How War in Syria Turned These Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly Weapons Inventors

This was an interesting story son. Of how ordinary men become agents of war and destruction. We will keep on having wars. And for wars to keep in happening, we will keep on having moron leaders and useful idiots like these. 

Let me give you two examples. The uk has been embroiled in some wars somewhere pretty much constantly across the world for the past several hundred years. Yes. And you wonder why. What did we get out of it? Look at the USA. Constantly warring. Stupidity. As a way to achieve your aim of keeping your populace happy and wealthy, war is the most stupid way. So from a purely functional basis it's incompetence. 

Love

Baba

How War in Syria Turned These Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly Weapons Inventors | Threat Level | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/diy-arms-syria/

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Makers
of War

The arms manufacturers of Aleppo used to be ordinary men—network administrators, housepainters, professors. Then came the bloody Syrian crisis. Now they must use all their desperate creativity to supply their fellow rebels with the machinery of death.

By Matthieu Aikins

Photographs and audio interviews by
Moises Saman

Audio recording by
Sam Tarling and
Alexander Fedyushkin

In Aleppo, Syria, a rebel builds Molotov-cocktail-like incendiary bombs in an abandoned school.

Abu Yassin pulls open the heavy iron gate of the school and steps back. “Peace be upon you,” he says in Arabic, grinning and extending a hand, his arm stained to the elbow with aluminum powder. “Welcome, welcome.” He turns and waves for me to follow. We walk along a short pathway toward the front door, past an assortment of ordnance laid out on the concrete, bombs that fell from the sky but failed to explode: an ovoid 88-millimeter mortar shell, a big 500-pounder with twisted tail fins, a neat row of pale-gray Russian cluster bomblets, their nose fuses removed. “Later! I will open them later!” he says, eyebrows waggling with anticipation.

Religious Propaganda and Holy War in the 12th Century: The Friday Sermon following Saladin's Conquest of Jerusalem in 1187

The more I delve deeper into the medieval ages kids, the more I'm understanding how life was so interconnected in the first 500 years of the second millennium. It's one of the time periods that was dark but also was showing signs of change that would form the world of today. The winning back of Jerusalem by Saladin from the crusaders is one of those spectacular events. Remember geopolitics. The reason Muslims celebrated the recapture so hugely is because Jerusalem was sacred to them. And the Christian hordes were barbarians truly. The crusades were simply a series of massacres. Truly tragic set of affairs. But Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin and big celebrations. Some parts of the Muslim world don't like losing their territory. Witness the fulminations against Spain! Or India or Israel and Jerusalem. There's a constant whine of moans. But read the khutbah. It tells you what drove them and what they want. These sentiments are echoed down to today son. When Isis takes over secular Syrian places, they place their arguments on exactly these kinds of arguments. 

History is indeed a vast early warning system. Stuff that was done centuries back echo now. 

Love

Baba

Religious Propoaganda and Holy War in the 12th Century: The Friday Sermon following Saladin's Conquest of Jerusalem in 1187

https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/religious-propoaganda-and-holy-war-in-the-12th-century-the-friday-sermon-following-saladins-conquest-of-jerusalem-in-1187/

(via Instapaper)

The khutba or Friday sermon, delivered in the al-Aqsa mosque immediately following the conquest of Jerusalem by Salah al-Din Yusuf b. Ayyub (d. 1174-1193) in 1187, is preserved by Ibn Khallikan in his biography of Muḥyiddīn ibn al-Zakī. Ibn Khallikan (1211-1282) served as chief qāḍī of the Shāfi‛īs in Damascus. His greatest achievement is his biographical dictionary of some 800 famous Muslims entitled Wafayāt al-a‛yān wa-anbā’ abnā’ al-zamān (Obituaries of the Notables and News of the Sons of the Age), fully translated here: https://ia601406.us.archive.org/17/items/ibnkhallikansbi00slangoog/ibnkhallikansbi00slangoog.pdf

Translation

Abū al-Ma‛ālī Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥya ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‛Azīz ibn Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim ibn al Walīd ibn al-Qāsim ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Abban ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān [the third caliph], a member of the tribe of Quraysh and surnamed Muhyiddīn but generally known by the appellation of Ibn al-Zakī, or son of Zakī al-Dīn, was a native of Damascus and a jurist of the Shāfi‛ī school. He displayed acquirements of the most varied kinds, being versed in the law, general literature, and other sciences, and having composed some fine poetry, khutbas (sermons), and epistles. On Wednesday, the 20th of Rabī‛ al-Awwal 588 (5 April 1192) he was appointed Chief Judge of Damascus; so, at least, I have found it written in the handwriting of al-Qādī al-Fāḍil, and the same place had been previously filled by his father and grandfather, as it was subsequently by two of his own sons.

The British and their pen

Some maps which show the very long term implications of the British and their blasted pens.

The Durand Line

The Sykes Picot Treaty line.

The McMahon Line in East India. There are debates about loads of little pockets between India and Bangladesh.

Alawites in Syria and Alevis in Turkey: Crucial Differences

It's getting horribly dirty in Syria son. Very complicated. Syrian history, in some ways, is even more complicated than say Jerusalem and Israel. For a supposedly holy land, the land has been drenched with blood far too much. 

Anyway, one particular view on the two of many sects in Syria. 

Love

Baba

Alawites in Syria and Alevis in Turkey: Crucial Differences :: Center for Islamic Pluralism
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2084/alawites-in-syria-and-alevis-in-turkey-crucial

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by Stephen Schwartz
Gatestone Institute
August 17, 2012http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2084/alawites-in-syria-and-alevis-in-turkey-crucial

Prophet Muhammad names Imam Ali as his successor, according to Shia tradition, depicted in a 14th c. CE manuscript -- Image Via Wikimedia Commons.

Sectarian differences, threatening to ensnare Muslims outside Syria's borders, have emerged as a key aspect of the horrific bloodshed there. Since February 2011 the Syrian protestors, mainly following Sunni Islam, have mobilized against the Baathist government of Bashar Al-Assad, as a further chapter in the "Arab Spring." As of the end of July 2012, fatalities in the Syrian fighting are estimated at more than 20,000.

In Syria, Al-Assad's state, military, and irregular militias draw significantly on a small – and, to the world, mysterious – variant of Shia Islam known as Alawites. Of Syria's population of 22 million, at least two million are Alawites; it is common to see them credited with 12 percent of the country's inhabitants. They mostly reside in the Syrian province of Latakia, from the northwest border with Turkey along the Mediterranean coast, and in southern Syria. Alawites are also found in Lebanon, and among Syrians and Lebanese abroad.

In Turkey, northward beyond the uneasy Syrian-Turkish frontier, and concentrated in eastern Anatolia, another Shia sect, the Alevis, comprise, according to many estimates, a quarter of the Turkish census, or 20 million out of 80 million. They include, in addition, a million in the Turkish diaspora in Germany, and still more in the ranks of emigrants from Turkey to the Netherlands and other Western European lands.

It is easy to conflate the Alawites and Alevis. Superficially the Alawites and the Alevis may seem related closely or even identical, especially because of their corresponding names; moreover, about a half million Arab Alawites also live on the Turkish side of the border with Syria.

Stubborn as a Kurd

No wonder these people are so stubborn.

Here is an extract from the Economist. heh. fascinating. Did you know Saladin was Kurdish as well? I didn't. For those who might be interested, he defeated the crusaders and founded his own dynasty. Fascinating story and amusing as well. He was forgotten in Arab lands till the West resurrected him for its own ends, and then the Arabs took to him with gusto. As it so happens, the Eagle of Saladin has been adopted by Egypt, Yemen, Palestine and for some very strange reason UAE and Yemen (there is no connection, lol). But they are stubborn. But one day I have to go to Damascus…its on my list, far too many interesting connections there with history.

Bhopal and Aleppo

Connected via two babies in their graves. No caption needed.

 

You don't need any words, do you? Bashar, may you suffer countless terrors in hell, mate, and you will.

Shame about the Syrian Men

This was amusing.

The Syrian women are the most intelligent and respectable among the world's women," said the state-run Syrian news agency SANA, quoting American and British studies. SANA quoted Professor Katie Bradford, head of a research team at the American Michigan University, as attributing the Syrian women's superior intelligence to the "healthy food they consume, such as olive oil which nourishes the brains and walnuts which preserve blood circulation." According to SANA, Bradford said that "among the most important factors that increased the level of intelligence and awareness of Syrian women is their studies at Syrian universities; the social openness and gender equality in Syria." SANA also said that a study by the British Starch Center for international researches "concluded that Syrian women are the most respectable on world level."

lol. What happened to the Syrian Men? The Syrian Women presumably cook for the Syrian Men and just what are they feeding the men? And no, I am not being sexist, that’s what happens in Arabic households in Syria, if you think that Syrian men are emancipated men, then I have a bridge for sale.

Economic performance of the Arabic book translation industry in Arab countries

One of the quotes that caught my eye while reading the Arab Human Development Report back in 2003 was:

• Spain translates in one year the number of books that have been translated into Arabic in the past 1000 years and
• For every one million Arabs only one book is translated into Arabic each year

While the latter is difficult to compare and contrast, but then the first one is particularly poignant. The Arab world being what it is, getting them out of the rut of ignorance and misery is important. As before, education is a vital component in getting these people out of their current state and for what, they need books. And if the books haven't been translated into Arabic, then you have an issue. See here for a good step in fixing this issue.

Then I saw this paper (the abstract is at the bottom). Pretty good detailed research with some good recommendations. There are serious points to be raised here which the Abstract talks about so I am not going to belabour the point. I quote some important bits that the abstract missed out:

Next Page Foundation conducted the first readership survey in five Arab countries (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia) in 2005. The main conclusions of this survey can be summarised as follows:

• With the exception of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a share larger than expected of the literates in the other countries surveyed does not read.
• Among those who read the share of infrequent (up to 30 minutes per day) and low readers (31-60 minutes per day) makes up the majority.
• Reading is something children learn at school; there is almost no reading support by family members.
• Reading is stopped at ages 15-19; it is closely linked to leaving school or other institutions of education.
• Most who decrease or stop reading do not return to reading at all.
• School does not initiate reading for life but limits this to school only; deficits must be seen in school manuals and in the absence of young adult literature.
• Arabic is the preferred language of reading.
• More books in this language on topics of interest would make a considerable part of readers read more.
• There is a high religious-mindedness in terms of content and topics of reading.
• Interests professed for certain topics do not necessarily translate into the reading of such topics. (From Next Page Foundation Home Page: www.npage.org).

And these Arab Countries can be considered to be the top of the list of Arab countries. If this is the level at the top, then you can well imagine the situation lower down the list. But the authors missed out on the biggest factor (the religious establishment) and was very light on the second biggest factor (the government sector). The first bit relates to the second last aspect in the previous list. If most if not all what you read is religious pap, then knowledge generation will be challenging. After all, blind faith sits very uneasily with ever questioning knowledge generation. And the religious establishment is extremely tight in all these countries.

To let the common man be educated and questioning will directly hit them. Secondly, none of these countries are exactly free. Their method of control of their population is to keep them ignorant or in the bit of the somnolent daze. An example is their tight control over the media. If your media isn't free, how on earth do you expect your book publication and translation industry to be free and break its bounds? You cannot simultaneously have a free and open reading society while your political system, your educational and your religious establishment is under chains.

That said, the recommendations that the authors give can only do good. I quote:

The first such role is that of improving the quality and availability of the generalised inputs that publishing companies draw on, such as educated human resources (qualified translators and other specialized personal), physical and technological infrastructure (hardware and software for information communication technology) and capital.

Second, government should encourage upgrading and innovation with the aid of rules, regulations, and incentives. Through regulations, tax policies, the enforcement of IPR, antitrust laws, and many other measures, governments influence the climate in which publishing companies compete. That influence should be used to encourage investment, innovations, and other determinants of economic performance.

Third, government should leverage its investment in skills, research capabilities and infrastructure to facilitate the process by which all local clusters form and develop. Such investment feeds whole groups of firms and industries. Thinking in terms of clusters rather than industries also encourages publishing companies to work closely with suppliers and customers.

Fourth, and perhaps most subtly, government leaders should challenge local companies and people in their regions to raise their sights and strive for greater competitiveness. The ability of government to signal the future fosters economic upgrading.

Policies affecting production factor conditions:

• Improve the documentation of Arabic translation needs. This can be achieved by creating a regional Internet-based database that would constitute an information base on what has been translated, what is being translated, and what will be translated from foreign languages into Arabic.
• Design and implement translation support programs on a sustainable basis. This would create and maintain a critical mass of translators and publishing companies. The supply side of the translation industry would be strengthened.
• Invest in human resources by building a strong basic education system for all citizens, thus eradicating illiteracy; by setting high educational standards; by supporting institutions that develop specialised skills (such as specialised professional translators); and last, but not least, by creating incentives for company investment in training.
• Support science and technology by creating incentives for private research and development (for example, in the area of electronic publishing, e-commerce, machine translation software development, and so forth) and for promoting wide dissemination of basic scientific knowledge in areas that affect the development of the Arabic translation industry.
• Invest in physical infrastructure; the special needs of the Arabic translation industry should also be taken into consideration.
• Create some sort of accreditation body for translators to control for good quality and to lessen the costs of asymmetric information in the Arabic translation industry.

Policies affecting demand conditions:

• Support readership surveys. This would help to identify the real needs of the reading public, as well as to monitor whether reading promotion policies in general and translation support programs in particular have a measurable impact, especially on young people.
• Stimulate early demand for translated books in Arabic; for instance, for public schools, universities, and public administration.
• Act as a sophisticated buyer in purchasing (ask for high quality of translated books).
• Promote translation quality assessment programs. To enhance demand for translated books, programs for translation quality control are needed.

Policies affecting related and supporting industries:

• Facilitate cluster development along the lines of the value chain of the book industry.
• Promote training programs among professional of the Arabic translation industry in the fields of marketing and distribution.
• Improve distribution outlets.
• Promote the role of nongovernmental professional publishing and translation associations in disseminating knowledge and mobilising resources, thus creating positive externalities in the Arabic translation industry.

Policies affecting strategy, structure and rivalry:

• Promote local competition by deregulating the structure of industry and strictly enforcing antitrust policy and IPRs.
• Expand interregional and international trade and investment by opening book markets, promoting exports, and attracting appropriate foreign investment in those markets.

My only objection is, these recommendations are effectively asking for a complete rejig of how their societies work. If one doesnt do that, then it would be like providing a pan of makeup to a person suffering skin cancer.

Knowledge has always been at the heart of economic growth and development. It is disseminated chiefly through the different stages of education, R&D, the mass media and the translation industry. In Arab countries there has been a widespread impression that there is a low level of translation activities, which in turn has led to a low output of the translation industry in those countries. This paper addresses this issue; its overall objectives are: (1) to describe the economic performance of the Arabic book translation industry in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Syria; (2) to understand empirically the economic performance of that industry, the focus here being on qualitatively analysing the major determinants (positive and negative factors) affecting the growth process of that industry; and (3) to provide policy makers and business leaders in the Arab region with theoretically sound and evidence-based advice on the issues analysed in the project.
To provide an empirical base for answering those questions, both published data and fresh new data have been used. For the latter purpose, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in the year 2005 among 190 experts, covering firm representatives and experts in industry and government. The Porter (Diamond) model has been used as a theoretical background. The empirical results were incorporated in five national case studies. This paper synthesises the results of the national reports, giving a comparative account of the performance of the Arabic book translation industry in the five Arab countries.
The overall results suggest that the Arabic book translation industry in these Arab countries has not yet achieved the level of development of other developing and developed countries. Underperformance of the Arabic book translation industry is attributable to (among other factors) severe coordination failures. This is a state of affairs in which the inability of the different agents (translators, book publishers, suppliers, customers, and supporting organisations, state, and so forth) to coordinate their behaviour (choices) leads to suboptimal outcomes. Since the economic performance of the translation industry often involves complementary investments whose return depends on other investments being made by other agents, coordination is crucial. Obviously, neither market forces nor the state have undertaken this coordination activity sufficiently. The Arabic book translation industry seems to suffer from both market failure and government failure.
In light of these results the Arabic book translation industry offers great economic potential that should be mobilised systematically in the future. This paper discusses how this can be achieved, based on a well-designed and implemented process of upgrading and innovation in companies, industries, and clusters related to translation activities. Public policy, properly understood and adequately implemented, can play an important role in this process.

Keywords: Economics of translation; Arabic translation; Arab World; translation industry; Morocco; Egypt; Saudi Arabia; Lebanon; Syria

They have finally found WMD in Syria and Iran is to blame!!!!

See? see? the neo-cons were right, those Syrians and Iranians are up to no good and there is now incontrovertible evidence that they have actually used chemical weapons against soldiers of a NATO country. This is all because the Iranians were imperialistic powers waging war against the poor old defenceless NATO soldiers. Heinous crimes.

Here’s the story: I quote:

Archaeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare yet after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers' found underground in Syria 70 years ago. Clues left at the scene revealed the Persians were lying in wait as the Romans dug a tunnel during a siege – then pumped in toxic gas – produced by sulphur crystals and bitumen – to kill all the Romans in minutes.

….

They had been part of a large Roman garrison defending the empire outpost city of Dura-Europos, on the Euphrates river in modern day Syria, against a ferocious siege by an army from the powerful new Sassanian Persian empire in around AD 256."

I think we need some demonstrations on the streets protesting against the use of chemical weapons against poor old innocent Romans who were simply undertaking resistance against the dastardly imperialistic Persians. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Iran,Syria,Italy,History,War

Quote of the Day:
An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
--Elbert Green Hubbard

Quote of the day:
Many would be cowards if they had courage enough. - Thomas Fuller

Sometimes I do think the death penalty is justified

Sometimes when I read stories like this, I do think that the death penalty is justified. What kind of an animal is this man? How can a man do something like this to his 15 MONTH old nephew?

Technorati Tags: Crime

Facebook Banned in Syria

Very amusing.

Ammar al-Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights, said little independent political content published by Syrians on the Internet is now tolerated.

"We have asked officials and they said Facebook could become a conduit for Israeli penetration of our youth, but the real reason for blocking the forum because it provides for criticism of the authorities," Qurabi said. 

lol@Israeli penetration! The Zionists are heavy into Facebook and are sending hot bricks and electronic kisses to Syrian Youth!, lol.

Technorati Tags: Syria , Internet , Israel

Q: where is Saudi Arabia on the list of countries taking in Iraqi Refugees?

I was looking at the list of countries who have provided refugees status to the Iraqi Refugees. Just a random thought, why are they not heading into Saudi Arabia? Why Syria and Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and other Sunni States? Is it because of the wall? But it is not operational yet! Very curious. Anybody know?

Technorati Tags: Saudi Arabia , Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Egypt , Refugee