Paul Craig Roberts recently suggested an archly apt bumper sticker: “Be nice to America or we will bring democracy to your country.”
Our government does not bring democracy to countries. Raise your hand if you are naive enough to believe it does. Especially after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were launched (still ongoing). Those two countries are two of the five most corrupt countries in the world thanks to our craven "involvement" -- involvement a profoundly understating word.
What is going on in Syria should have our media and our citizenry paying close and suspicious attention to the war-mongering, corporate agenda-ed violence our government has continued to perpetrate and to hypocritically “spin” “spin” “spin” excuses for. You would think we would have learned. Apparently not. Thousands of human beings are being killed in Syria now, thousands of human beings are being displaced once again, many refugees from Iraq who have survived war insanity thanks to us already and now have to endure more horrors. There should be REAL compassion and empathy for these people. Attention to this fresh hell. The real REALITY of this fresh hell.
Daniel McAdams in "America's Syrian Jihad":
Anyone really paying attention to US policy in the Middle East these past several months must be wondering whether Washington has gone insane. US foreign policy under the triple threat of Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and Hillary Clinton has gone to openly supporting what the German intelligence services (echoed in several prominent and panicked mainstream German media sources) have found to be predominantly al-Qaeda-backed terrorist attacks inside Syria. Americans can be forgiven for scratching their heads at the reality that the United States government is actively supporting in Syria what it has spent the last eleven years fighting just a few thousand miles away in Afghanistan.
snip
"The Vatican has received reports deemed credible that Sunni rebels financed by Qatar were attacking churches and ordering Christians to leave their homes.
"The reports, which stemmed from leading Catholic clerics, said the most threatened were Christians in rebel-held areas of Syria.
"'The picture for us is utter desolation,' Bishop Philip Tournyol Clos, a Greek Catholic cleric, said.
snip
"The bishop, who holds the title of archimandrite, said a leading church in Syria, Mar Islamic jihadists backed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and, as we now know, supported by the US from a secret base in Turkey, have laid siege to the largest Syrian city, Aleppo, forcing the population to flee in terror.
snip
Sadly under US schizophrenic foreign policy "democracy is what we say it is," so because those three million residents of Aleppo who turned out to the streets in support of Assad are not favored by the US, they do not count as legitimate democratic voices.
Patrick Seale laments the crisis in Syria:
Once one of the most solid states in the Middle East and a key pivot of the regional power structure, Syria is now facing wholesale destruction. The consequences of the unfolding drama are likely to be disastrous for Syria’s territorial integrity, for the well-being of its population, for regional peace, and for the interests of external powers deeply involved in the crisis.
Patrick Seale's take:
The Western powers would be well advised to unite with Russia and China in putting maximum pressure on both sides to put up their arms and come to the table. Diplomacy, rather than war, is the only way to preserve what is left of Syria for its hard-pressed citizens.
For that we would need serious statespeople as governmental leaders committed to the welfare of human beings and not corporate global profit-making and patriarchal imperialism group-think. Sadly, they and the UN governance are not up to the task of brokering peace.
There was a lot of romanticized over-generalized propaganda in the mainstream western media about the “earnest and noble” rebels against the ruthless and inhumane Assad government forces. Some continue to fight on naively trusting their soon to betray foreign backers. Some have fled from the violence. Others have re-committed to the Assad regime out of terror of having their beloved country turned into another Iraq.
Our government is doing all it can to bend world opinion to its will to allow and even invite its direct rather than covert military involvement in “REGIME CHANGE” in Syria. The myth is that we are supporting the “Arab Spring” and humanitarianism when the collection of countries led by the US as “Friends of Syria” want to topple the Assad government in defiance of international law for avaricious corporate and strategic military advantages.
What is also incredibly CRAVEN is for our government to participate in toppling the Assad government by making use as said above of Al Qaeda fighters conveniently terrorizing the Syrian population to weaken Assad’s hold on them. Al Qaeda fighters, some the same who killed our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. You would think this might be a bigger deal with the mainstream media or even worth one serious mention (and not as manipulative justification for the US to cynically invade the country and bomb the sh*t out of it in order to save it from Al Qaeda that it enabled to be there in the first place.) But, no re the media. Their silence shows how sold out they are to the corporate overlords using the US military as a tool for amoral mass imperial piracy.
Chris Marsden of wsws:
Washington’s criminal actions in deliberately provoking a sectarian war in Syria are at the centre of a still greater crime. In order to secure unchallenged hegemony over vital oil supplies, the US is allying itself with Al Qaeda elements, the Muslim Brotherhood and Gulf despots to redraw the map of the Middle East in blood.
Dr. Ismail Salami on the Syrian situation:
It is sad to see that sinister forces are mobilized to accelerate the collapse of Syria with the ultimate goal of serving the imperialist interests of the US and the UK, strengthening the colonizing regime of Israel in the region and limiting the influence of Iran and Hezbollah.
All these vicious forces have helped turn Syria into a piece of votive beef in the hands of ravishing warmongers.
Naill Green in "Syrian ethnic, sectarian conflicts deepen as US plots to install client regime":
The Gulf sheikhdoms, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have supplied millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the Syrian opposition and pledged to pay salaries to “rebel” fighters. While Washington has claimed that it is providing “non-lethal” supplies to the opposition, such as night vision glasses and communications equipment, teams of CIA operatives are acknowledged to be working inside Turkey to coordinate the distribution of money and arms to the various militant groups.
snip
The United States and its allies are escalating their intervention in Syria despite growing concerns over the character of the Islamist forces they are supporting. Having stoked the conflict in Syria to the point of civil war, Washington now faces the prospect of an ethno-sectarian break-up of the country and the spread of fighting throughout the region.
snip
The piece, written by Vali Nasr, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, warns that if Assad should fall from power, over 100 different opposition groups inside Syria would continue to fight for power with each other and with members of the Alawite, Shiite, Christian, and Druze religious minorities, threatening to turn Syria into “a larger version of Lebanon in the 1970s … There would be ethnic cleansing, refugee floods, humanitarian disasters and opportunities for Al Qaeda.”
snip
Despite the danger to the lives of millions in Syria and throughout the Middle East, Washington and its allies are escalating their reckless proxy war.
Ben Schreiner expands on the scenario and how the US mainstream media is not addressing the real US behind the scenes involvement happening now in his article "Stoking the Syrian Inferno":
The bloody U.S.-led proxy war in Syria, laying unimaginable waste to its cities and people, escalates daily. For Washington, “all options” are now clearly in play in the quest for “regime change” in Damascus.
All such heightened U.S. support for the “Free” Syrian Army coincides with mounting evidence of rebel atrocities and an increasing al-Qaeda infiltration into the ranks of the armed opposition. Nonetheless, the U.S. facilitated arms spigot continues to pump increasingly lethal weapons to oppositional forces.
As NBC News reported this past week, the militarized Syrian opposition has now received its first batch of surface-to-air missiles via Washington’s N.A.T.O. ally Turkey. The blowback possibilities astound.
As one might expect, though, determining exactly who the C.I.A. is overseeing deliveries of surface-to-air missiles to, has been sidestepped by a U.S. press deeply infatuated by the ruggedly heroic image of the rebels it so eagerly nurtures. Just how allying with al-Qaeda fits into the ongoing U.S. “war on terror” is thus utterly ignored. Depending on the day then, al-Qaeda is either presented to the U.S. public as a menace to all who cherish freedom, or a necessary instrument in the “liberation” of Syria. Orwell would no doubt feel at home is such a world.
snip
The destruction of the Syrian state and the slaughter of its people, however, do not represent the grisly “collateral damage” of U.S. imperial ambitions, but rather a principal aim. After all, a fragmented and war-ravaged Syria presents nothing less than a strategic victory of sorts for Washington in its larger preoccupation with weakening Syria’s regional ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran. And any opportunity to target Iran, no matter the costs in human life and misery for the Syrian people, is to be taken.
Schreiner spells it out. A bloody civil war suits the US/NATO/Israel cabal. The deaths and displacement and maiming of thousands and thousands of Syrians and Middle Eastern refugees now living there does not matter as long as the bloody political/military game weakens Syria for the long range goal of imperialistic opportunism to weaken Iran and ultimately Russia and China.
Stephen Lendman in “US Proxy Al Qaeda Death Squads in Syria” reports on hard anecdotal evidence of atrocities being committed by terrorists enabled by US-led western countries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, etc. with intelligence, weapons, money, propaganda support, etc.
Washington's agenda involves death squad diplomacy. Evidence mounts proving it. It's standard practice in all US direct and proxy wars. It's how America treats its enemies.
Massacres and unspeakable atrocities are committed. Women are raped. Civilians are treated like combatants. They're indiscriminately killed.
snip
On July 11, German writer Jurgen Todenhofer confirmed the presence of Al Qaeda insurgents in Syria. He met with them, he said. He holds them and others like them responsible for mass terror attacks.
On July 24, Asia Times writer John Rosenthal headlined "German intelligence: al-Qaeda all over Syria," saying: "German intelligence estimates that 'around 90' terror attacks that 'can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups' were carried out in Syria between the end of December and the beginning of July, as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)."
snip
He visited the area. He interviewed an eyewitness. He left him unidentified for his safety. He was at Qara's Saint James Monastery. Victims were pro-Assad Sunnis, he said. Many people know what happened but won't say "out of fear for their lives."
"Whoever says something can only repeat the rebels' version. Anything else is certain death."
Hackensberger related similar stories. A former Qusayr resident said Christians and others refusing to "enroll their children in the Free Syrian Army" were shot. He held "foreign Islamists" responsible.
snip
A Homs Sunni resident told Hackensberger he witnessed armed insurgents stopping a bus. "The passengers were divided into two groups: on one side, Sunnis; on the other, Alawis."
Nine Alawis were decapitated.
Pepe Escobar has been writing realistic commentaries about the growing catastrophe in Syria for a good long while:
It’s 1980s Afghanistan all over again. The over 100 heavily armed gangs engaged in civil war in Syria are overflowing with Gulf Cooperation Council funds financing their Russian RPGs bought on the black market. Salafi-jihadis cross into Syria in droves — not only from Iraq but also Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia and Pakistan, following enraged calls by their imams. Kidnapping, raping and slaughtering pro-Assad regime civilians is becoming the law of the land.
They go after Christians with a vengeance. They force Iraqi exiles in Damascus to leave, especially those settled in Sayyida Zainab, the predominantly Shi’ite neighborhood named after Prophet Muhammad’s grand-daughter, buried in the beautiful local mosque. The BBC, to its credit, at least followed the story.
They perform summary executions; Iraq’s deputy interior minister Adnan al-Assadi told AFP how Iraqi border guards saw the Free Syrian Army (FSA) take control of a border outpost and then “executed 22 Syrian soldiers in front of the eyes of Iraqi soldiers”.
As it stands, the romanticized Syrian “rebels” plus the insurgents formerly known as terrorists cannot win against the Syria military — not even with the Saudis and Qataris showering them with loads of cash and weapons.
snip
Blowback meanwhile is ready to strike like the Medusa. What is for all practical purposes NATO-GCC mujahideen/jihadi death squads will be more than happy to bleed Syria across sectarian lines — in the sand and especially in urban areas. It’s hunting season now, not only for Alawites but also Christians (10% of the population).
A foreign policy that privileges Sunni jihadis formerly known as terrorists to create a “democratic” state in the Middle East seems to have been conjured by Bane — the Hannibal Lecter meets Darth Vader bad guy in The Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter of the Batman trilogy. And yes, we are his creators....
Pepe Escobar again:
Qatar and Saudi Arabia are taking no prisoners. No one in Washington seems to be looking back to post-jihad Afghanistan before making a decision. By the way, this is the 1980s Afghan jihad all over again - with Saudi Arabia and Qatar playing the role of Pakistan, the FSA as the glorious mujahideen "freedom fighters" and Obama as Ronald Reagan; the only element missing is Obama approving a "memorandum of notification" to his initial intelligence finding, authorizing Washington to weaponize the freedom fighters and introducing a swarm of drones.
Finian Cunningham also calls out the shock and awe terrorism campaign sponsored by the anti-Assad foreign powers using Al Qaeda terrorists.
Western-sponsored mercenaries have carried out numerous massacres and atrocities against civilians in recent months in a calculated bid to terrorise the general population into spurning the Assad government. The reign of terror is also being distorted in the Western media as being instigated by the Assad forces, thereby justifying Western sanctions and a NATO military intervention, as in Libya, in an unspoken campaign for regime change.
At the end of May, over 100 people, including women and children, were massacred in the village of Houla. Initially, that mass killing was blamed on the Assad forces, but subsequently it was shown that the victims were actually supporters of the government and that the slayings were, in fact, the grisly work of Western-backed Jihadi mercenaries, most of whom have infiltrated Syria from other countries, such as Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. A similar atrocity occurred the first week of June in the village of Qubair – again shown later to be the work of the Western-backed Jihadists, who are also known to be linked to Al Qaeda and other Western intelligence proxies, such as Blackwater (Xe) mercenaries.
snip
Such barbarity is in keeping with the brutality of the so-called rebel groups that have been terrorizing Syrian society at large. These groups have killed hundreds with no-warning car bombs in urban areas since the beginning of this year. They have kidnapped family members for ransoms, only to hand over mutilated corpses – cruelly after they had been paid off. These groups have fired on civilians from sniper positions on rooftops and on the minarets of mosques. They have machine-gunned busloads of pilgrims; they have derailed passenger trains.
snip
Another development is the attempt by Western media to portray the Jihadist and Al Qaeda groups as a distinct, minor appendage to the Free Syrian Army – a rogue element. What the video of the killings in Aleppo clearly confirms, however, is that such a distinction is more a figment of Western media imagination. The truth is that the Western governments, their intelligence and professional killers along with their Turk, Arab and Israeli allies have opened a terrorist Pandoro’s Box in Syria. And no amount of hairsplitting can close the lid on that heinous crime of aggression.
Paul Craig Roberts in "Syria: Washington’s Latest War Crime:
One wonders what Syrians are thinking as “rebels” vowing to “free Syria” take the country down the same road to destruction as “rebels” in Libya. Libya, under Gaddafi a well run country whose oil revenues were shared with the Libyan people instead of monopolized by a princely class as in Saudi Arabia, now has no government and is in disarray with contending factions vying for power.
Just as no one knew who the Libyan “rebels” were, with elements of al Qaeda reportedly among them, no one knows who the Syrian “rebels” are, or indeed if they are even rebels (Antiwar.com). Some “rebels” appear to be bandit groups who seize the opportunity to loot and to rape and set themselves up as the governments of villages and towns. Others appear to be al Qaeda. (Antiwar.com)
snip
The following is from a leaked intelligence document describing a previous Western terrorist intervention in Syria just in case any reader is so naive as to think that “our government would never do that.”
“In order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) forces, …a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals. …[to] be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, …
Once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic) incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals. …Incidents should not be concentrated in Damascus … Further: a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention… the CIA and SIS [MI6] should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.” (Joint US-UK leaked Intelligence Document, London and Washington, 1957) (globalreasearch.ca)
snip
Washington’s cover for its violent overthrow of other governments is always moralistic verbiage. First the target is demonized, and then Washington’s naked aggression is described as “bringing freedom and democracy,” “overthrowing a brutal dictator,” “protecting women’s rights.” Any assortment of cant words and phrases seems to work.
Patrick Seale calls out the faults on both side of the Syrian crisis:
With hindsight, it can be seen that President Bashar Al Assad missed the chance to reform the tight security state he inherited in 2000 from his father. Instead of recognising — and urgently addressing — the thirst for political freedoms, personal dignity and economic opportunity, which were the messages of the ‘Damascus Spring’ of his first year in power, he screwed the lid down ever more tightly.
Suffocating controls over every aspect of Syrian society were reinforced, and made harder to bear by the blatant corruption and privileges of the few and the hardships suffered by the many. Physical repression became routine. Instead of cleaning up his security apparatus, curbing police brutality and improving prison conditions, he allowed them to remain as gruesome and deplorable as ever.
snip
Syria and its Iranian ally are once again under imminent threat. The US and Israel make no secret of their goal to bring down both the Damascus and Tehran regimes. No doubt some Israeli strategists believe that it would be greatly to their country’s advantage if Syria were dismembered and permanently weakened by the creation of a small Alawite state around the port-city of Latakia in the northwest, in much the same way as Iraq was dismembered and permanently weakened by the creation of the Kurdish Regional Government in the north of the country, with its capital at Arbil.
snip
America, the dominant external power, has made many grievous policy blunders. Over the past several decades it failed to persuade its stubborn Israeli ally to make peace with the Palestinians, leading to peace with the whole Arab world. It embarked on catastrophic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It failed to reach a ‘grand bargain’ with Iran which would have dispelled the spectre of war in the Gulf and stabilised the volatile region. And it is now quarrelling with Moscow and reviving the Cold War by sabotaging Kofi Annan’s peace plan for Syria.
There can be no military solution to the Syrian crisis. The only way out of the nightmare is a ceasefire imposed on both sides, followed by negotiations and the formation of a national government to oversee a transition. Only thus can Syria avoid wholesale destruction, which could take a generation or two to repair.
But the destruction of Syria and once again the welfare of millions does not seem to matter to the world powers. Does it to you and me? When are we going to say no and not continue on as accessories to mass murder and bobbleheaded acceptors of mass insulting and surreal propaganda? But, what the hey, it's an election year. Team Obama and Team Romney don't seem to have time or heart for real REALITY, nor does the seductively powerful corporate media.
"Orwellian" doesn't begin to describe this ethical freakshow for those savvy and morally awake enough to grasp it.
[cross-posted at correntewire and sacramento for democracy]
------------------
Libby, I believe you and I read the same writers ..
Paul Craig Roberts is a great one . He,among so many others here,calls it the way it is .
Most Americans have no clue .Strong opinions,but no education or background of knowledge ..
Paul Craig Roberts is a great one . He,among so many others here,calls it the way it is .
Most Americans have no clue .Strong opinions,but no education or background of knowledge ..
Since it is obvious in the USA that the Supreme Court, Congress, and especially the executive section have actively destroyed whatever real democracy existed in the USA and replaced it with an idiot filled circus dancing to the tunes of the corporate and financial sectors, why should there be any suspicion it favors democracy anywhere else?
difficult to see how america can pride itself on defending democracy and extending it, since the usa is not a democracy, never was and on purpose. i gues it's the same human capabilty that allowed the catholic church to burn anyone who didn't toe the line regarding worship.
in any event, thx for outlining the current american contribution to hell in the middle east, i haven't got the energy anymore. fortunately, long, long experience allows me to simply to ask what the usa is doing, and then opposing it.
in any event, thx for outlining the current american contribution to hell in the middle east, i haven't got the energy anymore. fortunately, long, long experience allows me to simply to ask what the usa is doing, and then opposing it.
Great post. I think it's safe to say that most, if not all, the "al Qaeda" fighters identified by name in the media have, at some point, worked for US intelligence - just like bin Laden. The CIA has been playing this game for a long time. They pay mercenaries to create political instability and then send in the Marines to settle it down.
This needs to be an Editors Pick or Peoples Choice. Either way. The fact that the US is allowing Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have Al Queda forces do their dirty work for them is gobsmacking. We love our 9/11 piety. But what happens when AQ does another dirty job in the Middle East? Predictions are that the Saudis and Qataris will get their asses bitten BIG TIME from this little caper. And it can happen in a million ways.
The US should be doing everything it possibly can to cooperate with the Russians on this. I would see ultimately a UN / Arab League / Russian peacekeeping force stationed in Syria. This would have the best chance of stabilizing the situation in the long run.
But of course as I said in my recent blog on Syria, that may not happen because the conflagration of Syria by that time may have spread all over the Middle East to Allah knows where.
The US should be doing everything it possibly can to cooperate with the Russians on this. I would see ultimately a UN / Arab League / Russian peacekeeping force stationed in Syria. This would have the best chance of stabilizing the situation in the long run.
But of course as I said in my recent blog on Syria, that may not happen because the conflagration of Syria by that time may have spread all over the Middle East to Allah knows where.
Michel Chossudovsky wrote in his
Towards A "Soft Invasion"? The Launching of a "Humanitarian War" against Syria :
"The war on Syria is part of an integrated Worldwide military agenda. The road to Tehran goes through Damascus. Iran, Russia, China and North Korea are also being threatened."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32170
I agree with him and with you. I wrote myself earlier:
---
Obama's administration needs to do all this, because they ... want to get Iran, too... I think the whole 'Arab Spring' was already from the beginning arranged by the US and NATO. Syria is the last victim before Iran.
Russians and Chinese have so far saved the world from the bigger war. We'll see what happens if Americans will manage the regime change in Syria. Maybe Obama's regime will then attack Iran, too.
http://open.salon.com/blog/hannu_virtanen/2011/04/27/autonomous_risings
---
We are now watching Chossudovsky's steps 3. andf 4.
" 3. The killings of innocent civilians by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are deliberately carried out as part of a covert intelligence operation. (See SYRIA: Killing Innocent Civilians as part of a US Covert Op. Mobilizing Public Support for a R2P War against Syria, Global Research, May 2012)
4. The Syrian government is then blamed for the resulting atrocities. Media disinformation is geared towards demonizing the Syrian government. Public opinion is led into endorsing a military intervention on humanitarian grounds. "
---
Is there any way to get te reality more widely published?
Towards A "Soft Invasion"? The Launching of a "Humanitarian War" against Syria :
"The war on Syria is part of an integrated Worldwide military agenda. The road to Tehran goes through Damascus. Iran, Russia, China and North Korea are also being threatened."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32170
I agree with him and with you. I wrote myself earlier:
---
Obama's administration needs to do all this, because they ... want to get Iran, too... I think the whole 'Arab Spring' was already from the beginning arranged by the US and NATO. Syria is the last victim before Iran.
Russians and Chinese have so far saved the world from the bigger war. We'll see what happens if Americans will manage the regime change in Syria. Maybe Obama's regime will then attack Iran, too.
http://open.salon.com/blog/hannu_virtanen/2011/04/27/autonomous_risings
---
We are now watching Chossudovsky's steps 3. andf 4.
" 3. The killings of innocent civilians by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are deliberately carried out as part of a covert intelligence operation. (See SYRIA: Killing Innocent Civilians as part of a US Covert Op. Mobilizing Public Support for a R2P War against Syria, Global Research, May 2012)
4. The Syrian government is then blamed for the resulting atrocities. Media disinformation is geared towards demonizing the Syrian government. Public opinion is led into endorsing a military intervention on humanitarian grounds. "
---
Is there any way to get te reality more widely published?
Libby so it goes. Treaties made in order to trade in the dessert. Thousands of years and it is still the same. The road to Damascus.
The fate of the Palestinians. The survival of Israel. The thrones atop the oil fields. The monarchs and the clerics. The United States is a relatively new player. We are being played as we expand our invisible empire. It is all too much for me. Peace is not everlasting.
War is inevitable.
The fate of the Palestinians. The survival of Israel. The thrones atop the oil fields. The monarchs and the clerics. The United States is a relatively new player. We are being played as we expand our invisible empire. It is all too much for me. Peace is not everlasting.
War is inevitable.
I'll have to check back on all the stories here; but I'm sure they're good points. If I remember correctly when we were fighting Gulf war I and II against Iraq the Iraq army was among the most powerful in the area and the Syrian army wasn't that big of a deal comparatively, or so we were told. After the fact the Iraqi army wasn't nearly as powerful and in Gulf war II of course the WMD was a blatant lie and I even knew that before the war without any inside information; so would anyone who paid attention to the coverage two years earlier and saw how it changed.
Now it is Syria and perhaps Iran that are the worst in the world; the story after the fact will be ......
Now it is Syria and perhaps Iran that are the worst in the world; the story after the fact will be ......
I think of Pete Seegers Song
`
Last Night I Had A Beautiful Dream
There was a End To War. People Smiled.
Thet Studied War No More. Destroyed Arm.
Munition Arms - No Wall Street Arm Merchants.
`
I have dreamed K- Street in DC Was Bombed.
All Merchants Lost Everything. Total PayBack.
Robbery.
The Old Fashion 'CutThroats Roamed Streets.
Lawlessness.
I go ride on:
`
Embassy Row.
`
Nothing OPens.
You smell carrion.
Dogs pick bones.
`
sad dreams? Weep.
`
cc
`
Ay Courage
Thank You
Tell Truths
`
`
Last Night I Had A Beautiful Dream
There was a End To War. People Smiled.
Thet Studied War No More. Destroyed Arm.
Munition Arms - No Wall Street Arm Merchants.
`
I have dreamed K- Street in DC Was Bombed.
All Merchants Lost Everything. Total PayBack.
Robbery.
The Old Fashion 'CutThroats Roamed Streets.
Lawlessness.
I go ride on:
`
Embassy Row.
`
Nothing OPens.
You smell carrion.
Dogs pick bones.
`
sad dreams? Weep.
`
cc
`
Ay Courage
Thank You
Tell Truths
`
Mission, so good to see you and thank you! Paul Craig Roberts I respect so much. It is tragic and horrifying. The propaganda fully saturating the tv now prevents the ugly truth from getting out and of course people's natural assumption that their elected officials are not perpetrating EVIL. Even with hard evidence there is a tendency to embrace denial and minimization! thanks for commenting! best, libby xxx
Jan, we are at such a dire point it is true. I read recently the phrase "corporatized democracy" which means to me fascism.
The matrix! The matrix we are lost in. The blanket or rather net we are caught in of lies, some continuing and cynically and even called out in the past when used still showing up again, continuing lies like claiming to bring democracy to poor civilians desperate enough to believe and trust our governmental leaders when that is so not sincere ... when humanitarian corridor translates into bombing the sh*t out of the people you are proclaiming you want to save. What evil. Sociopathic gamesmanship. It makes me literally want to vomit.
Thanks for commenting. I am gratified to get readers and comments for this as I watch the horrifying enabling of the media to assert propaganda whether MSNBC or BBC. The one percent overlords have infected with their amorality, money and power international mainstream media. The hypnosis of that is profound. I need to go back and finish commenting on my last blog, but I agree with II about the power of the tv and what evil it can sustain and promote. best, libby
The matrix! The matrix we are lost in. The blanket or rather net we are caught in of lies, some continuing and cynically and even called out in the past when used still showing up again, continuing lies like claiming to bring democracy to poor civilians desperate enough to believe and trust our governmental leaders when that is so not sincere ... when humanitarian corridor translates into bombing the sh*t out of the people you are proclaiming you want to save. What evil. Sociopathic gamesmanship. It makes me literally want to vomit.
Thanks for commenting. I am gratified to get readers and comments for this as I watch the horrifying enabling of the media to assert propaganda whether MSNBC or BBC. The one percent overlords have infected with their amorality, money and power international mainstream media. The hypnosis of that is profound. I need to go back and finish commenting on my last blog, but I agree with II about the power of the tv and what evil it can sustain and promote. best, libby
al, thanks for your comment. I so relate about the sad situation of if the USA is endorsing something it should be suspect with sociopathic gamesmanship at bottom. I recently re-posted a blog that I realized I do not have energy and heart for today and I am glad I wrote it and it continues sadly to be relevant. The war atrocities. We are in the movie Ground Hog Day in that we can't seem get to peace from here. Clearly with the upcoming election there is no option to vote for peace with the two major candidates and the citizenry shrugs off the alternatives which makes me so sad and weary. I spent two weeks reading all I could about the real stuff going on in Syria and there is plenty out there but not in the mainstream media. I watch the NewsHour and other shows and the "propaganda line" is honored. It is so in your face frightening and insulting and horrifying! best, libby
Stuart, thanks for reminding me and us of the covert USA CIA assets that we train in the art of guerilla fighting and war making and destabilization. And then we demonize and turn on when we have set in motion such ugliness. I heard someone once talk about the "he hit me back" game of crazymaking faux-defensiveness. We got plenty of that among our US war mongers like Hillary and that Susan Rice woman shrieking about how outraged they are by the violence of other governments when our government has perpetrated such gratuitous violence for so many decades and is hungering to do more! We need a paradigm shift from patriarchal power and control and competition to partnership and cooperation and empathy. I don't know how the US public can leave mass zombie state since the media is so saturated with propaganda for institutionalized sociopathy and evil. Obama is the front man for evil. Romney will be the front man for evil if he wins. We need the will of the citizenry and they are lost to learned helplessness, so many. But not all and I believe we who are not lost to learned helplessness must keep on as messengers. best, libby
ONL, thanks for your support with all this. I would appreciate it if you did nominate this for a Reader's Choice blog not for my ego's sake but because I would like this information spread as much as possible -- the truth about what our government is doing to the Syrian people by enabling the terrorists to weaken the Assad government. The ends should not justify these evil evil evil means. And the ends are once again 1 percenters' profiteering. Profits uber human lives!
Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Turkey are colluding with us to harm the Syrian people, as well as Israel, UK, France and now Germany is becoming more and more committed to this REGIME CHANGE illegitimate power aggrandizing!!! Proxy warring is insane. When will we get it??????
Thank you for writing this:
" The fact that the US is allowing Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have Al Queda forces do their dirty work for them is gobsmacking. We love our 9/11 piety. But what happens when AQ does another dirty job in the Middle East? Predictions are that the Saudis and Qataris will get their asses bitten BIG TIME from this little caper. And it can happen in a million ways."
We are setting up WWIII, in fact I think we are perpetrating WWIII. Remember when the US leaders shrieked about communist dominos falling -- we are doing what we used to say we were fighting against.
The US is not sincere. If only it would sincerely work with China and Russia to broker peace. As Pepe Escobar says R2P is used as "right to plunder". China and Russia's vetoes saved the Syrians for a time. Too bad they didn't use them to save so many in Libya.
Many have warned about the bloodbath, a sustained bloodbath, in Syria if civil war was stoked by the external foreign powers for their ulterior motives. These bastards will now cynically feign surprise and concern and act innocent and called upon to "help" with militarization, which was their vile plan all along.
I know that the pretext to become involved will bring on more drones (the shamelessness of Obama and our government is bottomless) and US lives to be lost in addition. In Syria the call will be once again to fight Al Qaeda when Al Qaeda was useful to these amoral countries to weaken the Assad regime. We are just as much a terrorist as Al Qaeda and we have more mass killing weapons! Though we have done all we can to send weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia to let it do the dirty work for US imperialism.
Unintended consequences will be cruel but our leadership and more tragically our citizenry don't seem to learn from them. And what I used to think were unintended consequences turn out to be the intended consequences whereby these bigger countries with disaster capitalism and shock and awe as tool don't care if peace is achieved in a country, we are no longer nation building, we are nation unbuilding and don't give a sh*t that Iraq and Afghanistan are two of the five most corrupt countries in the world.
The fact that the media is a tool of propaganda totally now, the mainstream media, does not offer much hope. We must spread the truth ourselves for as long as we can.
best, libby
Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Turkey are colluding with us to harm the Syrian people, as well as Israel, UK, France and now Germany is becoming more and more committed to this REGIME CHANGE illegitimate power aggrandizing!!! Proxy warring is insane. When will we get it??????
Thank you for writing this:
" The fact that the US is allowing Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have Al Queda forces do their dirty work for them is gobsmacking. We love our 9/11 piety. But what happens when AQ does another dirty job in the Middle East? Predictions are that the Saudis and Qataris will get their asses bitten BIG TIME from this little caper. And it can happen in a million ways."
We are setting up WWIII, in fact I think we are perpetrating WWIII. Remember when the US leaders shrieked about communist dominos falling -- we are doing what we used to say we were fighting against.
The US is not sincere. If only it would sincerely work with China and Russia to broker peace. As Pepe Escobar says R2P is used as "right to plunder". China and Russia's vetoes saved the Syrians for a time. Too bad they didn't use them to save so many in Libya.
Many have warned about the bloodbath, a sustained bloodbath, in Syria if civil war was stoked by the external foreign powers for their ulterior motives. These bastards will now cynically feign surprise and concern and act innocent and called upon to "help" with militarization, which was their vile plan all along.
I know that the pretext to become involved will bring on more drones (the shamelessness of Obama and our government is bottomless) and US lives to be lost in addition. In Syria the call will be once again to fight Al Qaeda when Al Qaeda was useful to these amoral countries to weaken the Assad regime. We are just as much a terrorist as Al Qaeda and we have more mass killing weapons! Though we have done all we can to send weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia to let it do the dirty work for US imperialism.
Unintended consequences will be cruel but our leadership and more tragically our citizenry don't seem to learn from them. And what I used to think were unintended consequences turn out to be the intended consequences whereby these bigger countries with disaster capitalism and shock and awe as tool don't care if peace is achieved in a country, we are no longer nation building, we are nation unbuilding and don't give a sh*t that Iraq and Afghanistan are two of the five most corrupt countries in the world.
The fact that the media is a tool of propaganda totally now, the mainstream media, does not offer much hope. We must spread the truth ourselves for as long as we can.
best, libby
Hannu, thank you for your contribution. I wish we could spread this truth more widely, too. I want to start writing to media outlets and demanding the truth be told. We need more and more citizens talking to each other about the truth and not bobbling their heads at mainstream media. That damn magic box. And NYT and Washington Post are such tools for war now. It is shameless.
"Soft invasion." Yeah that says it and it creeps me out. Proxy warring. Shameless. And the lies!!! Lie to your country. Obama is the champion of that and people apologize or celebrate him. it makes me gasp.
Yes, you are right:
"Obama's administration needs to do all this, because they ... want to get Iran, too... I think the whole 'Arab Spring' was already from the beginning arranged by the US and NATO. Syria is the last victim before Iran.
"Russians and Chinese have so far saved the world from the bigger war. We'll see what happens if Americans will manage the regime change in Syria. Maybe Obama's regime will then attack Iran, too."
I will read your blog and thank you!
I think the Arab Spring was natural but I think it was quickly and is being co-opted by the faux-democracy claiming US and the infowar is still exploiting the idea of it and reassuring people western governments give a sh*t about human welfare. Obama's speech in Cairo was one massive lie that so many people wanted to believe. Wow. What if Obama had begun to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. What a different world it could be.
best, libby
"Soft invasion." Yeah that says it and it creeps me out. Proxy warring. Shameless. And the lies!!! Lie to your country. Obama is the champion of that and people apologize or celebrate him. it makes me gasp.
Yes, you are right:
"Obama's administration needs to do all this, because they ... want to get Iran, too... I think the whole 'Arab Spring' was already from the beginning arranged by the US and NATO. Syria is the last victim before Iran.
"Russians and Chinese have so far saved the world from the bigger war. We'll see what happens if Americans will manage the regime change in Syria. Maybe Obama's regime will then attack Iran, too."
I will read your blog and thank you!
I think the Arab Spring was natural but I think it was quickly and is being co-opted by the faux-democracy claiming US and the infowar is still exploiting the idea of it and reassuring people western governments give a sh*t about human welfare. Obama's speech in Cairo was one massive lie that so many people wanted to believe. Wow. What if Obama had begun to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. What a different world it could be.
best, libby
Ande, thanks for visiting and commenting.
WAR SHOULD NOT BE INEVITABLE.
We need to not surrender to despair and boy I know it is hard not to. The shamelessness and evil and mendacity and corruption is stunning.
best, libby
WAR SHOULD NOT BE INEVITABLE.
We need to not surrender to despair and boy I know it is hard not to. The shamelessness and evil and mendacity and corruption is stunning.
best, libby
ZachD, great to see you. I remember way back in the First Gulf War all the fast talk and bullshit happening. I also noticed that many of my anti-Vietnam war friends had become hawks and didn't get right away that many being Jewish they were pro-war when it came to Middle East war since they asserted that would help Israel. They were wrong then and are wrong now.
I remember how the media celebrated few US deaths and ignored the hundreds of thousands of Iraq deaths. it was stunning. And the stud missiles were such a big friggen deal.
Yes, I remember watching Ted Koppel talking about the possibility of WMDs for the Iraq War and I was stunned since I knew thoroughly in my heart of hearts it was a lie!!! What was his problem????
Would Obama launch an Iran War even to win the election in Novemeber? You betcha and that is so frightening and ugly and shameless!
best, libby
I remember how the media celebrated few US deaths and ignored the hundreds of thousands of Iraq deaths. it was stunning. And the stud missiles were such a big friggen deal.
Yes, I remember watching Ted Koppel talking about the possibility of WMDs for the Iraq War and I was stunned since I knew thoroughly in my heart of hearts it was a lie!!! What was his problem????
Would Obama launch an Iran War even to win the election in Novemeber? You betcha and that is so frightening and ugly and shameless!
best, libby
Art, Pete Seeger songs call to our hearts and souls. Thanks.
"I have dreamed K- Street in DC Was Bombed. All Merchants Lost Everything. Total PayBack." Relate to your rage.
I believe in Karma, but I believe the rat bastards destroy a lot of innocent lives before Karma visits them, sadly. May they burn in HELL, these sociopaths whose lying becomes all the more a grotesque gamesmanship art form that treats the sanctity of human life like a used kleenex!!!!!
Take care. best, libby
"I have dreamed K- Street in DC Was Bombed. All Merchants Lost Everything. Total PayBack." Relate to your rage.
I believe in Karma, but I believe the rat bastards destroy a lot of innocent lives before Karma visits them, sadly. May they burn in HELL, these sociopaths whose lying becomes all the more a grotesque gamesmanship art form that treats the sanctity of human life like a used kleenex!!!!!
Take care. best, libby
Libby--I just wanted to let you know that I've read this. I respect the fact that you've spent the time to educate yourself about the Syrian situation and ashamed that I skim over so many world news articles and don't have anywhere near your level of knowledge. I don't feel comfortable making a substantive comment but am going to try and better educate myself, starting with some of the commentaries you mention.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/turk-a08.shtml
This from an article by Bill Van Auken in wsws:
"Gettleman’s article in the Times is unusually frank about the character of this violence. The Syrian conflict, he writes, increasingly “degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown,” while there has been a “surge of foreign jihadists streaming into Turkey, en route to fight a holy war on Syrian battlefields.” He adds, “Many jihadists are fixated on turning Syria, which under the Assad family’s rule has been one of the most secular countries in the Middle East, into a pure Islamist state.”
"Citing fears of persecution within the Alevi minority population in Hatay, as well as its support for Assad, Gettleman writes: “Part of this sentiment may be self-protective. The Syrian rebels hardly conceal a vicious sectarian antipathy. Khaldoun al-Rajab, an officer with the Free Syrian Army, said he witnessed two Alawites in a car take a wrong turn in Homs and end up in a Sunni neighborhood. ‘Of course they were arrested and killed by the rebels,’ he said.”
"These are the forces that the CIA, working together with the Turkish, Saudi and Qatari regimes, is arming, “advising” and training to carry out mayhem inside Syria.
"What this article reveals—particularly given its appearance in the pages of the New York Times—is extraordinary. The Times has served as an enthusiastic conduit for the propaganda campaign waged by the US and its allies in support of regime-change in Syria. It has routinely written about Syria’s Alawite population as if it were synonymous with the Assad regime and deserved to be attacked.
In shifting the lens to Turkey, the Gettleman article blows up all of the pretexts provided by Washington for its intervention in Syria. This intervention is not about “democracy” or “human rights”. Rather, it is about the deliberate provocation—in league with Al Qaeda elements—of a dirty sectarian war aimed at reordering the Middle East in the interests of US imperialism and its principal regional ally, Israel.
"Washington’s geo-political aims in the region are clear: to establish US military hegemony over the region’s vast energy reserves as well as the means of delivering them to the major powers, including its principal economic rivals in Europe and Asia. The Syrian intervention follows the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya, all waged for similar ends.
"Nor are the criminal methods used to these ends in Syria all that new. A similar operation was mounted by the CIA in Afghanistan in the early 1980s, working with much the same forces: Saudi Arabia and reactionary Islamic fundamentalist forces, including Osama bin Laden and the others who established Al Qaeda. Earlier, Washington had relied on Muslim fundamentalist groups as shock troops in carrying out the mass slaughter of members and supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the aftermath of the right-wing CIA-backed coup that toppled President Sukarno in 1965.
"What distinguishes the intervention in Syria is Washington’s use of the sectarian carnage it has whipped up there as a proxy war aimed at destroying Iranian influence throughout the region and setting the stage for a war against Iran itself. These far-ranging objectives drive the growing threat of sectarian bloodshed spreading across the Middle East.
"The other new political feature of the Syrian intervention is the ability of American and European imperialism to rally behind their objectives an international coterie of pseudo-left organizations that have swallowed whole the lying pretexts about “democracy” and “human rights.” They have in many cases made their own unique contribution, portraying the Islamic fundamentalist and pro-Western forces armed and backed by Washington, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey as “revolutionary.”
This from an article by Bill Van Auken in wsws:
"Gettleman’s article in the Times is unusually frank about the character of this violence. The Syrian conflict, he writes, increasingly “degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown,” while there has been a “surge of foreign jihadists streaming into Turkey, en route to fight a holy war on Syrian battlefields.” He adds, “Many jihadists are fixated on turning Syria, which under the Assad family’s rule has been one of the most secular countries in the Middle East, into a pure Islamist state.”
"Citing fears of persecution within the Alevi minority population in Hatay, as well as its support for Assad, Gettleman writes: “Part of this sentiment may be self-protective. The Syrian rebels hardly conceal a vicious sectarian antipathy. Khaldoun al-Rajab, an officer with the Free Syrian Army, said he witnessed two Alawites in a car take a wrong turn in Homs and end up in a Sunni neighborhood. ‘Of course they were arrested and killed by the rebels,’ he said.”
"These are the forces that the CIA, working together with the Turkish, Saudi and Qatari regimes, is arming, “advising” and training to carry out mayhem inside Syria.
"What this article reveals—particularly given its appearance in the pages of the New York Times—is extraordinary. The Times has served as an enthusiastic conduit for the propaganda campaign waged by the US and its allies in support of regime-change in Syria. It has routinely written about Syria’s Alawite population as if it were synonymous with the Assad regime and deserved to be attacked.
In shifting the lens to Turkey, the Gettleman article blows up all of the pretexts provided by Washington for its intervention in Syria. This intervention is not about “democracy” or “human rights”. Rather, it is about the deliberate provocation—in league with Al Qaeda elements—of a dirty sectarian war aimed at reordering the Middle East in the interests of US imperialism and its principal regional ally, Israel.
"Washington’s geo-political aims in the region are clear: to establish US military hegemony over the region’s vast energy reserves as well as the means of delivering them to the major powers, including its principal economic rivals in Europe and Asia. The Syrian intervention follows the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya, all waged for similar ends.
"Nor are the criminal methods used to these ends in Syria all that new. A similar operation was mounted by the CIA in Afghanistan in the early 1980s, working with much the same forces: Saudi Arabia and reactionary Islamic fundamentalist forces, including Osama bin Laden and the others who established Al Qaeda. Earlier, Washington had relied on Muslim fundamentalist groups as shock troops in carrying out the mass slaughter of members and supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the aftermath of the right-wing CIA-backed coup that toppled President Sukarno in 1965.
"What distinguishes the intervention in Syria is Washington’s use of the sectarian carnage it has whipped up there as a proxy war aimed at destroying Iranian influence throughout the region and setting the stage for a war against Iran itself. These far-ranging objectives drive the growing threat of sectarian bloodshed spreading across the Middle East.
"The other new political feature of the Syrian intervention is the ability of American and European imperialism to rally behind their objectives an international coterie of pseudo-left organizations that have swallowed whole the lying pretexts about “democracy” and “human rights.” They have in many cases made their own unique contribution, portraying the Islamic fundamentalist and pro-Western forces armed and backed by Washington, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey as “revolutionary.”
jlsathre, thank you for reading and commenting. I respect what you are saying. I am saying some very hard things about what is happening and believe me it feels surreal for me in a way, also considering how few voices share the horror I am addressing.
I do not want to be an apologist for oppressive leaders, but I am convinced the US continues to violate international law with profound deadly consequences. I watched the NewsHour tonight and it was so slanted to the plight of the rebels and calling on Amnesty International pro-rebel feedback which I have donated money to over the years, but I think Amnesty International and other foundations are getting politically co-opted. It seems the International Red Cross is holding firm and calling out war crimes and ignoring political pressure!!!
It is a nightmare!!!! I think of what Madeline Albright saying "We think that the price is worth it" when challenged that 500,000 innocent Iraqi children had died from sanctions against Iraq. NO, IT IS NOT!!!! HOW DARE SHE AND PEOPLE LIKE HER, LIKE HILLARY AND OBAMA, MAKE THESE TERRIBLE CHOICES FOR IMPERIALISM, NOT DEFENSE, BUT IMPERIALISM!!!
They say corporations have the "legal person" personality profiles of psychopaths! So much of our leadership now is responding to the needs of corporations and their handlers and those priorities are pscyhopathic ... profits uber human beings!!! I saw recently the phrase "corporatized democracy". To me that is fascism!
Thanks so much for giving me a listen on this.
best, libby
I do not want to be an apologist for oppressive leaders, but I am convinced the US continues to violate international law with profound deadly consequences. I watched the NewsHour tonight and it was so slanted to the plight of the rebels and calling on Amnesty International pro-rebel feedback which I have donated money to over the years, but I think Amnesty International and other foundations are getting politically co-opted. It seems the International Red Cross is holding firm and calling out war crimes and ignoring political pressure!!!
It is a nightmare!!!! I think of what Madeline Albright saying "We think that the price is worth it" when challenged that 500,000 innocent Iraqi children had died from sanctions against Iraq. NO, IT IS NOT!!!! HOW DARE SHE AND PEOPLE LIKE HER, LIKE HILLARY AND OBAMA, MAKE THESE TERRIBLE CHOICES FOR IMPERIALISM, NOT DEFENSE, BUT IMPERIALISM!!!
They say corporations have the "legal person" personality profiles of psychopaths! So much of our leadership now is responding to the needs of corporations and their handlers and those priorities are pscyhopathic ... profits uber human beings!!! I saw recently the phrase "corporatized democracy". To me that is fascism!
Thanks so much for giving me a listen on this.
best, libby
I think that Michel Chossudovsky in his article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32170
is telling most of the things needed to understand what is going on in Syria.
"The US-NATO-Israel military alliance has chosen to intervene under the diabolical R2P frame of "humanitarian warfare".
And
"Their final objective is "regime change" leading to the "break-up of the country" along sectarian lines and/or the installation of an "Islamist-dominated or influenced regime" modelled on Qatar and Saudi Arabia."
Are there available any ways to stop them?
The biggest military obstacle to the US-NATO-Israel military alliance is of course Russia. Russians might have the right capacities to stop them. Of course 'the alliance' knew it beforehand that Russians would be on their way in in order to stop them and thy have taken preventive steps to weaken Russians. But wars are often full of unexpected moves...
But I think that the biggest obstacle might anyway be American public.
Again, like in the case of Libya Obama's administration is not trying to hide frm the public the fact that they want in Syria the regime change and that the military agenda to achieve that is to break Syria into pieces at least socially if not even geographically.
Does the Obama admistration still have the necessary social support in America to continue these criminal wars? When will this madness end?
There is still some hope. During the times of the Vietnam war the American public had real impacts to stop the war.
Now the time of elections are already quite near. A right kind of candidate with the campaign to end American wars in Middle East migh be able to do it?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32170
is telling most of the things needed to understand what is going on in Syria.
"The US-NATO-Israel military alliance has chosen to intervene under the diabolical R2P frame of "humanitarian warfare".
And
"Their final objective is "regime change" leading to the "break-up of the country" along sectarian lines and/or the installation of an "Islamist-dominated or influenced regime" modelled on Qatar and Saudi Arabia."
Are there available any ways to stop them?
The biggest military obstacle to the US-NATO-Israel military alliance is of course Russia. Russians might have the right capacities to stop them. Of course 'the alliance' knew it beforehand that Russians would be on their way in in order to stop them and thy have taken preventive steps to weaken Russians. But wars are often full of unexpected moves...
But I think that the biggest obstacle might anyway be American public.
Again, like in the case of Libya Obama's administration is not trying to hide frm the public the fact that they want in Syria the regime change and that the military agenda to achieve that is to break Syria into pieces at least socially if not even geographically.
Does the Obama admistration still have the necessary social support in America to continue these criminal wars? When will this madness end?
There is still some hope. During the times of the Vietnam war the American public had real impacts to stop the war.
Now the time of elections are already quite near. A right kind of candidate with the campaign to end American wars in Middle East migh be able to do it?
This is an excellent piece of work, Libby. The events unfolding in Syria are utterly heartbreaking. Having visited the place myself just two years ago, the thought that those friendly people I met are being butchered, those peaceful streets and beautiful monuments I admired are now bombed and cratered, devastates me. The conflicts there are partially self-generated, but the least the rest of us can do is stop pouring gasoline on the wildfire.
Rated - with sadness.
Rated - with sadness.
By the way, say what you will about the cruel Assad regime, the man is at least secular. What most struck me about the society there was how widespread fundamentalism is, e.g. very young women dressed totally in black, from head to toe, who even had to reach under their veils to eat in restaurants. Some of the opinions I heard expressed could have come straight from Bin Laden. The thought that these forces now have free reign in this former multireligious and secular state terrifies me. Interference is a war crime.
I wrote: "But I think that the biggest obstacle might anyway be American public."
I think it is a high time, common Americans should start asking Obama's administration questions about the wars, which their country is fighting.
In Europe news are spreading that Americans are supporting in Syria such rebels, whom they have themselves classified as 'terorists'.
Please read:
http://www.blacklistednews.com/German_Intelligence:_“al-Qaeda”_All_Over_Syria/20704/0/0/0/Y/M.html
German Intelligence: “al-Qaeda” All Over Syria
July 26, 2012
Print Version
Source: Ammon News
German intelligence estimates that “around 90″ terror attacks that “can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups” were carried out in Syria between the end of December and the beginning of July, as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). This was revealed by the German government in a response to a parliamentary question.
In response to the same question, the German government admitted that it had received several reports from the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, on the May 25 massacre in the Syrian town of Houla. But it noted that the content of these reports was to remain classified “by reason of national interest”, Like many other Western governments, Germany expelled Syria’s ambassador in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, holding the Syrian government responsible for the violence.
Meanwhile, at least three major German newspapers – Die Welt, the FAZ, and the mass-market tabloid Bild – have published reports attributing responsibility for the massacre to anti-government rebel forces or treating this as the most probable scenario.
Writing in Bild, longtime German war correspondent Jurgen Todenhofer accused the rebels of “deliberately killing civilians and then presenting them as victims of the government”. He described this “massacre-marketing strategy” as being “among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict”. Todenhofer had recently been to Damascus, where he interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Germany’s ARD public television.
I think it is a high time, common Americans should start asking Obama's administration questions about the wars, which their country is fighting.
In Europe news are spreading that Americans are supporting in Syria such rebels, whom they have themselves classified as 'terorists'.
Please read:
http://www.blacklistednews.com/German_Intelligence:_“al-Qaeda”_All_Over_Syria/20704/0/0/0/Y/M.html
German Intelligence: “al-Qaeda” All Over Syria
July 26, 2012
Print Version
Source: Ammon News
German intelligence estimates that “around 90″ terror attacks that “can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups” were carried out in Syria between the end of December and the beginning of July, as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). This was revealed by the German government in a response to a parliamentary question.
In response to the same question, the German government admitted that it had received several reports from the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, on the May 25 massacre in the Syrian town of Houla. But it noted that the content of these reports was to remain classified “by reason of national interest”, Like many other Western governments, Germany expelled Syria’s ambassador in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, holding the Syrian government responsible for the violence.
Meanwhile, at least three major German newspapers – Die Welt, the FAZ, and the mass-market tabloid Bild – have published reports attributing responsibility for the massacre to anti-government rebel forces or treating this as the most probable scenario.
Writing in Bild, longtime German war correspondent Jurgen Todenhofer accused the rebels of “deliberately killing civilians and then presenting them as victims of the government”. He described this “massacre-marketing strategy” as being “among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict”. Todenhofer had recently been to Damascus, where he interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Germany’s ARD public television.
There is maybe something new going on.
Iran has hinted that they might be able to provide to Obama a way out.
Please check:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/solution_for_syria_loc/?bbudJcb&v=28859
Iran has hinted that they might be able to provide to Obama a way out.
Please check:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/solution_for_syria_loc/?bbudJcb&v=28859
Here is a link for
World Can't Wait.
For example Dennis Loo, from Open Salon has got good texts there.
http://www.worldcantwait.net/
World Can't Wait.
For example Dennis Loo, from Open Salon has got good texts there.
http://www.worldcantwait.net/
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