Familia cubana relata sus memorias como desterrados del Escambray

Leer en El Nuevo Herald >>

Iraq prison break a bad sign of things to come

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read on worldnews >>

From Dallas to Damascus: The Texas 'straight shooter' who could replace Syria's Assad

World News

Ozan Kose / AFP - Getty Images

Ghassan Hitto, speaking to reporters after his March 18 election as Syria's interim prime minister.

By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

He is a “straight shooter” from Texas who worked as a telecoms executive until November. But Ghassan Hitto now finds himself the presumptive caretaker-leader of Syria as world powers plot the end of Bashar Assad’s crumbling regime.

The American citizen, born in Syria, is the new prime minister of the opposition’s interim government – the apparatus that the international community hopes will seal the end of Assad’s rule.

Friends describe Hitto, 50, as “sincere” and “practical,” but the charismatic technocrat will need all the charm he can muster to unify Syria’s fragmented opposition.

His rapid rise has prompted questions about how the deadly conflict should end and has cast a light on infighting, fueled by regional countries purportedly supporting certain opposition figures.

The Free Syrian Army, one of the key rebel groups fighting Assad’s forces on the ground inside Syria, responded to Hitto’s appointment in Istanbul on March 18 by refusing to recognize his authority.

“The situation there is so dire, I’m afraid for him,” said Mustafa Carroll, who worked alongside Hitto in Texas as a volunteer at Muslim advocacy groups. “It’s a big responsibility and it’s very complicated.”

“He’s a straight shooter, very sincere, very well-regarded and a very active community person,” said Carroll, who is director of the Houston chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

Seen as Muslim Brotherhood's pickHitto, a father of four, lived in the U.S. for three decades, most recently on the outskirts of Dallas working as director of operations for telecoms supplier Inovar, where co-worker Arshad Syed remembers him as "honest" and "personable."

He left Syria in the early 1980s and received an MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University on top of a degree in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Strongly active in community groups, he was a member of the board of directors at the private Islamic school Bright Horizons Academy, in Garland, Texas, where his wife Suzanne still teaches English.

In November, he made the decision to get involved in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces -- the international grouping that seeks to end Syria’s civil war on the condition that Assad is removed from power.

“Like a lot of people living away, he just wanted to help his homeland,” said Carroll.

Hitto’s wife did not return calls, but the academy issued a statement describing him as “a practical man with great management experience.”

It said: “He was always open minded and open to debate. He conducted himself with the highest honesty and integrity. His talent for bringing people together for the common good will be missed in our community.”

Hitto, a respected technocrat but an inexperienced politician, won the overwhelming number of votes from those who cast a ballot -- other possible candidates that included a former Syrian regime official -- but some members of the Coalition boycotted the vote in protest at the process.

Not everyone was convinced the opposition needed an interim government, seeing it as yet another organization that could compete for control of a post-Assad Syria.

Official spokesman Walid al-Bunni walked out of the vote in protest and Moaz al-Khatib, president of the Coalition, resigned and had to be persuaded back on board just in time for the Arab Summit in Doha, which began Tuesday.

“Hitto’s whole role has been undermined from the start,” said Christopher Phillips, associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at U.K. think tank, Chatham House.

“He’s very much the Muslim Brotherhood’s man, and is seen as such. There was a lot of pressure to get an interim opposition leader in place ahead of the Doha talks, but the way in which it was done, and the choice of very much the man that Qatar and Turkey wanted, has infuriated and alienated just about every key player in the process.”

Represents 'the some of the some'Salman Shaik, director of the Brookings Center in Doha, said many Syrians "still regard the appointment of Hitto with suspicion." Even if Assad is toppled from power, Hitto is by no means certain of the authority he needs to implement free and fair elections.

“The huge elephant in the room is that there is no guarantee that, if and when the Assad regime falls, that any of the groups fighting in Syria will gather around this official opposition,” said Phillips. “There are huge uncertainties in all of this.”

Abdulrahman al-Rashed, commentator and general manager of the Al Arabiya news channel, wrote: “I am confident that Mr. Hitto is a respectable person and that he cares about Syria. But during this difficult time, we want a person who represents everyone and not only some Syrians. Some members of the Syrian coalition decided to choose Hitto but the coalition itself only represents some Syrians. Therefore, Hitto represents the some of the some!”

Yasser Tabarra, the Chicago-based legal adviser to the Coalition, says the interim government will focus on managing the 60 to 70 percent of the country that is liberated and controlled by opposition rebels.

The government would coordinate local management efforts, including establishing law and order, and delivering basic goods and services, Tabarra said.

Two key stumbling blocks remain: whether the Coalition should enter into any form of negotiations with the regime while Assad is still in power, and whether Hitto, an ethnic Kurd viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood's favored candidate, can unite the ideological differences between its liberal and Islamist members.

In his task, Hitto at least has the backing of the U.S.

“This is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland after Hitto’s election.

“We’re very hopeful that his election will foster unity and cohesion among the opposition.”

NBC News' Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

We're now one step closer to America's coming civil war

foxnews

ozarkteaparty.com

By Arthur Herman 

The New Year has started with a monstrosity of a budget deal, one that proves that neither political party, Democrats or Republicans, is really serious about controlling the growth of big government.

But soap opera dramatics about fiscal "cliffs" and sequestration shouldn’t deflect from where President Obama is really taking this country. Consider this story from the Wall Street Journal a few days before Christmas:

“Thousands of people in several Argentine cities ransacked supermarkets for a second day in the latest challenge to President Chistina Kirchner, who is struggling to revive a weak economy...In the central city Rosario, two people were killed during the incidents and 137 people arrested.

Washington's Republicans and Democrats alike have become the toll collectors on the road to serfdom

“The violence puts Mrs. Kirchner in a difficult position as the poor are [her] core constituents...Her government spends billions of dollars a year to help low income families, including free health care...[Yet] Argentine activists who claim to represent the poor traditionally block access to supermarkets in the month of December to demand free food and other items...The latest events were some of the worst acts of looting and vandalism in years.... Local media showed dozens of men, women, and children hauling away televisions, refrigerators, and food.”

Some have said my warnings about a coming civil war between makers and takers are exaggerated. It’s true that Argentina’s politicians have been waging class warfare since Juan and Eva Peron–and they aren’t fazed when it turns bloody. Obama and the Democrats are relative newcomers to the game. But Argentina reveals who really suffers when those who create a nation’s wealth get mugged by those who spend it–as just happened this week in Washington.

It’s the poor and the middle class, the very ones big government says it’s trying to protect.

And sadly that’s where Mitt Romney had it wrong.

That 47 percent of Americans who get unemployment benefits, Social Security disability checks, Medicare and Medicaid, and government student loans, aren’t the real takers. Like the rioters in Rosario, they’re just pawns in a perennial battle between those who see wealth and prosperity as something created by hard work, ingenuity, and innovation in a free market system–or something to be doled out by government.

Experience teaches that those who believe in free markets are right. The November election and the budget deal, however, show that the other side is winning, and winning big.

Since 1970, America’s public sector has exploded as a percentage of GDP, rising to almost 25% last year. While the national unemployment rate hovers at the 8% mark, government worker unemployment rate is a cozy 3.8%. Sixteen percent of America’s workforce now work for government. By the time the Obama administration ends, we won’t be that far away from Argentina’s 21 percent.

Yet as an economic and social enterprise, government creates nothing.

Far from adding to people’s standard of living, government is the number one cause of poverty in this country. It forces those who depend on its largesse to live hand to mouth, with no time or money to plan for the future. They become unable to fend for themselves---and increasingly resentful of those who can.

When the economy tanks and the government checks have to shrink, their only alternative is to take to the streets. That’s what happening in Argentina, and in Greece; and that’s where the growth of government is taking us here, as this current budget deal increases handouts–and more and more Americans are finding that an unemployment or Social Security disability check is their only life line.

Washington’s Republicans and Democrats alike have become the toll collectors on the road to serfdom–and the road to Rosario.

How far down that road depends on how our private sector rallies in 2013 after two numbing defeats, first on November 7 and then on Capitol Hill this week.

It needs to explain to that 47 percent that when big government wins, we all lose–and that this nation won’t survive if it does.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/03/were-now-one-step-closer-to-america-coming-civil-war/#ixzz2HplyFyvw

SYRIA LOADS SARIN GAS COMPONENTS INTO AERIAL BOMBS, US OFFICIALS SAY

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By Jim Miklaszewski and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said. 

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.

U.S. officials stressed that as of now, the sarin bombs hadn't been loaded onto planes and that Assad hadn't issued a final order to use them. But if he does, one of the officials said, "there's little the outside world can do to stop it."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated U.S. warnings to Assad not to use chemical weapons, saying he would be crossing "a red line" if he did so.

Speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clinton said the Syrian government was on the brink of collapse, raising the prospect that "an increasingly desperate Assad regime" might turn to chemical weapons or that the banned weapons could fall into other hands. More >>

Al Assad estudiaría pedir asilo en Cuba, Ecuador o Venezuela

EUROPA PRESS/

abc.es

   El presidente sirio, Bashar al Assad, está estudiando la posibilidad de pedir asilo político para él, su familia y su círculo más cercano en Cuba, Ecuador o Venezuela, en caso de que finalmente se vea obligado a abandonar Damasco, según informa este miércoles el diario israelí 'Haaretz'.

   La semana pasada, el viceministro de Exteriores sirio, Faisal al Miqdad, mantuvo encuentros en estos tres países iberoamericanos y llevó consigo cartas personales clasificadas de Al Assad a los presidentes de estos países.

   Desde el Ministerio de Exteriores venezolano han confirmado al diario 'El Universal' que Al Miqdad entregó una carta para el presidente del país, Hugo Chávez, que éste recibió antes de viajar a Cuba el miércoles pasado para recibir tratamiento.

   Un portavoz oficial venezolano ha confirmado a 'Haaretz' que el mensaje de Al Assad se refería a la "relación personal entre los dos presidentes" y que la visita del viceministro demuestra la estrecha relación entre los dos países.

   El embajador sirio en Venezuela, Ghassan Abbas, también ha confirmado al diario que Al Miqdad mantuvo contactos con responsables venezolanos en Caracas, pero ha asegurado no tener conocimiento sobre el contenido de la misiva de Al Assad.

   Desde que empezó el conflicto en Siria, Chávez ha expresado abiertamente su respaldo a Al Assad y Venezuela ha enviado petróleo y combustible al país asiático en varias ocasiones, recuerda el rotativo israelí.

   Según 'Haaretz', que no cita fuentes, el viceministro de Exteriores sirio mantuvo reuniones similares la semana pasada en La Habana y en Quito.

Assad flees to home district as rebels enter Damascus

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

Assad's brother-in-law killed by suicide bomber bodyguard in Damascus

RussiaToday

H.Clinton scolds Russia, China over Syria

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

US official: Russia sends troops to Syria as peace hopes fade

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

U.S. military completes planning for Syria

Security Clearance/  By Barbara Starr

The U.S. military has completed its own planning for how American troops would conduct a variety of operations against Syria, or to assist neighboring countries in the event action was ordered, officials tell CNN.

In recent weeks, the Pentagon has finalized its assessment of what types of units would be needed, how many troops, and even the cost of certain potential operations, officials tell CNN.

The planning comes as the U.S. has become increasingly concerned that the violence in Syria is verging on civil war. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recent series of bombings have heightened the worry.

Dempsey said it reminded him of the escalating violence during the Iraq war.

The violence "gives us all pause that have been in Iraq and seen how these issues become sectarian and then they become civil wars and then they become very difficult to resolve," Dempsey told CNN in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

A senior U.S. official said the developments have been a matter of discussion in the Obama administration.

"There is a sense that if the sectarian violence in Syria grows, it could be worse than what we saw in Iraq," the official said.

The military planning includes a scenario for a no-fly zone as well as protecting chemical and biological sites. Officials say all the scenarios would be difficult to enact and involve large numbers of U.S. troops and extended operations.

The planning, officials insist, is being done protectively and there have been no orders for any action from the White House.

The U.S. Navy is maintaining a presence of three surface combatants and a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean to conduct electronic surveillance and reconnaissance on the Syrian regime, a senior Pentagon official said. The official emphasized that the U.S. routinely maintains this type of naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, but acknowledged the current focus is on Syria.

The United States, Britain and France have all been discussing contingency scenarios, potential training and sharing of intelligence about what is happening in Syria with neighboring countries including Jordan, Turkey and Israel. But it is Jordan, so far, that is most seeking the help because of its relatively small military and potential need for outside help if unrest in southern Syria were to impact Jordan's security.

U.S. special forces are training and advising Jordanian troops on a range of specific military tasks they might need to undertake if unrest in Syria spills over into Jordan or poses a threat to that country, three Defense Department officials told CNN. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the training. Jordanian officials also are refusing to publicly confirm details, but a senior Middle Eastern government official also confirmed details to CNN.

The U.S. has been training in Jordan using mainly special operations forces under a program called Joint Combined Exchange Training, which sends troops overseas to train foreign soldiers and units in specific missions. Jordan's major security concern is that if the Syrian regime were to suddenly collapse, then it would face unrest on its northern border, as well as the possibility of large refugee flows, weapons smuggling into Jordan, and potential disarray in Syria's chemical and biological weapons complex. Jordan also is considering how and where to potentially set up humanitarian assistance bases inside its borders, another matter the U.S. is advising it on.

The Jordanians do not believe regime of Bashir al-Assad would attack them. But they have made it clear to the United States they want the training so they are ready to move quickly if any scenario develops that could destabilize their country, which is already reeling politically from a collapsing economy. While there's no formal agreement, one of the U.S. officials said the U.S. would come to the defense and support of Jordan in the event any of the Syria scenarios pose a challenge.

While there is no current scenario for putting U.S. troops on the ground in Jordan or Syria, the U.S. could wind up providing air support to move Jordanian troops to the border. In addition, American forces could provide a wide range of intelligence and surveillance capabilities to Jordan so they would have up-to-date information on what is happening on the Syrian side of their border region. In one of the most extreme scenarios, a small unit of Jordanian troops could move into Syria to protect a chemical or biological weapons site.  More >>

Water and Peace in Ivory Coast: Reconciliation After Civil War

PulitzerCenter

 

Fallece cubano sobreviviente de la barbarie de Guernica

Assad crackdown turning peaceful Syrians into terrorists?

REUTERS / Shaam News Network / Handout

Smoke rises from Bab Sabaa neighborhood of Homs on Monday.

By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com staff

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s deadly crackdown on opposition to his regime is turning once peaceful protesters into “terrorist people,” an activist hiding in a city shattered by an army bombardment told msnbc.com.

Sami Ibrahim, of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, was reacting to an open letter written by New York-based Human Rights Watch, claiming opposition members were carrying human rights abuses such as kidnappings, torture and executions.

Ibrahim spoke Tuesday by satellite phone from Homs, a rebel stronghold until it was hit by a sustained bombardment by government troops, forcing the Free Syrian Army to withdraw earlier this month. More >>

#Yemen on the brink of civil war

Human toll in Cote d'Ivoire rises

The human toll of fighting in Cote D'Ívoire is rising with hundreds of civilian deaths. The International Red Cross says 800 bodies have been found in one town after violence on Tuesday.

Latest's fighting has taken place in #Libya

Al Jazeera illustrates where the latest's fighting has taken place in Libya.

Battle for Benghazi

New footage has emerged from the first moments of the uprising in Libya, showing gunmen - who appear to be Gaddafi loyalists - shooting unarmed protesters dead. With armed men dragging people from Benghazi's mosque, others were left to die on the streets. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from the city.

Rebels claim Gaddafi laid mines around Sirte

This video, posted on Facebook on March 30 by group that calls itself the "Intifada of February 17, 2011," claims to show rebels discovering and holding landmines on the approach to Sirte. The description, translated from Arabic, says:

"Battalions of Gaddafi laid the mines in the path of the advance freedom revolutionaries' advance to the city of Sirte..rare courage in how the revolutionaries are dealing with these mines."

#Libya fighting, rebels retreat after Gaddafi forces' fire

After their rapid advance, Libyan rebels are now being pushed further back from the outskirts of Colonel Gaddafi's hometown. There are reports of a heavy bombardment and gunfire being used by pro-government forces, despite claims of a ceasefire. Meanwhile, in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the rebels remain confident of holding out in the brutal fighting against Colonel Gaddafi's forces.