Why are the American media, both liberal and conservative, so unanimously anti-Russian?

Destro wrote:
" Syria, is the only Arab nation in which Christians feel free."

Excerpt:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syria

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003
Released on February 25, 2004

Syria is a republic under a military regime with virtually absolute authority in the hands of the President. The President, with counsel from his ministers, senior members of the ruling Ba'th Party, and a small circle of security advisers, makes key decisions regarding foreign policy, national security, internal politics, and the economy. Ba'th Party leaders, whose primacy in state institutions and the Parliament is mandated by the Constitution, influence all three branches of government. The Parliament, elected in March, may not initiate laws but only assess and, at times, modify those proposed by the executive branch. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, security courts were subject to political influence. Political connections and bribery sometimes influenced verdicts in regular courts.

The powerful role of the security services, which extends beyond strictly security matters, is due to the state of emergency, which has been in place since 1963. The Government justifies ongoing martial law because of its state of war with Israel and past threats against the state from terrorist groups. Syrian Military Intelligence and Air Force Intelligence are military agencies; the Ministry of Interior controls general security, state security, and political security. The branches of the security services operated independently of each other and outside the legal system. The Government maintained effective control of the security forces. Members of the security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.

The population of the country was approximately 17 million. The economy was based on commerce, agriculture, oil production, and government services. The dominant state role in the economy, a complex bureaucracy, security concerns, corruption, currency restrictions, a lack of modern financial services and communications, and a weak legal system hampered economic growth, which was last estimated at 2 percent in 2001.

The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses. Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The Government prevented any organized political opposition, and there have been very few anti-government manifestations. Continuing serious abuses included the use of torture in detention; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged detention without trial; fundamentally unfair trials in the security courts; and infringement on privacy rights. The Government significantly restricted freedom of speech and of the press. Freedom of assembly does not exist under the law, and the Government restricted freedom of association. The Government did not officially allow independent domestic human rights groups to exist; however, it permitted periodic meetings of unlicensed civil society forums throughout the year. The Government placed some limits on freedom of religion and freedom of movement. Proselytizing by groups it considered Zionist was not tolerated. Violence and societal discrimination against women were problems. The Government discriminated against the stateless Kurdish minority, suppressed worker rights, and tolerated child labor in some instances.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

There were no political killings; however, the London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) reported that, on August 10, a Syrian Kurd died after being tortured while in the custody of Syrian Military Intelligence. The Government had not investigated previous deaths in detention.

b. Disappearance

There were no confirmed reports of politically motivated disappearances. Many persons who disappeared in past years were believed to be in long-term detention or to have died in detention.

The Government continued to withhold new information on the welfare and whereabouts of persons who have been held incommunicado for years or about whom little is known other than the approximate date of their detention. Despite the Government's claim that it has released all Palestinians and Jordanian and Lebanese citizens reportedly abducted from Lebanon during and after its civil war, various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and family members of those who allegedly remain in prison continued to dispute the Government's claim (see Section 1.d.).

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution prohibits torture, and the Penal Code provides punishment for abusers; however, there was credible evidence that security forces continued to use torture.

During the year, the SHRC reported numerous cases of torture in custody, including the case of two Kurdish leaders, Marwan Uthman and Hasan Saleh, who were arrested in December 2002 for organizing a demonstration (see Section 2.b.). Former prisoners and detainees, as well as the SHRC, reported that torture methods included administering electrical shocks; pulling out fingernails; forcing objects into the rectum; beating, sometimes while the victim is suspended from the ceiling; hyperextending the spine; bending the detainees into the frame of a wheel and whipping exposed body parts; and using a chair that bends backwards to asphyxiate the victim or fracture the victim's spine. Torture was most likely to occur while detainees were being held at one of the many detention centers run by the various security services throughout the country, particularly while the authorities were attempting to extract a confession or information.

A foreign citizen (with dual Syrian nationality) detained in February reported that he was tortured while in prison. Diplomatic representatives reported seeing bruises on the prisoner's body after his release from prison. During the year, at least nine Kurds were jailed and reportedly tortured in prison.

Past victims of torture have identified the officials who tortured them, up to the level of brigadier general. If allegations of excessive force or physical abuse were to be made in court, the plaintiff was required to initiate his own civil suit against the alleged abuser. However, no action was taken against the accused. There were no examples of such allegations during the year. Courts did not order medical examinations for defendants who claimed that they were tortured (see Section 1.e.).

At year's end, Raed Hijazi remained in custody while awaiting an appeals decision for the death sentence handed down by Jordanian authorities in 2002.

Prison conditions generally were poor and did not meet international standards for health and sanitation. At some prisons, security officials demanded bribes from family members. Overcrowding and the denial of food remained problems at several prisons. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), prisoners and detainees were held without adequate medical care, and some prisoners with significant health problems reportedly were denied medical treatment. Some former detainees reported that the Government prohibited reading materials, even the Koran, for political prisoners.

There were separate facilities for men, women, and children. Pretrial detainees, particularly those held for political or security reasons, were usually held separately from convicted prisoners. Facilities for political or national security prisoners generally were worse than those for common criminals.

There were reports of death in prison due to torture (see Section 1.a.).

The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison or detention center conditions; however, diplomatic or consular officials were granted access in some cases.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these remained significant problems. The Ministry of Interior controlled the police force, which many observers considered corrupt. The 1963 Emergency Law authorizes the Government to conduct preventive arrests and overrides Constitutional and Penal Code provisions against arbitrary arrest and detention, including the need to obtain warrants. In cases involving political or national security offenses, arrests often were carried out in secret. Suspects could be detained incommunicado for prolonged periods without charge or trial and denied the right to a judicial determination regarding pretrial detention. Additionally, those suspected of political or national security offenses could be arrested and prosecuted under ambiguous and broad articles of the Penal Code and subsequently tried in either the criminal or security courts.

Defendants in civil and criminal trials have the right to bail hearings and possible release from detention on their own recognizance. Bail was not allowed for those accused of state security offenses. Unlike defendants in regular criminal and civil cases, security detainees did not have access to lawyers prior to or during questioning.

Detainees have no legal redress for false arrest. Many persons who have disappeared in past years were believed to be in long-term detention without charge or possibly to have died in detention. Many detainees brought to trial have been held incommunicado for years, and their trials often were unfair (see Section 1.e.). There were reliable reports that the Government did not notify foreign governments when their citizens were arrested or detained or did so only after the prisoner was released. Many criminal suspects were held in pretrial detention for months and may have had their trials extended for additional months. Lengthy pretrial detention and drawn-out court proceedings were caused by a shortage of available courts and the absence of legal provisions for a speedy trial or plea-bargaining (see Section 1.e.).

During the year, the security forces conducted mass arrests of suspected Islamists: 24 persons in Zabdani; 35 in Aleppo; and 20 in Damascus. The suspects remained in detention at year's end.

The Government continued threatening or detaining the relatives of detainees or of fugitives to obtain confessions, minimize outside interference, or prompt the fugitive's surrender (see Section 1.f.). There were reports that security personnel forced prisoners to watch relatives being tortured in order to extract confessions. According to Amnesty International (AI) and the SHRC, security forces also detained family members of suspected oppositionists (see Section 1.f.).

The Government, through its security services, also threatened families or friends of detainees to ensure their silence, to force them to disavow publicly their relatives, or to force detainees into compliance. For example, the family of a human rights activist received calls from security service personnel alleging misconduct and inappropriate social behavior by the activist.

The number of remaining political detainees was unknown. AI's 2003 report states that 800 political detainees were held in Sednaya prison and that hundreds of others were held in other prisons. There also were Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian political detainees. Estimates of detainees were difficult to confirm because the Government did not verify publicly the number of detentions without charge, the release of detainees or amnestied prisoners, or whether detainees subsequently are sentenced to prison (see Section 1.e.).

Former prisoners were subject to a so-called "rights ban," which begins from the day of sentencing and lasts until 7 years after the expiration of the sentence, in the case of felony convictions. Persons subject to this ban were not allowed to vote, run for office, or work in the public sector; they often also were denied passports. In practice, restrictions may continue beyond that period.

The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and, unlike in previous years, there were no reports of forced exile during the year.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the two courts dealing with cases of alleged national security violations were not independent of executive branch control. Political connections and bribery sometimes influenced verdicts in regular courts.

The judicial system is composed of the civil and criminal courts, military courts, security courts, and religious courts, which adjudicate matters of personal status such as divorce and inheritance (see Section 5). The Court of Cassation is the highest court of appeal. The Supreme Constitutional Court rules on the constitutionality of laws and decrees; however, it does not hear appeals.

Civil and criminal courts are organized under the Ministry of Justice. Defendants before these courts were entitled to the legal representation of their choice; the courts appoint lawyers for indigents. Defendants were presumed innocent; they were allowed to present evidence and to confront their accusers. Trials were public, except for those involving juveniles or sex offenses. Defendants could appeal their verdicts to a provincial appeals court and ultimately to the Court of Cassation. Such appeals were often difficult to win because the courts do not provide verbatim transcripts of cases--only summaries prepared by the presiding judges. There are no juries.

Military courts have the authority to try civilians as well as military personnel. A military prosecutor decides the venue for a civilian defendant. There have been reports that the Government operated military field courts in locations outside established courtrooms. Such courts reportedly observed fewer of the formal procedures of regular military courts. During the year, there were no reports of military field courts being used.

[...]

Page printed from: PolitInfo United States
http://us.politinfo.com/Information/Human_Rights/country_report_2003_179.html

BUMP

Hmmmmm

Ping

Bump

Chinese businessmen have created a dynamic economy in the Pearl River Delta that thumbs its nose at Beijing. Russians export only prostitutes.

"Why are the implicit assumptions apparently held by every major analyst and reporters of the most influential US papers, (1) that whatever problem at hand where there is some Russian involvement, it is the Russians who are guilty until proven the reverse, and (2) that the only Russian policy that is to be applauded is a policy that is supposed to serve the interests of other countries but (not) Russia."

They're kidding, right?

Replace every instance of the word Russia in this paragraph with the word America, and you find that it holds true not only in media outside the US but media -in- the US as well. If someone's claiming that in a situation where either Russia or the US -can- be blamed, it's Russia getting blamed and not the US, well, A) I haven't seen it, and B) it's about time someone besides us got the shaft.

Qwinn

Ping to Post 108

Ping. Post 108

bump/ping!

Nothing new from comrade Destro.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1331294/posts
Putin says missile deal with Syria still under discussion
AFP ^ | Fri Jan 28

Yes, the Syrian regime is thuggish and violates human rights on a daily basis. That does not contradict what Destro wrote. The brutality of the Syrian regime is directed almost entirely at the Sunni majority of the country (both Kurdish and Arab). The Assad family are Alawites, members of a tiny semi-Christianized branch of Shia Islam (the Alawites celebrate some Christian feasts as well as the usual Muslim ones, often take Christian-sounding first names and have a pseudo-eucharistic commemoration of the murder of Mohammed's nephew and son-in-law Ali). They maintain their rule by a combination of brutality toward the largest religious group (the Sunnis) and tolerance and good treatment of religious minorities (including Christians) very much as Saddam Hussein's regime ill-treated the Shi'ites (and Kurds) but treated Christians in Iraq very well by Islamic standards.

"The only pro-American policy Russia can have is being subserviant to Western agendas?"

Here we go again. You really really need to move to Russia, report back in a couple of months.

No? It must be getting tiresome then to keep reading the same old party line, the same old rhetoric. My apologies.

Perhaps you have seen the following article on the familiar and expected: Mixed signals

...every major analyst and reporters of the most influential US papers, (1) that whatever problem at hand where there is some U.S. involvement, it is the Americans who are guilty until proven the reverse, and (2) that the only American policy that is to be applauded is a policy that is supposed to serve the interests of other countries but (not) America."

There. Substituting America for Russia is even more true.

If they really want to know why I and others distrust Russia it is because they lie a lot. The USSR admittedly lied throughout its existence and then Russia continued it. The latest example being the Oil For Food Scandal and their resistance to overthrowing Saddam. Throw in their actions to forcefully reincorporate the USSR, after Puten told Bush they were pro-democracy, and you get the picture.

Who misruled Poland more? Russia or Prussia? At least Czarist Russia tried to restore the Kingdom of Poland after the Napolionic wars.

This is kind of questions like „Who was better Hitler or Stalin?“. And only Poles could restore their kingdom and NOT Russians or Chinese.

Soviet/Russian policy no longer dictates speech when on an American website, does it? Did you ever read this article about assassinated Russian journalists Ivanov and Sidorov? Valery Ivanov was shot while purchasing candy for his daughter.

Journalists Valery Ivanov (left) and Alexei Sidorov were both killed

"...Russia has more than 22,000 newspapers, but almost all are owned by pro-government or powerful business interests that constrain their reporting. The Togliatti Observer is one of the exceptions..."

"...In the absence of a properly functioning judicial system, the question is who will protect the journalistic community in Russia to enable it to get on with its job, acting as a check and balance on power.

Valery Ivanov, the first murdered editor of the Togliatti Observer, wrote about the sacrifice some Russian journalists make.

"In this struggle, journalists are dying. Using every possibilities to compel independent professionals to write according to their wishes, corrupted power uses assassination," he said.

"This is the tragic price that Russian society is paying for freedom of speech and a free press."

Russia's Number One citizen, President Vladimir Putin, has a different perspective:

"Russia has never had a free media, so I don't know what I am supposed to be impeding," he said on 26 September 2003..."

Russian journalism

When Russian stops supplying terrorist enemies of the US with nuclear technology, I'll think better of them. Until then, they are enemies of the US, not friends. And no, China does not get a pass from me over its misdeeds either. It is actions, plain and simple. For the left, no doubt it is a different story, and they lament the passing of their great red hope. But for the ordinary patriotic US conservative, Russia fails the basic test of friendship - not actively seeking to arm our worst enemies with terrible weapons.