In the eye of the hurricane

BY A.ALABED

In the shadow of Hezbollah and Baathists the secretive Syrian Social Nationalist party is gaining ground in Syria and Lebanon. Syria's bloody civil war seems to have augmented consensus for its militantly Anti-Arab and iron-fist ideology that some observers view as blueprint of Mussolini-style fascism or even Nazism.

Maqdisi Street just off Hamra in Central Beirut. Historically, this is the heartland and home turf of the Syrian Nationalists. And in fact, it's presence cannot be overlooked. A presence that an unprepared visitor familiar with fascist symbolism might give the creeps. The atmosphere is gloomy albeit Maqdisi being home to myriad bars and stores which is not only due to the multi-storey buildings forming impenetrable walls along the narrow street. Much more it's the countless graffiti, banners and posters depicting the SSNP's red hurricane symbol. According to SSNP it was designed by SSNP students at the American University of Beirut while the party was still outlawed and, supposedly represents a fusion of the Christian cross and the Muslim crescent. With the result being more than just reminiscent of a stylized swastika.

Although the SSNP has always denied beinng inspired or even influenced by European fascist movements, similarities do not end with the outlandish emblem. Quite on the contrary, it would be rather straightforward to argue that the SSNP were a simple offshot. In fact, the SSNP makes abundant use of Nazist symbolism. A very strong leader cult - founder Antun Saadeh is regarded a half-god by most SSNP militants - and the frequently practised Roman salute are only the most ostensible ones. Ideologically it is the expansionist vision of a Greater Syria, stretching frim Cyprus and the Sinai as far as Kuwait and some odd kind of Syrian supremacism, outlined in the party's "Eighth Basic Principle" ("Syria's interest supersedes every other interest") that liken it to European fascist ideas. For an allegedly harmless movement they also have odd friendships, ranging from the German NPD and Italy's Forza Nuova and Casapound which are both nostalgic of Mussolini. In the world of the internet SSNP enjoys the questionable endorsement of "IronMarch", which prides itself on being the "Online HQ for the IronMarch Global Fascist Fraternity and the Forge of the 21st Century Fascist"



Back in Beirut, the wall of buildings seems to be metaphoric for a wall of silence. It is common knowledge in Beirut that Maqdisi street is the home turf of the SSNP and that who wants to plant his seeds there needs to be aware of that. Just ten metres of Hamra Street the SSNP has established its own little kingdom with a firm grip on local entrepreuners that are force to buy water and electricity from SSNP suppliers and are charged $600 per month for "security purposes". The locals know about it and have accepted it, as they have accept the many other inconveniences they have to face in modern Lebanon.

One who didn't know about it, was the British journalist Christopher Hitchens who back in 2009 defaced a "hurricane" in the SSNP heartland and experienced first hand SSNP's fascistic tendency towards violencs:

"Well, call me old-fashioned if you will, but I have always taken the view that swastika symbols exist for one purpose only—to be defaced. Telling my two companions to hold on for a second, I flourish my trusty felt-tip and begin to write some offensive words on the offending poster. I say "begin" because I have barely gotten to the letter k in a well-known transitive verb when I am grabbed by my shirt collar by a venomous little thug, his face glittering with hysterical malice. With his other hand, he is speed-dialing for backup on his cell phone. As always with episodes of violence, things seem to slow down and quicken up at the same time: the eruption of mayhem in broad daylight happening with the speed of lightning yet somehow held in freeze-frame. It becomes evident, as the backup arrives, that this gang wants to take me away."

Hitchens got away. Not all do though. Although relatively unknown, it was the SSNP who pioneered bold and daring suicide missions in the years of Israeli occupation, a method it also used against inner-Lebanese foes. In 1982 they assassinated the Phalangist president-elect Bashir Gemayel, a staunch promoter of Lebanese nationalism, later on they were involved in fierce battle with the Hariris and their Future Movement. Although lacking importance on a political, legislative level (SSNP has only two MPs, one from Baalbeek-Hermel and one from Marjuyun)the SSNP has had and many observers say it still has the power to raise the barometer of tension within Lebanon and, in an explosive situation, might ignite the lit fume.

Where does this power come from? Certainly it is not religion. In fact, it is in fierce opposition to religious institutions, demanding uncompromising secularism and separation between state and religion. Probably because SSNP-style Syrian nationalism is in itself a religion. It is not by chance that new recruits are "baptized", symbolizing the washing away of the past and divorcement from everything that is not in service of the idea. They pledge their soul to the "cause" becoming a uniform collective in service of the party and their leader.

That is the specific danger of the party and the most striking parallel to European-style fascism and Nazi-Germany's regime. Most certainly the centering of the Pan-Syrianist ideology on some virtual superior Syrian ethnicity is a similarity to European fascism. Yet, as founder Antun Saadeh specified in wake of World War II, in contrast to Nazism not focussed specifically on one race, but on one nation, composed by people of several ancestries grown into one big-tent Syrian enthnicity. Albeit still all but liberal or inclusive, the SSNP is more opportunistic than profoundly racist, its goal not being some idea of "purity of race" or world dominion, but dominance over one specific nation, the fertile crescent. It therefore fights against whom they view a menace for this objective, that is Israel and the Jewish People on one side, Turkey and the Gulf States and the militias in Syria that they back.

The alliance the SSNP has forged with Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad and its still powerful Baathists is therefore even more dangerous. Particularly in the increasingly likely case that Assad will manage to reenforce its grip at least on Western Syria. In such a scenario the SSNP would represent a destabilizing factor in the region, propelling the regime in Damascus to pursue a policy of expansionism. For instance towards Lebanon, where it already is present. Given the limited importance the SSNP bears on a regional level this is still an unlikely scenario. However, it has been proven that in the Syrian civil war the balance of powers can easily shift. And then the Swastika banners may fly not only in Maqdisi Street.

Press freedom and other hollow shells

#FREE MEDIA CANNOT BE SILENCED

BY AMIR ALABED
Beirut/Istanbul 


"There cannot be limitless media freedom." This may well seem like a statement issued by third-class dictator somewhere in the remotest corner of Africa. However it is not. These are the exact words of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A onetime lapse? No, rather symptomatic for an administration that over the course of the last years has grown increasingly hostile towards dissenting voices in general and opposition press in particular.
In fact, the AK Party government has never been fussy about reining voices critical of its administration. On the contrary. Mr. Erdogan’s record speaks for himself.
In 2009 the editor of Taraf was charged with divulging military secrets.
 In 2014 Turkey’s executive forces raided the offices of leading daily Zaman arresting editor in-chief Ekrem Dumanli and Hidayet Karaca, general manager of Samanyolu on the charges of “establishing and managing an armed terrorist organization” to overthrow the government. The same year columnist Önder Aytac was condemned for 10 months in jail for insulting Erdogan. 
In November 2015 the newspaper Cumhuriyet was awarded the Reporters Without Borders Prize for its "independent and courageousjournalism" in regard to the 2014 MIT trucks scandal. Shortly thereafter, editor in chief Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül were arrested on charges of being members of a terror organization, espionage and revealing confidential documents, facing sentences up to life imprisonment. They were released in 2016 due to undue deprivation of liberty by ruling of the Supreme Court. Erdogan's comment: "I do not respect nor obey the verdict."

On October 26^th 2015, only four days before the November general election, the government seized the Koza Izpek Holding which controls the dailies Milet and Bügün and the TV channels Bügün and Kanaltürk TV. Koza Izpek was shut down in February 2016.
On March 4^th 2016 authorities used the same scheme to take control over the country’s largest newspaper Zaman (which already had been raided in 2014) and its English-language affiliate Today’s Zaman.
 Whereas Cumhuriyet is close to the main opposition party, the Kemalist Republican People’s Party (CHP), both Zaman and Koza Izpek are believed to be (or have been) close to the Islamist Gülen Movement, sparheaded by Fethullah Gülen, a former ally of Erdogan turned enemy.
 
It would be too simplistic though to define this is a mundane media crackdown of an increasingly authoritarian president.  Erdogan is wary of the activities of the Gülen Movement, which he seems to think is staging a coup d’etats. In 2007 Nokba magazine, exposed the Ergenekon scandal revolving around an alleged nationalist underground network comprising key personnel of the Turkish military and members of the Kemalist elite and planning to carry out terrorist attacks against senior AK members and even Erdogan himself.
 
This may have been a turning point in Erdogan’s personal history, making him leery and overly distrustful. This may have also been a reason for the breach between the two former friends Erdogan and Gülen. Erdogan frets that the Gülen movement after all might outflank him in power, since both Gülen and Erdogan’s AKP appeal to the same people and the same voters: typically religious social conservatives in or hailing from Anatolia or Eastern Turkey that do not recognize themselves in the secularism promoted by the Kemalist elites and Western bourgeoisie. What Erdogan is most afraid of is what to his mind is bound to happen once the Gülen movement has gained enough power and momentum to pursue its ultimate strategy: a violent takeover of the AK Party.

To avoid this Erdogan has not only made onslaughts on media that he believes to promote the Gülen agenda, but also cleansed his own party from exponents allegedly supporting the preacher. That includes former deputy prime minister Ali Babacan who despite broad recognition and undisputed economic expertise was not appointed to a ministry after the last of many government reshuffles.

With his latest aggression against Zaman and Samanyolu Erdogan has crossed a red line. The foreclosure of the leading media corporation is in no way reconcilable with a functioning democracy, no matter what his motifs were: clinging to power or “protecting” the state from the “parallel state” as he likes to call it.

The freedom of the Press is not something that is negotiable. Erdogan has to understand that this is not the Ottoman emperor anymore. He can’t just use the judiciary system to get rid of potential enemies. This is a modern country with an active civil society. In the immediate aftermath of the seizure hundreds took to the streets to protest against the government’s egregious moves. The public will not accept that kind of behavior anymore. Erdogan is going to have to acknowledge that. Soon.

Putin's sandbox

Russia has played the West in Syria. The West on the contrary has proven embarassingly short-sighted.

BY A. Alabed

On February 1st Russia and its allies sat down in Geneva in order to work out a long-term peace plan for Syria along with the Syrian and Kurdish opposition. It was clear from the beginning that the negotiations had no future. When representatives of the Syrian regime and the main Syrian opposition groups refused to sit down in the same room together, and it became increasingly obvious that Russia in no way intended to halt his airstrikes on moderate rebel groups, a frustrated Staffan de Mistura called of the talks, postponing them to February 25th.

One month and thousands of Russian airstrikes on rebel positions later the situation has considerably changed. PYD, the main representatives of Syrian Kurds and major force in the country's north, whrer it controlls the "Autonomous cantons of Rojava", comprising the former province of Hasakeh and the Surroundings of Ifrit and Kobane, has turned to Russia and rekindled its relationship with the regime in Damascus, as the odds of regime change are dropping.

Recently it helped sever the so-called Azaz-corridor, the only supply-route for rebel forces in and around Aleppo and a lifeline for the city. In a tacit agreement with the regime the PYD's militia, YPG, has taken control of the northern part of the Azaz-pocket, while Syrian regime forces advanced from the South, closing in on the largely moderate rebels.

Additionally Russian airstrikes targeted civilians infrastructure in Aleppo and Idlib province in a rarely-disguised attempt to drive civilians out of the respective regions in order to render  attacks on rebel forces more straightforward.

Putin's web of intrigue's has in so doing reduced moderate rebels' latitude to virtually nil, ith the West standing idlely by. Only when Turkey started shelling YPG forces close to its border in a response to the bloody terrorist attack in Ankara, which the YPG is suspected to have atleast helped to carry out, some movement came into the defense ministries in Washington, London and Paris. With the only result being a phony delcaration of support and Turkey being left alone in the rain.

When Putin on February 26th finally - oh wonders - agreed to a cessation of hostilities, moderate rebel forces were significantly weakend to minor players in Deraa and Idlib provinces without a grain of hope to ever overthrow the regime in Damascus.

That's the quintessence of Putin's strategy: combat moderate rebels until the only relevant players on Syrian soil are either regime forces or regime allies (PYD/YPG) or apocalyptical Islamists (Jabhat an-Nusra, Daesh), making to only viable way to persuade support for Bashar al-Assad.

With this being Putin's final aim his compliance with the current truce is perfectly understandable. Just as the announcement of his army not to carry out any attacks in Syria for the time being. Not against moderate rebels. But not against JAN and Daesh either. Ostensibly in order "not to commit any errors". In fact because its in their interest that moderate rebel forces are further weakened by a strong JAN and a powerful Daesh.

USA who? Europe who? Syria is emblematic for the demise of Western foreign policy, if not its graveyard. We hope it's not to late to take action. To rebuild the Syrian opposition together with democratic Kurdish forces. To wrest Syria from the grip of Russia's megalomaniac tinpot Napoleon and the dark worshippers of death. That's what we hope. Sadly, that's not what we think will happen. Quite on the contrary.

Europe's bigoted hypocrisy

BY A.ALABED

“The EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10.000 or 15.000. How will you deal with that?” Who is talking is no one else but Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s sultan slash prime minister. The occasion? Turkey European Union talks about migration fluxes aiming at slashing the numbers of potential refugees crossing the Aegean Sea into Greece and in so doing European territory. The addressees? The presidents of European council and commission, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker.
 

Mr. Erdogans prophecy of doom should not be dismissed as the surreal doom-mongering of a Machiavellian, power-obsessed politician seeking to achieve the maximum output in tough negotiations. Even if ostensibly it seems to be exactly this: a preposterous exaggeration of an unlikely scenario, taking advantage of the tragic destiny of the little Aylan Kurdi in order to evoke Europe`s sore conscious in regard to this event and capitalize on it. Yet the prime minister’s prediction, albeit excessive and most certainly melodramatic, pictures quite accurately what Europe might face if it perpetuates its erratic and opportunistic migrant policy. Which the so-called understanding with Turkey is an essential part of.

Half a year ago, when the issue first erupted, European politicians used to sing quite a different tone. Particularly Central European representatives lined up at border crossings, train stations and asylum shelters, passing out the slogans “We are gonna manage it” and Angela Merkel’s favorite “Willkommenskultur”, actively trying to profit from the stunning wave of warmth and solidarity shown by their electorate in confront with the newly arrived.

The shoe sure is on the other foot now. Volatile and capricious as people are they have turned their backs, especially on Muslim refugees from Northern Africa. And Angela Merkel may well accurse her directionless babbling of solidarity and moral obligations, as she sees her numbers dip in each and every sector of society.

In the wake of the surge of right-wing anti-immigration parties in Sweden, Austria, France and the Netherlands, moderate politician  try to contrast the xenophobic avalanche by doing a U-turn and adopting an entirely different attitude toward the members of what has come to be called a second Völkerwanderung.

The alteration has been a profound one. Not to the worse, but certainly not to the better either. What is now prevailing among Europe’s elite is an attitude of sanctimoniousness. “We have done our share, our capacities are depleted. Enough is enough.” In this platitude now there is not even a grain of verity. Quite on the contrary, there are plenty of resources. Countries such as Spain or Polonia have accepted nearly no refugees and even Germany, Austria and Sweden are far from reaching their operational limit. At a site-visit adjournement at the Austrian-Slovenian border the border security measures installed by the Austrian Federal Government (Out of consideration of the social liberal faction of the governing Social democratic party it must not be called a border fence) seemed out of proportion and essentially superfluous. The number of migrants crossing the border at this particular crossing deceeded the estimations of the Austrian Interior Minsitry by ten times. So there can be no talk of operational limits being reached.

What is being reached though is the psychological limit of tolerance of the native population. In the aftermath of the Cologne sexual assaults a widening rift has opened up between Muslim immigrants and the regular Joes and Josephines concerned about preserving their values, society and their basic security.

That’s what after months of shadow-boxing occurred to Austria’s chancellery who in the notoriously populist “Kronen Zeitung”, Austria’s highest-circulation newspaper and closely allied with the incumbent chancellor Werner Faymann, announced to look into possibilities to reduce social security for foreigners and take measures to control the incontrollable influx of refugees. This wouldn’t be that astonishing hadn’t the same Werner Faymann denounced the migration policies of neighboring Hungary comparing them to the deportations of Jews in Nazi-Germany: “Sticking refugees in trains and sending them somewhere completely different to where they think they're going reminds us of the darkest chapter of our continent's history."

While at the time Hungary was enforcing valid European law, thus Dublin III regulations, the same man once praising himself as ferocious campaigner for human rights and bulwark against the rising specter of the far-right is now skating on thin ice proposing to limit the number of asylum grants to 127.500 until 2019 – a figure the secretar general of Amnesty International Heinz Patzelt dismisses as completely unrealistic accusing the government of populism in its purest form.

Let’s remember: This is the same man who called for “opening barriers to humanity” just last autumn at the time fully endorsing Angela Merkel’s Willkommenskultur. With this unprecedented u-turn Faymann’s attitude towards Europe`s migration crisis is symptomatic for Europe`s inexistent crisis management and its insolent hypocrisy in regard to other countries, for example Turkey, who has in a Herculean effort has managed to accommodate over 2 million refugees, not only providing them with food and basic health care, but also granting them the right to work, which, considering the precarious economic circumstances and an unemployment rate of well over 10 percent, is an extremely courageous decision.

There are certainly a lot of deficiencies in Turkey’s political system and in regard to its leadership Mr. Erdogan’s  is most certainly walking a fine line between dominant and autocratic. What he however cannot be accused of is cowardice and double standards. Which puts him in flagrant contrast to Europe`s alleged leaders who since continuously glancing at the pools have lost every sense of foresight and sensible policy.

Then of course, why should he be the only one forced to act sensibly? As Erdogan himself emphasized, he and his country “do not have written stupid on their foreheads”. Why should he accept a bogus European offer of 3 million euros, which given that the policy has to be ratified by the parliaments of each and every member state. Why should he soil his hands with keeping hundreds of thousands of desperate displaced ones facing a dire future in their homelands? Why should he take responsibility for the distressing scenes bound to unfold at the shores of the Aegean Sea if no actions are taken to alleviate the plight of war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan? In order to allow European leaders to sleep easy at night? In order to allow them to talk themselves and the citizens of their countries into believing that the moral lighthouse Europe once again has prevailed. And, following psychological principles, one day even believe it themselves. They will not have to deal with dead boys and girls on the beaches of the Mediterranean. Others will. But that will not be there problem, won’t it?