Saturday, July 21, 2012

Justifications for genocide against all `Alawites: this time in the Economist

I am certain of this: if the Free Syrian Army wins the war and if it engages in wholesale extermination of all `Alawites, not a single voice will be heard in protest in the Western media.  The Guardian and Economist are now like the rest on Syria: sheer propaganda sheets for the Free Syrian Army, willing to believe anything and publish anything that serves the interests of the FSA, and unwilling to print anyting and publish anything that goes against the interests of the FSA.  This has been a shameful record of journalism in the Western media.  I am particularly dismayed at the Guardian whose journalists basically see their role as cheerleaders for the FSA and its crimes.  The current issue of the Economist features two articles (presumably by their correspondent in Beirut who relies on Hariri press office for her contacts and travel), that basically justifies killings of Alawites and defames all Alawites.  All tales about the Alawites are to believed: they remind me of the Nazi media in the 1930s where they would print stories after stories about alleged crimes of Jews in Germany.  Look at this:  "But harmony between Christians and Sunnis generally prevails. If there is sectarian animosity, it tends to be directed against the Alawites".  First notice that the story of harmony which nobody in present-day Syria believes.  Just today, New TV reported on fears of the Christian community and on expulsion by FSA of Christians from their homes.  And notice that the sentence has a reference to harmony hand-in-hand with sectarian hatred of Alawites, all Alawites.  And then the correspondent justifies the hatred by adding that those hated Alawites:  "dominate the security services".  That is sufficient to hate them all and kill them all, presumably.  And in another article she writes:  "Then the shabiha come in, slaughter anyone who has stayed behind as well as all the animals, including chickens. Then they steal the heavier stuff, down to taps and doorknobs, and set houses on fire. The last wave is the Alawite women, who carry off the fanciest bits of clothing.”" So Alawite women are safe target, I guess. And why do they slaughter the chicken? Why not steal them and eat them later?  What kind of trash is this?  Imagine that this article is about Palestinian armed groups fighting Israel: replace the word Alawite with the word Jewish (Jews, after all dominate the security services of Israel as well), and see how it sounds.