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Winter challenges ‘Occupy' protests
- Anyone who has walked through Zuccotti Park in recent days will have been left in little doubt about the intention of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters to push on through the winter.
- Huge military-style canvas tents designed to withstand plunging temperatures have sprung up among dozens of smaller two and three-person pods.
- But as the diehards in New York and other encampments across the U.S. prepare to dig in, organisers are facing up to a big challenge: what next? In a tacit admission that the protests will be difficult to sustain over the winter, organisers are now focusing their efforts on planning a “spring offensive” with fresh targets
- If the mainstream media has shifted their focus off Occupy Wall Street it doesn't mean we are not growing as a movement. We are growing every day and new occupations are cropping up.
- We never intended to rely on the mainstream media to put out our message. In two months we have established hundreds of media centres, 24/7 live streaming, and traditional print media in the form of Occupy Wall Street Journal . People are becoming citizen journalists. In the reporting of the movement, we are making the mainstream media irrelevant right now.
Russian arms deal with Syria stays despite clashes
- Russia has not suspended sales of weapons to Syria despite continuing armed clashes in that country
- The reaffirmation of Russian defence commitments came a day after the Arab League suspended Syria's membership and called on its army to stop killing civilians.
- Syria is the largest buyer of Russian weapons in West Asia.
- Russia has staunchly opposed sanctions against Syria and blocked Western attempts to censure Syria in the United Nations Security Council.
