Tuesday, September 19, 2017
حقيقة الغربيين "اصدقاء سوريا": هل يفيد الحج والناس راجعه؟
دعوني اذكر بداية ان الازمة السورية ابتدأت في منتصف شهر اذار/مارس 2011. نعم في بداية عام 2011. وتذكروا هذا التاريخ جيدا بعد ان ابدأ بسرد حقيقة المشبوهين الغربيين الذين ظهروا في نهاية عام 2015. وخلال عامين اعلنوا انهم انقذوا سوريا من الهزيمة والتقسيم.
كما يجب ان اذكر ايضا ان المؤامرة على سوريا كانت تعتمد بالدرجة الاولى على نظرية "البلتزكريج", اي مفاجئة الخصم (الدولة السورية) بهجوم ساحق على عدة مستويات تؤدي الى شلل مؤسسات الدولة وانهيارها السريع. تماما كما حدث في تونس ومصر في بداية ما سمي بالربيع العربي. وبالتالي فان الدولة السورية كانت محتاجة للتضامن والمساعدة في الاشهر والسنوات الاولى للازمة.
ان الحرب الاعلامية كانت على اشدها منذ ما قبل اندلاع الازمة وكان المطلوب من اصدقاء سوريا الحقيقيين التحرك بسرعه لفضح المؤامرة في بداية عام 2011. لذلك وعندما قام الناشطون من اصدقاء سوريا الحقيقيين بتنظيم حملات الدفاع عن سوريا, تعرضوا الى ما تعرضوا له من اعتداءات وتهديدات.
هذه المقدمة كانت مهمه لتسليط الضوء على حقيقة ان سوريا واجهت اكثر الاوقات صعوبة في العامين الاولين للازمة. فالمتامرون سخروا مليارات الدولارات ومئات الاف الارهابيين ومئات وسائل الاعلام لتمرير اكاذيب ان ما كان يحدث في سوريا هو ثورة سلمية في مواجهة نظام دكتاتوري قاتل لشعبه. كمقدمة لتسهيل تفسخ الدولة السورية (كما حدث في تونس ومصر واليمن) او كمقدمة لتدخل غربي عسكري كما حدث في ليبيا.
كما انه من النافل للقول ان الدول المتامرة قد وضعت خطة الف وخطة باء وخطة جيم, للتعامل مع اي فشل لاي من الخطط الاولية. وهذا ما حصل.
وهذا يفسر كيف فجأة وبدون انذار ظهرت مجموعات "ناشطين" من شخصيات لم يسبق لها ان عملت في الشأن السوري او اطلعت على طبيعة المجتمع السوري. هذا الظهور المتاخر في منتصف عام 2014 يرسم الف سؤال وسؤال, من مثل:
- لماذا هذا التاخر المريب في الظهور على المسرح السوري, بعد ان فشلت المؤامرة في احداث انهيار شامل للدولة؟
- كيف من لم يزر سوريا ابدا في حياته اصبح خبيرا في الشأن السوري وضليعا بخفايا المجتمع السوري؟
- لماذا عادى هؤلاء الناشطون المتاخرون كل مجموعات الدعم الحقيقية التي ظهرت منذ اليوم الاول للازمة؟
- من اين حصلت هذه المجاميع المتاخرة على كل الدعم الذي مكنها من تصدر المشهد وتنظيم شبكات الدعم والتحرك بحرية بين الدول ونقل اموال طائلة الى داخل سوريا بعيدا عن اعين الدولة السورية؟
- السؤال الاهم هو ماذا استفادت سوريا من كل هذه المجاميع التي ظهرت على مسرح الاحداث بعد ان اجتازت الدولة السورية مرحلة الخطر وبدأت باستعادة زمام الامور والهجوم المعاكس وتحرير ما تم احتلاله من المجاميع الارهابية المتوحشة؟
فظهور فانيسا بيلي وايفا بارتليت وجميع افراد خليتها المتاخر المتزامن مع بدء معركة تحرير حلب, جاء متاخرا كثيرا ولم يحقق اي فائدة تذكر للدولة السورية والشعب السوري. فالدولة السورية كانت بحاجة لهذا الظهور عندما احتلت المجاميع الارهابية مناطق واسعة من حلب وليس عندما اندحرت منها. وفي عام 2015 عند ظهور هذه الخلايا المنظمة المشبوهة في سوريا, كانت الدولة السورية قد حررت الكثير من المناطق الاستراتيجية (القصير والقلمون الشرقي ومناطق واسعه من الغوطة ووو). كما ان الحليف الروسي بدأ تدخلا عسكريا حاسما لتدمير الارهاب واعلن انه لن يسمح بتدمير سوريا. وبالتالي وفي لحظة ظهور هذه الخلايا المشبوهة, كانت الكفة راجحة للدولة السورية ونهاية الازمة اصبحت قاب قوسين او ادنى. وظهور هذه الخلايا المشبوهة لم يحقق شيئا ملموسا, سوى اخذ الصور مع المسؤولين السوريين والادعاء الكاذب بانقاذ سوريا من التقسيم.
كان يمكن لهذه الشخصيات لو كانت صادقة ان تلعب دورا في اغاثة الشعب السوري بمساعدة بعض ضحايا الارهاب النازحين من بيوتهم او العائدين الى بيوت دمرها الارهاب. ولكن هؤلاء سلكوا طريقا اخر شائن بتهريب مئات الاف الدولارات بعيدا عن اعين السلطات السورية. ويحق لنا ان نسأل الان: لمن هربت (بضم الهاء) هذه الاموال ولاي هدف؟
كما تزامن هذا الظهور المتاخر مع بدء اعتراف الدول المشاركة بالمؤامرة ان هناك ارهابا في سوريا, وان هذا الارهاب قد ينتشر الى كل العالم. هذا الاعتراف الذي يعتبر في نظر الكثيرين اعترافا بهزيمة المؤامرة ومشروع تدمير الدولة السورية كمقدمة لتقسيمها وتقسيم المنطقة. وبرايي وراي الكثيرين فان هذا الظهور المتاخر في هذه اللحظة هو الخطة "ب" للدول المتامرة على سوريا لتحقق ولو جزء من المؤامرة.
الدول المتامرة وعلى راسها الولايات المتحدة ادركت تماما ان الفرصة الذهبية لاختراق سوريا على اكثر من مستوى قد لا يتكرر بعد انتهاء الازمة وعودة الدولة للسيطرة على كامل اراضيها ومقدراتها. ولذلك فقد كان من المهم لاجهزة الاستخبارات الغربية ان تقوم بزرع خلايا تجسسية واختراق المجتمع السوري متسللة تحت مسميات "التضامن مع سوريا" و "الدفاع عن سوريا" و "كشف حقيقة المؤامرة على سوريا" بعد ان ادركت هذه الدول ان المؤامرة لن تحقق تدمير الدولة السورية. وهذا يفسر سر مئات الاف الدولارات المهربة الى سورية لشراء ذمم سوريين معدمين او تجار حروب او عملاء ينتظرون شراء ذممهم. والمعلومات الموثقة التي قدمناها للسلطات السورية عمن هرب الاموال ولمن دفعت ولماذا دفعت, بالوثائق والمستندات وشهادة شهود العيان كافية لكشف الكثير من الخلايا النائمة التي تم تجنيدها ومن جندها.
وهنا يحق لنا ولكل محبي سوريا ان نسأل كيف اصبحت فانيسا بيلي وايفا بارتليت وجانيس كورتكامب خبراء في الشان السوري حتى قبل ان تطأ ارجلهم ارض سوريا. بل اننا نؤكد ان معظم هؤلاء وبسبب جهلهم وقلة ثقافتهم ما زالوا يجهلون الف باء السياسة السورية وطبيعه البلد, برغم زيارتهم لسوريا مرارا ولمدد طويلة. ومعظمهم ما زال يردد كالببغاوات كليشيهات عامة (يبدو انهم تعلموها على يد نفس المدرب) الغاية منها ان يحصلوا على اعجاب وتقدير الدولة السورية ومحبيها ومؤيدي سياستها. ان كل هذه الاسماء لم تقدم اي رواية مقنعه ومحترفة قد تلفت انتباه اي وسيلة اعلام عامة محترمة او مركز ابحاث محترم. ولهذا فان جل ما قدمه هذا الفريق هو تكرار ممجوج لشعارات العامة من مؤيدي الدولة لم يقدم او يؤخر في كسب الرأي العام العالمي وكشف حقيقة المؤامرة على سورية. والواضح ان كل ما كانوا يسعون اليه هو شهرة بين مؤيدي الدولة السورية تستخدم لاحقا كمنصة للانقضاض على الدولة في اللحظة المناسبة, تماما كما فعلت قناة الجزيرة القطرية بعد ان كسبت شعبية عارمة بعد تسويق مقولة "الحيادية" و "الراي والرأي الاخر" و "الشفافية المطلقة في الاحتراف المهني".
ثم ياتي التساؤل الاكبر عن سبب معاداة هؤلاء ومنذ ظهورهم لكل اصدقاء سوريا الحقيقيين الفعالين ومنذ بداية الازمة. فلماذا عادى هؤلاء المشبوهين العائلة قاضي والتي كان لها فضلا كبيرا ومنذ بداية الازمة في كشف حقيقة المؤامرة ووضعها في سياقها التاريخي لتدرج تامر الدول الغربية على محور المقاومة. فبدلا من التعاون لتوحيد جهود فضح المؤامرة, شن هؤلاء المشبوهون حملة بلا هوادة ضد العائلة متهمين اياها مرة بالعمالة للموساد ومرة بالوهابية. وقد اخبرت شخصيا من قبل احد هؤلاء بان العائلة وهابية متطرفة. ولم يخبرني هذا الجهبذ كيف يمكن لوهابية ان لا ترتدي النقاب او الحجاب على اقل تقدير. وكيف يمكن لوهابي ان يمدح الزعيم جمال عبد الناصر.
ثم شن هؤلاء المشبوهون هجوما حادا على كل اصدقاء سوريا الحقيقيين من ابنائها او مؤيديها بدءا بهجوم عفن على نعسان ترك وزاك الصواف وكيلي المقدسي وانتهاء بحضرة جنابي.
منذ منتصف 2015 ونحن نتعرض لهجوم تلو الاخر من مجموعه المشبوهين. وبدلا من معاونتنا بجمع تبرعات لسوريا (اوصلنا حتى الان عشرات الاف الدولارات وتبرعات عينية من ملابس وعكاكيز وحرامات..), قامت مجموعه المشبوهين بحملات تشويه داعين اصدقاء سوريا لعدم المشاركة في هذه الحملات. ولم نكن لنابه كثيرا لو قاموا هم بحملات جمع تبرعات. بل لكنا دعمناهم والغينا حملاتنا المتكررة.
اذا فالاجندات واضحه لمجموعه المشبوهين: تدمير شبكات الدفاع الحقيقية عن سوريا, وبالتالي حرمان سوريا من الاستفادة من خدمات الصادقين من محبيها. في مقابل تقديم انفسهم كمدافعين عن سوريا وكسب تاييد وتعاطف الدولة والشعب السوري لتسهيل مهمة اختراق المجتمع السوري وتجنيد عملاء ومخبرين لاجهزة الاستخبارات الغربية المعادية.
اجهزة الاستخبارات الغربية المعادية اعتمدت في نجاح مخططاتها بارسال هؤلاء المشبوهين لاقامة شبكات تجسس وخلايا نائمةعلى عدة امور:
- ضعف الدولة السورية وانشغال الاجهزة الامنية بمحاربة مئات الاف الارهابيين في سوريا, مما سهل تسرب مجموعه كبيرة من المشبوهين الى سوريا.
- ضعف الاقتصاد السوري وبالتالي ترحيب السلطات السورية باي دعم مادي قد يقدمه هؤلاء "الناشطين" ولو كانوا متاخرين كثيرا على قاعده "ان تاتي متاخرا خير من ان لا تاتي مطلقا".
- القاعدة العربية الثابته "الافرنجي برنجي", اي انبهار الشعوب العربية (والسلطات العربية) باي شيئ غربي دون التدقيق اللازم.
والسؤال الاهم الذي يبرهن بما لا يدع مجالا للشك على اجندات هؤلاء المشبوهة هو: من اين اتى هؤلاء الناشطون الفقراء الذين لم يعملوا في اي وظيفة خلال عقد من الزمان بكل الاموال التي تمكنهم من السفر المتكرر بين دولهم وسوريا والاقامة في سوريا لاشهر وفي فنادق خمس نجوم وانشائهم مواقع اخبارية واذاعات رقمية؟
فانا وبعد كل زيارة الى سوريا, احتاج الى اشهر لاسدد الديون المتراكمة علي بسبب هذه الزيارة. وكل من يعمل معنا في الشبكة معدمون فقراء لانشغالهم بالشان العام واهمالهم للامور المادية. كل ذلك دون ان نسافر عدة مرات بين كندا والولايات المتحدة وبريطانيا وسوريا ولبنان والمكسيك والاقامه اشهر في كل دولة وفي فنادق خمس نجوم. ناهيك عن ادخال مئات الاف الدولارات وتوزيعها سرا على عملاء مجندين.
ثم ياتي السؤال الاخير وهو: ماذا استفادت سوريا فعليا من ظهور هؤلاء المتاخر على الساحة السورية؟
الجواب البسيط: لا شيء. فسوريا عام 2015 كانت قد تجاوزت الخطر باسقاط الدولة وتقسيمها. والمؤامرة كانت قد بدأت خيوطها تظهر للجميع واضطرت حكومات الدول المتامرة للاعتراف بوجود الارهاب في سوريا. والحليف الروسي كان قد بدا هجوما عسكريا واسعا لتدمير اوكار الارهاب وتمكين الدولة السورية من استعادة الاراضي التي فقدتها. وقصص الثورة السلمية باتت ممجوجة لا يصدقها احد. فما فائدة ما قام به هؤلاء المشبوهون؟
حتى ادعاءات ان هؤلاء المشبوهين ساعدوا في كشف حقيقة ما يحدث هو ادعاء كاذب. فبدون التعاون مع وسائل الاعلام العامة, تكون روايات هؤلاء وشهاداتهم المؤيدة للدولة السورية بلا فائدة. فعندما تنشر ايفا بارتليت مقالا على احدى المواقع الوهمية التي تديرها هي او رفيقتها بالتجسس فانيسا بيلي, فان عدد القراء لن يتجاوز الف او الفين. ومعظمهم من اصدقاء سوريا المطلعين على الوضع والمصدقين للرواية الرسمية السورية. حتى ظهور لمرة او مرتين على شاشات تلفزيونات فضائية مؤيدة للدولة السورية كالفضائية الروسية او الايرانية, فهو ايضا محدود الاهمية باعتبار ان الراي العالمي الغربي لا يتابع فضائيات وخصوصا فضائيات معادية كما يصورها النظام الغربي.
دون اشراك وسائل اعلام عامة محلية كل في بلده (بريطانيا, كندا, امريكا, استراليا...) فالتاثير على الراي العام الغربي محدود جدا ويكاد يكون معدوما. وكل هؤلاء المشبوهين لم يكن لهم اي تواجد في وسائل الاعلام العامة الغربية.
كما ان ادعاء هؤلاء المشبوهين انهم انقذوا سوريا من الهلاك هو احتقار لتضحيات الشعب السوري والجيش العربي السوري والقيادة في سوريا. كما ان هذا الادعاء الوقح هو احتقار لعلي العلي الذي تلقى رصاصات الحقد الوهابي بسبب نشاطه لدعم سوريا في قلب مدينة سيدني. وهو احتقار لتضحيات علي ديوب وعلي العيساوي والحريري وغيرهم ممن فقد محل رزقه او تعرض لهجوم غادر بسبب مواقفه من الازمة. كما انه ادعاء وقح يبصق عليه طفلي خالد الذي اضطر ليعيش في رعب تام لاكثر من 5 سنوات بسبب نشاطاتي في فضح الارهاب في سوريا.
الى جواسيس السي اي ايه اقول: اجنداتكم فضحت. فارحلوا عن بلادنا. فالحج في غير زمانه حرام ومضيعة للوقت, وقد يكون لتحقيق اجندات التجارة بالمبادئ من اجل مصالح خاصة.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
THE UNTOLD STORY OF TIM ANDERSON’S MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF SYRIA.
On 25 June 2013, I attended an event at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Lidcomble, in honour of the visit of Mother Agnes to Australia. During the event and light dinner, I was approached by Hanadi Assoud, a Syrian activist in Sydney. She whispered to me that the "Syrian Consul" wants to meet me.
I answered in shock "do you have a Consul in Australia?"
"Yes we have an Honorary Consul"
She introduced me to Maher Dabbagh, the Syrian Honorary Consul in Australia, appointed after the closure of Syrian embassy in Canberra.
I asked him why he wanted to meet me.
"Syrian ministry of Foreign Affairs asked me about you and wanted me to contact you".
We exchanged details, contact numbers and vowed to work together in future. I did not know much about him. Even my contacts in Syrian community could not give me any clear answers.
After one week, I contacted Maher by phone. I told him that we have an idea of sending an Australian delegation to Syria for "solidarity and fact-finding". The call was a lengthy one, as he showed a lot of interest.
I concluded the call by letting him know that I am able to organise the delegation, but would welcome cooperation with the representative of Syria in Australia.
The Honorary Consul asked me to come and meet him at the consulate. He asked me to come alone to discuss the idea and decide who to invite and who to involve later.
I went to meet him. As I was still receiving death threats and anti-terrorism agencies advised I should always have a companion if I attend any night activity, I asked a friend (Abu Ali Wazney) to go with me.
Arriving at the Consulate, I got a shock. Maher had invited four other persons to a meeting that was supposed to be discreet. Hanadi Assoud, Ahmad Isa, Tim Anderson and Marlene Obied were invited.
The meeting was unnecessarily tense. Tim Anderson was opposing everything I suggested. I suggested the delegation go during September (cheap flights and perfect weather in Syria). Tim wanted it to be during December. I interjected, as December always had big chance of getting snow in Syria and Lebanon. We decided to leave it to Maher. I also suggested some names to the delegation: John Shipton (Wikileaks), Dave Smith (Anglican church), Muslim religious leaders, businessmen supporters of Syria and some activists. Tim again interjected and suggested that we provide Maher with all names and he will decide.
I stressed that we need to meet at later stage to discuss the progress of the idea, especially as it was my idea from the outset and that I had offered assistance in organising it. Maher agreed and said he will arrange for another meeting soon after he gets some answers from Syria.
For the next two months, I received no notification from Maher. The WikiLeaks party decided to participate and send at least two from its National Council: John Shipton and myself. I contacted Maher and told him that I need to know soon about the delegation and that if he cannot organise it, I will do that. He asked me to come and meet him at the Consulate.
We met at the end of September (2013), he told me that most likely the visit will be during mid November. As I cannot leave my family behind in Australia in case extremists might try to attack them during my visit to Syria, I decided that the best solution was to travel to Jordan and leave them there.
In Jordan, I waited for a whole month for confirmation from Maher. He never answered my phone calls or my emails. I then decided to return to Australia and organise the delegation later.
Suddenly, Maher contacted me and told me that the delegation will arrive in Damascus in early December. John Shipton said he will be in Europe for a conference and he will join from there. Later, Maher confirmed the date to be 18 December 2013, and that he will contact me to let me know the details. John asked to add Gail Malone to the delegation. Maher agreed.
John and Gail arrived in Jordan on 17 December during the worst snow storm in the Middle East. For the next 48 hours Maher and his team were out of contact. Tim Anderson was delegated to coordinate the travel of people. His phone was sometimes responsive, but when asked about how we will arrive to Syria, he did not respond.
We had no alternative left but to seek help from the Syrian Embassy in Jordan. To our shock, the Consul at the Embassy confirmed that their Embassy was not aware of our delegation and that, after contacting the Foreign ministry in Damascus, they too were not aware of our delegation. He tried to help in confirming whether we had been issued a visa, but with no luck. He suggested that we have only one option: to fly to Beirut and head to Syria.
And this is what happened. We booked flights to Beirut and chartered a taxi from Beirut to Damascus. We could not fly on 18 December. We were at the airport in Amman on 19 December when we received a phone call from Maher. He asked us why we did not arrive the day before. We said that we had contacted both Tim and him more than 70 times and that they did not answer at all. He told us that he will send some people to the Lebanese-Syrian border to welcome us.
Arriving at the Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus, the atmosphere was already tense for some reason. To our sheer surprise, we learnt that the delegation arrival was coordinated with the Syrian Ministry for Higher Education. All along I had been informed that this delegation was being organised with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Any rational person would expect that a delegation of politicians and activists arriving in Syria to show solidarity and to fact-find on what is really happening there would have been coordinated with either the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or the Ministry for Information. I was puzzled as why the Ministry for Higher Education was involved, until Maher told us that he chose Tim Anderson to be the head of delegation. The normal protocols applicable were that the head of a political party, in this case WikiLeaks’John Shipton would have been the leader and not have involved the Higher Education Ministry and an academic being the head.
Tim Anderson, with his controversial past and lack of prior knowledge or connection to Syria, was definitely the wrong person to head the first Australian solidarity delegation of politicians and activists aimed to force the Australian media to report truthfully about Syria.
Every day of our stay in Damascus was both a struggle and marred with intense arguments. The delegation was divided into two sections that never interacted: the Hands Off Syria and the Wikileaks party people. All Wikileaks members were treated badly, kept in dark about activities and never consulted about any aspect of the visit. Maher coordinated with Hands Off Syria every aspect of the visit: meetings, activities and even gifts to Syrian officials. On different occasions John Shipton became very angry and vocal with Maher, highlighting what he saw as deception, among other things.
I had information that the Syrian president had agreed to meet the delegation because of the Wikileaks party officials' participation in the delegation. At that stage of the war, the president did not have the habit of meeting amateur activists or even academics. He only met politicians and well-known journalists in arranged interviews.
It was very clear that Tim Anderson and Maher Dabbagh designed the delegation to suite their agendas and interests, not the agendas and interests of supporting Syria. This was evident in the secrecy with which the delegation was formed, despite the fact that the whole idea was mine and, despite the fact that we, the Wikileaks party officials were the most important members of the delegation. We were kept in dark about all aspects of the delegation and its program.
Tim Anderson whispered to me during our stay in Damascus that prior to 2012, he had no idea where Syria is located on the map. Despite this, he was appointed for no apparent reason or consultation with us, to head the delegation. You can imagine the embarrassment of the Syrian President when Australian media started attacking Tim for his controversial past as spokesperson for an organisation that had been identified as an organisation conducting during his time, over a period of at least a decade, a minimum of 60 terrorist acts around the world, and for being in jail for years because of this association.
The embarrassment of the Syrian President was not merely felt when the Australian media began its attack on us and Tim. The embarrassment in fact, occurred much earlier. At the beginning of the meeting with the President, the President asked John Shipton to sit next to him. After being seated by the President himself, Maher and in clear embarrassment for the Syrian President asked John to vacate the seat and asked Tim to sit in it.
As if that wasn’t enough. Prior to the meeting with the President, Maher told us that the protocol guys at the President's office asked the delegation to limit the questions to the President to just two. Maher decided, again without any consultation, that Tim and John will deliver these two questions. After Tim and John asked their questions, the President asked if any of us had any comment or question. We were in limbo and we did not know what to do. We were told by Maher that there should be only 2 questions. But the President was willing to hear more than 2 questions and a couple of comments. Only Gail dared to break our promise to Maher of asking no questions. The President was very happy to hear the question and answer it. Just prior and after the meeting, the President spoke to me in Arabic, asking me questions about Australia and the WikiLeaks Party and, during the meeting, he asked me to translate a phrase that he forgot in English and also asked me to explain a few things to the delegates. Years later, Tim complained to the Kadis that I had been rude by speaking with the President in Arabic.
The whole visit was a nightmare to the point that John Shipton felt he needed to argue with Maher on a daily basis, several times. Several times he was shouting at Maher and telling him to “piss off”.
We came to understanding that Maher and Tim were happy to borrow our names and representation as officials of a registered Australian political party to secure the visit and the meetings with high profile Syrian officials. But at the same time, they did not want to give us any role in the visit and its success.
Maher and Tim knew very well that [at that time] the President, the PM and many important ministers would not agree to meet an academic and few irrelevant "activists". In following visits Maher organised for Tim and few of his "activists", they struggled to secure meetings with any important political official.
Tim until now is still irrelevant when it comes to the topic of Syria in the Australian mainstream media and public life. He gained some popularity among pro-Syrian activists and supporters. Instead of promoting the Syrian cause with this limited popularity, Tim used this popularity, built upon the suffering of Syrians and allegedly upon Syrian’s tax-payers money, to attack what he sees as rivals rather than colleagues and to discredit their campaigns.
To date, while the popularity of Tim on social media among Syria supporters developed because of his visit to Syria and the promotion of his book by Syrian media, he did not use this popularity to return the favour. To date, it appears that all he does to Syria is to visit Syria on possibly Syria-state sponsored holidays. It is possible that he spends no one cent. And, if this is correct then this is at the cost of needy Syrian people.
Recently, he joined the Christian Zionists campaign to discredit genuine Syria supporters. He is using his childish illustration charts (the charts remind me of my early primary studies and of those in schools in third world countries mid last century) to attack genuine Syria activists. And he uses these childish charts to try to convince people of twisted “facts” about a "leading war journalist" that was never on the frontline, or "independent journalists that deflated the mainstream media" when in fact these "journalists" were never heard of before by any non-Syrian supporters.
At all times, Tim, in my opinion, was liability for any cause. Thank God he was never near the Palestine cause. Now, media and politicians are easily attacking Syria and the movement that defends Syria is taunted by the media for having among its ranks a “prominent Syria supporter” such a person of a controversial background. The involvement of Tim with the Syria campaign has had a negative impact on Syria and its people. It benefited only Tim and his allies of Christian Zionist background and recently neo-Nazis.
I answered in shock "do you have a Consul in Australia?"
"Yes we have an Honorary Consul"
She introduced me to Maher Dabbagh, the Syrian Honorary Consul in Australia, appointed after the closure of Syrian embassy in Canberra.
I asked him why he wanted to meet me.
"Syrian ministry of Foreign Affairs asked me about you and wanted me to contact you".
We exchanged details, contact numbers and vowed to work together in future. I did not know much about him. Even my contacts in Syrian community could not give me any clear answers.
After one week, I contacted Maher by phone. I told him that we have an idea of sending an Australian delegation to Syria for "solidarity and fact-finding". The call was a lengthy one, as he showed a lot of interest.
I concluded the call by letting him know that I am able to organise the delegation, but would welcome cooperation with the representative of Syria in Australia.
The Honorary Consul asked me to come and meet him at the consulate. He asked me to come alone to discuss the idea and decide who to invite and who to involve later.
I went to meet him. As I was still receiving death threats and anti-terrorism agencies advised I should always have a companion if I attend any night activity, I asked a friend (Abu Ali Wazney) to go with me.
Arriving at the Consulate, I got a shock. Maher had invited four other persons to a meeting that was supposed to be discreet. Hanadi Assoud, Ahmad Isa, Tim Anderson and Marlene Obied were invited.
The meeting was unnecessarily tense. Tim Anderson was opposing everything I suggested. I suggested the delegation go during September (cheap flights and perfect weather in Syria). Tim wanted it to be during December. I interjected, as December always had big chance of getting snow in Syria and Lebanon. We decided to leave it to Maher. I also suggested some names to the delegation: John Shipton (Wikileaks), Dave Smith (Anglican church), Muslim religious leaders, businessmen supporters of Syria and some activists. Tim again interjected and suggested that we provide Maher with all names and he will decide.
I stressed that we need to meet at later stage to discuss the progress of the idea, especially as it was my idea from the outset and that I had offered assistance in organising it. Maher agreed and said he will arrange for another meeting soon after he gets some answers from Syria.
For the next two months, I received no notification from Maher. The WikiLeaks party decided to participate and send at least two from its National Council: John Shipton and myself. I contacted Maher and told him that I need to know soon about the delegation and that if he cannot organise it, I will do that. He asked me to come and meet him at the Consulate.
We met at the end of September (2013), he told me that most likely the visit will be during mid November. As I cannot leave my family behind in Australia in case extremists might try to attack them during my visit to Syria, I decided that the best solution was to travel to Jordan and leave them there.
In Jordan, I waited for a whole month for confirmation from Maher. He never answered my phone calls or my emails. I then decided to return to Australia and organise the delegation later.
Suddenly, Maher contacted me and told me that the delegation will arrive in Damascus in early December. John Shipton said he will be in Europe for a conference and he will join from there. Later, Maher confirmed the date to be 18 December 2013, and that he will contact me to let me know the details. John asked to add Gail Malone to the delegation. Maher agreed.
John and Gail arrived in Jordan on 17 December during the worst snow storm in the Middle East. For the next 48 hours Maher and his team were out of contact. Tim Anderson was delegated to coordinate the travel of people. His phone was sometimes responsive, but when asked about how we will arrive to Syria, he did not respond.
We had no alternative left but to seek help from the Syrian Embassy in Jordan. To our shock, the Consul at the Embassy confirmed that their Embassy was not aware of our delegation and that, after contacting the Foreign ministry in Damascus, they too were not aware of our delegation. He tried to help in confirming whether we had been issued a visa, but with no luck. He suggested that we have only one option: to fly to Beirut and head to Syria.
And this is what happened. We booked flights to Beirut and chartered a taxi from Beirut to Damascus. We could not fly on 18 December. We were at the airport in Amman on 19 December when we received a phone call from Maher. He asked us why we did not arrive the day before. We said that we had contacted both Tim and him more than 70 times and that they did not answer at all. He told us that he will send some people to the Lebanese-Syrian border to welcome us.
Arriving at the Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus, the atmosphere was already tense for some reason. To our sheer surprise, we learnt that the delegation arrival was coordinated with the Syrian Ministry for Higher Education. All along I had been informed that this delegation was being organised with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Any rational person would expect that a delegation of politicians and activists arriving in Syria to show solidarity and to fact-find on what is really happening there would have been coordinated with either the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or the Ministry for Information. I was puzzled as why the Ministry for Higher Education was involved, until Maher told us that he chose Tim Anderson to be the head of delegation. The normal protocols applicable were that the head of a political party, in this case WikiLeaks’John Shipton would have been the leader and not have involved the Higher Education Ministry and an academic being the head.
Tim Anderson, with his controversial past and lack of prior knowledge or connection to Syria, was definitely the wrong person to head the first Australian solidarity delegation of politicians and activists aimed to force the Australian media to report truthfully about Syria.
Every day of our stay in Damascus was both a struggle and marred with intense arguments. The delegation was divided into two sections that never interacted: the Hands Off Syria and the Wikileaks party people. All Wikileaks members were treated badly, kept in dark about activities and never consulted about any aspect of the visit. Maher coordinated with Hands Off Syria every aspect of the visit: meetings, activities and even gifts to Syrian officials. On different occasions John Shipton became very angry and vocal with Maher, highlighting what he saw as deception, among other things.
I had information that the Syrian president had agreed to meet the delegation because of the Wikileaks party officials' participation in the delegation. At that stage of the war, the president did not have the habit of meeting amateur activists or even academics. He only met politicians and well-known journalists in arranged interviews.
It was very clear that Tim Anderson and Maher Dabbagh designed the delegation to suite their agendas and interests, not the agendas and interests of supporting Syria. This was evident in the secrecy with which the delegation was formed, despite the fact that the whole idea was mine and, despite the fact that we, the Wikileaks party officials were the most important members of the delegation. We were kept in dark about all aspects of the delegation and its program.
Tim Anderson whispered to me during our stay in Damascus that prior to 2012, he had no idea where Syria is located on the map. Despite this, he was appointed for no apparent reason or consultation with us, to head the delegation. You can imagine the embarrassment of the Syrian President when Australian media started attacking Tim for his controversial past as spokesperson for an organisation that had been identified as an organisation conducting during his time, over a period of at least a decade, a minimum of 60 terrorist acts around the world, and for being in jail for years because of this association.
The embarrassment of the Syrian President was not merely felt when the Australian media began its attack on us and Tim. The embarrassment in fact, occurred much earlier. At the beginning of the meeting with the President, the President asked John Shipton to sit next to him. After being seated by the President himself, Maher and in clear embarrassment for the Syrian President asked John to vacate the seat and asked Tim to sit in it.
As if that wasn’t enough. Prior to the meeting with the President, Maher told us that the protocol guys at the President's office asked the delegation to limit the questions to the President to just two. Maher decided, again without any consultation, that Tim and John will deliver these two questions. After Tim and John asked their questions, the President asked if any of us had any comment or question. We were in limbo and we did not know what to do. We were told by Maher that there should be only 2 questions. But the President was willing to hear more than 2 questions and a couple of comments. Only Gail dared to break our promise to Maher of asking no questions. The President was very happy to hear the question and answer it. Just prior and after the meeting, the President spoke to me in Arabic, asking me questions about Australia and the WikiLeaks Party and, during the meeting, he asked me to translate a phrase that he forgot in English and also asked me to explain a few things to the delegates. Years later, Tim complained to the Kadis that I had been rude by speaking with the President in Arabic.
The whole visit was a nightmare to the point that John Shipton felt he needed to argue with Maher on a daily basis, several times. Several times he was shouting at Maher and telling him to “piss off”.
We came to understanding that Maher and Tim were happy to borrow our names and representation as officials of a registered Australian political party to secure the visit and the meetings with high profile Syrian officials. But at the same time, they did not want to give us any role in the visit and its success.
Maher and Tim knew very well that [at that time] the President, the PM and many important ministers would not agree to meet an academic and few irrelevant "activists". In following visits Maher organised for Tim and few of his "activists", they struggled to secure meetings with any important political official.
Tim until now is still irrelevant when it comes to the topic of Syria in the Australian mainstream media and public life. He gained some popularity among pro-Syrian activists and supporters. Instead of promoting the Syrian cause with this limited popularity, Tim used this popularity, built upon the suffering of Syrians and allegedly upon Syrian’s tax-payers money, to attack what he sees as rivals rather than colleagues and to discredit their campaigns.
To date, while the popularity of Tim on social media among Syria supporters developed because of his visit to Syria and the promotion of his book by Syrian media, he did not use this popularity to return the favour. To date, it appears that all he does to Syria is to visit Syria on possibly Syria-state sponsored holidays. It is possible that he spends no one cent. And, if this is correct then this is at the cost of needy Syrian people.
Recently, he joined the Christian Zionists campaign to discredit genuine Syria supporters. He is using his childish illustration charts (the charts remind me of my early primary studies and of those in schools in third world countries mid last century) to attack genuine Syria activists. And he uses these childish charts to try to convince people of twisted “facts” about a "leading war journalist" that was never on the frontline, or "independent journalists that deflated the mainstream media" when in fact these "journalists" were never heard of before by any non-Syrian supporters.
At all times, Tim, in my opinion, was liability for any cause. Thank God he was never near the Palestine cause. Now, media and politicians are easily attacking Syria and the movement that defends Syria is taunted by the media for having among its ranks a “prominent Syria supporter” such a person of a controversial background. The involvement of Tim with the Syria campaign has had a negative impact on Syria and its people. It benefited only Tim and his allies of Christian Zionist background and recently neo-Nazis.
Tuesday, September 05, 2017
How to become political analyst and journalist in one week?
The serious mishap happened at one of the respected satellite channels few weeks ago of presenting a 19 years old school leaver as “political analyst and researcher”, exposes clearly many serious issues we face in this social media era.
The school leaver who did not finish his year 10 schooling and working currently as laborer in Sydney, had no single published article on any subject that could interest any reader. He also did not have any experience working in any media organisation, even as cleaner. He also had never worked in any research institute or organisation. All he achieved was to film himself with his IPhone talking about Israeli crimes in Gaza. Then he published these childish clips on his Facebook account. This exercise made him “researcher and political analysts” and landed him many interviews with the same respected satellite TV station.
So, what does it takes you to become “journalist”, “researcher”, “expert” and “political analyst”?
All what you need to do is to go to the nearest shop selling smart phones. Purchase a smart phone. Go home and create Facebook page. If you create Twitter account, that will be a bonus. You need to focus on the audience you want to deceive. If you want to deceive people on Syrian crisis issue, send your invitation to anyone who has Syrian flag or Syrian president poster as profile picture. Then you can share as many articles and news as possible on the issue. It is better if you copy and paste these articles, so that you can give impression that you wrote these articles. Save and republish pictures. By doing this, you fool people and give them impression that you are journalist and have a lot of networks on the ground.
Continue like this for one week. You can change introduction about yourself on your timeline and call yourself anything you wish “investigative journalist”, researcher”, “”expert”... almost anything.
Once I wanted to prove that Facebook is just virtual imagined community that absorbs anything. I changed my profession on Timeline into “astronaut” working for “NASA”. Guess what? No one had challenged me. People who personally know me sent me private message with some “hahaha” or “lol”. The rest believed that I am astronaut working for NASA.
Why wasting 4 years study at university for a degree in media and journalism. Why waiting Murdoch to employ you in one of his organisations. You can educate yourself, employ yourself and become high-profile expert with tens of thousands of “friends and followers”.
One of the guys in Sydney who stopped with his education at year 2 of primary education, convinced people in Sydney that he is “journalist” and “strategic analyst”. Some of his followers are calling him “doctor” (assuming that he has PHD in politics or media). He even claims on his timeline that he had finished BA in Art at UNSW. When in fact he cannot construct a sentence in any language.
This is a dilemma facing our generation.
We thought that the appearance of alternative media will make things more transparent and truthful. When in fact it made things even worse, where people needs a smart phone and a Facebook account to fabricate news and events.
Of course I am not writing about this because of fun only. The issue is very dangerous and could have serious implications. Some of these “smart phones” experts could infiltrate organisations, communities and political systems to achieve destructive agendas. Of course some of these fake experts are harmless and doing this for either fun, being bored at retirement age or because of mental health problems. What concerns us are the “professional” fake experts who fake their statuses, expertise and professional abilities for deeply destructive agendas. This agendas could include spying, stealing money online... etc
I cannot find any solution for this dilemma. And I do not think that anyone has. But I deeply believe that if we give the liar enough rope, he/she will hang themselves with it. But sometimes, this happens late after many victims suffers.
It is the tax we need to pay for advanced technology we enjoy.
The school leaver who did not finish his year 10 schooling and working currently as laborer in Sydney, had no single published article on any subject that could interest any reader. He also did not have any experience working in any media organisation, even as cleaner. He also had never worked in any research institute or organisation. All he achieved was to film himself with his IPhone talking about Israeli crimes in Gaza. Then he published these childish clips on his Facebook account. This exercise made him “researcher and political analysts” and landed him many interviews with the same respected satellite TV station.
So, what does it takes you to become “journalist”, “researcher”, “expert” and “political analyst”?
All what you need to do is to go to the nearest shop selling smart phones. Purchase a smart phone. Go home and create Facebook page. If you create Twitter account, that will be a bonus. You need to focus on the audience you want to deceive. If you want to deceive people on Syrian crisis issue, send your invitation to anyone who has Syrian flag or Syrian president poster as profile picture. Then you can share as many articles and news as possible on the issue. It is better if you copy and paste these articles, so that you can give impression that you wrote these articles. Save and republish pictures. By doing this, you fool people and give them impression that you are journalist and have a lot of networks on the ground.
Continue like this for one week. You can change introduction about yourself on your timeline and call yourself anything you wish “investigative journalist”, researcher”, “”expert”... almost anything.
Once I wanted to prove that Facebook is just virtual imagined community that absorbs anything. I changed my profession on Timeline into “astronaut” working for “NASA”. Guess what? No one had challenged me. People who personally know me sent me private message with some “hahaha” or “lol”. The rest believed that I am astronaut working for NASA.
Why wasting 4 years study at university for a degree in media and journalism. Why waiting Murdoch to employ you in one of his organisations. You can educate yourself, employ yourself and become high-profile expert with tens of thousands of “friends and followers”.
One of the guys in Sydney who stopped with his education at year 2 of primary education, convinced people in Sydney that he is “journalist” and “strategic analyst”. Some of his followers are calling him “doctor” (assuming that he has PHD in politics or media). He even claims on his timeline that he had finished BA in Art at UNSW. When in fact he cannot construct a sentence in any language.
This is a dilemma facing our generation.
We thought that the appearance of alternative media will make things more transparent and truthful. When in fact it made things even worse, where people needs a smart phone and a Facebook account to fabricate news and events.
Of course I am not writing about this because of fun only. The issue is very dangerous and could have serious implications. Some of these “smart phones” experts could infiltrate organisations, communities and political systems to achieve destructive agendas. Of course some of these fake experts are harmless and doing this for either fun, being bored at retirement age or because of mental health problems. What concerns us are the “professional” fake experts who fake their statuses, expertise and professional abilities for deeply destructive agendas. This agendas could include spying, stealing money online... etc
I cannot find any solution for this dilemma. And I do not think that anyone has. But I deeply believe that if we give the liar enough rope, he/she will hang themselves with it. But sometimes, this happens late after many victims suffers.
It is the tax we need to pay for advanced technology we enjoy.
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