DAMASCUS, (ST)- The so-called “Arab Spring” is nothing but a bloody terrorist, sectarian and Wahhabi winter promoted and led by some Arabic-speaking media outlets to serve the interests of the Arab nation’s enemies, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, the Presidential Political and Media Advisor, has stressed.
Shaaban’s remarks were made during a ceremony held on Tuesday in Damascus to commemorate and honor media martyrs marking the Martyrs Day and the Arab Journalism Day.
She added that the western media has become a tool for aggression on peoples and since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of journalists and reporters martyred in the world reached an unprecedented level.
“What we need today is to get rid of the ideas deepened by colonialism in our culture about its media’s being neutral, objective and democratic and to build our own Arab media reference which believes in the national principles, position and identity of our Arab nation in a documentary and scientific way that match the up-to-date media development in the world,” Shaaban said.
She clarified that “the West is still thirsty for more bloodshed, so we need to uncover the aggression’s crimes against us as Arabs to the world public opinion”.
She pointed out that many in the west have begun to doubt the way their media outlets deal with certain issues and started to look for reliable source of information, “so it is our chance to redefine the Arab-Israeli conflict properly and correctly to convince them of our just causes.”
Al-Zou’bi: issue of presidential elections is an internal national affair in which no one has the right to interfere
For his part, Information Minister Omran al-Zou’bi said the issue of presidential elections in Syria is an internal national constitutional obligation with which no one outside the Syrian state’s borders has anything to do.
“The Syria state and people don’t accept any interference in the issue of presidential elections in the country or in any other purely internal national affair,” stressed al-Zou’bi.
He added “fighting terrorism, supporting the Syrian Arab Army and all the coming constitutional obligations including the presidential elections are national decisions and no one, even the UN secretary general, the American president, the Gulf leaders or the Turks, have the right to interfere in these decisions.”
“We should take part in the presidential elections with complete conviction and faith in the homeland to choose the leader who will protect Syria and its borders, maintain national unity, army and institutions, confront terrorism and keep the Syrian flag high over all the Syrian lands and lead the country to a better future, the minister said.
Al-Zou’bi hailed the sacrifices of all Syria’s martyrs, including those of the media who scarified their souls to give the truth about the terrorist war on Syria and about what is really going on in their country.
H. Mustafa