the Armenian Genocide, but the Wounds can be related to many other injustices. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere, is threat to justice everywhere.”
How did The Game decide to wear the shirt?
Zareh: The Game and R-Mean are both from California, and they did a song together called “Lost Angels” before, so when the “Open Wounds” movement started, the mutual respect between them resulted in The Game to pay his respect to the victims of the Genocide, and to the large Armenian community in California. It was very nice of him and it is greatly appreciated.
What other famous people were wearing the shirts, except for The Game? How did it happen that Kim Kardashian’s fan page posted the video?
R-Mean: It was important for us to show how many people in position, and people outside of the Armenian community were supporting this “Open Wounds” movement… We started contacting our connects in the music industry and really just anyone with a following that we knew people look up to and asked them if they wanted to be a part of this and support. We had legendary radio DJ’s Julio G, Romeo of Tha Goodfellas, Sway from MTV and Tech on the world famous Wake Up Show (on Eminem’s radio station Shade45)… We had Armenians like boxer Vanes Martirosyan, UFC fighter Manny Gamburyan, Dj Vick One, Capital Z, Maria Cozette, Hrach Titizian, Super Sako, and so many more… We had Singer/Actress Farrah Franklin (formerly from Destiny’s child), and then of course The Game. These are all people we knew and they respected the movement and what we were trying to do so they supported. They posted pictures and the video online for all of their huge followings to see. We also got in touch with Congressman Adam Schiff who has always supported the Armenian cause in Congress. Our fans started reaching out to The Kardashians on twitter, IG, and FB telling them about the “Open wounds” song and the movement… Eventually they posted it on Kim’s official fan page. That was real cool.
“Open Wounds” song was loved by many people and it was widely spread in the Armenian social media very quickly. Please tell a little bit how it was written and who did the video?
R-Mean: Several years ago I had the idea of doing this song. A genocide song named “Open Wounds”. I knew which producer I wanted to do it and I knew which singer I wanted on it. I also knew I wanted it to have duduk samples so I collected a lot of duduk CDs and took them to my producer Blind. He made the beat… And then I took the beat to Soseh. As soon as I played it she came up with the idea to use “Kilikia” I hadn’t thought of doing the chorus in Armenian but when she said it I felt it was genius. Then I just put my heart into the verses and that was it. It truly came together magically.
My manager Alex Kodo, who is also my director, did the video. He also did the video for my last song “Lost Angels” with The Game. But “Open Wounds” was all him. From the ideas, the footages, the concepts, the editing, everything… He really killed it.
What other ideas do you have to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide?
R-Mean: As a Hip Hop artist, this is what I do. I put the message in my music and try to reach as many youth as possible and as many non-Armenians as possible. The song and the video will continue the spread… But more importantly we will be spreading the shirts all year long. This is not a once a year in April thing. We will keep spreading these because a good looking t-shirt is a great way of making a statement and spreading the message. Everyone keeps asking what that t-shirt means.
Zareh: Like R-Mean said, Hip-Hop is the voice of the youth, and his song has aided me enormously in promoting the shirts and the awareness here in Boston. Local artists here like G-Eyez, Tha Jist, Chris aka Chief, Dark Blue and many more who have never heard of the Armenian Genocide or have, but didn’t know how to pay their respect to the cause or bring awareness, reposted the video on their social networks. It was very nice of them to do so and I thank them for it. I went to the AYF Boston chapter and presented them with the shirts, went to High Schools, many of my friends in different business areas wore the shirts, and we only got positive feedback.
Boston Armenian community had been very passive these last couple of years. The protests have had minimal participation from the youth. A lot of the kids didn’t seem to have that passion that the elder generations used to have. So when the Boston community saw an artist like R-Mean being so passionate in his song for everyone to see, and spreading awareness on such a limelight along with these famous artists – it injected this fresh breeze of pride in the youth.
It got to a point where I would see random people in the most unexpected places wearing the shirts. It is beautiful. Best part is that people always ask what the shirt says, so we are inclined to inform them of our history.
April 24th, 2013 is over, I am still getting orders almost every day, Armenian and non-Armenian. It is a beautiful thing and I am very proud of the Boston Armenian Community for their support, passion, and enthusiasm. Boston community is passionate once again, and excited to do next year’s protest in the newly founded Armenian Heritage Park in downtown for the Armenian Genocide Victims. We worked 5 years to finally get our own park here in Massachusetts, and we finally got it. It is time that we use that park with pride.