Syrian rebels unify, create new 30-member council

[allrevvedup]

20. Smash-and-snatch vulture capitalism writ large.

The polite term is "soft power." Look at Libya, Egypt, and (sorry Sabrina) Tunisia: highly functioning economies, with generous social safety nets and relatively high standards of living, driven after their glorious people-powered revolutions to pauperism and endless domestic feuding. Same with the color revolutions in former Soviet states: basket cases now all of them. Meanwhile Shell, Exxon, Halliburton and the bankers make out like bandits both ways, first on the military operations, then on the "liberated" assets. Old story, and let's not forget Afghanistan and Iraq.

So let's have a look at the freshly appointed leader of the Syrian "opposition" coalition, Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib:

Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib is a moderate religious figure who was for a time the Imam of the Omeyyades mosque in Damascus.

Surprise, he also works for Anglo-Dutch Shell. Or maybe not so surprising:

Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib in a suit, but without a tie.

In reality, there is absolutely no evidence that Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib ever studied international relations and diplomacy, but he does have training as an engineer in geophysics. He worked for six years for the al-Furat Petroleum Company (1985-91), a joint-venture between the national company and other foreign enterprises, including the Anglo-Dutch Shell, with whom he has maintained contact.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article176707.html

plus ça change. . .