The Syrian opposition: who's doing the talking?

Charlie Skelton
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 July 2012 15.48 BST



The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, speaks on the phone in his home in Coventry on December 6, 2011. Photograph: Reuters

A nightmare is unfolding across Syria, in the homes of al-Heffa and the streets of Houla. And we all know how the story ends: with thousands of soldiers and civilians killed, towns and families destroyed, and President Assad beaten to death in a ditch.

This is the story of the Syrian war, but there is another story to be told. A tale less bloody, but nevertheless important. This is a story about the storytellers: the spokespeople, the "experts on Syria", the "democracy activists". The statement makers. The people who "urge" and "warn" and "call for action".

It's a tale about some of the most quoted members of the Syrian opposition and their connection to the Anglo-American opposition creation business. The mainstream news media have, in the main, been remarkably passive when it comes to Syrian sources: billing them simply as "official spokesmen" or "pro-democracy campaigners" without, for the most part, scrutinising their statements, their backgrounds or their political connections.

It's important to stress: to investigate the background of a Syrian spokesperson is not to doubt the sincerity of his or her opposition to Assad. But a passionate hatred of the Assad regime is no guarantee of independence. Indeed, a number of key figures in the Syrian opposition movement are long-term exiles who were receiving US government funding to undermine the Assad government long before the Arab spring broke out.

Though it is not yet stated US government policy to oust Assad by force, these spokespeople are vocal advocates of foreign military intervention in Syria and thus natural allies of well-known US neoconservatives who supported Bush's invasion of Iraq and are now pressuring the Obama administration to intervene. As we will see, several of these spokespeople have found support, and in some cases developed long and lucrative relationships with advocates of military intervention on both sides of the Atlantic.

"The sand is running out of the hour glass," said Hillary Clinton on Sunday. So, as the fighting in Syria intensifies, and Russian warships set sail for Tartus, it's high time to take a closer look at those who are speaking out on behalf of the Syrian people.

The Syrian National Council

The most quoted of the opposition spokespeople are the official representatives of the Syrian National Council. The SNC is not the only Syrian opposition group – but it is generally recognised as "the main opposition coalition" (BBC). The Washington Times describes it as "an umbrella group of rival factions based outside Syria". Certainly the SNC is the opposition group that's had the closest dealings with western powers – and has called for foreign intervention from the early stages of the uprising. In February of this year, at the opening of the Friends of Syria summit in Tunisia, William Hague declared: "I will meet leaders of the Syrian National Council in a few minutes' time … We, in common with other nations, will now treat them and recognise them as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people."

The most senior of the SNC's official spokespeople is the Paris-based Syrian academic Bassma Kodmani.

Bassma Kodmani



Bassma Kodmani of the Syrian National Council. Photograph: Carter Osmar

Here is Bassma Kodmani, seen leaving this year's Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Virginia.

Kodmani is a member of the executive bureau and head of foreign affairs, Syrian National Council. Kodmani is close to the centre of the SNC power structure, and one of the council's most vocal spokespeople. "No dialogue with the ruling regime is possible. We can only discuss how to move on to a different political system," she declared this week. And here she is, quoted by the newswire AFP: "The next step needs to be a resolution under Chapter VII, which allows for the use of all legitimate means, coercive means, embargo on arms, as well as the use of force to oblige the regime to comply."

This statement translates into the headline "Syrians call for armed peacekeepers" (Australia's Herald Sun). When large-scale international military action is being called for, it seems only reasonable to ask: who exactly is calling for it? We can say, simply, "an official SNC spokesperson," or we can look a little closer.

This year was Kodmani's second Bilderberg. At the 2008 conference, Kodmani was listed as French; by 2012, her Frenchness had fallen away and she was listed simply as "international" – her homeland had become the world of international relations.

Back a few years, in 2005, Kodmani was working for the Ford Foundation in Cairo, where she was director of their governance and international co-operation programme. The Ford Foundation is a vast organisation, headquartered in New York, and Kodmani was already fairly senior. But she was about to jump up a league.

Around this time, in February 2005, US-Syrian relations collapsed, and President Bush recalled his ambassador from Damascus. A lot of opposition projects date from this period. "The US money for Syrian opposition figures began flowing under President George W Bush after he effectively froze political ties with Damascus in 2005," says the Washington Post.

In September 2005, Kodmani was made the executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) – a research programme initiated by the powerful US lobby group, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The CFR is an elite US foreign policy thinktank, and the Arab Reform Initiative is described on its website as a "CFR Project" . More specifically, the ARI was initiated by a group within the CFR called the "US/Middle East Project" – a body of senior diplomats, intelligence officers and financiers, the stated aim of which is to undertake regional "policy analysis" in order "to prevent conflict and promote stability". The US/Middle East Project pursues these goals under the guidance of an international board chaired by General (Ret.) Brent Scowcroft.

Brent Scowcroft (chairman emeritus) is a former national security adviser to the US president – he took over the role from Henry Kissinger. Sitting alongside Scowcroft of the international board is his fellow geo-strategist, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who succeeded him as the national security adviser, and Peter Sutherland, the chairman of Goldman Sachs International. So, as early as 2005, we've got a senior wing of the western intelligence/banking establishment selecting Kodmani to run a Middle East research project. In September of that year, Kodmani was made full-time director of the programme. Earlier in 2005, the CFR assigned "financial oversight" of the project to the Centre for European Reform (CER). In come the British.

The CER is overseen by Lord Kerr, the deputy chairman of Royal Dutch Shell. Kerr is a former head of the diplomatic service and is a senior adviser at Chatham House (a thinktank showcasing the best brains of the British diplomatic establishment).

In charge of the CER on a day-to-day basis is Charles Grant, former defence editor of the Economist, and these days a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a "pan-European thinktank" packed with diplomats, industrialists, professors and prime ministers. On its list of members you'll find the name: "Bassma Kodmani (France/Syria) – Executive Director, Arab Reform Initiative".

Another name on the list: George Soros – the financier whose non-profit "Open Society Foundations" is a primary funding source of the ECFR. At this level, the worlds of banking, diplomacy, industry, intelligence and the various policy institutes and foundations all mesh together, and there, in the middle of it all, is Kodmani.

The point is, Kodmani is not some random "pro-democracy activist" who happens to have found herself in front of a microphone. She has impeccable international diplomacy credentials: she holds the position of research director at the Académie Diplomatique Internationale – "an independent and neutral institution dedicated to promoting modern diplomacy". The Académie is headed by Jean-Claude Cousseran, a former head of the DGSE – the French foreign intelligence service.

A picture is emerging of Kodmani as a trusted lieutenant of the Anglo-American democracy-promotion industry. Her "province of origin" (according to the SNC website) is Damascus, but she has close and long-standing professional relationships with precisely those powers she's calling upon to intervene in Syria.

And many of her spokesmen colleagues are equally well-connected.

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Garry Kasparov: Bilderberg Hopes to Checkmate Russia

Chessmaster plays pawn to Western policy’s design on Putin’s Russia
Aaron Dykes
Infowars.com
June 1, 2012


With the “official” publication of the 2012 Bilderberg attendees, meeting secretly now in Chantilly, Virginia, perhaps the most notable attendee, apart from the regulars, is Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, widely considered to be the all time greatest chess player, later defeated by IBM’s Deep Blue.
Since retiring from chess in 2005, Kasparov has become perhaps the most vocal opponent of once-again President Vladimir Putin, as the founder of the United Civil Front and the best known leader of “The Other Russia,” a Putin-opposition coalition. Kasparov aspired to run for president in 2008, but failed to qualify. He has led numerous protests and been repeatedly arrested in his bid to oppose Putin.

In the real world, Kasparov is a clear de facto puppet of Western opposition to Putin. Back in 1991, he was awarded the “Keeper of the Flame” by the Century for Security Policy (an organization founded by Frank Gaffney Jr. of the Project for a New American Century), typically reserved for American neocon defense policy wonks, including Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Gingrich and Caspar Weinberger. Kasparov is allegedly still connected with the organization. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a fellow winner of the “Keeper of the Flame” award, dangerously attempted to provoke Russia into wider war during the South Ossetia conflict of 8/8/2008, according to reports.

Following Kasparov’s arrest after protesting back in 2007, Vladimir Putin, the target of the protest, wittingly observed in an interview with TIME magazine, “Why did Mr. Kasparov, when arrested, speak out in English rather than Russian? When a politician works the crowd of other nations rather than the Russian nation, it tells you something.” Clearly, Kasparov spoke English for the same reason he toured American media outlets in the name of his cause– because he is quietly backed by little else than U.S. policy interests. His backing from within the Russian population is minimal.

Kasparov is meeting now with the elusive and notorious Bilderbergers under the guise of discussing “the Future of Democracy, Russia, China and the Middle East,” according to the group’s official website. Clearly, any winning strategy to defuse Putin’s power and destabilize him is desired. The implications for inflaming tensions with Russia are clear– and stark.

Recent opposition to Putin’s 2012 re-election, including loud cries of voter fraud, were stoked by the West, while the U.S. was essentially caught meddling in the elections. Shortly afterwards, Russian opposition leaders were seen meeting with the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia, again demonstrating the close links between the opposition and American interests.



Among them was one Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister in Russia, closely linked with Garry Kasparov in their mutual effort to oppose Putin, and widely criticized for his role as a Western puppet. Here is historian and economist Webster Tarpley, who has gone a long way to expose phony color revolutions covertly backed by the U.S. & co. across the world.:

IMF Shock Therapist Boris Nemtsov as Wheelhorse of Feeble “Stop Putin in 2012″ Bid




While there is much to criticize about the reign of Vladimir Putin, sitting blind to soft-coups by the U.S. to destabilize him serves no one’s interests. In fact, the risk of wider war, or a return to Cold War tensions at any level is dangerous and potentially very deadly.

However, for geopolitical strategists like the notorious Zbigniew Brzezinski, and the Western-driven globalist cabal he serves, (i.e. the big powers at Bilderberg), Russia has always been the endgame for American foreign policy, long moving towards “encircling” the great bear in a ‘strategy of tension’ and attempting to dominate them on the grand chessboard– a terrain that Garry Kasparov knows all too well…

While precise information on Kasparov’s discussions at Bilderberg will not emerge until, at best, after the meeting has concluded, the general theme is clear: Checkmate Putin, please.

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Agenda 21 To Be Discussed at Bilderberg Confab

Global warming alarmist Redford to attend elite conference
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2012



The attendance of Alberta Premier and global warming alarmist Alison Redford at this year’s Bilderberg conference, during which she will discuss “ecological challenges,” confirms that Agenda 21 and the bid to re-brand the stuttering climate change power grab will be core issues at the elitist confab set to take begin tomorrow.

“According to a government news release, Redford will meet with a number of individuals to discuss topics like monetary policy, ecological challenges and responsible development of natural resources,” reports CBC News.
Redford’s attendance at the clandestine meeting of global power brokers is costing Canadian taxpayers $19,000 dollars.

Her appearance represents yet another example of how Bilderberg is not merely a talking shop but an active consensus-making forum for people in positions of power. Redford will be scheming with power brokers from foreign countries in complete secrecy and with total disregard for her democratic obligations to the Canadian people.

Redford is an aggressive advocate of the man-made explanation behind climate change. During an election debate earlier this year, she attacked Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith as a national embarrassment simply because Smith dared to suggest that the science on global warming was not settled.


Redford’s advocacy for more controls on carbon emissions is directly in line with the Obama administration’s war against America’s coal industry and the wider Bilderberg agenda for a “post-industrial revolution,” where energy use will be severely restricted in the name of saving the earth, leading to plummeting living standards.

The United Nations’ Agenda 21 project demands that member nations adopt “sustainable development” policies that are little more than a disguise for the reintroduction of neo-feudalism and only serve to reduce living standards and quality of life.


The true motivation behind this agenda was recently unveiled at the ‘Planet Under Pressure’ conference in London, during which climate change alarmists presented their blueprint for humans to be packed into denser cities so that the rest of the planet can be surrendered to mother nature. This process is already well underway in California where laws passed to mitigate car use and carbon dioxide emissions have led to policies that mandate up to 30 homes be built on a single acre of land.
It’s a similar idea to the nightmare ‘Planned-Opolis’ proposal put out by the Forum for the Future organization last year, in which human activity will be tightly regulated by a dictatorial technocracy in the name of saving the planet, with cars for personal use banned and only accessible to members of the elite.

The mindset of this gaggle of arrogant, scoffing elitists in their drive to micro-manage the human race, which they regard as a plague on the earth, was best encapsulated by the following quote from ‘Planet Under Pressure’ attendee and Yale University professor Karen Seto.

“We certainly don’t want them (humans) strolling about the entire countryside. We want them to save land for nature by living closely [together],” Seto told MSNBC.

Bilderberg elitists like Redford will no doubt be sharing similar rhetoric at this week’s confab, which kicks off on Thursday at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles hotel in Chantilly, Virginia.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Secretive Bilderberg Group Set To Meet In Virginia May 31st-June 3rd

Globalist clique set to play role in U.S. presidential election Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Speculation that the location of the Bilderberg Group’s annual meeting would be chosen to coincide with this year’s U.S. presidential election appears to have been accurate with the likelihood that Bilderberg will hold their confab in Chantilly, Virginia from May 31st to June 3rd.

As we reported yesterday, rumors that Haifa, Israel would be the location of the conference appear to have been misguided. The Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles hotel, site of the Bilderberg meeting in 2002 and 2008, is fully booked from Thursday May 31st up to and including June 3rd, but has rooms available either side of those dates, suggesting almost certainly that it will be home turf for Bilderberg’s crucial 2012 get-together.

“The odds were pretty high that in election year the not-so-public face of the Bormann continuity NATO P2 – otherwise know as the Bilderberg conference – would take place in the US,” points out Bilderberg.org’s Tony Gosling. Bilderberg sleuth Gosling notes that the choice of location will virtually guarantee that people flying into the United States to cover the conference will be met with “what have now become the ‘normal’ US pre-WW3 fascist ‘customs’ checks.” Indeed, after last year’s scenes in St. Moritz Switzerland, where Bilderberg members were directly confronted by protesters after a bizarre decision to take a ‘nature walk’ down the mountainside to their hotel, expect security around this year’s conference to be noticeably tighter.

Although the Westfields Marriott is very likely to play host to this year’s Bilderberg meeting, the group has been known in the past to book numerous hotels as a decoy to throw reporters off the scent. Bilderberg’s decision to hold the conference in the United States is directly connected with the key role the secretive clique of industrialists, bankers, academic leaders and media figureheads will play in influencing the 2012 presidential election.

As we reported earlier this month, Bilderberg are set to select Mitt Romney’s running mate, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio the prime candidate to take the VP slot. Bilderberg displayed their kingmaker status during the last two U.S. presidential elections when they selected Barack Obama’s running mate Joe Biden in 2008, as well as picking John Edwards to be John Kerry’s VP in 2004. Rubio has primed himself as a well-groomed internationalist candidate, following the likes of Hillary Clinton around to international summits including last weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Colombia.

The potential for Obama himself to make an appearance at this year’s event is also a distinct possibility given what happened four years ago, when Obama and Clinton evaded the press and reportedly met with Bilderberg in Virginia behind closed doors. A year later at the 2009 Bilderberg meeting in Greece, Obama officials delivered private briefings to Bilderberg elitists, reported Politico’s Ken Vogel. Although no final decision has been made, it’s almost certain that Alex Jones will be in attendance to protest the meeting just as he was at the same location in 2008. Meanwhile, veteran Bilderberg tracker Jim Tucker of the American Free Press won’t have far to travel – given the amount of air miles Tucker has racked up over the decades covering Bilderberg this year’s confab is virtually in his backyard.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News. text here