Has the time come to acknowledge the conspiracies?

 'Syria, for its part, was and is a country ruled by a regime that is completely subservient to Iran’s regional project. What is worse, Israel itself has not genuinely viewed Iran’s growing regional influence as a threat to its borders and national security.

 One may say that this point alone is enough for rational observers to realize why Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s approach to Tehran and its stooge, the Damascus regime, has amounted to nothing more than empty words.'

 I think this might be slightly negative about the military situation, "The situation facing the Free Syrian Army on the ground has worsened recently as the regime stepped up its attacks on the remaining rebel-controlled areas in the Qalamoun Mountains and in the northern and southern parts of the country," but yes.

The Argument Against U.S. Intervention in Syria... And Why It's Wrong

 'From the left, some criticize U.S. intervention as neo-imperialist militarism that will advance American hegemony rather than aid the oppressed. This criticism is important, but should not justify inaction that effectively forsakes the oppressed. Non-interventionists can direct their activism toward ensuring that US involvement does not stray from humanitarian goals and remains within the parameters for which Syrian revolutionaries are themselves clamoring.'

Robert Fisk: Ukraine’s future is tied up with Syria’s – and Vladimir Putin is crucial to both

 The same lie by Fisk in each case, to claim that the fascists/jihadists are the main players. And repeating that America was "threatening to bomb Syria" doesn't make it any more true that they were going to do such a thing.

 'The initial Syrian opposition to Assad – following revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt – was peaceful, although armed men did occasionally appear even in the early days of the revolt. Then military deserters formed an armed opposition that was swiftly taken over by radicals more interested in replacing Assad with a caliphate than the “free Syria” which the opposition originally demanded. So, too, in Kiev: Yanukovych’s opponents found themselves, after several weeks, uneasily linked to small, right-wing, neo-Nazi groups who had – in the eyes of their enemies – more in common with the Ukrainian fascists who helped the Germans in the Second World War than with the Soviet resistance to Nazi occupation.'

 There are some further lies, the idea that the revolutionaries in Syria are Sunni sectarians fighting a government that enjoys considerable Sunni support, or this, "Once Syria’s unrest became weaponised on both sides, the West and its Arab allies sent military equipment to Assad’s enemies."

Israeli Arab Charged With Attempting to Recruit Soldiers for Syria’s Civil War

 'The Jerusalem District Attorney indicted 22-year-old Mus’ab Adwan for attempting to unlawfully enter an enemy country and participating in illegal military activities, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported on Thursday.

 A resident of the Arab village of Akav, Adwan met with a man by the name of Yazan Mohammad in Jordan in 2013, according to the indictment. The two men discussed the possibility of Adwan joining rebel forces fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

 Mohammad asked the defendant to recruit more people to the cause including another Jerusalem resident by the name of Iyad Abu Sarah, who lives in the Shuafat refugee camp.

 Adwan then contacted Abu Sarah through Facebook and the two men met several times in Jerusalem. During these meetings, Adwan tried to convince Abu Sarah to travel to Syria and join the revolution.

 The defendant eventually forged relationships with rebel forces operating inside of Syria and used his professional knowledge to help them solve technical problems affecting the rebels’ ability to accurately use their mortars, Ma’ariv cited the indictment as saying.'

U.S. opposes supply of shoulder-fired missiles to Syria rebels

 'The United States is opposed to the supply of shoulder-fired missiles, capable of taking down warplanes, to rebel forces in Syria, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday.

 The official, travelling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Tunisia, was responding to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday which said Saudi Arabia had offered to give Syrian rebels Chinese man-portable air defence systems, or MANPADS, and anti-tank guided missiles from Russia.'

Syria and the parable of the poisoned arrow

 'The most vociferous opposition to Manpads circulating in Syria comes from Israel — which also happens to be the power that appears most content with a continuing stalemate.'

As Syria devours itself, UN dithers on aid

 'Russia sees humanitarian aid as a threat to Syria’s sovereignty.'

 It is a threat to Assad, who is fighting a war against civilians.

Dreyfuss on Obama Plans to Escalate the War in Syria

 'Civilians are being slaughtered on the ground by Assad's air force because they have no defense against his planes. In this context, anti-aircraft missiles will save lives. This is the "escalation" that Dreyfuss is worried about. His assertion that al Qaeda will get them and use them against El Al, is just so much speculation and fearmongering. There are ways, including technical, to guard against that. What they will do now is save lives by stopping Assad's planes from bombing people unopposed.'

The vicious schism between Sunni and Shia has been poisoning Islam for 1,400 years - and it's getting worse

 When I first saw Christopher Hitchens describe 9/11 as a continuation of the siege of Vienna in 1689, it seemed to have some sense. Now it just seems Islamophobic. As does this. The uprising in Syria is not driven by immutable sectarian differences, but is a response to oppression, sometimes against the sectarian oppression of the Assad régime. To equate those revolting with those they revolt against, to say we cannot tell the difference between the two, is revolting, as it is in Bahrain, where it is the Shia masses revolting against a Sunni oppressor. The violence in Egypt is pretty much all the military government against any opposition at the moment.

Chomsky on the Middle East

 "Israel has shown no indication that that it wants the rebels to win in Syria, and nor incidentally does the US", said Dr. Noam Chomsky in a recent interview with Radio VR in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Truce or Dare? Assad moves to neutralize capital

 'To make the truce more attractive, the regime is offering the release of local activists and fighters, reinstating basic services like electricity and water, partial rebuilding, and the return of refugees. Through the return of refugees, weary activists believe, the regime aims to reinstate the old order of fear.

 The collective punishment inflicted in Daraya, Barzeh and Maadamiya, will serve the regime well, they believe, as the returning refugees will resist any form of dissent or opposition. “The regime is now reaping the benefits of its collective punishment policy,” Alaa says, “it is what it knows best since the massacre of Hama in 1982; they plant destruction, and harvest fear.” '

 Thus laying the basis for future massacres if the régime regains control (which I doubt, as fighters elsewhere are not going to lay down their arms). Resisting the militarisation of the opposition has meant leaving them defenceless against the régime all along.

The Syrian refugee camp that is becoming a township

 Robin Yassin-Kassab:

 'In some areas of Syria, Assad's scorched-earth policy has had a military objective – to drive out communities that provide succour to opposition fighters. In others (such as the Homs region, where Assad's men have burned the property registry), the strategy looks like a more permanent ethnic cleansing. The refugees know this, and they are bitter about it. After Assad they blame his Iranian and Russian backers, and the Arabs who haven't done enough, and also the west, which is fixated on Islamist radicalism instead of on the regime that creates the conditions in which extremism flourishes.'

Noam Chomsky Blames ‘White People’ For Syrian Gas Attack

 'White people have the worst human rights record in the world. Who committed the holocaust? White people. Who pretended there was a genocide in Cambodia? White people. Who is responsible for Justin Bieber's music? White people.

 White people are awful. If we really cared about the citizens of Syria we'd be trying to find the real perpetrators of these chemical attacks instead of bombing innocent members of the Assad regime.'

The sectarian regime is the cause of sectarianism among the opposition

 'Even to get to a ceasefire that aids the struggle – ie, the opposite of one that merely allows the regime to go on killing behind a façade after the revolutionary forces have demobilised – will require not nice talk to a regime that has waged all-out, unlimited war for three years, but real military pressure on it via the opposition being able to get real arms in relevant quantities.'

A New Start To U.S. Policy In Syria Can Save Lives

 'In my trips to the border, there has consistently been a clear preference for moderate battalions and rejection of foreign fighters, particularly those backed by Al-Qaeda. The refugees and civilian leaders believe the illiberal rhetoric from their armed allies reflect fundraising, not ideology. People in Washington should be sympathetic to “following the money,” and when the money and guns are coming from the Saudis and Qataris, one should not be surprised to see public statements take on sectarian or theocratic tone.'

What's happening in Syria is an abomination

Stephen Hawking:

 'What does the light emitting from Earth today show? When people see our past, will we be proud of what they are shown – how we, as brothers, treat each other? How we allow our brothers to treat our children?'

Syrians routed by war find a safe haven in North Jersey

 

 'Alzouabi, 42, fled with his wife and eight children from Daraa, a hotbed of anti-government protest. In the first month of protests, Alzouabi said he saw a close friend shot to death at a demonstration. Another time, he said, he was beaten by the police who questioned him for using his cellphone at a checkpoint. Alzouabi said his sister’s house was burned to the ground. Soldiers destroyed houses and cars and searched houses during the 2011 siege of Daraa, when food and electricity were cut off to neighborhoods, he said.

 “Of course we were afraid, especially when there was shelling,” he said. “We’d run from one room to another, trying to predict where the shells would fall. Sometimes we’d run in the middle of the night to seek refuge in our neighbor’s basement.” '

 Seeking refuge from the government, not from a sectarian proxy civil war where we can't tell who the good guys are.

Lebanese border town faces influx of Syrians

 'Scores of Syrians fleeing fighting in the town of Yabroud have crossed the Lebanese border, and are heading for the town of Arsal.'

"They say they are being treated like animals, and nobody cares."

 And thus they don't see why people are sitting down and talking in Geneva when they are still having to flee. Quote actually from a reporter who may have been reporting live just now.

Waiting for death

 'Waiting for the barrel of TNT to be lobbed out of the back of an Assadist helicopter onto them in Aleppo,Syria.'