(CNN) -- Armed, masked men raise their weapons and shoot dead three men sitting on a curb in a Syrian city. The images are captured on video, purportedly showing Islamist rebels carrying out a public execution of soldiers.

The incident occurred in Raqqa city, in the north. Videos produced by locals sympathetic to the Islamists have appeared on the Web, and an opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a report on the incident Tuesday.

"Rebel fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Bilad al-Sham (Syria) have summarily executed three men in the middle of a square in Raqqa city," the Observatory said. "The jihadis stated that the detainees were officers from the Syrian army."

The videos show armed masked men standing in a street, with one of them reading from a paper. A crowd of onlookers can be seen in the background. Gunmen shoot dead three men who are sitting on a curb and the militants raise their weapons in celebration.

Syria Today

I'm happy to hear that Russia has sent very sophisticated modern weapons to the Syrian Government.
How many human hearts do freedom-loving Syrian Rebels, fully supported by the USA and the UK, have to eat before someone works out that maybe the Rebels, with canisters of Sarin gas in their hip pockets, wouldn't be such a good abiding government there? I mean, for the people?
Best not to interfere with it really. let the locals work it out.
I believe Australia supports the heart eating chemical gas throwing Rebels too...
Hmmm. yes, now that's a really good idea...quite in keeping with the US Marine Base in Darwin...oh yes...that's what's important...hmmm

Dalai Lama

Has anyone noticed that it is not the Dalai Lama who self immolates himself as being meaningless to provide a protest to the China Government regarding his fellow Tibetan-Chinese compatriots?
Who does this horrible thing to themselves? Tibetan-Chinese youth, boys, so vulnerable, in a monastery, under all the good guidance there; un-named un-important pubescent boys, under his Buddha Love and Guidance. They do this as service to Him, His Holiness, and for their entry to Nirvana in the Mahayana Kalachakra Tradition. This is the deep sickness in the heart of Buddha Mindfulness. Medication is not be sufficient to stop the vulnerable from this programmed sickness of self-harm.  medication and education may not be enough to get beyond this deranged fundamentalist Ayatollah of Tibet Province in China. I would ask the China Govt, to prosecute the temple managers of these young boys with great prejudice. World Youth is our future, not born to be made tools for extreme fundamentalist hijinks.

Regarding the ongoing well planned self-immolation of young chinese buddhist youth in china

Response to online Tibetan province China guy regarding China invading Tibet...

"My friend, China cannot invade China. Australia cannot invade Arukun or Pormpurraw in remote Queensland. Tibet Province is part of China and has always been, and every country in the world acknowledges this formally, legally, as true.  The UN, and all its decisions, come from a general world consensus that this is actually true, as is the real human history.
Where China has fallen down in Tibet Province areas is in the provision of good mental health services to stop Tibetan-Chinese youth from committing suicide by setting themselves on fire.
This is a terrible thing.
In all countries in the world youth suicide is a terrible thing.
You are quite correct if noting that China is not doing enough in Tibet Province and in the surrounding provinces to provide adequate mental health services for all youth, especially the young men. Courses in meditation and Mindfulness would be most essential, as would a job and a social role. 
There are some very good videos I can send you about this.
The horrible thing about this form of youth suicide is the terrible pain for the person, and the shocking trauma for all the good people seeking to stop this from happening...and then dealing with that trauma for the rest of the life.
The good street sweeper has to deal with this horror for their whole life because this Buddhist boy obeyed his religion and sought special meaning, as the Arab youth do in strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up supermarkets.
Even the people who clean up the mess that remains are forever traumatised.
Yes, there are real social problems that China needs to address in Tibet Province, for sure. Perhaps if these young men had some job and some sense of self-worth, they would not be so easily persuaded by their religion that their lives meant nothing except a form of protest for not having a job in China even though the China Govt pays them to be Buddhist monks.
China has many problems and I do agree that the mental health in the Tibet Province is very important to address and to fix for the sake of all the people of China.
China needs to be very very direct in responding to this awful feeling of individual meaninglessness that some young men have in those places, and to make sure the practice is stopped at its start.

Moto Guzzi VII Le Mans at dusk, on the backroads in 2004. Heaven on Earth with a big rumble

The other thing that made the Moto Guzzi Tenni so special was the genuine salon brown suede leather seat that you could NEVER EVER get wet if you had any respect for it...so you could never ride the bike in the rain or park it outside overnight.
 
The 2002 model package came with a standard black seat included for when you actually wanted to ride the bike outside, and also included a full set of totally outstanding race muffler systems  designed only for their noise and through-put...along with the standard pipes..so you got the base bike, plus the suede for when you kept it inside, and the illegal pipes for when you didn't care who heard you coming.
Now THAT is perfect Italian design.

Hitler, Stalin & Mussolini

When comparing the  big players in that time it is interesting to note that both Hitler and Mussolini were Catholics...for sure...but the MOST interesting thing about them is this: Stalin and Hitler hated Jazz Music because it was so decadent, whilst Mussolini loved it. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Moto Guzzi and Jazz. Ride a Moto Guzzi Tenni Le Mans for a few hours then stop at a Jazz Club...aaaaaah.
In comparison, Winston Churchill only really came into his element when he drank that bottle of excellent French Champagne every morning before he made decisions on troop movements and bombing raids. 
They should have all spent more time riding Moto Guzzis and hanging around in Jazz clubs.