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July 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The measure was taken on Wednesday after the Sonntagszeitung newspaper published a photograph taken of one such device in possession of anti-Damascus forces in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, at the end of June.
Preliminary inquiries into the photo showed the grenade in question was made by the Bern-based arms manufacturer RUAG, and was part of a shipment made by the company to the UAE in 2003.
In an interview with Press TV, Charles Shoebridge, a security analyst in London, shares his opinions regarding the issue. Below is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Arms and weapons sold by Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates are now used by armed groups fighting the Syrian government. It is an open secret that US allies in the Arab world are arming armed groups.
But the point is the same countries have been saying they would support Kofi Annan’s peace plan. Overall, how do you see the policies of Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar in Syria?
Shoebridge: I should say I think it is in the case really of countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, it is not even an open secret, it is just completely open. The weapons are being supplied.
Kofi Annan and the UN and indeed the UN Human Rights organizations have stated repeatedly that it is a very negative factor in the conflict in Syria, that arm supplies are indeed fueling the conflict and that is irrespective of which side the weapons are coming from and to which side they are going.
Clearly the more weapons that are supplied, the more sophisticated weapons as well as the volume of these weapons, the greater, if you like, the enhancement of the killing effect of these, more people are going to die inevitably with the use of such weapons. It also means that civilians are dying not just government troops, not only fighters on the other side, … that is.
It is no real surprise, I think, to find that weapons are ending up in the hands of people other than specified perhaps on the NGOs or agreements that were signed at the time. I think this Swiss hand grenade, the story of today, is really the tip of a very big iceberg of weapons coming from many countries and indeed going to many countries and that to be fair probably applies to both sides of this conflict.
Press TV: Let’s look at Bahrain. As the United States and its allies push for a regime change in Syria under the name of democracy, they are turning a blind eye to a bloody crackdown unleashed by the Bahraini regime, which is hosting America’s Fifth Naval Fleet. How do you explain the contradiction?
Shoebridge: Unfortunately, it is not something that is unusual for people who regularly watch issues of or observers of issues of international diplomacy, politics and indeed conflict.
It is absolutely true that, for whatever reason, the approach of Western governments has been to a lesser or greater degree one-sided in this conflict. We have seen support for democracy in the countries such as Libya and in Syria of course or purported support for democracy; supporting in fact groups that in many cases are not supporters themselves of democracy; even less equal rights for women and so on; values which the West is of course promoting itself.
But in other areas, such as Bahrain indeed, Saudi Arabia itself, other countries that are possibly more connected, let’s say, to Saudi Arabia, in other words, they are Sunni regimes; these are not Shia regimes. The approach seems to be quite different and that is also reflected in the Western media.
So for example the United Nations recently criticized Bahrain specifically for its human rights record and urged more reforms in favor of democracy, in favor of actually reducing the repression of pro-democracy supporters.
Not only did Britain and America not sign up to this agreement, even though countries like France and Germany did, but also this was virtually unreported in the UK media that, A, Bahrain was being condemned by the UN and, B, that Britain and America had failed to sign up for this.
So I think, to many independent observers, people who are trying to take an unbiased view of this conflict, this contradiction is inexplicable other than in terms of what might be perhaps cruelly but I think fairly described as hypocrisy.
MSK/HJL
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