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Well, if I disappeared and someone asked DFAIT about it, they'd go 'Who the fuck is he?' instead of 'no comment', for a start, see my comment above. I've not registered with the Canadian consulate here, I'm told they're useless in a pinch.
Three days in, I've shot an hour of video and sixty or so stills with a big clunky Nikon SLR. A nice policeman helped me catch my first bus this morning and two soldiers sat beside me on the dolmush ride back from Al Bara and peered curiously over my shoulder as I reviewed video. Then they showed me clips they'd shot on their cell phones of recent flooding, and pictures of motorbikes and girlfriends. So far people here regard me with a/ total indifference b/ discreet curiosity c/effusive welcome welcome, a/ being the dominant.
Sounds like a great trip Merowe. Enjoy and write again soon!
Ok, I'll stop clogging this thread. If anyone's interested I'll be blogging the trip a bit, at this address: http://blog.owenford.org/
I must be missing something here. How is touring around Syria the same as going to a war zone? Is there an active extra governmental group likely to capture you for potentially spying or are you equating the Syrian authorities with the Taliban?
I don't think anyone said it is the same as going into a war zone - this place is safe as houses, I feel more insecure standing in front of 52 Division in downtown Toronto. That said, the more people stay away because of misplaced anxiety, the better for travellers like myself ha ha.
Seriously though, widely aired reports on active Canadian spies in the region - in a country with over a million Iraqi refugees, half a million Palestinians - don't IMPROVE our reputation abroad, that must be a no-brainer surely?
Yes be very afraid of those nasty Iraqi's and Palestinians, "they are all the same and I hear they are blood thirsty so you better be very careful."
That is what you sound like to me. Have a great cultural exchange I hope someone there teaches you tolerance of others.
You got that right.
The internet is a difficult place to communicate. If you don't understand what Merowe is saying, just ask him for clarification. Assuming the worst sometimes has a way of backfiring.
hehe, thanks U.,
er, yes N.S., I humbly submit you have missed the mark. I had tea this morning with a pair of Palestinians, tea this afternoon with a Syrian Kurd and yesterday exchanged pleasantries - and sympathies - with a young Iraqi. It would be a bit silly to come to such a place if I didn't actually like the people I'd be bumping into wouldn't it? Indeed, my advance information is amply confirmed, the people here are warm and welcoming to a fault.
Great that is what i would have expected. Please reread your post. I am sorry but it still reads to me like an indictment of either the refugees in Syria or the government that has allowed them in.
"unfriendlier civil agencies' Nice term. How would you compare them to Homeland Security or CSIS. Part of the Great Game is seeing "their" agencies as evil and ours as bad but necessary because we know they are fighting evil. I also note you said nothing when AJ congratulated you and compared your trip to the alleged spy's activities. So when I read the posts the tone was set by you and picked up on by AJ at post #60. He asked whose is to say it is not the same. I chose to say.
I also think that your post implies that the people in Syria both citizens and refugees would be naive enough to think Canada is a benevolent player and this spy would totally change their world view. The great games are a foot and I doubt if the Syrians or anyone else doesn't understand.
Thanks for the elaboration NS, i'll tell you what, i didn't want to mention any agency by name but Id chuck 'em all in the same dark and fetid pit ok, CSIS an'all. So you maybe jumped the gun on me there.
After 4 visits to a net cafe in Dam where i surfed to my hearts content on a fifth an older fella sat beside the normal guy who for the first time asked for my passport and wrote down details. My next visit some but not ALL my links were blocked. Hotmail not blocked Facebook blockd, rabble blocked, etc. i changed cafes and all was back to normal. Not jumping to conclusions, but not going to spill my guts here ok? Err on the side of caution and all that, I like it here.
Certainly don't imply people here naive for fucksakes, as I say its a no-brainer. There was a time when the word 'Canada' if it evoked any response at all in nonwesten locations conjured perhaps Mounties and invariably positive sentiment, i don't think I'm mistaken there, at least that was my experience; that time has passed and it is thanks to our chickenhawk POS 'Prime Minister'. And now this twerp Mackenzie whatever he is. Thats ALL I'm saying, hardly contentious surely. but hats off to your sensitivity.
Sorry I had only your words and the follow up by AJ to guide me. Its not like you are a long lost friend I know well, which is apparently the case for others. Hope you have a nice trip and just remember that NATO is actively engaged in spying in Syria and the Syrians know it.
So has it been confirmed that this guy is a CSIS or TUNDRA spy or is he just in the wrong place at the wrong time- missing some common sense.
I hope Merowe is ok, given the reports of shootings of protesters in Syria
I thought he went to Syria not Bahrain.
hey Bacchus thanks for the heads-up, I'm in the east for a few days, Deir ez-Zur, all quiet here; I'll see what I can learn about Deraa, that's a ways away from here. My assessment before I came was that the regime here is stable with a lot of support and that remains my opinion. No doubt tremors from afar may echo here but I don't think any 'old order' is about to be swept away. But frankly I can claim no special insight, I've only a few words of Arabic and am pretty much in the dark but for the intertubes.
Syrian forces kill two protesters in southern city
Time for another no-fly zone, methinks! After all, we have a "moral imperative".
Taliban Releases Video of Captured Toronto Man
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/08/afghanistan-video-captured...
"In an email accompanying the release of the video, the Taliban threatened to put Rutherford on trail for espionage if Canada does not meet its demands. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid did not list the demands, saying the Canadian government was aware of what the Taliban want..."
get out of Afghanistan now.
I wonder how a tourist from Scotland would have been treated if found by the Patriots during the first American civli war. Who would think they could be a tourist in a war zone? Especially in a country being occupied by Canadian troops. He may be just incredibly stupid not a spy but I would find it hard to believe he was that divorced from reality. Where does he get his travel money? Who does he owe his keep too?
"Tourism" didn't exist back then.
At best, he would have described himself as a journalist or "pamphleteer" or man of letters who was "self-employed" to inform the folks, well-wishers, back home of events in America.
This guy wasn't a tourist because tourism does not exist in a war zone anymore than it existed in 18th century America. He was either a spy or a journalist if he was writing about his travels in war torn areas. If he was a tourist as claimed by his family then I find the idea of a Canadian going to the NATO killing fields for a little purile entertainmment disgusting. Talk about a false sense of entitlement if he really thought being a tourist in an area of active warfare was something no one fighting the occupation by NATO would object too.
The tourist story is crap.
If he was a tourist, NATO wouldn't have allowed him into combat areas.