Your one stop shop for all of your preparedness needs and proud sponsor of Truth FrequencyNATO Disinfo Tactics/Storylines Prepped, CIA Agents On The Ground In Syria
By Chris Geo on Jun 20, 2012 with Comments
NATO preparing vast disinformation campaign about Syria
(Thierry Meyssan) In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.
This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d’etat will end all hopes of democratization.
The Arab League has officially asked the satellite operators Arabsat and Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media, either public or private (Syria TV, Al-Ekbariya, Ad-Dounia, Cham TV, etc.) A precedent already exists because the Arab League had managed to censure Libyan TV in order to keep the leaders of the Jamahiriya from communicating with their people. There is no Hertz network in Syria, where TV works exclusively with satellites. The cut, however, will not leave the screens black.
Actually, this public decision is only the tip of the iceberg. According to our information several international meetings were organized during the past week to coordinate the disinformation campaign. The first two were technical meetings, held in Doha (Qatar); the third was a political meeting and took place in Riyad (Saudi Arabia).
The first meeting assembled PSYOP officers, embedded in the satellite TV channels of Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Fox, France 24, Future TV and MTV. It is known that since 1998, the officers of the US Army Psychological Operations Unit (PSYOP) have been incorporated in CNN. Since then this practice has been extended by NATO to other strategic media as well.
They fabricated false information in advance, on the basis of a “story-telling” script devised by Ben Rhodes’s team at the White House. A procedure of reciprocal validation was installed, with each media quoting the lies of the other media to render them plausible for TV spectators. The participants also decided not only to requisition the TV channels of the CIA for Syria and Lebanon (Barada, Future TV, MTV, Orient News, Syria Chaab, Syria Alghad) but also about 40 religious Wahhabi TV channels to call for confessional massacres to the cry of “Christians to Beyrouth, Alawites into the grave!.”
The second meeting was held for engineers and technicians to fabricate fictitious images, mixing one part in an outdoor studio, the other part with computer generated images. During the past weeks, studios in Saudi Arabia have been set up to build replicas of the two presidential palaces in Syria and the main squares of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Studios of this type already exist in Doha (Qatar), but they are not sufficient.
The third meeting was held by General James B. Smith, the US ambassador, a representative of the UK, prince Bandar Bin Sultan (whom former U.S. president George Bush named his adopted son so that the U.S. press called him “Bandar Bush”). In this meeting the media actions were coordinated with those of the Free “Syrian” Army, in which prince Bandar’s mercenaries play a decisive role.
The operation had been in the making for several months, but the U.S. National Security Council decided to accelerate the action after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, notified the White House that he would oppose by all means, even by force, any illegal NATO military intervention in Syria.
The operation has a double intent: the first is to spread false information, the second aims at censuring all possible responses.
The hampering of TV satellites for military purposes is not new. Under pressure from Israel, the USA and the EU blocked Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, Libyan and Iranian TV channels, one after the other. However, no satellite channels from other parts of the world were censured.
The broadcast of false news is also not new, but four significant steps have been taken in the art of propaganda during the last decade.
• In 1994, a pop music station named “Free Radio of the Thousand Hills” (RTML) gave the signal for genocide in Rwanda with the cry, “Kill the cockroaches!”
• In 2001, NATO used the media to impose an interpretation of the 9/11 attacks and to justify its own aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. At that time already, it was Ben Rhodes who had been commissioned by the Bush administration to concoct the Kean/Hamilton Commission report on the attacks.
• In 2002, the CIA used five TV channels (Televen, Globovision, ValeTV and CMT) to make the public in Venezuela believe that phantom demonstrators had captured the elected president, Hugo Chávez, forcing him to resign. In reality he was the victim of a military coup d’etat.
• In 2011, France 24 served as information ministry for the Libyan CNT, according to a signed contract. During the battle of Tripoli, NATO produced fake studio films, then transmitted them via Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, showing phantom images of Libyan rebels on the central square of the capital city, while in reality they were still far away. As a consequence, the inhabitants of Tripoli were persuaded that the war was lost and gave up all resistance.
Nowadays the media do not only support a war, they produce it themselves.
This procedure violates the principles of International Law, first of all Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights relating to the fact of receiving and imparting information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Above all, the procedure violates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, adopted after the end of World War II, to prevent further wars. Resolutions 110, 381 and 819 forbid “to set obstacles to free exchange of information and ideas” (like cutting off Syrian TV channels) and “all propaganda provoking or encouraging threats to peace, breaking peace, and all acts of aggression”. By law, war propaganda is a crime against peace, the worst of crimes, because it facilitates war crimes and genocide.
http://www.voltairenet.org/NATO-preparing-vast-disinformation
Syrian Olympic chief ‘banned from London 2012′
By Owen Gibson, The Guardian
General Mowaffak Joumaa, head of Syria’s National Olympic Committee, is believed to have been barred over links to regime
The head of Syria’s National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa, is understood to have been banned from attending the London Olympics next month because of his links with Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the Syrian military.
Whitehall sources have confirmed that Joumaa submitted his application at the end of last week and it is believed to have been turned down. The Guardian revealed earlier this month that his application would be refused.
Exclusion decisions are taken by a joint Home Office and Foreign Office committee, with input from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Sources said there was “very little sympathy” for the Syrian NOC chief.
There has been a debate behind the scenes about the best approach to take to individuals who are not subject to international travel bans but whose attendance presents an ethical dilemma.
Speaking 100 days before the Games, the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said Britain did not intend to use the event to “preach about our values” to the 120-plus foreign heads of state expected to descend on London for the Games.
However, the Syrian application is believed to fall into a different category given the ongoing violence in the country, which has claimed 15,000 lives in 15 months.
Syria shoots down Turkish warplane: al-Manar TV
June 22, 2012 – TURKEY – Syria shot down a Turkish warplane on Friday, Lebanon’s al-Manar television reported, risking a new crisis between Middle Eastern neighbors already at bitter odds over a 16-month-old revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Syrian security sources confirmed to a Manar correspondent in Damascus that Syrian defense forces shot down the Turkish fighter jet,” the Hezbollah-owned channel said. Turkey, which had drawn close to Syria before the uprising against Assad, became one of the Syrian leader’s fiercest critics when he responded violently to pro-democracy protests inspired by popular upheavals elsewhere in the Arab world. Ankara has previously floated the possibility of setting up some kind of safe haven or humanitarian corridor inside Syria, which would entail military intervention, but has said it would undertake no such action without U.N. Security Council approval. Turkey said it had lost contact with one of its military aircraft off its southeastern coast, and a television station said it had crashed in Syrian territorial waters. CNN Turk television said Turkey was in contact with the Syrian authorities to get permission to conduct a search for the airmen, although there was no immediate official confirmation. Turkey’s military said a search and rescue operation was under way. It lost radar and radio contact with the plane after it left Erhac airport in the eastern province of Malatya. Two crew were aboard the F-4 jet, Turkish state news agency Anatolia said, citing Malatya governor Ulvi Saran. Hurriyet daily newspaper reported that the plane had gone down in international waters and that the two airmen had been found alive and well by Turkish forces.
Syria air defenses shot down Turkish military plane
DEBKAfile Special Report June 22, 2012, 11:24 PM (GMT+02:00)
Syria apologized for the downing of a Turkish military F-4 over Syrian territorial water Friday, June 22. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan denied receiving any apology. Before going into an emergency meeting of government and military heads, he said it was not clear how the plane was lost. Hizbalah’s media reported that the jet was ambushed by Syrian anti-air missiles.
Contact with the Turkish F-4 Phantom was lost shortly after it took off from eastern Erhac Airport and flew over the sea opposite the Turkish-Syrian border not far from the Syrian port of Latakia. The fate of the two pilots is unclear.
debkafile’s military sources report: Syria laid an ambush for the Turkish warplane in revenge for the defection of the Syrian Air Force pilot Col. Hassan Maray al-Hamadeh to Jordan a day earlier with his MiG-21 warplane. Officials in Damascus are certain his defection was organized by US and Turkish intelligence.
DamPress and other Syrian news agencies reported at 16:00 local time Friday that two military aircraft infiltrated Syrian airspace over Latakia and broke the sound barrier while flying low in threatening formation. One was hit by Syrian anti-air fire and the second escaped. DamPress speculates that the intruders were either Turkish or Israeli.
Since Thursday, Syria’s entire air fleet has been grounded while its spy agencies screen flight personnel for more potential defectors.
Confirmed: US CIA Arming Terrorists in Syria
As West berates Syria for “killing civilians” Western weapons flow into terrorist hands from NATO.
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
The New York Times in their article, “C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition,” confirms what many have already long known – that the West, led by the US and its Gulf State proxies, have been arming terrorists, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, while berating the Syrian government for “violating” a UN mandated ceasefire and for “failing to protect” its population.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been combated by nations across the Arab World to stem the tide of their sectarian extremism, violence, and their targeted erosion of secular nation-states. Ironically, the US which has claimed to have been fighting the forces of sectarian extremism and “terrorism” for over a decade now, have been revealed as the primary enabler of the most violent and extreme terrorist organizations in the world. These include, in addition to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) in Libya, Baluch terrorists in Pakistan, and the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) currently based in Iraq and being used as proxies against Iran.
Video: Professor Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research gives perhaps the most comprehensive back-story on Syria’s conflict to-date.
The New York Times claims that, “the C.I.A. officers have been in southern Turkey for several weeks, in part to help keep weapons out of the hands of fighters allied with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, one senior American official said,” a unsubstantiated claim that was similarly made in Libya before Al Qaeda flags were run up poles in Benghazi by rebels flush with NATO cash and arms used to collapse the government of Muammar Qaddafi. In fact, it is confirmed that Libyan LIFG rebels, led by Al Qaeda commander Abdul Hakim Belhaj, have now made their way by the hundreds to Syria (and here).
Despite months of the US claiming the “international community” sought to end theviolence and protect the population of Syria, the New York Times now admits that the US is engaged in supporting a “military campaign” against the Syrian government aimed at increasing “pressure” on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Efforts to impose an arms embargo on Syria is now revealed to be one-sided, aimed at giving rebels an advantage in the prolonged bloodbath with the intent on tipping the balance in favor of Western proxy-forces – not end the violence as soon as possible as claimed by the UN, and in particular, Kofi Annan.
The Times also reported that Turkey has been directly delivering weapons to terrorists operating in Syria – Turkey being a NATO member and implicating NATO as now being directly involved in perpetuating bloodshed in the Middle Eastern nation. For months, Turkey has been allowing terrorists to use its border region as a refuge from which to stage attacks against Syria.
Despite this, however, the so-called “Free Syrian Army,” according to the New York Times, consists of only 100 or so small formations made up of “a handful of fighters to a couple of hundred combatants,” betraying the narrative that the Syrian government faces a large popular uprising, and revealing that the “Free Syrian Army” is in fact a small collection of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and sectarian extremists, armed, funded, and directed by foreign interests solely to wreak havoc within Syria. It should be noted that these terrorist proxies were organized as early as 2007 by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, specifically to enact regime change and transform Syria into a Western client regime.
As the West’s propaganda campaign imploded after a torrent of unsubstantiated claims of “massacres” and “atrocities,” all unverified, some in fact being revealed as the work of the West’s sectarian proxies themselves, it appears that sidelining Syria in headlines while pursuing a clandestine proxy war is now the tactic of choice for the time being.
For the United States to claim Syria has “failed” to protect it population while simultaneously fueling the very armed conflict it claims it is seeking to end is not only hypocrisy of the highest order, but a crime against world peace – punishable under the Nuremberg precedent.
Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at
Land Destroyer Report. Read other contributed articles by Tony Cartalucci here.
Syria Said to Possess Vast Quantities of Chemical Weapons
Could Israel attack Syria based on falsified chemical weapons claims?
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
American Toxic Chemical Workers perform a meticulous inspection of chemical weapons (Image credit: U.S. Army)
In late February of this year, I covered an article in the Wired blog Danger Room which read like nothing but pure, unadulterated propaganda.
This piece claimed, without any evidence whatsoever mind you, that U.S. officials were worried about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad possessing chemical weapons stockpiles, including mustard gas and nerve agents.
The piece was rife with outlandish claims and was nearly identical to the similar baseless propaganda we saw in the effort to justify the invasion of Iraq.
As I covered in my recent video (see below), the mainstream media seems to finally be catching up to the fact that it is not the Syrian government which is committing the atrocities, but well coordinated armed terrorist groups which are part of the opposition.
More at EndtheLie.com – http://EndtheLie.com/2012/06/12/could-israel-attack-syria-based-on-falsified-chemical-weapons-claims/#ixzz1yYvs3Zqv
Assad may be offered clemency by Britain and US if he joins peace talks
Patrick Wintour
London Guardian
June 21, 2012
RELATED: Syria Regime Change On Bilderberg Agenda
Britain and America are willing to offer the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, safe passage – and even clemency – as part of a diplomatic push to convene a UN-sponsored conference in Geneva on political transition in Syria.
The initiative comes after David Cameron and Barack Obama received encouragement from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in separate bilateral talks at the G20 in Mexico.
A senior British official said: “Those of us who had bilaterals thought there was just enough out of those meetings to make it worth pursuing the objective of negotiating a transitional process in Syria.”
With daily reports of civilian deaths and the conflict apparently taking on an increasingly sectarian hue, Britain is willing to discuss giving clemency to Assad if it would allow a transitional conference to be launched. He could even be offered safe passage to attend the conference.
UN Monitors Spy for Washington
Stephen Lendman, Contributor
Activist Post
On April 21, Security Council Resolution 2043 established UNSMIS.
It authorized 300 observers to monitor “a cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties and to monitor and support the full implementation of the (Annan plan) to end the conflict in Syria.”
On June 16, UNSMIS suspended its activities subject to daily review. On June 17, China’s Xinhua News Agency headlined “Suspension of UN observer mission serves for western ‘next step’ in Syria,” saying:
Next steps involve “political transition.” Military options may be chosen. Syria said violence escalated markedly after UN monitors arrived.
Insurgents carried out massacres and “at least five huge bombings….in different parts of the country….”
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Washington is working with allies “regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition” without Assad.
America wants war. It’s “pushing for militarization….”
Reports say “around 6,000 people, including Arabs, Afghans and Turks, have been recruited and trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to commit ‘terrorist’ acts in Syria.”
On June 15, UN mission head General Robert Mood said:
“There appears to be a lack of willingness to seek a peaceful transition. Instead there is a push towards advancing military positions.”
He pointed fingers largely at Assad. He left his real motives unexplained.
On June 19, Russia Today (RT.com) headlined “Syria UN mission headed by spy?” saying:
An unnamed Jordanian UNSMIS monitor accused Mood of “gathering critical coordinates and visiting military bases for his own purposes.”
Syrian state media published his remarks.
“Sources say Norwegian General Mood took his convoy to the city of Tartus last Friday, where no violence was reported.”
“The group visited no less than four military installations of the Syrian Army there without any sanction through the General’s UNSMIS mandate.”
His convoy also went to Rastan far from fighting. He and others “went straight to the Syrian Army’s military installation, again without any apparent connection to (his) mandate.”
Syrians say he’s spying. His mission isn’t about monitoring crisis conditions. Analysts recall how Iraq weapons inspectors were fraudulently used. More on that below.
Press TV reported the same story. Lebanon’s al-Diyar newspaper said an unnamed Jordanian monitor accused General Mood and other UNSMIS members of “conduct(ing) acts of espionage against the Syrian government.”
Military areas visited included Daraa, Homs, and Idlib. They’re where Syria maintains “air and defensive air army” facilities.
Videos were made. Targeted sites included an al-Hareh aerial reconnaissance base and a military installation located between Nowi and al-Sheikh al-Meskin.
Spying on the pretext of monitoring is common US practice.
Press TV also said Syrian insurgents are getting Israeli weapons. They’re smuggled in from Turkey and Lebanon.
“Images taken from the strategic mountainous region show trenches constructed and used by the armed groups. Weapons made in Israel and imported ammunition chests were also found.”
Israeli President Shimon Peres said he respected armed gangs that “expose themselves to live fire and I hope that they will win.”
Previous reports also confirmed that Israel supplies insurgents with weapons. It’s actively involved with Washington’s regime change plans.
A separate Press TV report accused CIA and Mossad operatives for Syrian massacres.
Deputy head of Turkey’s Felicity Party, Temel Karamollaoglu, said:
Not only the Syrian crisis will not be solved, but (Washington and Israel are heading the country for) civil war.
Due to having common interests in Syria, the US, Israel, and the EU make no attempt to stop bloodshed in the country.
On the one hand, he added, Western countries claim they support peace. On the other, they stoke conflict. Their motives are clearly transparent.
On January 7, 1999, The New York Times headlined “US Spied on Iraq Under UN Cover,” saying:
Unnamed US officials confirmed it. American “spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors ferreting out secret Iraqi weapons programs.”
Saddam’s government said UN teams were riddled with “American spies and agents.”
“Scientists, military officers, diplomats and other professionals serve on the commission. The United States included some intelligence officers, using diplomatic cover or other professional identities, to gather intelligence independently, according to the officials.”
Former Iraq chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter (1991 – 1998) said CIA operatives corrupted UNSCOM. It was the special commission to investigate alleged Iraqi WMDs.
Ritter called it “a facade.” It wasn’t about disarming Iraq. It was used for regimechange. GWH Bush ordered it. Clinton and GW Bush continued it.
Ritter and other monitors understood the scheme. Washington controlled the process. UNSCOM was a Trojan Horse. Saddam, not WMDs, were targeted. Aggressive spying was conducted. War was waged on false pretenses.
Official reasons given were to disarm Saddam. It “was a bald-faced lie.” Intelligence was fixed to justify policy.
“Nobody wants to talk about the deception, the lies, the distortion that took place.”
The pattern repeats. Lies facilitate wars. They’re based on misinformation, fabrication, and managed news. At issue is replacing independent regimes with pro-Western puppet ones.
Iraq was “never about national security or international peace….” It was about advancing America’s hegemonic interests. Syria and Iran are targeted for the same reason.
Ritter’s book titled “Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein” explained more.
Iraq was no noble cause. It’s a disaster. Ends never justify means. Ousting Saddam didn’t solve a problem. It created one.
In October 1992, Ritter accounted for all Iraqi ballistic missile programs. The same year, an Iraqi defector with firsthand knowledge said all its biological weapons were destroyed. “The CIA knew this,” said Ritter.
They also knew that Saddam fully cooperated on virtually everything related to disarmament. Ritter’s team got free access in accordance with “modalities of sensitive site inspections.”
In 1990, Saddam went from America’s true friend to the equivalent of Adolph Hitler. Gaddafi underwent a similar transition. So did Assad.
Post-9/11, US officials said he directly aided America’s war on terror. At the same time, relations fluctuated between friendly cooperation and icy tension.
On December 29, 1979, the State Department declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism. At issue was supporting Palestinian groups and Hezbollah. Damascus said it rejects terrorism but backs resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation of Arab land.
Despite differences, US/Syrian relations warmed. Congressional delegations visited Damascus.
Nonetheless, Bush administration Undersecretary of State John Bolton called Syria a “rogue state.”
Damascus University Law Professor Mohammed Aziz Shukri asked:
“When President Assad receives a letter from (Secretary of State) Colin Powell thanking him for his ‘invaluable help’ in pursuing terrorists, how in the name of heaven can we be called a terrorist state?”
He and other Syrians accused Washington of double standard politics. Syria’s information minister Adnan Omran added:
What is really strange now in the American administration is that we hear many voices coming from different corners and a lot of contradiction. I wonder if this is a healthy sign especially when it comes to the policy of a superpower.
We want to see good relations existing between the US and Syria based on mutual respect, commitment to international principles, and the UN charter and not to (Washington’s) blindly prejudiced position and alliance with Israel.”
Assad concurred. At the same time, he was uncompromisingly hardline on Israel. Perhaps it was his kiss of death. Netanyahu and America’s Israeli Lobby want him ousted. Obama willingly obliges.
Moreover, flip-flop is official US policy. Today’s ally is tomorrow’s enemy. It’s also true vice versa and, at times, Washington uses individuals, groups, and nations as friends and foes.
Wars ravaged Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Saddam and Gaddafi were killed.
Assad knows what he’s up against. Perhaps he’s next.
Red Cross Evacuation in Homs On Hold
Media Adviser to Syrian President Confirms Corporate Media Fabricating Events In Country
A media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently told Russia Today that the corporate controlled media is fabricating events in Syria to create unrest and stir up anger in order to allow a NATO takeover of the country.
This claim, which was long ago confirmed by many in the alternative media, underlines the fact that the corporate media directly lies to its viewers on a daily basis during their military industrial complex funded reporting.
In an almost laughable article that was ignored on their entire prime time lineup, CNN wrote about the claims as if they are only coming from Russian funded journalists and the Syrian government when in reality a plethora of evidence presented by reporters within the U.S. has confirmed that the corporate media is running fake news broadcasts in regards to the Syrian unrest.
CIA spies in Turkey secretly help armed gangs in Syria
islamicinvitationturkey.com
June 21, 2012
The CIA agents in southern Turkey are secretly helping the armed groups fighting against the Damascus government in Syria, a report says.
According to a New York Times report published on Thursday, some US and Arab intelligence officials say a group of “CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey” and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will “receive arms to fight the Syrian government.”
“CIA officers are there and they are trying to make new sources and recruit people,” said one of the Arab officials, whose name was not mentioned in the report.
The arms include automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and antitank weapons, which are being transported “mostly across the Turkish border,” the report said.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar pay for the transport of the weaponry into Syria, according to the US and Arab intelligence officials cited in the report.
The CIA spies have been in southern Turkey for the past several weeks and Washington is also considering providing the armed gangs with “satellite imagery and other detailed intelligence on Syrian troop locations and movements,” the report adds.
The Thursday New York Times report comes two days after the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the government was trying to evacuate civilians from the western city of Homs.
“Contacts have been made with the leadership of the international monitors, in cooperation with the local Syrian authorities in the city of Homs, to bring out these Syrian citizens,” said the statement issued on June 19.
“But the efforts of the monitors were unsuccessful… because the armed terrorist groups obstructed their efforts.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja’afari, told reporters in New York on June 19 that armed groups in Syria were violating the peace plan brokered by the UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, and that the “only way to push forward is to guarantee the success of the six-point plan.”
In addition, the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, said in a briefing to the UN Security Council on June 19 that the UN monitors were “morally obliged” to stay in Syria despite a recent decision to suspend the activities of the team.
On June 16, Mood said the UN monitoring team was “suspending its activities” in Syria due to an “intensification of armed violence.”
Over the past weeks, the anti-Syria Western governments have been calling for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 20, “No one is entitled to decide for other nations who should be in power and who should not.”
“A change of power, if it occurs — and it could only occur by constitutional means — should result in peace and stop the bloodshed,” the Russian president said.
He made the remarks in a press conference in Los Cabos, Mexico, after the G20 summit.
Scenario: ‘Balkanizing Syria’
Essential Intelligence
June 20, 2012
Due to the rapidly evolving situation in the Syrian theater of war this weekend of mid June 2012, which follows precisely our predictions from the November-till-February series of reports, we have compiled and re-written that series into a single coherent analysis which can serve as a definitive guide on the Balkanization of Syria into neo-colonial spheres of influence controlled by NATO and the SCO.
Prologue
Given the absence of actual incriminating evidence against Assad’s regime, thus the absence of legal grounds against it, thus the absence of political support to act against it, the USA decided to resort to a dispute with its dialectic brethren under the same ESF, i.e. Putin’s Russia, to be materialized in tangible form within geographic context of the Syrian sovereign domain. 30 years after the Hama massacre by Assad the elder, and many hundreds of dead renegades and civilians killed since this mutiny started – in the very same city – by the Syrian army, and the subsequent UN veto of the SCO leaders China and Russia against NATO “humanitarian” intervention, which leads NATO to a unilateral military intervention similar to the Serbian model of 1999 , Russia has decided to protect its naval interests in Syria by means of deploying in Syria Spetsnaz commandos to counter the predictable deployment of GCC \ NATO spec-ops units
Russian-US naval \ aerial mobilization underway
It seems like Russian Marines have already landed in the Tartus port this weekend (Mid June 2012), While US forces will probably arrive in the area sooner rather than later. Russia can operate its upper-end fighter jets from the Russian Caucasus in order to cover the Syrian air space (assuming Russia is willing to violate Caucasian border zones of small rivals like Georgia and Azerbaijan), thus overcoming the hundreds of cruise missile aboard the USN flotilla along the Syrian coastal line which threaten the Syrian air bases. Those Jets are Sukhoi35 as well as MiG-31 - both of which are tough challenges for the Israeli F15 and beyond the US Naval air power. Likewise, Russian Sukhoi-34 for deep penetration. This increases the operational tactical radius and amalgamates the Syrian Airspace with the Russian one. Anticipating such intervention of Russian fighter Jets, the U.S. Can deployF-22 squadrons in Greece and the UK can deploy Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons in Cyprus.
Theoretically, The USA can also utilize some of the airbases Israel left behind in the Sinai (where the US 82nd division is still deployed as part of the ‘peace-keeping’ force) , for a safe deployment of additional F22 fighters. This deployment is safe since it is far enough from Russia, i.e. beyond the unrefueled combat range of the Russian fighter Jets, takes advantage of Israeli and USN acute early warning and can be effectively protected from terrestrial threats given the wide expanses of empty desert plains around such airbases.
Possible Russian strategy on the ground in Syria
The prospects of the Spetsnaz saving Assad’s regime needs be reviewed in historic perspective. On the one hand the Spetsnaz saved the pro-soviet regime in Prague in spring 1968, 12 years after regular Soviet troops saved the pro-soviet regime in Hungary year 1956. On the other hand, 13 years still earlier i.e. years 1943/4, Mussolini’s regime was brought down forcibly by the allied armies invading from the sea which surrounds most of Italy, inspite of German reinforcements. Syria, in conjunction with Lebanon which it occupies since year 1976, is surrounded entirely by US dominated territories and by the sea where it outweighs the meager Russian flotilla.
Pantsir S1 Battery in action
The Pantsir-S1 mobile Flak allows the Spetsnaz to detect Helicopters at low level, thus can hunt western commandos ubiquitously. The Pantsir-S1 can also kill every normal type of missile fired at its direction thus is an essential cause for concern to the Israeli Air-Force. It employs both radar and EO(electro-optics) for detection, tracking targets and fire-control. This level of protection, stacking Spetsnaz reactions over Pantsir-S1 detections, is clearly intended to protect the Syrian nuclear reactors from a similar fate of the one destroyed by Israel on September 6th 2007 during Operation Orchard when the IAF’s Sayeret Shaldag (laser designator operators) and the IDF’s Sayeret Matkal (well acquainted with Syria) were sent in helicopters to the reactor site before it was attacked.
British SAS Commandos in the Arabian desert
An interesting case is a possible clash between Spetsnaz playing defense and between SAS (British elite commando) sneaking into the country. Since a commando unit sneaking behind enemy lines is very lightweight and very small then the decisive criteria for its effectiveness is keeping stealthy, i.e. even when its people are seen yet are not being conceived for what they really are, but rather for example for innocent civilians. This point is of interest since top elite commando perform not only ‘special operations’ but also covert operations while dressed like civilians. Once a commando unit or individual is detected, a man hunt is conducted e.g. a pursuing Spetsnaz would enjoy the decisive advantage of wide scale collaboration from the Syrian army and other Russian and Iranian elements in the area. The Spetsnaz would also trap insurgent commando, based on professional assessments which modes of operation would be attempted. The SAS may though enjoy one distinct advantage over the Spetsnaz , which is their long standing experience with deserts and Arabs. But then, for similar reasons the best asset in Langley’s possession for this job is Al-Qaeda who now assaults the Syrian regime. The classic Russian answer to Al-Qaeda would be a KGB style traffic control regime denying the freedom of travel between districts. Similarly, the Spetsnaz could destabilize Jordan and/or Saudi-Arabia. Since Russia is the only Christian power hosted by a Muslim regime and is a ruthless regime in itself, then in theory it holds the higher ground in Guerrilla warfare.
The role of the Russian flotilla, including the Aircraft carrier, frigate, submarines & naval bases along the Syrian coast are intended to neutralize the Heliborne commando modus operandi applicable to Operation Orchard. Historically, the Spetsnaz were trained to assassinate western pilots in their beds on the eve of a Soviet invasion. Presuming the Israeli Shin Bet will be able to avert this if necessary, this mode of operation may not be of highest concern in the conflict brewing between Israel and Iran and its conjugate-allies Syria and Lebanon.
Will the Israelis be dragged in ?
Israel used to have an edge in fighter jets, since its first deliveries of F-4E Phantom II in year 1969. This was augmented with F-15 Eagle since 1976. The Soviet 4gen Jets hardly made it to the scene till the USSR collapsed. These were 48 Mig-29 of an early version, which couldn’t outperform the Israeli F15C/D. This balance of power is now changing with the Su-35 & Su-34 having entered Russian front line service and with the Su-50 expected to outperform the F-22 ’Rustor’ (i.e. the quickly rusting Raptor), and the incumbent flying target designated F-35.
Russian production rate of military aircraft is back to Soviet Levels of about 30 years ago, with 90 fighter and bomber jets + 55 attack and assault helicopters, to delivered this year 2012. With an airframe life expectancy of 40 years, this makes for 3,600 Jets and 2,200 helicopters.
(For a detailed analysis of stealth bombers arms race, see our landmark article the stealth sphere)
Tensions between UK and Russia soared over Syria-bound helicopters
David Usborne
independent.co.uk
Britain came alarmingly close to a dangerous clash with Moscow when David Cameron was asked to consider giving an order to forcibly board a ship headed towards the English Channel carrying three Russian-made helicopters for delivery to the regime in Syria, it emerged today.
Any seizure would have been carried out by members of the Special Boat Service, SBS, the only military unit authorised to performing opposed embarkations at sea. The helicopters are believed to be the same ones that prompted US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently to berate Russia for sending military hardware to Syria.
Officials traveling with the Prime Minister on an official visit to Mexico City yesterday gave the first detailed account of a series of high-level meetings that happened at Whitehall at the end of last week as the authorities tracked the ship, the MV Alead, which was steaming southwards through the North Sea after departing from Leningrad port.
Arabs urge Russia to stop arming Syria as Homs battered
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, June 21, 2012 7:21 EDT
The Arab League demanded on Thursday that Russia stop supplying arms to Syria, as a regime onslaught of Homs and its surrounds appeared to stall a Red Cross bid to rescue trapped civilians.
The pan-Arab bloc’s deputy secretary general Ahmed Ben Hilli issued the appeal in an interview in which he also called for UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s mandate to be revamped, and for Iran’s inclusion in talks on Syria.
“Any assistance to violence must be ceased because when you supply military equipment, you help kill people. This must stop,” Hilli was quoted as telling Interfax news agency in comments translated into Russian.
“To make (the Annan) plan work, we need to find a new mechanism and the mandate of the special envoy must be reassessed, so we can be sure that all the sides are observing the plan,” he said without elaborating.
He backed Iran joining the Syria Contact Group meeting expected to be held in Geneva on June 30, while saying that Tehran’s participation was still at the discussion stage.
“In my view, all the players taking part in the Syrian crisis must be part of this contact group,” he was quoted as saying in answer to a question about Iran’s participation.
“The main task at the moment is agreeing the agenda of the first meeting. Then a decision will be taken on who will take part in this conference,” he added.
Russia has steadfastly resisted Western pleas to help remove Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power despite the escalating hostilities that have battered Annan’s UN-backed peace initiative.
“We believe that nobody has the right to decide for other nations who should be in power and who should not,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday after a G20 summit in Mexico.
AP IMPACT: Syria rebels divided, at times violent
Published June 21, 2012
Associated Press
SARJEH, Syria – Rebel commander Ahmed Eissa al-Sheikh keeps a paper on his desk bearing the names of the dead from his brigade. The first 16 are neatly typed below a Quranic verse extolling martyrdom. The next 14 are handwritten and crammed into the margin, because the paper is full.
Al-Sheikh, an Islamist with a long black beard and gray fatigues, runs the Falcons of Damascus group from the mayor’s office in his village, which his fighters have taken over. The list is a constant reminder of al-Sheikh’s personal score with the Syrian regime: 20 of the dead are his relatives, including three brothers and his 16-year-old son, all killed fighting Syrian forces in the last year.
One of northern Syria’s most powerful and best-armed commanders, Al-Sheikh boasts more than 1,000 fighters, and they don’t shy away from rougher tactics themselves. They have released prisoners in bomb-laden cars and then detonated them at army checkpoints — turning the drivers into unwitting suicide bombers.
Most of their weapons are booty, including at least two anti-aircraft guns, some anti-tank missiles and one tank, but they buy arms with donations from “honorable businessmen.”
Read more
Syria grounds fighter-bomber fleet for fear of more defections
DEBKAfile Special Report June 21, 2012, 11:41 PM (GMT+02:00)
Syrian President Bashar Assad Thursday night, June 21, ordered his entire Air Force fleet of fighter bombers grounded, for fear that more pilots might defect after Col. Hasan Merhi al-Hamadeh flew to Jordan aboard a MiG-21.
Officials in Damascus noted that the same day was chosen by Washington to confirm that CIA officers were present in southern Turkey to help the Free Syrian Army rebels fight the Syrian government. Syrian officials are convinced that the defection of the pilot with his plane was organized by the Americans and that more are in the pipeline in an attempt to show the Syrian people and Arab world that even the Syrian air force, the part of the armed forces most loyal to Assad, was in fact slipping out of his hands.
debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report that, early Thursday, Col, al-Hamadeh flew out of the Khalkhala air base, which is situated between the southern towns of Deraa and Suweida not far from the Druze Mountain.
While his MiG belonged to the 73rd Air Brigade, he was a member of the Syrian Air Force’s 20th Division and commander of the MiG-21 test squadron, which regularly inspects those aircraft at southern air bases to check if they are flight worthy.
That is why no one at the Khalkhala base saw anything amiss when this officer climbed aboard one of the aircraft and suddenly pivoted the plane at a sharp angle – even when he failed to respond to control tower signals. B
But before they could catch on, the MiG-21 was gone over the border to Jordan, a flight of no more than 90 seconds.
Because the Jordanians were not forewarned about an incoming Syrian air force plane, Col. Al-Hamadeh requested permission from the control tower at Al Hussein air base in northern Jordan to make an emergency landing. As soon as the MiG came to a stop on the runway, the Syrian colonel jumped out, shed is uniform and prayed.
Our sources disclose that the defector came from the village of Meles in the Idlib district of northern Syria where he has left his wife, four children and family. This village is one of the few parts of the embattled district to remain in Free Syrian Army rebel hands. Their agents were certainly involved in helping to arrange his escape.
Will Russian And Chinese Military Forces On Syrian Soil Prevent Obama From Bombing Syria?
Michael Snyder, Contributor
Activist Post
Everyone knows that the Obama administration has been steadily gearing up for a military campaign against Syria. Everyone also knows that Russia and China do not want to see this happen. Now Russia and China are sending military forces to Syria.
It is being reported that Russia, China, Iran and Syria will be conducting the “Middle East’s largest ever military exercise” next month.Apparently tens of thousands of troops will be involved. This will be the first time that the Russians and the Chinese have jointly deployed large numbers of troops in Syria.
Will this show of military power be enough to prevent Barack Obama from bombing Syria? Or will Obama go ahead anyway and risk ruining relations with the Russians and the Chinese? Tensions are rising in the Middle East and the region is a powder keg that could erupt at any time. If someone makes the wrong move we could end up with World War III.A number of sources have reported that the Obama administration has been contemplating a military campaign in Syria similar to what happened in Libya. The U.S. would institute a no-fly zone, bomb the Syrian government and the Syrian military, and provide heavy military hardware for the rebel forces on the ground.
According to a recent Debka report, the plans for such a campaign in Syria are close to being finalized….
As the violence in Syria continued to go from bad to worse in scope and intensity, US official sources had this to say Saturday, June 16, about planned US military operations in the war-torn country:
“The intervention will happen. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’”
A Syrian Free Army rebel delegation is now in Washington to talk about their requestsfor heavy weapons from the Obama administration. In their meetings with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State Department’s expert on Syria Fred Hof, the rebel leaders handed in two lists for approval: types of heavy weapons capable of challenging Bashar Assad’s armed forces and selected targets of attack to destabilize his regime.
Debkafile’s Washington sources disclose that the administration is very near a decision on the types of weapons to be shipped to the Syrian rebels and when. Most of the items Washington is ready to send have been purchased by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and are ready for shipment.
The White House is also close to deciding on the format of its military operation in Syria. Some sources are defining it as “Libya lite” – that is, a reduced-scale version of the no-fly zone imposed on Libya two years ago and the direct air and other strikes which toppled the Qaddafi regime.
What the Obama administration fails to grasp is that Syria is not Libya.
Syria has a lot more friends, and any attack on Syria would almost certainly cause a wider Middle East war to erupt.
For Russia and China, Syria is a red line that must not be crossed.
Now Russia and China are sending substantial military forces to Syria for “war games”. Obviously this is just an excuse to get troops into Syria. The following description of these upcoming “war games” is from a recent article in the Jerusalem Post….
According to ShamLife, China had gained Egyptian approval to allow 12 Chinese ships carrying military equipment to pass through the Suez Canal, and that these vessels would reach the Syrian ports of Tartous and Latakia in two weeks’ time.
ShamLife said Syrian air defense missiles and its coastal defense would be put to the test in the military exercises, and that 90,000 troops from the four countries would be involved in the war games along with 400 aircraft and 1,000 tanks and “hundreds of rockets.”
The exercises would be carried out after Syrian troops had ‘cleansed’ several cities where ‘armed groups’ – meaning Syrian opposition forces fighting against government troops loyal to President Bashar Assad – were gathering.
It is also being reported that the Russians are sending warships from the Black Sea Fleet to the Syrian coast to protect the Russian military base at Tartus.
The following is from a recent Los Angeles Times article….
Russia is preparing to dispatch a pair of warships carrying a contingent of Black Sea Fleet marines to its logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Monday, in what appeared to be another sign of the deteriorating security situation in the strife-ridden nation.
The report quoted an unidentified Russian naval source saying the amphibious ships Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov, accompanied by the rescue tug SB-15, were ‘preparing for a non-routine departure’ for Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean base.
In addition, according to a recent article in the Telegraph, a Russian ship that was apparently taking attack helicopters to Syria has been stopped off the coast of Scotland….
A Russian ship believed to be carrying helicopters and missiles for Syria has been effectively stopped in its tracks off the coast of Scotland after its insurance was cancelled at the behest of the British government.
Obviously the Russians and the Chinese are trying to stop an attack on Syria.
Things are getting very tense, and that is not going to change any time soon.
Just check out how a recent CBS News report described a private meeting between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Mexico….
The two men barely looked at each other. You could just feel, sort of, the tension between them. And the body language really represented how far apart the two leaders remain on the issue of Syria.
Needless to say, it was not a pleasant conversation. In fact, Putin reportedly wasvery direct with Obama….
Apparently President Obama got a bit of a lecture from Putin about some other failed transitions that are going on around the world.
When Barack Obama was elected, many Americans expected him to keep his campaign promises and greatly reduce U.S. military action around the globe.
Instead, Obama has actually greatly expanded U.S. military action around the globe.
It isn’t reported on much in the mainstream media, but the U.S. military is actually at war in Yemen, in Somalia, in Pakistan, and in a whole bunch of other countries all over the planet.
The following is from a must-read Wired article that just came out….
The center of the US drone war has shifted to Yemen, where 23 American strikes have killed an estimated 155 people so far this year. But you wouldn’t know about it — or about the cruise missile attacks, or about the US commando teams in Yemen — by reading the report the White House sent to Congress about US military activities around the globe. Instead, there’s only the blandest acknowledgement of ‘direct action’ in Yemen, ‘against a limited number of [al-Qaida] operatives and senior leaders.’
The report, issued late Friday, is the first time the United States has publicly, officially acknowledged the operations in Yemen and in nearby Somalia that anyone with internet access could’ve told you about years ago. But the report doesn’t just fail to admit the extent of the shadow war that America is waging in the region. It’s borderline legal — at best. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to inform Congress about any armed conflicts America is engaged in. Friday’s report isn’t just uninformative about Yemen. It doesn’t even mention the US campaign in Pakistan, even though the Defense Secretary says America is ‘at war‘ there.
Obama has shown contempt for Congress on so many levels. Not only does he not ask them when he starts a new war, he barely even informs them of what is going on.
In the past, Russia and China kind of stood aside as the U.S. imposed its will all over the Middle East, but that is no longer the case.
Russia and China are clearly saying “no” to military action against Syria.
Will Obama back down or will he defy the Russians and the Chinese?
It is going to be very interesting to watch.
And this emerging alliance between the Russians and the Chinese is going to be something to keep a close eye on. We have been seeing increasing cooperation between the two nations in a bunch of different areas.
If the United States is not very careful, it could find itself in a direct conflict with both Russia and China in the years ahead.
The Russian military and the Chinese military have been very busy preparing for such a conflict. The U.S. military has been focused on other things.
Sadly, most Americans know much more about “America’s Got Talent” and “American Idol” than they do about geopolitics these days.
This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
U.S. Coast Guard Reserve unit based in Port Clinton on Lake Erie heads to Middle East duty
Posted: 06/20/2012
- By: Associated Press
MANSFIELD, Ohio – About 60 Coast Guard reservists with an Ohio unit have deployed for service with a Navy task force in the Middle East.
Members of Port Security Unit 309 based in Port Clinton on Lake Erie left Tuesday night from the Air National Guard base in Mansfield. The unit protects ports and shipping channels.
To prepare for the deployment, reservists trained with the Navy at Coronado, Calif., and the Army at Fort Dix, N.J.
The unit has deployed in recent years for service in the Gulf of Mexico, Kuwait and Sicily.
39 dead in Syria as UN monitors say they are ‘obliged’ to stay
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 7:24 EDT
Twenty-eight soldiers were among 39 people killed in violence in Syria on Wednesday, a rights group said, as UN observers said they were “morally obliged” to stay in the country despite the risks.
Russia resisted Western pleas to help remove President Bashar al-Assad from power despite escalating hostilities that have battered the UN peace mission that was supposed to start with a ceasefire by both sides from April 12.
The army suffered heavy losses in two northwestern provinces on the Turkish border, where rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army have intensified their operations in recent weeks.
At least 20 soldiers were killed in fierce clashes with rebel fighters in Latakia province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Five rebels were also killed in the clashes that began late Tuesday and continued through dawn on Wednesday in a region known as the Kurdish Mountain near the border, the Britain-based watchdog said.
“The majority died in direct fighting with the rebels, while other soldiers were killed in a rebel attack on two buildings, which the army was using to launch mortar attacks against the Kurdish Mountain,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Dozens of soldiers were also wounded, Abdel Rahman said.
In Idlib, province, five soldiers were killed when a car bomb exploded at their checkpoint overnight. Explosions and shooting were also heard in the town of Maaret al-Numan, the Observatory said.
In the central province of Hama, clashes in the town of Kernaz left three soldiers dead. Shelling by government troops also killed a man and his wife.
“Unidentified gunmen assassinated a Shiite cleric in Sayyida Zeinab,” the Observatory said, referring to an area of south Damascus that houses a revered Shiite Muslim shrine of the same name and is home to many Iraqi refugees.
Northeast of the capital, troops shot a civilian dead at a checkpoint in Harasta, while a rebel officer died of wounds sustained in an earlier attack in the town.
In the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, sniper fire killed a civilian in the Al-Qasur neighbourhood, the watchdog said.
With the death toll exceeding 14,400 since the uprising against Assad’s rule erupted in March 2011, according to Observatory figures, the head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria told the Security Council that the nearly 300 unarmed UN observers were “morally obliged” to stay.
“We are going nowhere,” Major General Robert Mood told reporters after the closed meeting.
Highlighting the dangers faced by them, Mood told the meeting UN vehicles had been hit 10 times by “direct fire” and hundreds of times by “indirect fire.” He said nine UN vehicles had been hit in the past eight days alone.
But he insisted that the mission’s decision on Saturday to suspend its operations until security conditions improve did not mean an “abandonment” of Syria. UNSMIS was “morally obliged not to turn away,” he was quoted as saying.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Mood said the first condition for a resumption of operations was a “significant” reduction in violence.
In addition, there needed to be a commitment by both the government and the opposition to the observers’ safety and security, as well as their freedom of movement.
“The government has expressed that very clearly in the last couple of days. I’ve not seen the same clear statements (from) the opposition yet,” he said.
Putin and Obama Hold Talks During G20 Meeting in Mexico
By Stephen Lendman, Contributor
theintelhub.com
June 20, 2012
Since reelected in March, Putin and Obama met for the first time on Monday at the Los Cabos, Mexico G20 meeting.
Discussions focused on major geopolitical and economic issues. Differences on Syria remain unresolved.
At a joint press conference, Putin said:
“We held talks about international problems including the Syrian crisis.”
“(W)e will continue our contacts on all issues.”
Obama responded:
“We have agreed on the necessity of reaching a halt for violence in Syria and the need for running a political process to avoid a civil war.”
A lengthy White House-released joint statement covered many issues. On Syria, it said:
“We agree to cooperate bilaterally and multilaterally to solve regional conflicts.”
“In order to stop the bloodshed in Syria, we call for an immediate cessation of all violence and express full support for the efforts of UN/League of Arab States Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan, including moving forward on political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system that would be implemented by the Syrians themselves in the framework of Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity.”
“We are united in the belief that the Syrian people should have the opportunity to independently and democratically choose their own future.”
Additional language called for achieving a comprehensive Middle East peace. Putin and other leaders want nothing less. Obama itches for more war. Talking peace and stoking conflicts reveal America’s transparent hypocrisy.
Diplomatic boilerplate left fundamental differences unresolved. Both leaders are ideologically distant.
Putin supports peace, stability, and inviolable national sovereignty rights.
Obama thrives on violence and imperial wars. He believes meddling in the internal affairs of other nations is America’s divine right. Pursuing unchallenged global dominance is policy.
Putin won’t support Libya 2.0. Following his two-hour meeting with Obama, he said little.
In contrast, US officials publicly condemn Russia for refusing to bend to Washington’s will. Media scoundrels regurgitate their criticisms. Real issues go unaddressed.
Common interests between both nations exist. Major differences remain intractable. They include Syria, Iran’s legitimate nuclear rights, America’s threatening missile shield, and encroaching military presence. More on Iran below.
Pending congressional legislation blocking visas and freezing assets of Russian officials accused of human rights abuses also heightens tensions between the two leaders.
Meddling in Russia’s internal affairs strains relations. So does Putin’s straight talk on America’s quest for “unipolar world” dominance.
After Monday’s talks, The New York Times headlined “Face to Face, Obama Tries to Persuade Putin on Syria,” saying:
Neither leader yielded. “Putin was still balking,” said The Times. He wants peace. Obama wants confrontation, war and dominance.
US officials said “Putin spent considerable time pointing to what the Russians view as failed examples of political transition in Egypt and Libya as well as their concern that the West does not have a credible plan for what would happen to Syria’s various battling factions and ethnic groups if Mr. Assad stepped down from power.”
At the same time, they didn’t try “to paint the meeting between the men as full of bonhomie and good cheer.”
Obama seeks regime change. He wants pro-Western puppet governance replacing Assad. He wants Sino-Russian regional influence weakened.
America accepts no global challengers. Putin stands fundamentally opposed. Irreconcilable differences follow. Resolving them remains distant.
In May, Putin cancelled plans to attend the Camp David G8 summit. He wasn’t with other NATO states in Chicago. He delayed meeting with Obama until Monday.
He met earlier in June with other world leaders. Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Francois Hollande were prioritized. Chinese and Central Asian leaders followed.
Talks with Merkel focused on Syria and closer economic ties. She and Hollande support military intervention. The French leader openly favors it. Berlin wants Moscow’s support for whatever America plans.
It’s also Russia’s second largest trading partner after China. It depends on 40% of its gas imports from Gazprom. It treads a delicate balance between growing Sino-Russian trade and longstanding US ties.
It also understands that security depends more on cooperation than confrontation. Hollande may have other views. He favors military intervention and more sanctions. Putin rejects both. Cordiality was absent when both leaders met.
Putin’s visit with China’s Hu Jintao stressed developing closer strategic ties and solidarity. In a joint statement, both leaders vowed to “set the global political and economic order in a more fair and rational direction.”
They explicitly want unchallenged US dominance ended. Moscow spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“Russia and China are staunch supporters of a multipolar world and they try to push all systems of international relations toward a multipolar world.”
In a People’s Daily editorial, Putin called Russia’s partnership with China “something needed in today’s world.”
Both nations “share very similar positions on all of these issues, positions based on the principles of responsibility, commitment to the basic values of international law, and unconditional mutual respect for each other’s interests.”
They remain resolute against Syrian intervention. Following their meeting, China state television said their leaders stress resolving Syria’s conflict politically.
China’s official CCTV network aired their opening remarks live. So were comments they both made to Russian and Chinese journalists.
Powder keg: Largest joint exercise in Middle East history- troops, tanks, planes and even Russian nuclear subs
June 19, 2012 – MIDDLE EAST – Iran, Syria, Russia and China are planning the “biggest-ever wargames in the Middle East,” according to an unconfirmed report on the semi-official Iranian news site Fars News. According to the article, the four countries are preparing 90,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 1,000 tanks for the massive joint maneuvers, which are to take place along the Syrian coast within a month. The report states that Russian “atomic submarines and warships, aircraft carriers and mine-clearing destroyers as well as Iranian battleships and submarines will also arrive in Syria” and that Egypt has agreed to let 12 Chinese warships cross the Suez Canal for the exercises. The IDF spokesman’s office called the report a “political matter” and declined to comment. Iran is currently holding talks with six Western powers over the fate of its nuclear program. The talks, said to be held in a tense atmosphere in Moscow, seek to alleviate world concerns that the Islamic Republic is developing nuclear weapons. Syria meanwhile faces international pressure to end a 15-month crackdown on local rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. China and Russia have come to the aid of both countries in recent months at the UN Security Council, vetoing military intervention in Syria and expanded sanctions on Iran.
Russian ship bound for Syria: Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria. A Russian ship believed to be carrying helicopters and missiles for Syria has been effectively stopped in its tracks off the coast of Scotland after its insurance was cancelled at the behest of the British government. The British marine insurer Standard Club said it had withdrawn cover from all the ships owned by Femco, a Russian cargo line, including the MV Alaed. “We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria,” the company said in a statement. “We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage.”
US & Russia Deploy in Syria – Double Prey for Al-Qaeda
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 19, 2012, 3:35 PM (GMT+02:00)
The failure of US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday, at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico to agree on terms for Syria and Iran holds the potential for three equally dire scenarios to unfold in Syria:
It could degenerate into another Afghanistan; or another Balkans, or al Qaeda’s next war arena.
Potentially counterpoised in Syria today are, on the one side, the United States, Europe and their Arab allies; on the other, are Russia, China, Iran and Hizballah.
The last group is preparing to show its muscle with a vast joint military exercise in Syria.
Al Qaeda has begun to seep through the cracks.
The Assad regime is not just shedding blood but bleeding itself But it stays alive because 40 percent of the Syrian population is behind it and the rebel movement is deeply fractured.
Syria is therefore in the process of breaking up into three balkanized segments:
The United States and its European and Arab allies in the northern, central and eastern regions.
The Russians, along the Mediterranean coastal strip. Russian warships are on their way to secure their base at Tartus.
In these circumstances, Iran and Hizballah will intensify their effort to prop up the Assad regime and solidify their grip in Damascus.
So three world forces may end up dividing Syria up between them.
Al Qaeda will have achieved its object of corralling America and Russia on one unruly territory and easily within reach of attack.
East mounting a coalition to challenge Western power in the Middle East: Has it officially started?
June 19, 2012 – TEHRAN – An informed source has announced that Iran, Russia, China, and Syria plan to stage a joint war game in Syria in the near future, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported on Monday. 90,000 forces from the four countries will be involved in the war game, the informed source said. No official from the countries has confirmed the news report, but a Syrian official, who spoke on conditional anonymity, announced that the joint war game will be launched in Syria.
Security Council to huddle over Syria
(CNN) — The head of the failing U.N. observer mission to Syria is planning to brief the Security Council on Tuesday as diplomats intensify their efforts to end the country’s widespread discord.
Maj. Gen. Robert Mood of Norway, head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, will report on the U.N. monitoring mission during a closed-door meeting with the Security Council after 3 p.m. It’s taking place three days after the mission suspended its operations because of growing violence.
A senior administration official said the report on the U.N. monitors will influence how the United States and other members of the international community work with U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on his proposal for a “contact group” on Syria and on how to deal with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
“The U.S. supports the idea of a contact group, which would bring together all nations that want to play a role in resolving the violence in Syria. But the U.S. remains opposed to including Iran, something which Annan thinks is a good idea,” the official said.
“We’ve said from the beginning that if we could structure it (the contact group) for success … particularly in promoting the post-Assad transition, that we are open to it but we are still working with Kofi and other countries.”
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Syria at the G-20 meeting in Mexico on Monday. But the two made little headway on the crisis.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague stressed the importance of a “peaceful political transition and a “cessation of violence,” but he added a grim caveat:
“At no stage have we been advocating a military intervention, but we do recognize the situation is so grave and deteriorating so quickly and such crimes are being committed, we cannot take any options off the table at the moment,” Hague said.
Syrian opposition groups say more than 13,000 people have been killed since al-Assad’s government started cracking down on anti-government protesters last year. The United Nations’ latest estimate puts the death toll at more than 10,000.
At least 31 people were killed in Syria on Tuesday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said Tuesday that terrorists sabotaged oil pipelines in Homs and Deir Ezzor. The Syrian government blamed the violence on “armed terrorist groups,” the vaguely defined entities it has consistently blamed over the past year.
US plans significant military presence in Kuwait to respond to region conflicts
Published June 19, 2012
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The United States is planning a significant military presence of 13,500 troops in Kuwait to give it the flexibility to respond to sudden conflicts in the region as Iraq adjusts to the withdrawal of American combat forces and the world nervously eyes Iran, according to a congressional report.
The study by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined the U.S. relationship with the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — against a fast-moving backdrop. In just the last two days, Saudi Arabia’s ruler named Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz as the country’s new crown prince after last week’s death of Prince Nayef, and Kuwait’s government suspended parliament for a month over an internal political feud.
The latest developments inject even more uncertainty as the Middle East deals with the demands of the Arab Spring, the end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq at the end of 2011 and fears of Iran’s nuclear program.
“Home to more than half of the world’s oil reserves and over a third of its natural gas, the stability of the Persian Gulf is critical to the global economy,” the report said. “However, the region faces a myriad of political and security challenges, from the Iranian nuclear program to the threat of terrorism to the political crisis in Bahrain.”
The report obtained by The Associated Press in advance of Tuesday’s release provided precise numbers on U.S. forces in Kuwait, a presence that Pentagon officials have only acknowledged on condition of anonymity. Currently, there are about 15,000 U.S. forces in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan, Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Buehring, giving the United States staging hubs, training ranges and locations to provide logistical support. The report said the number of troops is likely to drop to 13,500.
Several members of Congress, most notably Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had pressed for a residual U.S. force to remain in Iraq, but the failure of the two countries to agree on whether American troops should be granted legal immunity scuttled that idea. Instead, officials talked of positioning a strong U.S. force just across the border in Kuwait. The strategy preserves “lily pad” basing that allows the military to move quickly from one location to the next.
As it recalibrates its national security strategy, the United States is drawing down forces in Europe while focusing on other regions, such as the Middle East and Asia. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said he envisions about 40,000 troops stationed in the Middle East region after the withdrawal from Iraq. By comparison, a cut of two Army combat brigades and the withdrawal of two other smaller units will leave about 68,000 troops in Europe.
During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, some half a million U.S. forces were in the Middle East region. The United States maintained about 5,000 troops in Kuwait from the end of the Gulf War to March 2003, when U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led invasion was in response to reports, later discredited, that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., who asked his staff to conduct the study, said in a statement: “This is a period of historic, but turbulent change in the Middle East. We need to be clear-eyed about what these interests are and how best to promote them. This report provides a thoughtful set of recommendations designed to do exactly that.”
The 37-page report raises questions about how the United States can leverage its financial aid to force change in the Middle East. Late last year, two Democrats — Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts — opposed the U.S. sale of spare parts and equipment to Bahrain, arguing that the ruling Sunni monarchy was violating human rights and using excessive force to crack down on protests. The State Department went ahead earlier this year with the sale of some military equipment, saying it was for Bahrain’s external defense and support for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in the country.
Bahrain stands as a strategic ally to counter Iran.
Pakistan court rules Gilani is no longer prime minister
By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was dismissed from office Tuesday by the courts, a victim of an intensifying conflict between the government and the judiciary that has plunged the country into fresh political turmoil.
The Supreme Court ruled that Gilani was disqualified because of his failure to open a long-dormant corruption case against his boss, the Pakistani president, prompting speculation about whether the coalition government led by the Pakistan People’s Party can limp on and who would replace Gilani.
In any case, the show of power by the court – some described it as a “judicial coup” – could open the way for the powerful military to try to regain power. In the immediate term, the confrontation distracts Pakistan’s attention from negotiating a deal with the United States over access to supply routes for the U.S.-led coalition in neighboring Afghanistan, as well as managing an escalating series of domestic crises including terrorism and a collapsing economy.
Russian Ship Suspected of Carrying Arms to Syria Turns Back
Edward Yeranian
CAIRO – A cargo ship believed to be carrying Russian-made attack helicopters has been halted on its way to Syria after its insurance coverage was withdrawn. Some analysts say the nature of the cargo was what kept the vessel from reaching its destination.
UN Chief Alarmed At Rising Syria Death Toll, Wants More Pressure On Assad
Last updated (GMT/UTC): 19.06.2012 18:31
A top UN official says that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “gravely concerned” about the rising death toll in Syria.
Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez Taranco told the Security Council that Ban wanted the 15-nation body to unite to apply “sustained pressure” on the Syrian government to apply the six-point peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The plan was never implemented by the two sides.
The United States has recently criticized Russia for blocking UN resolutions threatening tough sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, as well as for continuing arms sales to Damascus.
Ban said last month that at least 10,000 people had been killed in the Syria conflict, but UN sources say the actual death toll is likely much higher — probably around 14,000.
Taranco told the council on June 19 that the situation was “particularly alarming” in the rebel city of Homs, where human rights monitors say thousands of people have been trapped in a bombardment by government forces.
Taranco was speaking ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the escalating conflict.
In Egypt, the army wins. Again. (+video)
Egypt’s presidential election Sunday was supposed to be the culmination of a transition to democracy. Instead, the military junta made it clear it has no interest in a truly democratic transition.
In campaigns abroad, victories for Egypt‘s military are few and far between.
There was the loss of more than 20,000 men in the country’s ill-fated intervention in Yemen in the early ’60s, the humiliating defeat in the 1967 war with Israel, and the October 1973 offensive against Israel in the Sinai that ended in a draw.
But on the field of political battle at home, Egypt’s military reigned supreme, at least since the 1952 Free Officers coup that ended Egypt’s monarchy and placed Gamel Abdel Nasser in the presidency. When he died, Free Officer Anwar Sadat succeeded him. And after Islamist gunmen murdered Mr. Sadat in 1981 in part over the peace deal he’d signed with Israel the previous year to secure the return of the Sinai Peninsula, Air Force Gen. Hosni Mubarak succeeded him.
Pressure high at ‘intense’ Iran nuclear talks
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:31 EDT
Iran and world powers on Tuesday dug in for a second day of attritional talks in Moscow aimed at breaking an increasingly risky deadlock in the decade-long crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme.
With the United States and Israel refusing to rule out military action and Tehran facing severe economic sanctions, the price of failure in the Russian capital could be high but there was no sign of progress on the first day.
Negotiators from the six world powers asked Iran to scale back its enrichment of uranium, a process which can be used to make nuclear fuel but also the explosive core of a nuclear bomb.
But Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili responded with a five-point powerpoint presentation listing Iran’s own demands, an EU official said, apparently leaving both sides talking at cross purposes.
“The main stumbling block is the fact the positions of the sides are rather complicated and hard to reconcile,” the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying after Monday’s first round.
EU delegation spokesman Michael Mann indicated all had not been harmonious: “We had an intense and tough exchange of views,” he said.
The two sides opened the second day of plenary talks at 0800 GMT after the Iranian side had bilateral discussions in the morning with the Russian delegation and the world powers held their own internal meeting to coordinate strategy, delegates said.
The Iranians are expecting their counterparts to come up with answers to the points that had been laid out the day earlier while the world powers want to see some sign of flexibility from Iran.
“The P5+1 group will today announce its position on Iran’s proposals, and specifically about the issue of Iran’s enrichment right,” Jalili’s deputy Ali Bagheri told the Mehr news agency.
The world powers are the so-called “P5+1″ — permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany — with their negotiating team led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Russia, China, Iran plan to stage in Syria “biggest Mid East maneuver”
DEBKAfile Special Report June 18, 2012, 8:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
Middle East military tensions around Syria shot up again Monday, June 18, with the news reported by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars that a joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise is to take place in Syria.
It was described as “the biggest of its kind ever staged in the Middle East” with 90,000 personnel, 400 air planes and 900 tanks taking part.
As part of its preparations, Beijing is reported to have asked Egyptian authorities to permit the passage through the Suez Canal in late June of 12 naval ships heading for the Syrian port of Tartus, where Moscow maintains a naval and marine base. debkafile reported earlier this week that Russian naval vessels with marines on board were heading for Tartus. The Iranian media did not itemize their contribution to the joint exercise.
debkafile stresses that this would be the first time that substantial Russian and Chinese military strength has ever been deployed in Syria or anywhere else in the Middle East. It means that the two powers are prepared to parade their unabashed partnership with the Iranian and Syrian armies for the shared purpose of obstructing US-European-Arab military intervention in Syria. A large-scale Russian and Chinese military presence in the embattled country would expect to deter the United States from leading a military operation against Bashar Assad and his regime.
No date was attached to the report but the exercise may possibly take place before the end of the month
The large-scale maneuver was announced in Tehran on the first day of the nuclear crisis talks in Moscow between Iran and the six world powers, their third attempt to resolve the crisis by diplomacy. However, Russian and Iranian sources close to the talks were pessimistic about progress. An Iranian delegation member complained the atmosphere was harsh and unconstructive. A Russian source saw no way of bridging US-led Western differences with Tehran when the parties reconvene Monday.
debkafile also notes that the big joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise “at sea, air and land on Syrian soil,” ws released for publication shortly before US President Barack Obama was due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Mexico.
Obama, Putin discuss Syria differences
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, June 18, 2012 18:22 EDT
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin said Monday that Syrians must be free to choose their future, but there was little sign they eased differences on ending the brutal violence.
The two presidents, in a closely watched first meeting since Putin returned to the Kremlin, did unite to call on Iran to live up to its nuclear obligations, as talks between Tehran and world powers stumbled in Moscow.
While Putin said talks at a Mexican resort ahead of the G20 summit found “common points” on Syria, there was no indication of a plan that could end violence which has killed thousands and see President Bashar al-Assad eased from power.
“In order to stop the bloodshed in Syria, we call for an immediate cessation of all violence,” the leaders said in a joint statement issued after days of antagonism between Moscow and Washington on the issue.
“We are united in the belief that the Syrian people should have the opportunity to independently and democratically choose their own future.”
The two leaders restated support for UN envoy Kofi Annan, despite the failure of his plan to halt the violence and sectarian strife.
Washington is concerned at Russian arms sales to Syria and frustrated that Moscow is blocking attempts at the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions and perhaps prod Assad out of power.
Russia appears suspicious Washington is bent on regime change in Damascus and is keen not to lose an alliance that dates from the Cold War and offers Moscow naval bases with access to the eastern Mediterranean.
Morsi will use street power for Egyptian presidency. The US backs Brotherhood
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis June 18, 2012, 10:54 AM (GMT+02:00)
Muslim Brotherhood candidate Muhammad Mursi did not wait for the ballots of the two-day poll to be counted before proclaiming himself Monday, June 18, President of Egypt and claiming 52.5 percent of the vote against 47.5 percent for his rival, Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.
Morsi promised a cheering news conference “a civil, patriotic, democratic, constitutional and modern state” as “president of all the Egyptian people.” Shafiq’s protest that the millions of uncounted votes could change the results was drowned out by Islamist celebrations in several Egyptian cities – as well as the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The scene was being set for the Muslim Brotherhood to rally the street against a possible Shafiq win; Islamist multitudes would force the Morsi victory down the throats of the country and the transitional military council rulers.
Anticipating this scenario, the supreme military council Sunday virtually stripped the incoming president of powers by assuming the legislative authority of the dissolved parliament and control of the national budget.
The council will release details of an interim constitutional declaration Monday, said Maj. Mohamed Askar, the council’s spokesman.
debkafile’s sources report that the council will not go directly up against the Muslim Brotherhood, although it was often accused of plotting its overthrow. What the generals are doing is maneuvering for a foothold from which to bargain for a portion of rule. Reluctant to give up the reins of government, they are nonetheless aware that Morsi may not only prove to be the chosen president of millions of Egyptians, but enjoys quiet backing from the Obama administration.
US president Barack Obama’s goal from the outset of the Tahrir Square revolution early last year was to get the Muslim Brotherhood installed in government through the ballot box. He sees this as the grand vindication of the vision he unveiled at Cairo University on June 4, 2009 in a speech reaching out to world Muslims.
Obama accepts Muslim parties who are not al Qaeda or jihadists as forces of moderation who must be allowed to attain power through their embrace of democracy, and with whom the US, the West and Israel must learn to coexist.
This perception, which entails getting even pro-Western autocratic rulers displaced, guided his hand in supporting the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and Muammar Qaddafi’s overthrow in Libya seven months later to make way for “moderate” Muslim rule.
It is also being applied in Syria. Aided by the Muslim ruler closest to him, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Obama is working hard to unify the squabbling factions of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, the backbone of the Sunni rebellion against the Assad regime and his Alawite sect, and bring the MB to power through the democratic process. It is too soon to predict his chances of success.
In Cairo, Egypt’s generals are engaged in an acrobatic exercise to keep their balance while watching the Brotherhood take power with the blessing of the White House in Washington.
Israel, it must be said, finds itself in a strategic pits deeper than ever before as it faces the Islamist revolution overtaking Egypt. While promising Israel every possible security perk, Obama has relentlessly pursued a policy of accommodation with revolutionary Islam, both Shiite – through a nuclear deal with Iran after it progressed beyond the point of no return for building a bomb – and the Sunnis, by collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches.
This policy has stripped Israel of its strategic assets barring one – military prowess.
In their three years at the helm of Israel’s government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have lined up with Obama policy – often involuntarily. However, every Obama success in promoting Muslim power drops Israel further down the strategic scale in the face of its empowered foes.
Israel’s only recourse for recovering shrinking strategic ground in the Middle East and deterrent strength against the rising Islamist forces in Egypt is to take matters in its own hands and dismantle Iran’s nuclear program by force.
If Netanyahu waits much longer, Israel will find Shiite and Sunni revolutionary rulers uniting against their perceived common enemy, Israel, before they fight each other over slices of the Middle East. A military coup in Cairo could set this process back, but the chances of its happening are slight.
Russia reportedly sending 2 warships with marines to Syria
June 18, 2012 – SYRIA – Russia is preparing to dispatch a pair of warships carrying a contingent of Black Sea Fleet marines to its logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Monday, in what appeared to be another sign of the deteriorating security situation in the strife-ridden nation. The report quoted an unidentified Russian naval source saying the amphibious ships Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov, accompanied by the rescue tug SB-15, were “preparing for a non-routine departure” for Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean base. There was no official confirmation from the Russian government. The purpose of the reported deployment was to assist in securing the base amid escalating violence in Syria and to aid in the possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria should the need arise. A publicly unknown number of Russians are said to be in Syria, assisting security officials with the operation and maintenance of Russian and Soviet-made weaponry. Syria has long been a major arms client of Moscow. The report comes after weeks of heated speculation about Russian warships steaming for Syria and Russian weapons deliveries for the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime Kremlin ally. Moscow and Washington clashed heatedly last week about a supposed delivery of Russian attack helicopters to Syria. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton contended that the helicopters would “escalate the conflict quite dramatically.” Russia said any weaponry being sold to Syria was designed against external threats and could not be deployed against rebels. Russia said no new helicopters were being sent to Syria, but that “scheduled repairs of hardware that was supplied to Syria many years ago” had been carried out.
Violence breaks out on Israel’s Egypt and Gaza borders
June 18, 2012 – ISRAEL – Militants who crossed into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai desert fired on Israelis building a barrier on the border on Monday, killing one worker, before soldiers shot and killed two of the attackers, Israel’s military said. Hours later, an Israeli air strike on the northern Gaza Strip killed two militants on a motorcycle. Islamic Jihad said they belonged to their group. The military said the strike was not linked to the incident on the border. The Sinai attack, launched soon after Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood declared victory in the country’s presidential election, raised Israeli concerns about lawlessness in the area since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. “We can see a disturbing deterioration in Egypt’s control of the Sinai’s security,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, commenting on the attack. “We are waiting for the election results. Whoever wins, we expect him to take respon
sibility over all of Egypt’s international commitments, including the (1979) peace treaty with Israel and security arrangements in the Sinai, and to put an end to these attacks swiftly,” he told reporters. Three gunmen crossed into Israel from the Sinai desert, the Israeli military said. Spokesman Yoav Mordechai said “a terrorist squad opened fire and possibly also fired an anti-tank rocket at an area where (Israel) is constructing the border fence.” Soldiers who rushed to the scene killed two of the militants but could not find the third, who may have returned to Egypt, the military said. A military source said the worker killed was an Arab citizen of Israel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Gaza Strip. Israel is building a fence along the frontier to curb an influx of African migrants and boost security, and hopes to complete it by the end of the year. It will run along most of the 266 km (165 miles) from Eilat, on the Red Sea, to the Gaza Strip.
Israel: Make military threats against Iran more real
3rd round of talks between Iran, world powers to begin in Moscow; officials say int’l community must make demands clear.
Photo: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters
On the eve of the third round of talks between Iran and the world powers expected to begin Monday in Moscow, Israeli officials urged the international community to better impress upon Tehran that they will face military action if their nuclear march is not stopped.
“Our position is that the international community needs to do three things for the talks to be successful,” an official said Sunday. “Make its demands crystal clear and tied to a clear timeline for implementation, ratchet up the economic and diplomatic pressure, and augment that pressure by making clear there is a credible military option.” The official, reflecting a position that has been percolating for weeks in Jerusalem, said there is a sense the Iranians are not yet convinced that when the US or others say that “all options are on the table,” they actually mean it.
UPDATE: US Attempting to Trigger Full Proxy War in Syria
Torrent of propaganda, foreign arms, and political sabotage seek to fulfill broader plans for destabilization.
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
Over the last week, the US has been outright caught lying – admittedly by Pentagon officials, regarding Russian gunships being shipped to Syria. In New York Times’ “Copters in Syria May Not Be New, U.S. Officials Say,” a senior defense department official admitted when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her fraudulent claim regarding Russian weapon shipments, she “put a little spin on it to put the Russians in a difficult position.”
The New York Times continued by stating, “Mrs. Clinton’s claim about the helicopters, administration officials said, is part of a calculated effort to raise the pressure on Russia to abandon President Bashar al-Assad, its main ally in the Middle East,” indicative of the campaign of propaganda and lies orchestrated by the US State Department, the British Foreign Office, and Western and Gulf State news outlets around the world to demonize both the Syrian government and its extensive allies around the world, contrary to the facts on the ground.
Also adding to the torrent of propaganda was Human Rights Watch (HRW) and US State Department-run Amnesty International, both of which are funded by convicted criminal, Wall Street speculator George Soros, which attempted to level charges of “abuses” by Syrian forces, as always based solely on the “witness accounts” of admitted members of the opposition.
The United Nations as well attempted to frame Syrian forces for using “children” as human shields. Despite having 300 monitors on the ground in Syria, again the report was compiled solely using opposition “witness accounts,” reminiscent of a late 2011 UN human rights report also compiled from opposition hearsay, in Geneva – not even Syria – and compiled by Karen Koning AbuZayd.
AbuZayd is concurrently a member of the Washington D.C. based Middle East Policy Council, along side current and former associates of Exxon, the US military, the CIA, the Saudi Binladin Group, the US-Qatari Business Council and both former and current members of the US government – illustrating an immense conflict of interests and devaluing the UN’s credibility to unprecedented lows.
However, as evidence continues to point the finger at opposition sectarian extremists for the massacre at Houla, Syria, and at NATO-armed foreign fighters filtering into Syria to repeat atrocities now fully documented in Libya, organizations like Amnesty, HRW, and even the UN itself are increasingly losing credibility to convince all but the weakest of minds.
Despite this, the West continues to seek ways of arming sectarian extremists operating in Syria under the banner of the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), with the Washington Post confirming in their article, “Syrian rebels get influx of arms with gulf neighbors’ money, U.S. coordination,” that weapons, cash, and logistical support is indeed being provided to terrorist forces in Syria by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Gulf States even as the West berated the Syrian government for “violating” the terms of a ceasefire allegedly being brokered by Kofi Annan.
The West is doing in reality what they admittedly are lying about Russia doing for the sake of “raising pressure,” with Russia in turn leveling much more credible accusations against the US for arming sectarian extremists in Syria.
The Western press is now intent on portraying the violence in Syria as a “civil war,” despite the fact that the vast majority of weapons, cash, and fighters constituting the “Syrian opposition” are actually foreign. This includes hundreds of sectarian extremists who have invaded from Libya (and here) and Lebanon as planned since 2007 as described in Seymour Hersh’s “The Redirection” in the New Yorker.
Russia, Iran, Syria, China, and the ALBA nations of South America are attempting to promote the actual fulfillment of the Kofi Annan peace plan, seemingly sabotaged by the West from the very beginning. It appears that the West merely used the ceasefire as a means to demonize the Syrian government while regrouping, rearming, and redeploying their proxy forces throughout the region.
What follows next depends entirely on the resolve of the Syrian people to resist what is essentially a foreign proxy invasion – not a civil war. This will be affected greatly by the support Syria gets from a world increasingly aware of the “international community” led by Wall Street and London plotting Syria’s fall that would be but another step toward the inevitable destabilization and collapse of each remaining sovereign nation-state. The tools left for the West to utilize is propaganda and terror, both of which should be expected to be used with increasing frequency, even if by doing so it diminishes its overall effectiveness.
There is no turning back for the West, it has created a global cascade of destabilization, revealed its hand that it is aiming not only to overrun all of the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, but eventually Moscow and Beijing as well.
Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer Report. Read other contributed articles by Tony Cartalucci here.
Syria civilians need to be evacuated, U.N. observer chief says
Gen. Robert Mood urges both sides to allow women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones and ensure their safety.
BEIRUT — The head of the United Nations observer mission in Syria on Sunday urged both sides in the conflict to take “immediate action” to facilitate the evacuation of civilians trapped amid escalating violence.
“The parties must reconsider their position and allow women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones, without any preconditions, and ensure their safety,” Gen. Robert Mood said in a statement.
The Norwegian general spoke a day after the U.N., citing a recent increase in hostilities, suspended its observer mission in Syria, raising new questions about the fate of a faltering U.N.-brokered peace plan.
The almost 300 unarmed observers will remain in Syria but will refrain from going out on patrols “until further notice,” the U.N. said. The observers have had several close calls, but the U.N. has reported no serious injuries among its staff.
Syrian opposition calls for intervention to save Homs
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, June 17, 2012 13:19 EDT
ISTANBUL — The opposition Syrian National Council issued a cry for help Sunday to save Homs and other cities from attacks by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and repeated its call for UN intervention.
“The country is under a violent attack, especially Homs,” said Abdel Basset Sayda, the leader of the SNC, Syria’s main opposition group.
“This criminal regime is still trying to commit atrocities” in Homs and elsewhere, including the central town of Rastan and the northern city of Aleppo, he told journalists.
The Syrian army tightened its grip Sunday on Homs, assaulting the besieged central city with shelling and gunfire.
SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said the situation there was growing increasingly desperate.
“The city is left with no food, no electricity, no water, no communications,” she told journalists.
Other towns, including Rastan, “are living through tragic hours and days. We are calling for immediate humanitarian intervention in favour of the people of Syria”, she added.
Regime forces pound Homs as 1,000 families remain trapped
Residents under siege in Homs have no food and no medical equipment, NGO says
- AFP
Damascus: More than 1,000 families were trapped Saturday in the city of Homs and being pounded by regime forces, a watchdog said, as the UN accused both sides in Syria’s conflict of willingly escalating the violence.
With world powers at loggerheads over how to stem the bloodletting, Syrian ally Russia meanwhile urged that pressure be increased “on both the regime and the opposition [to] make them cease fighting” and get them talking peace.
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the families were trapped in the Khalidiya, Jourat Al Shiah, Qarabees, old city and Qusour areas of Homs, an opposition stronghold in central Syria.
“They have no food and no medical equipment,” Abdul Rahman told AFP.
In a statement, the Observatory sent out an “urgent call” to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “and all those with a sense of humanity to intervene immediately, in order to put a stop to the continuous shelling.”
The NGO also called for the “evacuation and protection of dozens of injured.”
“More than 100 people are injured, many of them badly, and the lack of medical equipment means some of them will die,” Abdul Rahman said, adding there was also a lack of medical staff.
US military intervention in Syria – “Not if but when”
DEBKAfile Special Report June 16, 2012, 3:51 PM (GMT+02:00)
As the violence in Syria continued to go from bad to worse in scope and intensity, US official sources had this to say Saturday, June 16, about planned US military operations in the war-torn country:
“The intervention will happen. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’”
A Syrian Free Army rebel delegation is now in Washington to talk about their requests for heavy weapons from the Obama administration. In their meetings with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State Department’s expert on Syria Fred Hof, the rebel leaders handed in two lists for approval: types of heavy weapons capable of challenging Bashar Assad’s armed forces and selected targets of attack to destabilize his regime.
debkafile’s Washington sources disclose that the administration is very near a decision on the types of weapons to be shipped to the Syrian rebels and when. Most of the items Washington is ready to send have been purchased by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and are ready for shipment.
The White House is also close to deciding on the format of its military operation in Syria. Some sources are defining it as “Libya lite” – that is, a reduced-scale version of the no-fly zone imposed on Libya two years ago and the direct air and other strikes which toppled the Qaddafi regime.
Following reports of approaching US military intervention in Syria and a Russian marine contingent heading for Tartus port, the UN observer mission in Syria has suspended operations and patrols. Its commander Maj. Gen. Robert Mood said, “Violence has been intensifying over the past 10 days by both parties with losses and significant risks to our observers.”
He said the risk is approaching an unacceptable level and could prompt the 300 observers to pull out of the country.
Friday, June 15, debkafile reported:
A contingent of Russian special forces is on its way to Syria to guard the Russian navy’s deep-water port at the Syria’s Mediterranean coastal town of Tartus, Pentagon officials informed US NBC TV Friday, June 15. They are coming by ship. According to debkafile’s sources, the contingent is made up of naval marines and is due to land in Syria in the coming hours.
In a separate and earlier announcement, US Defense Department sources in Washington reported that the US military had completed its own planning for a variety of US operations against Syria, or for assisting neighboring countries in the event action was ordered – a reference, according to our sources, to Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
The Syrian civil war is now moving into a new phase of major power military intervention, say debkafile’s military sources. Moscow, by sending troops to Syria without UN Security Council approval, has set a precedent for the United States, the European Union and Arab governments to follow. They all held back from sending troops to Syria because all motions to apply force for halting the bloodshed in Syria were blocked in the UN body by Russia and China.
According to US military sources, in recent weeks, the Pentagon has finalized its assessment of what types of units would be needed and how many troops. The military planning includes a scenario for a no-fly zone as well as protecting chemical and biological sites. The U.S. Navy is maintaining a presence of three surface combatants and a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean to conduct electronic surveillance and reconnaissance on the Syrian regime, a senior Pentagon official said.
UN observers suspend Syria work
UN observers in Syria have suspended their activities because of the escalating violence, the head of the UN Stabilisation Mission (UNSMIS) says.
Norwegian Gen Robert Mood said the observers would cease patrols and stay in their current locations.
But he said the mission remained committed to ending the violence.
The announcement comes a day after Gen Mood warned that the escalation in violence was limiting the observers’ ability to do their work.
Activists reported at least 60 people killed around the country, with the worst violence in areas around Damascus, where they said 10 people were summarily killed in the town of Saqba.
At least seven people were killed overnight in Douma, an eastern suburb of the capital Damascus, while at least 18 others died in violence elsewhere, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
UPDATE: Syria: Impending False Flag Media PSYOP On The Horizon
By Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
June 15, 2012
With the Syrian crisis heating up amidst heightened agitation by NATO powers and the announcement by Russian officials that two military combat divisions and one brigade of Russian troops are being readied in order to support the Assad government, very disturbing reports are now being echoed by reliable sources such as Thierry Meyssan and Webster Griffin Tarpley regarding a potential false flag in the region.
The event, which would take the form of staged massacres, rebellions, and resignations, using television studios and the commandeering of Syrian television, would serve the purpose of both spreading disinformation across the world and a campaign of demoralization against the Syrian people.
According to Meyssan, the event could take place as early as Friday, June 15, at noon.
Meyssan states that, although the time and date are not set in stone, the plan, which has been in the works for months, has been accelerated due to the recent announcements made by Vladmir Putin.
Meyssan writes:
Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian government, people demonstrating ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.
The plan, according to Meyssan, has been largely organized by Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Advisor For Strategic Communication and speechwriter for Barack Obama.
Meyssan states that the Arab League has officially asked satellite operators Arabsat and Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media, regardless of whether those broadcasts are government-based or private.
However, although Syrian media will be cut, television broadcasts presenting the staged scenarios mentioned above will replace the regularly scheduled programming.
Meyssan says that, according to his sources, several international meetings were held in the last week where a discussion took place regarding how to coordinate the disinformation operation. He claims that the first meeting held in Doha, Qatar, was of a technical nature and the third meeting, held in Riyad, Saudi Arabia dealt with political ramifications.
Meyssan writes:
The first meeting assembled PSYOP officers, embedded in the satellite TV channels of Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Fox, France 24, Future TV and MTV. It is known that since 1998, the officers of the US Army Psychological Operations Unit (PSYOP) have been incorporated in CNN.
Since then this practice has been extended by NATO to other strategic media as well.
They fabricated false information in advance, on the basis of a ‘story-telling’ script devised by Ben Rhodes’s team at the White House. A procedure of reciprocal validation was installed, with each media quoting the lies of the other media to render them plausible for TV spectators.
The participants also decided not only to requisition the TV channels of the CIA for Syria and Lebanon (Barada, Future TV, MTV, Orient News, Syria Chaab, Syria Alghad) but also about 40 religious Wahhabi TV channels to call for confessional massacres to the cry of ‘Christians to Beyrouth, Alawites into the grave!’
The second meeting was held for engineers and technicians to fabricate fictitious images, mixing one part in an outdoor studio, the other part with computer generated images.
During the past weeks, studios in Saudi Arabia have been set up to build replicas of the two presidential palaces in Syria and the main squares of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Studios of this type already exist in Doha (Qatar), but they are not sufficient.
The third meeting was held by General James B. Smith, the US ambassador, a representative of the UK, prince Bandar Bin Sultan (whom former U.S. president George Bush named his adopted son so that the U.S. press called him ‘Bandar Bush’).
In this meeting the media actions were coordinated with those of the Free ‘Syrian’ Army, in which prince Bandar’s mercenaries play a decisive role.
As Webster Tarpley has pointed out, this plan sounds eerily familiar to the false broadcast of the Green Square in Tripoli, Libya which turned out to be faked film footage created on a film set in Qatar.
Big powers move in on Syria: Russian troops for Tartus. US forces ready to go
DEBKAfile Special Report June 15, 2012, 7:39 PM (GMT+02:00)
A contingent of Russian special forces is on its way to Syria to guard the Russian navy’s deep-water port at the Syria’s Mediterranean coastal town of Tartus, Pentagon officials informed US NBC TV Friday, June 15. They are coming by ship. According to debkafile’s sources, the contingent is made up of naval marines and is due to land in Syria in the coming hours.
In a separate and earlier announcement, US Defense Department sources in Washington reported that the US military had completed its own planning for a variety of US operations against Syria, or for assisting neighboring countries in the event action was ordered – a reference, according to our sources, to Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
The Syrian civil war is now moving into a new phase of major power military intervention, say debkafile’s military sources. Moscow, by sending troops to Syria without UN Security Council approval, has set up a precedent for the United States, the European Union and Arab governments to follow. They all held back from sending troops to Syria because all motions to apply force for halting the bloodshed in Syria was blocked in the UN body.
According to US military sources, in recent weeks, the Pentagon has finalized its assessment of what types of units would be needed and how many troops. The military planning includes a scenario for a no-fly zone as well as protecting chemical and biological sites. The U.S. Navy is maintaining a presence of three surface combatants and a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean to conduct electronic surveillance and reconnaissance on the Syrian regime, a senior Pentagon official said.
Syria observer chief says violence derails mission
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence, raising questions about how effective the unarmed force can be in a conflict that every day looks more like a civil war.
The troubles facing the observer mission are the latest sign that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating. Western powers have pinned their hopes on the plan, brokered two months ago by special envoy Kofi Annan, in part because there are no other options on the table. There is little support for military intervention, and several rounds of sanctions have failed to stop the bloodshed.
“Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers,” Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
Mood also said there was a concern among the states providing observers that the risk is approaching an unacceptable level — suggesting the violence could prompt the nearly 300 observers to pull out of the country at some point. He did not provide further details.
Mood’s comments were the clearest sign yet that Annan’s peace plan is falling apart. The regime and the opposition have ignored a cease-fire that was supposed to go into effect April 12.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called on the observers to “either work on stopping the killings or leave.” The group said the observers’ role has become to “witness the killing in Syria” rather than implement Annan’s six-point plan.
It was the harshest criticism of the observers by an activist group since they started their work in April.
Some analysts say that even if the number of observers increased by tenfold, it still would be very difficult for them to report and investigate acts of violence throughout the country.
“Even 3,000 observers will not be enough,” said Hisham Jaber, a former Lebanese army general who heads the Beirut-based Middle East Center for Studies and Public Relations.
Still, the presence of the observers is considered critical to understanding the conflict in a country where the government prevents reporters from operating independently.
Mood said all the observers are frustrated because the violence has not only persisted but actually increased over the past few days.
“We would like to see last week, yesterday, not tomorrow, next week a different situation where those who have their fingers on the triggers, whomever they are, make the decision to take their fingers off the triggers and give the Syrian people a chance to move forward,” he said.
On Friday, the Syrian regime kept up a ferocious offensive on rebel areas around the country in one of the most serious escalations in violence since Annan brokered the nominal truce.
An activist in the northern city of Aleppo said troops backed by helicopters and tanks were engaged in “raging battles” several miles (kilometers) away in the rebel-held town of Anadan, and in other towns in the district.
Elsewhere, activists said Syrian troops heavily shelled the central city of Homs, which has come under attack for days.
The violence did not stop thousands of Syrians from taking part in demonstrations against President Bashar Assad on Friday, marching from mosques, gathering in town squares, chanting, singing and dancing against the regime.
“Even if I die, I will still be a rebel,” sang the leader of a demonstration in the northern city of Idlib, according to amateur video. “Oh Bashar, you will flee.”
Nationwide, at least 28 people were reported killed when security forces opened fire on protests, according to activists. That toll could not be independently verified.
Eight protesters were killed in the southern town of Busra al-Sham after Syrian forces fired a shell near the Khaled Bin Walid mosque, according to activists and amateur videos that appeared to show bloodied men sprawled lifeless on a street. The video could not be independently verified. The state-run news agency, SANA, blamed the attack on terrorists who planted bombs near the mosque.
Syrian troops have been sweeping through villages and towns in northern, central, southern and seaside provinces this week to reclaim territory.
The military on Wednesday overran the town of Haffa in the coastal Latakia province, pushing out hundreds of rebels after intense battles that lasted eight days.
U.N. observers entered the nearly deserted town Thursday and found smoldering buildings, looted shops, smashed cars and a strong stench of death, according to U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh.
Selma Tareq, 42, a Haffa resident who fled to Turkey last week, said many families remain trapped in the mountains.
She said Syrian regime forces set fire to forests in an apparent attempt to stop people from fleeing and prevent rebels from reinforcing.
“We were afraid to drink water from the wells fearing they could be poisoned so we made cats and other animals drink first,” said Tareq, who is now in a refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey’s southernmost border with Syria, with her sons, Omar, 5, and Osman, 8.
“We stored dry bread and softened it in water to survive,” she said.
The siege of Haffa, a Sunni-populated village, had become a focus of international concern because of fears the uprising against the Assad regime is evolving into a sectarian civil war pitting the president’s minority Alawite sect against the majority Sunnis and other groups. Recent mass killings in other Sunni areas have fueled those concerns.
U.N. observers have reported a steep rise in violence in Syria in recent weeks — and not just on the part of the government.
“The attacks by the armed opposition on official buildings and government checkpoints are becoming more effective, and the government is taking great losses,” Mood said Friday.
Russia Sending Air and Sea Defenses to Syria, Exporter Says
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
MOSCOW — Russia’s chief arms exporter said Friday that his company was shipping advanced defensive missile systems to Syria that could be used to shoot down airplanes or sink ships if the United States or other nations try to intervene to halt the country’s spiral of violence.
“I would like to say these mechanisms are really a good means of defense, a reliable defense against attacks from the air or sea,” Anatoly P. Isaykin, the general director of the company, Rosoboronexport, said Friday in an interview. “This is not a threat, but whoever is planning an attack should think about this.”
His remarks come just days after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised diplomatic pressure on Russia, Syria’s patron, by criticizing the Kremlin for sending attack helicopters to Damascus, and amid reports that Moscow was preparing to send an amphibious landing vessel and a small company of marines to the Syrian port of Tartus, to provide security for military installations and infrastructure, if it becomes necessary.
ALERT: NATO-Gulf Axis Set to Deploy Vast Disinformation Campaign in Syria
Member States of NATO and the GCC are preparing a coup d’état and a sectarian genocide in Syria. If you want to prevent these crimes, you should act now: circulate this article on the Internet and alert your elected officials.
Thiery Meyssan
Voltaire Net
June 15, 2012
In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.
Ben Rhodes, who wears hats as a foreign policy speechwriter, deputy national security adviser and sometimes administration spokesmanThis operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d’etat will end all hopes of democratization.
The Arab League has officially asked the satellite operators Arabsat and Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media, either public or private (Syria TV, Al-Ekbariya, Ad-Dounia, Cham TV, etc.) A precedent already exists because the Arab League had managed to censure Libyan TV in order to keep the leaders of the Jamahiriya from communicating with their people. There is no Hertz network in Syria, where TV works exclusively with satellites. The cut, however, will not leave the screens black.
Actually, this public decision is only the tip of the iceberg. According to our information several international meetings were organized during the past week to coordinate the disinformation campaign. The first two were technical meetings, held in Doha (Qatar); the third was a political meeting and took place in Riyad (Saudi Arabia).
The first meeting assembled PSYOP officers, embedded in the satellite TV channels of Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Fox, France 24, Future TV and MTV. It is known that since 1998, the officers of the US Army Psychological Operations Unit (PSYOP) have been incorporated in CNN. Since then this practice has been extended by NATO to other strategic media as well.
They fabricated false information in advance, on the basis of a “story-telling” script devised by Ben Rhodes’s team at the White House. A procedure of reciprocal validation was installed, with each media quoting the lies of the other media to render them plausible for TV spectators. The participants also decided not only to requisition the TV channels of the CIA for Syria and Lebanon (Barada, Future TV, MTV, Orient News, Syria Chaab, Syria Alghad) but also about 40 religious Wahhabi TV channels to call for confessional massacres to the cry of “Christians to Beyrouth, Alawites into the grave!.”
The second meeting was held for engineers and technicians to fabricate fictitious images, mixing one part in an outdoor studio, the other part with computer generated images. During the past weeks, studios in Saudi Arabia have been set up to build replicas of the two presidential palaces in Syria and the main squares of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Studios of this type already exist in Doha (Qatar), but they are not sufficient.
The third meeting was held by General James B. Smith, the US ambassador, a representative of the UK, prince Bandar Bin Sultan (whom former U.S. president George Bush named his adopted son so that the U.S. press called him “Bandar Bush”). In this meeting the media actions were coordinated with those of the Free “Syrian” Army, in which prince Bandar’s mercenaries play a decisive role.
The operation had been in the making for several months, but the U.S. National Security Council decided to accelerate the action after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, notified the White House that he would oppose by all means, even by force, any illegal NATO military intervention in Syria.
The operation has a double intent: the first is to spread false information, the second aims at censuring all possible responses.
The hampering of TV satellites for military purposes is not new. Under pressure from Israel, the USA and the EU blocked Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, Libyan and Iranian TV channels, one after the other. However, no satellite channels from other parts of the world were censured.
The broadcast of false news is also not new, but four significant steps have been taken in the art of propaganda during the last decade.
- In 1994, a pop music station named “Free Radio of the Thousand Hills” (RTML) gave the signal for genocide in Rwanda with the cry, “Kill the cockroaches!”
- In 2001, NATO used the media to impose an interpretation of the 9/11 attacks and to justify its own aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. At that time already, it was Ben Rhodes who had been commissioned by the Bush administration to concoct the Kean/Hamilton Commission report on the attacks.
- In 2002, the CIA used five TV channels (Televen, Globovision, ValeTV and CMT) to make the public in Venezuela believe that phantom demonstrators had captured the elected president, Hugo Chávez, forcing him to resign. In reality he was the victim of a military coup d’etat.
- In 2011, France 24 served as information ministry for the Libyan CNT, according to a signed contract. During the battle of Tripoli, NATO produced fake studio films, then transmitted them via Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, showing phantom images of Libyan rebels on the central square of the capital city, while in reality they were still far away. As a consequence, the inhabitants of Tripoli were persuaded that the war was lost and gave up all resistance.
Nowadays, the media do not only support a war, they produce it themselves.
This procedure violates the principles of International Law, first of all Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights relating to the fact of receiving and imparting information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Above all, the procedure violates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, adopted after the end of World War II, to prevent further wars. Resolutions 110, 381 and 819 forbid “to set obstacles to free exchange of information and ideas” (like cutting off Syrian TV channels) and “all propaganda provoking or encouraging threats to peace, breaking peace, and all acts of aggression”. By law, war propaganda is a crime against peace, the worst of crimes, because it facilitates war crimes and genocide.
Source
Komsomolskaïa Pravda
China Rejects Syria Sanctions
VOA News
June 14, 2012
China says it does not approve of using sanctions to address the crisis in Syria, a day after France’s foreign minister discussed possible measures to enforce a faltering cease-fire plan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Thursday his country objected to using pressure, and instead backed the efforts of international envoy Kofi Annan.
“Under the current circumstances, all the parties should continue to vigorously support U.N. envoy Kofi Annan’s mediation efforts,” Liu said. “We urge relevant parties in Syria to effectively implement relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and Annan’s six-point proposals, actively cooperate with the U.N. monitors, end any form of violence, protect civilians, and ease the current tense situation as soon as possible.”
Russia
Russia has also been opposed to Western and Arab efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on Syria’s government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended his country’s arms sales to Syria, Wednesday, saying they do not violate international law.
Syria’s ambassador to Russia also rejected criticism of the sales during a visit Thursday to Moscow. Riyad Haddad said the arms are defensive weapons, and further blamed Western countries for any failures of the Annan plan.
US
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday it was time for the international community, including Russia, to come to table and “be constructive” in finding a way forward in Syria despite deviating views.
Violence in Syria continued Thursday, with reported clashes in Homs and Rastan. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least four civilians were killed.
U.N. observers visited the site of a car bombing Thursday near the capital, Damascus, which state media said wounded 14 people.
Rights violations
Meanwhile, Amnesty International issued a report saying it has new evidence of widespread and systematic rights violations by government forces seeking to punish those supporting the opposition.
The group says its workers witnessed Syrian security forces firing on peaceful demonstrators late last month in Aleppo, and that families described soldiers dragging away family members and killing them.
Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis advisor, said the U.N. Security Council has failed, and called for “concrete action” to hold those responsible accountable.
“We are now facing a situation which has deteriorated so much precisely because of the failure of the Security Council to act earlier on when the situation was — when it was more possible to avoid the kind of large scale killings and massacres that we’re seeing today,” she said.
The group said it has received reports of more than 10,000 people being killed since the crisis in Syria began in February 2011, and that the number could be much higher.
This article first appeared on VOA News.com.
Power Confrontation Looms: State Dept Predicts Syrian “New Massacres;” NATO Plans Bombing
theintelhub.com
June 13, 2012
Webster Tarpley appears on Press TV to discuss a variety of issues.
Topics covered include:
- Russia Reportedly Preparing 2 Divisions, Spetsnaz Brigade for Deployment to Syria
- Mini-Goebbels Ben Rhodes of Obama White House Runs Colossal Black Propaganda Op to Assist NATO Coup
- Massacre of Alawites and Christians Looms
- Cass Sunstein Destabilizes Vatican to Muzzle Protest
Read more at http://tarpley.net/?p=4187
Syria war drumbeat builds, but where is it leading?
Pundits from John Bolton to Nick Kristof are issuing calls to arms. But there’s little regard for national interest, or the law of unintended consequences, in the urgings to act now.
By Dan Murphy / June 13, 2012
Yesterday afternoon CNN aired a series of heartbreaking images from Syria: Gruesome close-ups of toddlers alleged to have been killed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
I looked up from my desk, and a wave of nausea and anger washed over me as a I saw the body of a little girl in a party dress. The images were twinned to a UN report that alleges 1,000 children were killed in Syria last year, largely by the regime, and that kids had also been subjected to sexual assaults and torture by security forces.
But then I started thinking. How often had I seen on CNN the broken bodies of children killed in Iraq during the US occupation, or by NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan, or by drone strikes in Pakistan? The answer I came up with from my own recollections was “never.” I asked around the newsroom, and most folks there agreed.
The point is not to draw equivalencies, but simply to point out the implied argument made by the unusual choice to show these murdered kids: A special horror is unfolding in Syria, and the world (read, the US) must do something to stop it.
Perhaps the world should. But far less explored are the practicalities of military intervention, the risks that horrors as great or greater await by widening Syria’s civil war into an international conflict. For now, a simple narrative is being spun of a depraved Assad and his helpless victims. Serving that cause yesterday were claims from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Russia was rushing deliveries of attack helicopters to Assad’s army “which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.”
US, Russia split embattled Syria into spheres of influence
DEBKAfile DEBKA-Net-Weekly June 12, 2012, 11:23 AM (GMT+02:00)
Syria is being further wrenched apart as a result of US President Barack Obama’s maneuverings for winning Russian cooperation in resolving the Syrian conflict for US concessions in the nuclear controversy with Iran: As the coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday reveals, Russia is cementing its grip on Syria’s Mediterranean coast while pushing its civil war-torn heartland over to the Americans.
To spoil the Russian game, the US hopes to draw Damascus into the Syrian revolt, a goal only achievable with air force aid.
Obama speeds up limited air strike, no-fly zones preparations for Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 11, 2012, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)
US President Barack Obama has ordered the US Navy and Air Force to accelerate preparations for a limited air offensive against the Assad regime and the imposition of no-fly zones over Syria, debkafile reports. Their mission will be to knock out Assad’s central regime and military command centers so as to shake regime stability and restrict Syrian army and air force activity for subduing rebel action and wreaking violence on civilian populations.
debkafile’s sources disclose that the US President decided on this step after hearing Russian officials stating repeatedly that “Moscow would support the departure of President Bashar al-Assad if Syrians agreed to it.” This position was interpreted as opening up two paths of action:
1. To go for Assad’s removal by stepping up arms supplies to the rebels and organizing their forces as a professional force able to take on the military units loyal to Assad. This process was already in evidence Friday, June 8, when for the first time a Syrian Free Army (which numbers some 600 men under arms) attacked a Syrian army battalion in Damascus. One of its targets was a bus carrying Russian specialists.
2. To select a group of high army officers who, under the pressure of the limited air offensive, would be ready to ease Assad out of power or stage a military coup to force him and his family to accept exile.
The US operation would be modulated according to the way political and military events unfolded.
Washington is not sure how Moscow would react aside from sharp condemnations or whether Russia would accept a process of regime change in Damascus and its replacement by military rule.
WARNING: Possible NATO-FSA False Flag Attack in Syria
Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
Monday, June 11, 2012
RT has warned of a possible plot being fomented by Syrian rebels inside NATO member Turkey. The plot involves Syrian rebels deploying chemical weapons obtained in Libya against Syrian civilians, then blaming the Syrian government for the mass casualty event. This of course would provide the West the “casus belli” it has been searching for to circumvent the UN Security Council and implement its long-planned campaign of regime change.
The Means
Libya’s arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance last year in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the government there. Since then, Libya’s militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria.
Image: The symbols for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The West is the undisputed champion of deploying each of these weapons of mass destruction against their enemies – from nuclear bombs upon Japan, to depleted uranium and white phosphorus upon Iraq, to Agent Orange all across Vietnam – it stands to reason that these weapons would eventually end up in the hands of the their proxies as well.
Libyan LIFG commander Abdul Hakim Belhaj, according to the London Telegraph, had in fact traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to consort with the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), pledging weapons, cash, and even fighters. Since then, at least one ship flush with Libyan weaponry bound for Syrian militants has been interdicted by Lebanon, while the Western press, including the Sydney Morning Herald, has reported on a massive influx of foreign fighters and arms. In addition to Libyan weapons, the Washington Post has also confirmed the US and Gulf States have been arranging the delivery of weapons to Syrian militants.
Additionally, as a result of NATO’s intervention in Libya, the scattered military’s extensive arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles has also fallen into the hands of Libyan militants, to then be proliferated throughout LIFG’s network of affiliates – all of which are sectarian extremists, many with direct ties to Al Qaeda. The Washington Post in their article, “Libyan missiles on the loose,” reported:
“Two former CIA counterterrorism officers told me last week that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man-portable air-defense systems (known asMANPADS) — some for an African jihadist group called Boko Haram that is often seen as an ally of al-Qaeda — for possible use against commercial jets flying into Niger, Chad and perhaps Nigeria.”
Clearly, NATO’s proxies in Libya have become a regional arsenal for similar sectarian extremists – all demonstratively working in concert with Western designs to overthrow both nationalist governments in North Africa, and installing client regions throughout the Middle Eastto then array against Iran and by extension, Russia’s sphere of influence throughout the region. If Libya possessed deployable chemical weapons, it seems very likely that they would find their way to LIFG’s affiliates and their foreign legionaries along with the rest of their exported terror.
Report: Obama Prepares Air Strikes On Syria
Russia’s climbdown sets stage for regime change
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Monday, June 11, 2012
President Barack Obama has told the US Navy and Air Force to prepare air strikes on Syria as part of a “no fly zone” that will be enforced with the aid of British and French military power, according to a report.
“Their mission will be to knock out Assad’s central regime and military command centers so as to shake regime stability and restrict Syrian army and air force activity for subduing rebel action and wreaking violence on civilian populations,” reports Israeli intelligence outfit DebkaFile.
Having threatened military action for months, the United States was apparently encouraged by the fact that Russia is once again backing down from its harsh rhetoric and indicating that it will not oppose the toppling of President Bashar Al-Assad.
After having intimated that Russia would support Syria via indirect military means if NATO powers launched an attack, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that Russia “will be only glad to support such an outcome” (the ousting of Assad), suggesting Moscow has softened on the idea of regime change in Syria.
The likelihood of military intervention has been brought forward by reports that opposition rebels are planning to use chemical weapons and then blame the atrocity on Assad’s regime.
Rebels attempted to stage a similar ‘false flag’ recently when British Channel 4 reporter Alex Thomson was purposefully led by rebels into a trap whereby it was hoped he would be killed by government troops and his death used as a propaganda stunt.
Hostility towards Syria from the international community has intensified in recent weeks, particularly after the recent massacre in Houla which was blamed on Assad’s forces despite the fact that eyewitnesses in Houla said opposition rebels were responsible for the slaughter, which killed 108 people – mostly women and children.
As Daniel McAdams highlights, the Houla massacre has been exalted as the primary justification for military intervention and yet the media-generated narrative behind the atrocity has completely collapsed.
“A respected mainstream publication, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), has reported that the infamous Houla massacre in Syria, which the US and NATO hoped would be the casus belli for their planned invasion, was in fact carried out by rebel forces,” writes McAdams.
US confirms Russia to send attack helicopters to Syria
foxnews.com
June 12, 2012
The Obama administration says Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime and is warning about a dramatic escalation in the Arab country’s 15-month conflict.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the delivery represents the “latest information.” She says the U.S. is concerned as the helicopters “will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.”
Syrian Girl: Will Attack On Syria Lead to World War III?
YouTube
Monday, June 11, 2012
NATO has forced Syria to bomb itself.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Could Israel attack Syria based on falsified chemical weapons claims?
Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Activist Post
In late February of this year, I covered an article in the Wired blog Danger Room which read like nothing but pure, unadulterated propaganda.
This piece claimed, without any evidence whatsoever mind you, that U.S. officials were worried about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad possessing chemical weapons stockpiles, including mustard gas and nerve agents.
The piece was rife with outlandish claims and was nearly identical to the similar baseless propaganda we saw in the effort to justify the invasion of Iraq.
As I covered in my recent video (see below), the mainstream media seems to finally be catching up to the fact that it is not the Syrian government which is committing the atrocities, but well coordinated armed terrorist groups which are part of the opposition.
There have been previous instances where a tiny bit of truth will manage to break through, such as when the UN finally publicly acknowledged the presence of these terrorist groups carrying out bombings. However, the disinformation and propaganda still reigns over the truth, especially in the Western mainstream media. Now it appears that Israel is joining this conglomerate of nations pushing to invade Syria on false pretenses, which is hardly surprising seeing as Syria and Israel have never been the closest of pals.
After all, Syria is one of the few countries in the region which isn’t completely dominated by Western and Zionist interests, as is the case with the vast majority of Arab League nations.
Israel’s Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee, Ayoub Kara, a member of the rightwing Likud party, claimed that he saw photos which “left no doubt that the forces of President Bashar Assad have used chemical weapons against Syrian men, women and children,” according to the Times of Israel.
If anyone can honestly accept a Likud-affiliated Israeli politician when he says that he saw mysteriously non-corroborated photographs which indisputably show that Assad’s forces have used chemical weapons against men, women and children, then I have some phenomenal beachfront property in Chad to sell you.
Kara further claimed in an interview with Israel Radio that Israeli doctors are currently stationed on the Syrian-Turkish border treating people who have been injured in the battles between Assad’s forces and the armed opposition groups.
Kara also stated that Israel is willing and able to accept injured Syrians, while the Times of Israel cited the likely wildly inflated number of 13,000 dead civilians which, of course, is only corroborated by the claims of so-called Syrian “activists.”
Furthermore, Kara stated that Israel is ready to move doctors into Jordan to treat wounded Syrians.
“Israel is ready to receive casualties who are evacuated from Syria to Israel, and alternatively we are ready to send medical assistance through Jordan to those unfortunate children and babies whose families have been annihilated by the shabiha of the Syrian regime,” he said.
The Times of Israel claims that, “The shabiha are pro-government militiamen who have been accused of perpetrating some of the worst atrocities against civilians in recent months.”
Shabiha can be roughly translated into “thugs” and they have garnered a significant amount of Western mainstream media coverage from the British Telegraph, CNN, the BBC, Time, the Guardian, the Washington Post and more.
This just happens to ignore the facts outlined in the above video which show that contrary to the propaganda we are being fed, the worst atrocities have actually been committed by the opposition forces.
Unfortunately, it is not quite a shock since we saw the same thing in Libya: rebels commit gruesome acts which the mainstream media ignores, while quickly jumping on and running with falsified claims made by rebels at every turn.
So much of the horrific situation in Syria has echoed that of Libya, where the rebels were guilty of gross violations of human rights which most of the Western media conveniently ignored.
Press TV points to a recent report which, “indicated that the armed groups fighting against the Syrian government have found access to and plan to use chemical weapons, acquired from Libya.”
This wouldn’t be all too surprising either since it was reported last year that 20,000 portable surface-to-air missiles mysteriously went missing in Libya, after which there were reports of similar weaponry being used in Syria.
Since al Qaeda was so heavily involved with the uprising and regime change in Libya, it would not be at all unwarranted to suspect that they would hand over whatever weaponry they could to their allies in Syria.
Also quite convenient in terms of timing were reports of the Syrian rebels seizing an army base and threatening to fire surface-to-air missiles at Assad’s palace.
This would be quite an apt way to explain their possession of large amounts of such military hardware without exposing the supply chain from Libya. This, of course, is pure speculation at this point but it is a line of reasoning which should be considered.
The Syrian government has repeatedly stated that the violence is the work of armed terrorist groups and on June 3 Assad stated that Syria is “facing a war from abroad,” while adding that there is an effort “to weaken Syria, [and] breach its sovereignty.”
All we can do at this point is hope that the truth continues to emerge and that the alternative media can at least make some effort in pushing back against the tide of disinformation and propaganda streaming out of the mainstream media.
This article first appeared at End the Lie.
UN: Syria now in full-scale civil war
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 14:50 EDT
Syria is now in a full-scale civil war, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Tuesday, as UN observers reported they were fired on as they tried to enter a town feared to be the target of a new massacre.
The news came as the Syrian government accused Washington of encouraging more massacres in the strife-torn country, which Damascus always attributes to “armed terrorists,” and of meddling in its internal affairs.
Asked whether he believed Syria is in a civil war, Ladsous told a small group of reporters: “Yes I think we can say that. Clearly what is happening is that the government of Syria lost some large chunks of territory, several cities to the opposition, and wants to retake control.”
“There is a massive increase in the level of violence,” Ladsous said.
On the ground, the UN Supervision Mission in Syria said observers trying to reach the northwestern town of Al-Haffe were driven back by an angry crowd of people who threw rocks and metal bars at them, and were then fired on by unknown assailants.
“As they were leaving the area, three vehicles heading towards (northwest) Idlib were fired upon,” the UNSMIS statement said. “The source of fire is still unclear.”
Full Article
Implosion of The Houla Massacre Story — Is Anyone Paying Attention?
By Daniel McAdams
Lew Rockwell Blog
Monday, June 11, 2012
A respected mainstream publication, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung(FAZ), has reported that the infamous Houla massacre in Syria, which the US and NATO hoped would be the casus belli for their planned invasion, was in fact carried out by rebel forces.
Highlighted in the National Review, of all places, the FAZ investigation was exhaustive and convincing.NRO reports on the original FAZ story:
According to the article’s sources, the massacre occurred after rebel forces attacked three army-controlled roadblocks outside of Houla. The roadblocks had been set up to protect nearby Alawi majority villages from attacks by Sunni militias. The rebel attacks provoked a call for reinforcements by the besieged army units. Syrian army and rebel forces are reported to have engaged in battle for some 90 minutes, during which time “dozens of soldiers and rebels” were killed.
“According to eyewitness accounts,” the FAZ report continues,
“the massacre occurred during this time. Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla’s population are Sunnis. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet.
For weeks, alternative media analysts and even eyewitnesses had been poking enormous holes in the suspiciously convenient Western narrative that Assad’s forces slaughtered the villagers, cutting and killing at close range. No one paid attention, as usual.
The NRO piece continues with a fascinating story from a Christian monastery in the vicinity:
“Already at the beginning of April, Mother Agnès-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James Monastery warned of rebel atrocities’ being repackaged in both Arab and Western media accounts as regime atrocities.
She cited the case of a massacre in the Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs. According to an account published in French on the monastery’s website, rebels gathered Christian and Alawi hostages in a building in Khalidiya and blew up the building with dynamite.
They then attributed the crime to the regular Syrian army. ‘Even though this act has been attributed to regular army forces . . . the evidence and testimony are irrefutable: It was an operation undertaken by armed groups affiliated with the opposition,’ Mother Agnès-Mariam wrote.”
Either Mother Agnès-Mariam is a liar or Hillary Clinton is a liar. You decide.
A few things to consider in light of these dramatic developments:
1) Western governments and media blamed the Assad government immediately and without evidence, pushing condemnation through the UN Security Council without delay to take advantage of the horror and outrage.
Searching for Solutions in Syria
By Nile Bowie
theintelhub.com
June 11, 2012
Summary: The worsening conflict in Syria and the prospect of foreign military intervention outside the mandate of the United Nations poses an immediate risk to civilian safety.
The consequences of pursuing regime change in Damascus invite a broader sectarian conflict that would forever reshape the Middle East; this article analyzes the ongoing perpetuation of violence and attempts to offer non-abrasive solutions to the crisis in Syria.
For sixteen months, the people of Syria have undergone economic hardship, tremendous human suffering and the unparalleled horrors of war.
As the Syrian opposition officially abandons the ceasefire and calls for foreign intervention and the imposition of a no-fly zone [1], US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced a new transition plan that would topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, signaling the increasing possibility of intervention outside the mandate of the United Nations [2].
Following clashes between militant rebel groups and government forces that claimed the lives of 80 Syrian troops [3], rebels in Aleppo have reportedly taken 11 hostages and vowed to release them only when a new state is established [4]. While Bashar al-Assad attributes the perpetuation of Syria’s crisis to outside forces [5], Iran has expressed its readiness to mount an armed resistance against foreign military forces in Syria [6]. Regardless of who perpetrated the recent killings in Qubayr and Houla, the profoundly disturbing images of lifeless children begs the question, has the Syrian crisis reached a point of incorrigibility?
Western media has largely relied on unconfirmed opposition accounts crediting the Shabiha, pro-government Alawite militias with carrying out massacres across Syria as a result of the Assad government “brainwashing the militia into believing the Sunni majority was their enemy,” as reported by The Telegraph [7].
Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has recently reported that anti-Assad Sunni militants carried out the massacre in Houla, targeting pro-government Alawi and Shia minorities, “Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla’s population is Sunni. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam.
Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet” [8].
Human Rights Watch has also released a report entitled “Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses,” documenting the outstanding cases of violence exercised by the Syrian opposition, who have been accused of kidnapping, detaining, torturing and executing of members of the Syrian military and civilian government supporters [9].
HRW reports that attacks by opposition groups are conducted largely on sectarian grounds, motivated by anti-Shia and anti-Alawite sentiments, citing abuses committed by militant Salafist groups and members of the opposition Free Syrian Army.
Although UN observers admit they are unable to determine the perpetrators of the recent massacre in Qubayr with no firm evidence to inculpate the Syrian government, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has declared that the Assad government has lost its legitimacy [10], channeling calls by President Barak Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron for Assad to step down [11].
Reports of massacres have been framed to fit a pre-determined conclusion, in line with the foreign policy objectives of Western capitals by implicating the Assad regime with orchestrating violence in order to build popular support for aggressively toppling the Syrian government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has recently accused external forces of inciting violence by providing arms and material assistance to militant opposition forces, stating, “They want the international community to be filled with indignation and start a full-blown intervention in Syria” [12].
Following the killings in Qubayr, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on the world to exert “maximum financial pressure” on Assad’s government through strong sanctions that “can help hasten the day the Assad regime relinquishes power,” while assuring that the US would support the use of force against Syria as authorized under Chapter 7 of the United Nations charter [13].
Although Hillary Clinton has openly acknowledged that members of Al-Qaeda and other groups on the State Department’s terror list are fighting alongside opposition rebels supported by the United States [14], countries belonging to both NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have provided extensive financial and material support to the militant opposition.
Former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has reported that NATO/American-affiliated troops have conducted operations on Jordanian soil near Syrian border in the village of Albaej [15], as US troops reportedly train members of the Free Syrian Army along with Jordanian forces in order to prepare them for an international military drill in the country [16].
Syrian officials report the presence of intelligence operatives from Mossad and the CIA, as well as employees of private military contractors such as Blackwater in Syria; security forces have reportedly detained French, Turkish, Gulf, Iraqi, and Lebanese gunmen operating inside Syria [17].
The Washington Post reports in their article, “Syrian rebels get influx of arms with gulf neighbors’ money, U.S. coordination,” that Persian Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar with coordination from the United States have spent millions arming and funding militant opposition groups battling the Assad government [18].
The United States has admittedly spent $6 million training opposition journalists and activists between 2006 and 2010, while funneling approximately $6.3 million to the Movement for Justice and Development, a London-based dissident organization that broadcasts anti-government news into Syria [19].
As a further indication of foreign elements at work in Syria, members of the Syrian opposition have also adopted tactics seen by Al Qaeda in Iraq. Reuters reports in their article, “Outgunned Syria rebels make shift to bombs,” that rebels have adopted suicide bombing, booby-trapped car bombs and roadside explosions; Joseph Holliday of the US-based Institute for the Study of War adds “There’s no question that a lot of Syrians fought with al Qaeda elements in Iraq [against the United States] and it’s likely that many rebels today learned bombing skills fighting there” [20].
While the editorial policy of The New York Times permits the publication of pieces such as the ostentatiously titled “Assad, the Butcher,” which incongruously accuses the foreign ministries of Russia and China of living in a “fantasy world” before calling on those nations to receive “comprehensive punishments” for being complicit in “more than 12,000 Syrian deaths,” the Western and Gulf capitals’ strategy of arming militant opposition forces and extremist groups has worked to foment atrocities and further enflame regional sectarian tension, invalidating any attempt to abide by Kofi Annan’s Peace Plan [21].
Publications released by The Brookings Institution, a US think-tank noted for its influence on American foreign policy, provides further insight into the nature of Washington’s objectives in Syria.
Brookings’ March 2012 Middle East Memo titled “Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change,” is a testament to the underlying politicization of the “Responsibility to Protect” in Syria, as atrocities are orchestrated as a pretext to protect civilians, to warrant toppling the Syrian government and furthering Washington’s geopolitical objectives in the region.
Brookings’ Memo meticulously theorizes ways to overthrow the Assad government, including the use of crippling economic sanctions to further incite unrest and the leveraging of human rights abuses to aggressively intervene in Syria, “Working with its Arab, regional, and Western partners, Washington can push for a more effective humanitarian response and pave the way for more aggressive intervention options to topple Asad” [22].
Due to budget restraints and a public wary of fighting wars overseas, Washington’s strategy is to lead from behind by prompting other countries to lead the charge militarily, “Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition.
This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training” [23].
While Hilary Clinton and others pay lip service to supporting the ceasefire proposed by the Annan Plan, Brookings’ advisers suggest Washington “pin down the Asad regime and bleed it, keeping a regional adversary weak, while avoiding the costs of direct intervention” [24].
The US continues pressuring neighboring countries like Jordan and Turkey to provide support for the militant Syrian opposition, “These allies would have to provide secure bases for the opposition on Syria’s borders, protected by their own armed forces.
Their militaries could do much of the arming and training, in conjunction with the United States. Area intelligence services, perhaps including Israel’s, could also work behind the scenes to undermine Asad’s regime and bolster the opposition” [25].
Brookings’ Memo highlights Washington’s commitment to overthrowing the Syrian government using the most cost-effect means possible, “the hope is that the United States could fight a ‘clean’ war from 10,000 feet and leave the dirty work on the ground to the Free Syrian Army, perhaps even obviating a massive commitment to Iraq-style nation-building” [26].
The toppling of the Assad government would offer the United States and its allies in Tel Aviv and Riyadh substantial strategic advantages, as the underlying object of supporting insurgent activity against Damascus is to undermine Iranian influence in the Arab world.
Syria under Bashar al-Assad is the fundamental channel that links Hezbollah with Iran, serving as a transit point for conducting training operations and distributing material assistance to the Palestinian resistance. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has theorized that the toppling of Assad would “be a major blow to the radical axis [Syria, Iran, Hezbollah] and a major blow to Iran.
It’s the only kind of outpost of Iranian influence in the Arab world and it will weaken dramatically both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza” [27].
Although Syria’s opposition in power after the downfall of Assad would be a compliant entity to the foreign powers supporting it, the SNC would likely be unable to conjure the political leverage needed to enforce order, and heinous violations of human rights would no doubt occur under it; if Salafist elements were able to usurp authority, Syria’s Alawite, Druze and Christian populations would likely be subject to sectarian violence and persecution.
Israel can potentially reap significant gains from regime change in Syria by working to reduce Iran’s influence in the region and by increasing its commercial exploits in Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which supplies one-third of Israel’s water supply [28] and holds an estimated $24 million in oil and gas reserves [29].
Over time, resistance movements in Lebanon and occupied Palestinian territories may be unable to defend their territory without outside support, allowing the Netanyahu government to more effectively pursue its aspirations to create a “Greater Israel”.
Saudi Arabia is motivated by the prospect of becoming a dominant regional power and the ideological aspirations of quelling the expansion of Shia identity through neutralizing the governments of Tehran and Damascus, as adherents to Sunni Islam recognize Alawites as part of the Shia sect. Turkey is also determined to increase its influence in the region and possibly expand its territory by annexing northern regions of Syria under appropriate circumstances.
Chemical warfare feared raising its head in the Syrian civil war
DEBKAfile Special Report June 10, 2012, 7:50 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tehran pumped out a report Early Sunday June 10 accusing Syrian rebels of arming themselves with chemical weapons originating in Libya and acquiring training in their use from an unknown source in their use. The report sent shudders of alarm through Western capitals and Israel and fears that Tehran and Damascus were preparing the ground for the Assad regime to resort to chemical warfare to finally crush its foes.
Iran claimed, “Any report released on the Syrian Army’s alleged use of the chemical weapons is meant to pave the ground for the terrorists to use these weapons against the people and accuse the Syrian army and government of that crime.”
Three days earlier, on June 7, Syrian rebel sources charged that the Syrian air force planes had dropped poisonous substances over Deraa, Hama and Idlib which knocked people unconscious. This later proved unfounded.
Western military sources watching Syria’s flashpoint areas warn that the fact that both sides of the conflict are now talking openly about chemical warfare attests to their seriously getting ready for this deadly escalation - and the ultimate game-changer. If they indeed go through with it, say sources Washington, European capitals, Riyadh and Jerusalem, US President Barack Obama cannot possibly stick to his refusal to take military steps in Syria and will have to step in with limited force to stop the escalating horror.
In that case, the US would almost certainly be joined by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and possibly other Arab nations.
Official spokesmen in the West, Moscow and the UN are still warning that Syria is on the verge of civil war, refusing to admit that a sectarian war which they failed to avert is already fully fledged – certainly between Sunni Muslims and Assad’s Allawite minority.
The Christians are also involved because some members of that community occupy high-ranking positions in the military command. Defense minister Dawoud Rajiha, who manages government action against the revolt, is a Christian.
Iran, Hezbollah involved in Syrian ‘slaughter,’ Netanyahu charges
June 10, 2012
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and Hezbollah of being involved in the “slaughter” of civilians in Syria.
“We [see] what is happening in Syria where civilians are simply being slaughtered,” Netanyahu said during Sunday’s regular Cabinet meeting. “We see the horrifying pictures of children and the elderly. This is a slaughter that is being perpetrated not only by the Syrian government. Iran and Hezbollah are helping it, and today the world needs to see this axis of evil: Iran-Syria-Hezbollah — the face of this axis of evil is fully revealed for what it is.”
Nearly 100 civilians were killed this week in shelling by Syrian troops in the capital Damascus and throughout the country, according to reports. Thousands have been killed since the uprising began last year.
Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz called the actions of the Syrian government a “genocide,” and singled out Russia for criticism for providing Syria with arms.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday night as he left for the United States called on the world community to do more to stop the killings in Syria.
Dozens of Civilians Killed in Syria Violence
- Updated June 10, 2012, 5:44 a.m. E
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT—Bullets and shrapnel shells smashed into homes in the Syrian capital of Damascus overnight as troops battled rebels in the streets, a show of boldness for rebels taking their fight against President Bashar Assad to the center of his power.
For nearly 12 hours of fighting that lasted into the early hours Saturday, rebels armed mainly with assault rifles fought Syrian forces in the heaviest fighting in the Assad stronghold since the 15-month-old uprising began. U.N. observers said rebels fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the local power plant, damaging parts of it and reducing six buses to charred shells, according…
Syrian forces bombard opposition strongholds in Homs
At least 35 killed as army uses artillery, mortars and rockets to hit city and nearby towns, activists say
-
Reuters in Amman
- guardian.co.uk,
Syrian government forces have renewed their efforts to impose control in Homs province, killing at least 35 people in one of the biggest bombardments since a failed UN-mandated ceasefire in April, opposition activists said.
The army used artillery, mortars and rockets to hit opposition strongholds in the city of Homs and the towns of Qusair, Talbiseh and Rastan, the activists said.
Free Syrian Army rebels had been intensifying attacks in the area, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights and other opposition campaigners.
Government forces also carried out raids on neighbourhoods in and around Damascus to try to flush out rebels who have been stepping up operations near security compounds in the capital.
One activist, Abu Qassem, said at least 500 rockets and shells had fallen on Rastan, north of Homs, since Saturday, and army helicopters were firing machine guns at the area.
“The Free Syrian Army is far outgunned, but it is responding by mounting guerrilla attacks while trying to avoid direct exchange of fire,” he said.
Talbiseh, to the south, came under shelling and heavy mortar fire from government troops after soldiers from surrounding roadblocks defected on Saturday and drove two armoured personnel carriers into the town, opposition sources said. “Five people have been killed, including a woman and her one-year-old daughter. They were among the few civilians who had not fled Talbiseh,” said another activist, Abu Mohammad.
Army shelling was also reported on Homs, concentrating on the neighbourhood of al-Khalidiy.
In Damascus, government forces bombarded the northern district of Qaboun and later entered it in armoured vehicles, storming houses, after attacks on Friday on buses carrying troops and pro-Assad militia, opposition sources said.
“Qaboun came under bombardment for the first time since the uprising. Security forces in the nearby air force intelligence compound fired on the neighbourhood with anti-aircraft guns and large-calibre mortar bombs,” said an activist who did not give his real name for fear of arrest.
Attacks on loyalist buses and army roadblocks were also reported in the Damascus neighbourhoods of Barzeh and Mezze.
Brzezinski: ‘Don’t be emotional about Syria’
Press TV
June 10, 2012
Former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has warned against an “emotional” response by the West to the Syrian crisis, saying any foreign intervention in the Arab state could have grave repercussions.
“I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion at this stage that the majority of Syrians don’t want the [Bashar] Assad government to stay in power. I think it’s much more complicated than that, In fact the evidence of a national uprising against Assad is relatively limited,” Brzezinski said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program.
“We are seeing sporadic outbreaks with a lot of localized brutality, but that is not the same thing as a cross-country civil war,” he added.
On Moscow’s firm and consistent opposition to the Western countries’ stance on Syria, Brzezinski said, “I think Russians have a stake in larger cooperation with us, but not on terms dictated by us. That’s a very significant difference.”
Russia has repeatedly called for action in “an accurate, balanced manner” over the crisis in the Middle Eastern country.
Russia and China have vetoed two Western-backed UN Security Council draft resolutions against Syria.
Brzezinski added that the regional dynamic also undermines the case for intervention by foreign countries.
“We’re dealing here with a region in which all of these issues are interconnected.”
“If we act simply on the basis of emotion and sort of vague threats that the Russians have to be forced to be good boys, we are going to produce a region-wide outbreak in which the issues within Syria will become linked with a conflict between the Saudis and the Shiites, Iraq will become destabilized, Iran will be involved.”
The former US government official also said the ramifications of a foreign military intervention could be “very serious” for Washington.
“We’re going to have a major international problem in our hands with political and economic consequences that are very serious,” he stressed.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters, but Damascus blames ”outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
HMV/HJL/IS
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Warning: Possible NATO-FSA False Flag Attack in Syria
Unconfirmed reports warn of possible plot to deploy chemical weapons, then blame Syrian government.
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
RT has warned of a possible plot being fomented by Syrian rebels inside NATO member Turkey. The plot involves Syrian rebels deploying chemical weapons obtained in Libya against Syrian civilians, then blaming the Syrian government for the mass casualty event. This of course would provide the West the “casus belli” it has been searching for to circumvent the UN Security Council and implement its long-planned campaign of regime change.
The Means
Libya’s arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance last year in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the government there. Since then, Libya’s militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria.
Image: The symbols for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The West is the undisputed champion of deploying each of these weapons of mass destruction against their enemies – from nuclear bombs upon Japan, to depleted uranium and white phosphorus upon Iraq, to Agent Orange all across Vietnam – it stands to reason that these weapons would eventually end up in the hands of the their proxies as well.
Libyan LIFG commander Abdul Hakim Belhaj, according to the London Telegraph, had in fact traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to consort with the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), pledging weapons, cash, and even fighters. Since then, at least one ship flush with Libyan weaponry bound for Syrian militants has been interdicted by Lebanon, while the Western press, including the Sydney Morning Herald, has reported on a massive influx of foreign fighters and arms. In addition to Libyan weapons, the Washington Post has also confirmed the US and Gulf States have been arranging the delivery of weapons to Syrian militants.
Additionally, as a result of NATO’s intervention in Libya, the scattered military’s extensive arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles has also fallen into the hands of Libyan militants, to then be proliferated throughout LIFG’s network of affiliates – all of which are sectarian extremists, many with direct ties to Al Qaeda. The Washington Post in their article, “Libyan missiles on the loose,” reported:
Two former CIA counterterrorism officers told me last week that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man-portable air-defense systems (known as MANPADS) — some for an African jihadist group called Boko Haram that is often seen as an ally of al-Qaeda — for possible use against commercial jets flying into Niger, Chad and perhaps Nigeria.
Clearly, NATO’s proxies in Libya have become a regional arsenal for similar sectarian extremists – all demonstratively working in concert with Western designs to overthrow both nationalist governments in North Africa, and installing client regions throughout the Middle East to then array against Iran and by extension, Russia’s sphere of influence throughout the region. If Libya possessed deployable chemical weapons, it seems very likely that they would find their way to LIFG’s affiliates and their foreign legionaries along with the rest of their exported terror.
The Motivation and Intent
There is certainly room for plausible concern regarding all types of Libyan weapons falling into the hands of the Free Syrian Army. They have been publicly pledged by LIFG commander Belhaj, and they have been interdicted en-route by neighboring Lebanon. Does evidence also suggest that indiscriminate mass-casualty attacks could be carried out by the FSA and then blamed on the Syrian government, should they be “gifted” with Libya’s chemical weapons?
In Reuters’ April 2012 article, “Outgunned Syria rebels make shift to bombs,” it is admitted that Syrian rebels have openly begun carrying out a terrorist bombing campaign, including operating large bomb-making facilities, not unlike the one in Hama which exploded during a mishap, killing over 70 people, and leveling a city block. Very tellingly, the opposition, fully responsible for the catastrophic loss of life, immediately blamed it on the Syrian government, claiming the wide scale destruction was caused by a Scud missile attack.
The FSA bombing campaign itself has also killed and maimed hundreds of Syrians, mostly civilians – and astonishingly despite openly admitting to producing and deploying bombs, rebels have then denied responsibility for the subsequent explosions and inevitable civilian death tolls, blaming it instead on the Syrian government.
RT’s report also made the point of reminding readers of a recent attempt by rebels to have a UK Channel 4 news team killed by government troops for propaganda purposes, while German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) has come forward with evidence (Google English translation here) implicating rebels as having staged the now infamous “Houla Massacre,” themselves – again for propaganda purposes.
For an opposition so transparently dishonest, and already caught attempting to frame the government for mass-casualty events and atrocities of their own doing, we see what is very clearly a militant movement capable of also deploying weapons of mass destruction more than within their means of obtaining, with the insidious motivations to use them against civilian populations as they have their indiscriminate bombings, and the audacity to then blame it on the Syrian government.
The Warning
While RT’s report remains unconfirmed, it is at the very least very plausible. By airing the story, RT may be preempting malicious interests contemplating such a ploy – realizing that the public is now fully inoculated to this propaganda and that it would only backfire on both the already faltering FSA, and their increasingly discredited Western sponsors.
Note: The point of this article is to NOT be right about this. By raising awareness of possible gambits throughout the public, their effectiveness as a tool of propaganda is greatly diminished, and therefore lowers the probability that they will be considered, let alone carried out.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Russia: West Purposefully Sabotaging Peace in Syria
Also, German paper FAZ reports Houla was the work of rebels, not pro-Assad militias.
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
In his most recent statement, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated that Russia opposes any attempt to intervene or level sanctions against Syria. He also exposed the West’s role in purposefully perpetuating violence in order to sabotage peace efforts and create a pretense for NATO-enforced regime change. He warned, “the way the Syrian crisis is resolved will play an important role in the world tomorrow; whether the world will be based on the UN charter, or a place where might makes right.” This after US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice declared the West was prepared to “take actions outside of the Annan plan and the authority of this [UN security] council,” to implement regime change in Syria.
Lavrov’s sentiments were echoed by China, Iran, and South America’s ALBA nations, whose collective populations equate to over 1.5 billion people.
Video: Russia’s stance reflects a growing global consensus of independent journalists and geopolitical analysts who have meticulously and objectively documented a timeline of what is certainly a premeditated destabilization of Syria by the West. Professor Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research gives perhaps the most comprehensive back-story on Syria’s conflict to-date.
Lavrov made his statements during a conference held yesterday, focusing on evidence contradicting the politically motivated coverage of Syria’s conflict by the Western media – the latest example of which was in fact the West’s coverage of Lavrov’s comments themselves. Western papers declared different variations of, “Russia supports departure of Assad,” in sensational headlines that purposefully took Lavrov’s statements out of context.
Conversely, and more accurately, RT reported, “Annan plan ‘only chance for peace’ but stalled by intervention supporters – Lavrov.” For those who actually watched Lavrov’s conference live, this was the overall message – with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down if, and only if, unconditional negotiations began, and both sides could come to an agreement independent of foreign influence. But as Lavrov illustrated, the Syrian “opposition” is entirely propped up by the West and its Gulf State allies.
West’s “Houla Impetus” Unraveling, Major German Paper Implicates Rebels, not Regime
Of course, the US’ pretext for making such bold statements has been the recent “Houla Massacre,” pinned on the Syrian government even before UN monitors arrived on the scene. Similarly, Western media has been reporting “activist” hearsay regarding a string of additional “massacres,” none of which have been confirmed in an attempt to generate general hysteria and support for a broader intervention.
In a recent development, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) paper has reported (Google English translation here) that evidence indicates rebels, not pro-government militias, were responsible for the violence at Houla, and that many of the victims were in fact supporters of the Syrian government. Covered by John Rosenthal in the National Review Online, his article warns of “rebel atrocities being repackaged in both Arab and Western media accounts as regime atrocities.”
Already, Western press has backpedaled and been caught outright fabricating evidence in regards to the Houla Massacre, with the BBC even being caught using pictures taken from Iraq years ago for their Syrian coverage. This latest account from FAZ further indicates that indeed the West is engaged in a vast campaign of war propaganda to do exactly what Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has warned they are doing, attempting to fill the international community with indignation, and “start a full-blown intervention in Syria.”
Al-Qaeda Rebel Pictured With UN Observers In Syria
A photo published by French news agency AFP shows a Syrian rebel wearing the Al-Qaeda flag on his arm accompanying UN observers in the village of Azzara, again underscoring the fact that NATO powers are backing terrorists in their bid to topple President Bashar Al-Assad.
The photo appears on the DayLife website with the caption, “A man wearing a black shirt bearing an Al-Qaeda flag (L) speaks with a UN observer as monitors meet with rebels and civilians in the village of Azzara in the province of Homs on May 4, 2012.”
Another Syrian source informed us that the man seen in the image is definitely a foreigner and does not look Syrian.
This is just one of many examples where Syrian rebel fighters and their supporters have openly displayed their identity as Al-Qaeda terrorist sympathizers, begging the question of why the United States and other NATO powers are fighting for the same cause as the group against whom they are supposedly engaged in a global war on terror.
After NATO-backed insurgents with links to Al-Qaeda helped topple Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, they proudly flew the distinctive black Al-Qaeda flag over courthouses in Benghazi and other centers of power.
Now some of the very same rebels, airlifted into Syria by NATO, are once again making it clear that they see the end of Assad’s regime as the next stage of their jihad.
Is it any surprise that Syrian “opposition” forces are now also rallying around the Al-Qaeda flag just as they did in Libya given that Hillary Clinton admitted in a BBC News interview that the US and Al-Qaeda were on the same side in Syria?
This video shows Syrian “activists” flying the Al-Qaeda flag during an anti-Assad protest in the northern Syrian town of Binnish.
In another clip, armed Syrian rebels address the camera standing behind a table draped with the black Al-Qaeda flag.
Meanwhile, a separate video clip leaked to the pro-Assad Truth Syria You Tube channel purports to show an anti-regime rebel being transported by UN observers in trucks bearing the distinctive UN text.
According to the transcript accompanying the video, the “terrorist” traveling in the vehicle is allowed to conduct reconnaissance on where government checkpoints are located for the purpose of planning future attacks.
At the end of the clip, the men in the UN vehicle break out in a spontaneous chant of “Allahu Akbar,” a phrase widely associated with fundamentalist Muslims who are engaged in jihad.
The fact that rebels are being transported by UN observers who are supposed to remain impartial is obviously a damning sign that the UN mission represents little more than a furtherance of the effort to destabilize Assad’s government.
Back in March, leaked emails revealed that the Pentagon is planning to direct terror attacks and assassinations inside Syria in a bid to topple President President Bashar al-Assad.
With these attacks now intensifying in brutality, and with their perpetrators openly proclaiming their Al-Qaeda sympathies, NATO’s hubris about “humanitarian corridors” and the United Nations’ rhetoric about “responsibility to protect” has never looked more ridiculous.
Russia and Iran back away from the Syrian conflict, dump it in America’s lap
DEBKAfile Special Report June 8, 2012, 8:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
After the hopeless gridlock at the special UN session on the Syrian crisis Thursday, an American delegation headed by Fred Hoff, the Secretary of State’s special adviser on Syria, drew a blank in the talks it conducted at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow Friday, June 8, with Syrian expert, Mikhail Bogdanov.
debkafile’s Moscow sources report exclusively that Moscow has flatly rejected President Barack Obama’s proposal to post 5,000 armed UN monitors in Syria, most of them Russian troops, as the core of a new plan to resolve the Syrian crisis. The Russians may consider convening an international conference, but only if its remit is limited to offering a basis for negotiations between the Assad regime and the opposition and new political reforms. On no account must it deal with Bashar Assad’s removal.
Moscow’s position has grown tougher in the last few days. After Russian officials stated this week that keeping the Assad regime in power was not a priority, Bogdanev said Friday: Moscow isn’t discussing ways to promote Bashar al-Assad’s ouster with Washington. “We aren’t holding such talks.”
He stressed that the only way forward on the Syrian issue was by expanding Annan’s peace plan.
However, the only thing that all the participants at the UN could agree on was that the Annan peace plan had failed. And now that the US mission to Moscow has run into another dead end, the violence in Syria will continue to run riot with no world power or body prepared to step in and stop it.
Adding to the complications, the Syrian conflict and the Iranian nuclear controversy are becoming inextricably intermeshed. The US official Hoff knew he was arriving in Moscow at a grave disadvantage after Iran indicated to the six world powers that it was seriously considering not turning up for their third round of nuclear talks in Moscow on June 18-19.
Its pretext: The West had failed to come up with “serious proposals.”
(DEBKA-Net-Weekly 544 was first out Thursday night, June 7 with the news that Tehran was backing out of the negotiations.)
Most of all, Tehran took umbrage over US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s demand that Iran come to the talks prepared with “concrete steps to curb its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity.”
When she spoke, Clinton knew there was not the slightest chance of the Iranians accepting this demand.
Tehran also pulled in its horns at International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna when confronted Friday, June 8, with demands to open up its suspect nuclear sites to international inspection.
These related developments all point in one direction: US President Barack Obama’s deep reluctance to intervene directly in Syria and preference for Russia and Iran to take over have run up against equally powerful reluctance in Moscow and Tehran to put their hands in the Syrian fire or take part in any international effort to quench its flames.
Indeed, the Russians and Iranians believe that as the flames of the civil war already raging there spread, the US president will be blamed by the American public and the Arab world for the horrendous sectarian bloodbath.
And if Obama and America’s European allies do decide on military intervention, they will be too late and find themselves pulled down into a bottomless quagmire.
Iran thwarts Syrian “contact group” plan over US conditions for nuclear talks
DEBKAfile Special Report June 7, 2012, 11:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
Iran stalled the US Secretary and UN-Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan’s plan to present the world body’s special session Thursday, June 7, with a plan for a contract group based on five permanent Security Council members and Iran to handle the Syrian impasse. Tehran refused to join the group as long as it faces nuclear conditions, after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Istanbul that Iran must come to the nuclear talks in Moscow “ready to take concrete steps” to curb its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity.
Discussion of the plan was therefore abandoned in the hall and confined to UN corridors. By forcing the pace at the special general assembly crisis session, Tehran once again demonstrated its refusal to play ball with the international community until its major power status in the Middle East is recognized.
Iranian sources have insisted in recent days that the six power talks with Iran were not just about its nuclear program but affected a wider spectrum, because the nuclear issue could be settled at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Tehran has made it clear that the continuation of nuclear diplomacy is contingent on the general recognition of Iran’s major power status.
The situation in Syria meanwhile continues to deteriorate disastrously amid conflicting claims about another massacre at the Hama village of Mazraat al-Qubeir: Opposition activists have disseminated video footage illustrating the slaughter of up to 70 people, including women and children, by Assad’s security forces and militiamen less than two weeks after the Houla massacre. This is denied by official sources in Damascus who say no more than nine people died at the hands of “terrorists.”
No independent testimony was available on the episode from the UN monitors, who set out for the Hama village. The UN Secretary said they turned back after they were fired on by small arms and would set out again Friday.
Kofi Annan warned that if nothing changes in Syria, the future holds all-out civil war. His words attested to the helplessness of the world body to put a stop of the bloodshed in Syria, combined with the Obama administration’s refusal to intervene in the crisis in the expectation that Russia and Iran would step up. That expectation has faded.
debkafile reported Wednesday, June 6: Israel remains dormant despite the serious consequences to its strategic and security situation threatened by the new proposal the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Kofi Annan is to present to the UN Thursday, June 7, for saving his peace plan. The nub of his proposal, debkafile’s sources disclose, is the creation of a “contact group” for handling the hot Syrian potato. It is to be composed of the five permanent Security Council members (US, UK, France, Russia and China) plus Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The proposal has won the blessing of the Obama administration, meaning its consent to letting the two powers that will dominate the contact group, Russia and Iran, determine the course and outcome of the Syrian crisis.
Washington believes that only they have the clout in the Syrian army for bringing about Bashar Assad’s removal and his replacement in Damascus by a provisional military regime.
Washington also hopes, according to our sources, that this gesture will give Moscow a strong incentive to lean hard on Tehran for concessions at the next round of its talk with the six world powers on June 13.
Neither Iran nor Moscow have promised the US anything of the sort, but the administration hopes Iran will start being forthcoming on its nuclear program after being permitted to assume a central role in Damascus.
There is less optimism outside administration circles and in Israel. They expect from Tehran nothing more at the next round of talks than token nuclear concessions, and none at all toward curtailing its work on a nuclear weapon.
However the Obama administration appears to have opted for this course, even though it is the first time since the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in December 2010 that the United States is willing to let go of a major Middle East crisis and allow its foremost Middle East rivals, Moscow and Tehran, to take charge.
debkafile reported exclusively on May 31, that President Barack Obama had proposed to President Vladimir Putin the creation of a large force of 5,000 international monitors for Syria, most of them Russians, to safeguard Assad’s stock of biological and chemical weapons against falling into the hands of al Qaeda or Syrian rebels. This team consisting of thousands of Russian troops would be the operational arm of the future “contact group.”
As far as Israel is concerned, the plan has disastrous connotations. Instead of containing the spread of hostile Iranian influence in the region, as Obama promised Israel, he is opening for the door for Iran to extend its nfluence squarely in the countries neighboring on – and still at war with – Israel, while at the same time moving back from a focused effort to draw the sting of Iran’s nuclear bomb program.
Israel’s political and security tacticians never took into account that a consequence of the Syrian revolt would be the establishment of full-blown Iranian sway over Damascus in partnership with Russia. Indeed, for 15 months, they insisted that the Syrian uprising was proof of America’s success in breaking up the dangerous Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis.
UN reaches Syrian massacre site
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, June 8, 2012 15:55 EDT
UN monitors on Friday finally reached the site of a massacre of villagers in Syria on their second attempt as Western powers pressed at the United Nations for sanctions against Damascus.
The sanctions push came as international envoy Kofi Annan called for “additional pressure” in the wake of the latest massacre as he went into talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York the observers managed to reach Al-Kubeir, a day after they were shot at when they tried to enter the village.
“We are not in a position to give further details until the teams have returned with their findings.”
Activist Abdel Karim al-Hamwi told AFP in Beirut “the observers first headed to the village of Maarzaf where the victims were buried and then to Al-Kubeir to survey the damage from army shelling.”
At least 55 people were killed on Wednesday in an assault on Al-Kubeir, a Sunni farming enclave of some 150 people circled by Alawite villages in the central province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Paul Danahar, a BBC correspondent travelling with the UN convoy, reported seeing gutted buildings in Al-Kubeir and no sign of life or bodies.
“The stench of burnt flesh is still strong,” he wrote on Twitter, and quoted activists as saying government forces had removed victims’ bodies on Thursday while the observers were being hindered from reaching the village.
“In front of me there is a piece of brain, in the corner there is a mass on congealed blood,” he wrote. “In front of a burnt out building is carcass of a donkey inside the buildings are gutted. The UN have not found any people yet.
“Who ever did this may have acted with mindless violence but attempts to cover up the details of the atrocity are calculated & clear.”
According to preliminary evidence, troops had surrounded Al-Kubeir and militia entered the village and killed civilians with “barbarity,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon told the UN Security Council.
Damascus denied responsibility and, as it has done repeatedly in the past, blamed foreign-backed “terrorists,” using its term for rebels fighters.
Syrian Rebels Set Trap to Kill British Journalists
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
While the New York Times publishes Goebbels-esque war propaganda pieces titled, “Assad, the Butcher,” presuming to know the details about an unconfirmed “massacre” the UN is just now in the beginning stages of investigating – a disturbing and very telling incident unfolded that is very much confirmed. British Channel 4′s Alex Thomson, one of the few Western journalists not only in Syria legally, but attempting to cover both sides of the conflict, was purposefully led by rebels into a trap designed to have him and his team killed by government troops.
Image: UK’s Channel 4 News’ Alex Thomson narrowly escaped a trap set for him and his team in Syria, by rebels hoping to use his death as propaganda. Ironically, it would have been Thomson’s own countrymen and colleagues, particularly BBC, who would have maximized the effect of the rebels’ insidious plot had they succeeded. Killing journalists and carrying out manufactured atrocities, then blaming it on a targeted government is a pastime for Western media houses.
“Set up to be shot in Syria’s no man’s land?” featured on Thomson’s personal Channel 4 blog describes a tale of violence on both sides – very uncharacteristic of Western and particularly British media coverage. While BBC was busy posting fake pictures for their one-sided Houla Massacre coverage, Thomson was busy trying to interview belligerents on both sides of the Syrian conflict.
Thomson’s narrative describes what appears to be a bifurcation between “rebel” forces. On one hand, there are organized fighters that appear to solely committed to fighting the Syrian Army. On the other hand, there appears to be a more insidious “third party” involved, a third party implicated by Thomson as having intentionally led him and his team into a deadly trap. This is a narrative that corroborates statements made by the Syrian government itself, as well as independent geopolitical analysts from around the world – that there exists a substantiation third party, consisting of foreign mercenaries and sectarian extremists carrying out the bulk of the violence and atrocities.
Thomson describes his ordeal after accompanying UN monitors out to “Free Syrian Army” held territory:
We decide to ask for an escort out the safe way we came in. Both sides, both checkpoints will remember our vehicle.
Suddenly four men in a black car beckon us to follow. We move out behind.
We are led another route. Led in fact, straight into a free-fire zone. Told by the Free Syrian Army to follow a road that was blocked off in the middle of no-man’s-land.
At that point there was the crack of a bullet and one of the slower three-point turns I’ve experienced. We screamed off into the nearest side-street for cover.
Another dead-end.
There was no option but to drive back out onto the sniping ground and floor it back to the road we’d been led in on.
Predictably the black car was there which had led us to the trap. They roared off as soon as we re-appeared.
I’m quite clear the rebels deliberately set us up to be shot by the Syrian Army. Dead journos are bad for Damascus.
Alex Thomson concluded his account by saying, “in a war where they slit the throats of toddlers back to the spine, what’s the big deal in sending a van full of journalists into the killing zone? It was nothing personal.”
The obvious question that comes to mind upon reading Thomson’s account, along with emerging evidence that the Western press willfully lied about the Houla Massacre and is attempting to do so again regarding killings in Hama, is that if rebels are willing to try and kill foreign journalists for propaganda value – men and women merely trying to do their job, to share with the world the truth about unfolding events in Syria – just to blame the deaths on the Syrian government, why wouldn’t they kill men, women and children to blame on the Syrian government as well?
Another pertinent question would be, what if the rebels had succeeded in their insidious plan to have Thomson and his team killed? Would the Western press commit themselves to due diligence in ascertaining the truth surrounding the circumstances of their deaths? Or would headlines read, “BRITISH JOURNALISTS SLAUGHTERED BY ASSAD!”
It is, above all, ironic that the West’s insidious leadership who long planned Syria’s division, destruction, and downfall, and the Western media that serves this agenda, are able to invoke so much genuine sympathy and concern for human life in people around the world, when they themselves lack any at all.
Syrian rebels tried to get me killed, says Channel 4 correspondent
Ben Dowell
guardian.co.uk
Saturday, June 9, 2012
The chief correspondent of Channel 4 News has claimed that Syrian rebels deliberately tried to get him and his crew killed by gunfire from government forces in a bid to discredit the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Alex Thomson alleged a small group from the Free Syrian Army deliberately guided the vehicle in which he and his Channel 4 News colleagues were travelling into what he described as a “free-fire zone” on a blocked road near the city of al-Qusayr, because “dead journos are bad for Damascus”.
Thomson said that after being led into a “no man’s land” between Syrian army and rebel forces by four men in a black car, his team were fired upon and forced to take evasive action, eventually managing to “floor it back to the road we’d been led in on”.
He also claimed that later on the same car of rebels blocked the road between their vehicle and the UN vehicles accompanying them, which he said prompted the UN escort to drive off and abandon them after seeing the Channel 4 team surrounded by “shouting militia”. The incident took place last weekend and Thomson is now back in the UK.
In Lebanon, video shows Shiite pilgrims held by Syria rebels
June 9, 2012 | 11:36 am
BEIRUT — In a case that has roiled sectarian tensions, new video surfaced Saturday appearing to show 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in good health but in the custody of Syrian rebels who apparently kidnapped them.
The 11 men were seized in northern Syria in May on their way back from a Shiite shrine. A previously unknown group calling itself Syrian rebels, Aleppo Province claimed responsibility for the abduction, according to a statement received by Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel.
The kidnapping has raised tensions in Lebanon, with its uneasy mix of sects and ethnic groups. Many officials worry about a spillover of Syria’s violence into neighboring Lebanon. Lebanese officials have demanded that the pilgrims be released and are said to be involved in behind-the-scenes talks to secure their freedom.
The kidnappers are presumed to be part of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, who are leading the uprising in Syria against the government of President Bashar Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The kidnappers demanded an apology from Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group based in Lebanon. Nasrallah has been a firm supporter of Assad, an important Hezbollah ally.
Al Jazeera Arabic, broadcasted Saturday a video in which the kidnapped pilgrims assured their families that they had not been harmed. One abductee said he and the others were “guests” of the Syrian insurgents.
“Thank God, we are well. We are sitting with the guys and they are treating us very well, better than our families, and we thank God,” said Hassan Hammoud, one of the kidnapped men.
Activists: 25 Killed in Syria
VOA News
June 9, 2012
Activists say anti-government related violence left at least 25 people dead in Syria on Saturday, as Russia, a strong backer of Damascus, said the country appeared to be on the “brink of civil war.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights tells VOA at least 17 people were killed in government shelling in the southern city of Daraa. The British-based opposition group says at least 8 other people were killed in shelling and clashes between pro and opposition forces in other regions including Homs.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed heightened concern about Syria’s unrest during a Moscow news conference on Saturday. But, he said Russia would not back any U.N. Security Council proposals for the use of force against Damascus.
Russia and China have vetoed two Security Council resolutions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Lavrov did say Russia would support Mr. Assad’s departure if the move resulted from Syrian dialogue and not external pressure.
International envoy Kofi Annan called for more pressure on Syria Friday as he discussed his stalled Syrian peace plan with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, U.N. observers fanned out from Damascus on Saturday on another mission to monitor compliance with Mr. Annan’s plan. On Friday, observers visited the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir, where activists said pro-government forces killed at least 78 people this week. The observers said there was blood and the “stench of burned flesh.”
The Syrian government has blamed “armed gunmen” and “terrorists” for deadly violence. The state-run SANA news agency said funerals were held Saturday for 57 law enforcement officers and civilians, killed by terrorists across Syria.
In another Saturday development, the opposition Syrian National Council met in Turkey to select a new leader following last month’s resignation of Burhan Ghalioun.
Council member Bassma Kodmani says the group has reached a turning point.
“There is a consensus inside the council that there should be a rotating presidency,” said Kodmani. “So, we are now changing the president for the coming three months. And the other important point is that we will be restructuring the council over the coming weeks.”
VOA reporter Dorian Jones says Ghalioun had faced increasing criticism from coalition members.
Jones also reports that the group has been strongly criticized for being dominated by the Sunni Muslim, pro-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Globalists Push Forward With Another New Massacre in Syria
Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
June 8, 2012
Globalist operators in Washington DC and London were caught out pushing the last massacre in Houla, Syria, publicly calling for regime change – on the strength of an 11 year old, and Syrian man running his human rights outfit out of a flat in London. On closer examination, the corporate media hype immediately blaming the Assad government for the massacre… fell far short of reality.
Not disheartened by their failure thus far in getting a UN-sanctioned humanitarian intervention based on lies and half-truths, the globalists – led by the “Friends of Syria” unofficial chair Hillary Clinton and her new Syria-side-kick Timothy Geithner, may have staged another massacre in the town of Hama on Wednesday.
According to corporate media reports, at least 30 people, and possibly more, have been killed in the town of Qubair, northwest of Hama. The Washington Post reports:
There were unconfirmed reports of a fresh massacre in Syria on Wednesday as representatives from 55 countries assembled in Washington to explore ways to sharpen the impact of economic sanctions against the Syrian government.
The reports said dozens of civilians in a small village near the central city of Hama were slain by pro-government militias Wednesday afternoon, echoing the circumstances of the killings of more than 100 people in the village of Houla on May 25.
Despite the massive scale of this alleged massacre, the international media’s case – and verdict, for what appears to be yet another tragic event in Syria, is wholy based on the reports of two “activists”, Asem Abu Mohammed and Mousab al-Hamadi. Villagers were apparently ‘hacked to death with knives by unknown militiamen’. Like the Houla Massacre before, these same reports of death squads do not translate very well at all as the work of the Syrian government.
To make matters worse, other confirmed reports from sources inside Syria cited by veteran investigative journalist Webster Tarpley, have testified that the ‘freshly massacred’ victims’ bodies were in a state of advanced decay – and planted at the scene to give the appearance of a massacre event.
The White House wasted no time in trying to leverage the Houla Massacre to pressure UN Security Council members and other allies to enact tougher sanctions against Syria – even though there is no evidence available to even suggest that the massacre was the work of the Assad government.
Hours after the story surfaced on the weekend of May 27th, Houla headlines read, “Massacre of the children as Syrian forces hit rebels”, giving hundreds of millions of readers and viewers to artificial impression that it was Syrian government forces who did the crime – and not western-backed terrorist groups.
The carefully crafted – and very fragile narrative which Washington and London are trying to hold together is along the lines of:
“The Assad regime continuing to wage war on the Syrian people.”
The western powers and their Gulf affiliates have been backing terrorist guerrilla proxy fighters, as well as running arms that are admittedly for going into the hands of western-backed al-Qaida groups there, but still have yet to succeed in toppling the Assad regime and installing a favored puppet leader.
If the corporate media have actually covered events in and around Syria over the last year as they claim to have done, one would think that they would have taken a keen interest in the fact that Washington and London have been openly coordinating the procurement of arms and logistical support for al-Qaida groups and many other rag-tag militias comprised mainly of foreign fighters, who are in turn backed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia in what amounts to a multi-pronged proxy war being waged on the Syrian people from the control rooms in intelligence hubs like Langley, VA and Bath, England.
Hillary Clinton’s chief role in the globalists’ Syrian project is to provide PR via a series of high-profile statements on the subject to a fawning corporate media. Predictably, her latest sound-bite echoes all of her previous statements. Here in robotic fashion, she’s exclaiming yet again on Wednesday:
“The international community cannot sit idly by, and we won’t”.
Sound familiar?
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also weighed-in on the effort this past Wednesday at the latest “Friends of Syria” globalist steering committee – an off-the-books, unofficial NATO regime change committee meeting. Geithner stated there, “We gather in the shadow of a massacre”.
Unfortunately, the reality for Syria is that regime change has already been signed off by the globalists, as was confirmed by the attendance of Syrian opposition stooge Bassma Kodmani from the NATO-backed Syrian National Council at this year’s Bilderberg Meeting in Chantilly, VA.
The only questions for globalist planners and their middle managers Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner is how long will it take and how Syria will be divided up once the destabilization process is complete.
In the end, those in power in North America and Europe effectively control reality to a large degree. This is achieved by a seamless operation whereby media and politicians are able to perfectly streamline any given version of events. Expect more massacres engineered by imported terrorists on the ground in Syria, and watch the media and western political managers attempt to leverage these staged crimes to achieve their end goal.
Once again, another crime of the century is unfolding in the Middle East.
Neo-Con: Syria Has Nothing to do with Humanitarian Concerns
Thursday, June 7, 2012
FDD’s Clifford May admits Syria is a proxy war with Iran and Russia, Neo-Cons in bed with Al Qaeda. Human rights merely a pretense.
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
Foundation for Defense of Democracies‘ Clifford May in an article titled, “The Battle of Syria: Assad’s survival would be a victory for Iran — and a defeat for the US,” openly dispels the commonly held notion among the West’s remaining public support, that their meddling in Syria’s ongoing strife has anything to do with humanitarian concerns. In fact, May openly states that defeating Syria as a proxy of Iran is far more important than “the dearth of sincere Muslim freedom fighters” or “humanitarian concerns.”
Video: Clifford May begins by playing the “humanitarian card” but ends admitting the entire conflict is a proxy war with Iran, and by implication, Russia. Amid a myriad of lies directed at Iran, May proposes worldwide occupation is necessary to maintain American “influence in the long run,” a notion that sounds suspiciously a lot like Empire.
May also makes mention of “strange bedfellows” in the current conflict, by quoting a fellow commentator who stated, “the McCain wing of the Republican party, and the rest of Washington’s progressive, Islamophilic clerisy” are aligning with “al-Qaeda emir Ayman al-Zawahiri and Muslim Brotherhood icon Yusuf al-Qaradawi.”
Aligning with Al Qaeda indeed, something that, while May claims is a spontaneous convergence of interests, was actually being planned as early as 2007, as stated in Seymour Hersh’s article, “The Redirection” in the New Yorker. And just like May concedes now, Hersh painted a picture of US-Israeli-Saudi machinations to destroy Lebanon and Syria as a means of undermining and toppling Iran – and using sectarian extremists to do so. Hersh specifically mentioned that many of the militant groups the West was arming and staging for this operation now unfolding in Syria today, were affiliated with Al Qaeda. The 2007 article specifically states:
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
May, perhaps hoping his readership is as profoundly ignorant of history as he assumes they are of current events, claims that Al Qaeda was a creation of Iran, willfully remiss of the fact that America’s CIA indeed created the terror organization in the mountains of Afghanistan to fight the Soviets in the 1980′s, and have continuously retooled it to execute Western foreign policy since, up to and including in Syria now. Essentially, May expects readers to believe that Iran created Al Qaeda and unleashed it upon its own ally. Clearly, May’s narrative not only falters at face value, but contradicts the somewhat more reputable, and certainly better cited work of Seymour Hersh.
May’s faulty conclusion is that should Syria prevail against these long-planned US machinations, with the help of Russia and Iran, the world would face a “nuclear armed” Iran emboldened by its ability to throw off American influence and would run roughshod over the peoples of the Middle East.
May induces fear with the threat of an uncontrollable “nuclear armed” Iran specifically as a smokescreen for his true fear, and the fear of all Western neo-imperialists – that Iran, Syria, and Russia would begin overturning the decades old hegemonic order of Wall Street and London.
The internal documents of US policy makers, including Brookings Institution’s “Which Path to Persia?” concede that even if Iran were to obtain nuclear weapons, they would not be deployed as anything but a means of deterrence, just as the US and Soviets did during the Cold War. Brookings concedes that it is a feared shift in geopolitical influence at the expense of America and its proxies that drives Western ambitions toward regime change in Iran, not any legitimate threat to the national security of either America or Israel.
The doomsday scenario Clifford May paints is unfounded, his accusations against Iran as being a “state sponsor of terror” ring hollow as he himself backed the overthrow of the Libyan government and direct military intervention that saw millions of dollars of weapons and cash, along with air support and diplomatic backing go to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), literally a wing of Al Qaeda. May also conveniently fails to mention that the US and Israel are funding, training, and arming a US State Department-listed foreign terror organization (#29), Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) against Iran. May does however mention Al Qaeda being in Syria, and how US policy runs parallel to its agenda. Since the US is admittedly funding these armed militants, it turns out that the US is yet again a state that is sponsoring terrorism.
Image: Brookings Institution’s Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf),” makes no secret that the humanitarian “responsibility to protect” is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.
While May’s writings may seem like throwaway statements designed to stoke fear amongst the weakest of minds, it is instructive to note, after navigating through overt contradictions, that he makes no illusions of Syria being a battle fought for humanitarian causes. His colleagues at Brookings Institution, who authored the “Middle East Memo #21″ that suggested Syria be “bled” with unending violence confirms this is the general consensus of prevailing Western policy makers. The goal is to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at any cost, including the utilization of “strange bedfellows” like Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, and regardless of how high the cost is in terms of human life – with some options including US-subsidized bloodshed that extends over the period of several years.
There is nothing noble about the West’s involvement in Syria – the architects and promoters of this agenda, like Neo-Con Clifford May and those amongst the Bookings Institution, confirm this in their own words. It is and always has been about expanding Western hegemony across the planet. If common sense, healthy skepticism, and critical thinking have yet to awaken some amongst the public, perhaps their governments’ own policy makers telling them the conflict is an unjust act of aggression, will.
Post-Bilderberg, Attendees Ramp Up Push for Syrian Intervention
Infowars.com
June 7, 2012
Fresh from Bilderberg 2012, top diplomats across the spectrum are now predictably ramping up the push for intervention in Syria. The shadowy group’s officially-leaked agenda discussed ‘the Future of Democracy, Russia, China and the Middle East,’ while the attendance of Bassma Kodmani, a top representative of the Syrian National Council and operative for the Ford Foundation and other Western institutes, make clear that the war/kinetic action in Syria is all but imminent.
2012 Bilderberg attendee Itamar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassasdor the United States, is the latest, now prominently “blaming” the U.S. for allowing the Syrian massacre to continue unabated. The Times of Israel reports:
The real block [on Syrian intervention], he told Army Radio, is the US government. “The Obama administration is not looking for another major Middle East crisis before November.”
Asked therefore whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite her bitter rhetoric against Damascus, did not actually intend to take any action now, Rabinovich said, “Later, after November.”
In the false dichotomy that attempts to create the perception that the U.S. must intervene in Syria (just as Caesar finally felt he must accept the crown after being asked three times), top Bilderberg-tapped diplomats are playing out a phony script about whether to ‘wait on diplomacy’ as the death tolls piles up, or ‘do the right thing’ and using power to stop Assad’s regime.
Financial Times writer Gideon Rachman also attended Bilderberg 2012, yet wrote in favor of continued diplomacy over military action from NATO and the Western allies. Rather than advancing the cause of peace and restraint, Rachman opened himself up to attacks from TIME magazine and even his own publication arguing why the world can’t wait on Syria.
Another false debate to make Syria regime change seem valiant and unavoidable… as another domino readies to fall in the on-going wave of Arab Spring color revolutions.
China, Russia repeat stance on Syria intervention
CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press
Updated 06:55 a.m., Thursday, June 7, 2012
BEIJING (AP) — Ahead of U.N. discussions on Syria, a conference of Central Asian nations Thursday rejected outside military intervention to end the violence there and called for a domestic resolution.
China and Russia, both attending the Beijing summit, have been seen as protecting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, blamed for a harsh crackdown on a 15-month popular uprising.
A joint statement from the 6-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization said “all violent behavior in Syria must stop” and said the group supports a broad domestic dialogue that respects Syria’s sovereignty and independence. It said the SCO members oppose military interference, unilateral sanctions and the “forced transfer of power.”
Despite widespread international condemnation of its actions, Syria’s government has survived through a combination of brutal repression and the political backing of Moscow. Along with China, Russia has twice blocked U.N. condemnations and punitive actions against the regime.
Activists say as many as 13,000 people have died in Assad’s crackdown against the anti-government uprising. One year after the revolt began, the U.N. put the toll at 9,000, but many hundreds more have died since.
The statement from the SCO, which includes Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, comes as international envoy Kofi Annan on Thursday will propose tasking a group of world powers and key regional players including Iran to come up with a strategy to end the conflict, U.N. diplomats said.
Annan will present the United Nations with a plan for creating a “contact group” whose final proposal must be acceptable to Syria’s allies Russia and China as well as the U.S. and its European allies, who insist Assad must go, they said.
There has also been talk about a meeting of key world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Mexico later this month to discuss the growing crisis in Syria and possible next steps, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private.
The violence in Syria has worsened recently, and it is not known who is to blame for much of the bloodshed. The government restricts journalists from moving freely, making it nearly impossible to independently verify accounts. The opposition blames government forces and militias that support them known as shabihas, while the government blames rebels and “armed terrorist groups.”
Iran thwarts Syrian “contact group” plan over US conditions for nuclear talks
June 7, 2012, 11:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
Iran stalled the US Secretary and UN-Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan’s plan to present the world body’s special session Thursday, June 7, with a plan for a contract group based on five permanent Security Council members and Iran to handle the Syrian impasse. Tehran refused to join the group as long as it faces nuclear conditions, after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Istanbul that Iran must come to the nuclear talks in Moscow “ready to take concrete steps” to curb its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity.
Discussion of the plan was therefore abandoned in the hall and confined to UN corridors. By forcing the pace at the special general assembly crisis session, Tehran once again demonstrated its refusal to play ball with the international community until its major power status in the Middle East is recognized.
Iranian sources have insisted in recent days that the six power talks with Iran were not just about its nuclear program but affected a wider spectrum, because the nuclear issue could be settled at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Tehran has made it clear that the continuation of nuclear diplomacy is contingent on the general recognition of Iran’s major power status.
The situation in Syria meanwhile continues to deteriorate disastrously amid conflicting claims about another massacre at the Hama village of Mazraat al-Qubeir: Opposition activists have disseminated video footage illustrating the slaughter of up to 70 people, including women and children, by Assad’s security forces and militiamen less than two weeks after the Houla massacre. This is denied by official sources in Damascus who say no more than nine people died at the hands of “terrorists.”
No independent testimony was available on the episode from the UN monitors, who set out for the Hama village. The UN Secretary said they turned back after they were fired on by small arms and would set out again Friday.
Kofi Annan warned that if nothing changes in Syria, the future holds all-out civil war. His words attested to the helplessness of the world body to put a stop of the bloodshed in Syria, combined with the Obama administration’s refusal to intervene in the crisis in the expectation that Russia and Iran would step up. That expectation has faded.
debkafile reported Wednesday, June 6: Israel remains dormant despite the serious consequences to its strategic and security situation threatened by the new proposal the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Kofi Annan is to present to the UN Thursday, June 7, for saving his peace plan. The nub of his proposal, debkafile’s sources disclose, is the creation of a “contact group” for handling the hot Syrian potato. It is to be composed of the five permanent Security Council members (US, UK, France, Russia and China) plus Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The proposal has won the blessing of the Obama administration, meaning its consent to letting the two powers that will dominate the contact group, Russia and Iran, determine the course and outcome of the Syrian crisis.
Washington believes that only they have the clout in the Syrian army for bringing about Bashar Assad’s removal and his replacement in Damascus by a provisional military regime.
Washington also hopes, according to our sources, that this gesture will give Moscow a strong incentive to lean hard on Tehran for concessions at the next round of its talk with the six world powers on June 13.
Neither Iran nor Moscow have promised the US anything of the sort, but the administration hopes Iran will start being forthcoming on its nuclear program after being permitted to assume a central role in Damascus.
There is less optimism outside administration circles and in Israel. They expect from Tehran nothing more at the next round of talks than token nuclear concessions, and none at all toward curtailing its work on a nuclear weapon.
However the Obama administration appears to have opted for this course, even though it is the first time since the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in December 2010 that the United States is willing to let go of a major Middle East crisis and allow its foremost Middle East rivals, Moscow and Tehran, to take charge.
debkafile reported exclusively on May 31, that President Barack Obama had proposed to President Vladimir Putin the creation of a large force of 5,000 international monitors for Syria, most of them Russians, to safeguard Assad’s stock of biological and chemical weapons against falling into the hands of al Qaeda or Syrian rebels. This team consisting of thousands of Russian troops would be the operational arm of the future “contact group.”
As far as Israel is concerned, the plan has disastrous connotations. Instead of containing the spread of hostile Iranian influence in the region, as Obama promised Israel, he is opening for the door for Iran to extend its nfluence squarely in the countries neighboring on – and still at war with – Israel, while at the same time moving back from a focused effort to draw the sting of Iran’s nuclear bomb program.
Israel’s political and security tacticians never took into account that a consequence of the Syrian revolt would be the establishment of full-blown Iranian sway over Damascus in partnership with Russia. Indeed, for 15 months, they insisted that the Syrian uprising was proof of America’s success in breaking up the dangerous Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis.
Annan at U.N. for last-ditch effort to save Syrian peace plan
UNITED NATIONS | Thu Jun 7, 2012 1:07am EDT
(Reuters) – International mediator Kofi Annan will present the U.N. Security Council on Thursday with a new proposal in a last-ditch effort to rescue his failing peace plan for Syria, where 15 months of violence have brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Annan and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address the 15-nation council behind closed doors at 3:00 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). Ban and former U.N. chief Annan will also speak to the 193-nation General Assembly at 10:00 a.m., along with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.
The two U.N. meetings, which will focus on the escalating crisis in Syria, come as the Syrian opposition and Western and Gulf nations seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad increasingly see Annan’s six-point peace plan as doomed due to the Syrian government’s determination to use military force to crush an increasingly militarized opposition.
The core of Annan’s proposal, diplomats said, would be the establishment of a contact group that would bring together Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and key regional players with influence on Syria’s government and the opposition, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran.
By creating such a contact group, envoys said, Annan would also be trying to break the deadlock among the five permanent council members that has pitted veto powers Russia and China against the United States, Britain and France and prevented any meaningful U.N. action on the Syrian conflict, envoys said.
It would attempt to map out a “political transition” for Syria that would lead to Assad stepping aside and the holding of free elections, envoys said. One diplomat said the idea was “vaguely similar” to a political transition deal for Yemen that led to the president’s ouster.
The main point of Annan’s proposal, they said, is to get Russia to commit to the idea of a Syrian political transition, which remains the thrust of Annan’s six-point peace plan, which both the Syrian government and opposition said they accepted earlier this year, but have failed to implement.
“We’re trying to get the Russians to understand that if they don’t give up on Assad, they stand to lose all their interests in Syria if this thing blows up into a major regional war involving Lebanon, Iran, Saudis,” a Western diplomat told Reuters. “So far the Russians have not agreed.”
RUSSIAN EXILE FOR ASSAD?
Apart from lucrative Russian arms sales to Damascus, Syria hosts Russia’s only warm water port outside the Soviet Union.
While Russia has repeatedly said it is not protecting Assad, it has given no indications that it is ready to abandon him.
Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice suggested that if Russia continued to prevent the Security Council from putting pressure on Syria, states may have no choice but to consider acting outside the United Nations.
Diplomats said the West has been pushing Russia to abandon Assad in a series of recent meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with their European and U.S. counterparts.
An unnamed diplomat leaked further details of Annan’s proposal to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who said that if the contact group agreed on a transition deal for Syria, it could mean Russian exile for Assad.
The Post article said another option for Assad would be to seek exile in Iran, Damascus’ other staunch ally.
Annan’s peace efforts have failed to halt the violence, as demonstrated by a recent massacre in Houla that led to the deaths of at least 108 men, women and children, most likely by the army and allied militia, according the U.N. Opposition members said there was a similar massacre on Wednesday in Hama province, with 78 people killed.
Syria opposition accuses pro-Assad forces of new massacre
Syrian opposition activists say dozens of civilians were killed by government shelling and attacks by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in Hama province.
BEIRUT — Antigovernment activists accused forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad of a new massacre of civilians early Thursday, even as United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan reportedly sought to create a coalition of nations to breathe new life into his flagging peace plan for Syria.
Dozens were killed by government shelling and attacks by pro-regime “thugs” in the province of Hama, according to reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based antigovernment group that tracks daily casualties.
The group urged United Nations monitors to rush to the town of Mazraat al Kabir and the village of Maarzaf to investigate their allegations.
Reuters news service cited antigovernment activists as saying Syrian security forces killed at least 78 people, including children. At least 12 bodies had been burned, Reuters reported.
An opposition activist told Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite television network, that the killings took place in two stages: a shelling of the area and then the entry of armed militiamen who slaughtered victims with guns and knives.
It was not possible early Thursday to verify the accounts. There was no immediate response from Syrian authorities.
If true, the massacre occurred less than two weeks after the killings of more than 100 people, mostly women and children, in Houla township. Those killings prompted international condemnation of the Syrian government. Syrian authorities blamed antigovernment “armed groups” for the Houla atrocity.
Syria’s government has accused the opposition of inflating casualty counts and even committing massacres in a bid to discredit the security services and Assad. The government has said such efforts have previously coincided with major addresses by Annan, who is also the Arab League special envoy for Syria.
Full Article
More Syrian Blood on Obama’s Hands
By Stephen Lendman, Contributor
theintelhub.com
June 5, 2012
Morning headlines again falsely accused Assad of mass killings in Qubeir village in central Hama province.
Houla-style slaughter was repeated. Reports said as many as 78 civilians were killed. Half were women and children. Around 35 members of one family were murdered in cold blood.
Victims were shot at close range and/or stabbed. Some bodies were burned. Independent reports haven’t explained what eventually will come out. Pro-Assad loyalists were targeted for assassination. At issue also is creating pretexts for Libyan-style intervention.
Western-recruited death squads bear full responsibility. Syrian state TV said an “armed terror group” committed the “horrifying crime….What a few media have reported (is) completely false. (They’re) contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians.”
Responding to calls for help, government forces headed for Qubeir. State TV said they “raided a terrorist cell and killed a number of them and confiscated their weapons.”
At issue is Obama advancing the ball closer to war. Washington readied plans long ago. Timing alone remains undecided. Plans now may be set. Most likely the Serbia/Kosovo/Iraq/Libya model will be repeated.
In 1999, Washington bypassed Security Council approval. It claimed NATO authorization alone mattered. It set a precedent. Henceforth international and constitutional law could be circumvented. Going to war became as simple as ordering bombs away.
On June 6, Hillary Clinton suggested it’s coming. Her official State Department press release said:
“Recent events, including the killings at Houla, have exposed the Asad regime’s determination to continue waging war on the Syrian people.”
“The international community cannot sit idly by, and we won’t….”
Clinton stressed “transition(ing)” to a new Syria. At issue is regime change. Earlier she said Washington and the “international community” must “intensify” pressure on Assad “whose rule by murder must come to an end.”
Heated rhetoric advances the ball for war. So do Western-directed death squad massacres falsely blamed on Assad.
In late May, Joint Chiefs head General Martin Dempsey said there’s “always a military option….(I)t may come to a point with Syria because of the atrocities.”
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Gulf Council states also urge direct military intervention. So do Western-recruited Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Syrian National Council (SNC) members.
Russia and China remain firm against foreign intervention. On June 5, Itar Tass said:
“Russia calls impermissible and dangerous the refusal of the Syrian armed opposition to follow the plan of UN/LAS Envoy Kofi Annan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters on Tuesday….”
“That is a very bad and dangerous trend.” So is “the establishment of another illegal armed unit, the so-called Syrian Insurgent Army of 12,000 solders, was announced on June 4.”
“The international community should have learned the no-fly zone lesson from the Libyan events.”
“Such a scenario is possible only if the illegal armed units receive moral support from abroad and are supplied with arms, munitions and money. We have repeatedly declared that such a situation was impermissible and we continue to call on the Syrian sides and the external forces to stick with the logic of the Annan plan….”
“Moscow hopes that the leading world capitals will fully realize the danger and amorality of preparations for an even bigger bloodshed in Syria and the leading of that country to a civil war, which may spread outside of the national territory and spill blood throughout the Middle East.”
On June 7, Reuters said Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members urged dialogue, not confrontation, saying:
SCO “member states are against military interference in the affairs of this region, enforced ‘handover of power’, and unilateral sanctions.”
“Member states stress the need to stop any violence on the territory of Syria wherever it is coming from. They respect broad nationwide dialogue, based on independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria.”
Obama’s rhetoric barely conceals intent for direct intervention. Plans are ready to be implemented. Earlier patterns are being repeated. Propaganda wars precede hot ones.
NATO intervention followed falsified Serbian atrocity reports. Occupation, colonization and exploitation were planned. So was expanding NATO and enhancing US dominance.
New World Order strategy dictates war. Puppet regimes called democracies are established. Serbia/Kosovo aggression became the operative model. America’s Project for a New Middle East replicates it.
9/11 was the bogus pretext for attacking and occupying Afghanistan. So were nonexistent WMDs for war on Iraq. Falsified Gaddafi atrocities produced bombs away. Syria follows the same pattern.
Mass slaughter and destruction follow. Human misery replaces peace and calm. Washington bears direct responsibility for millions of deaths. Only imperial dominance matters, not body counts.
Imagine what’s coming if not stopped. America’s rage to kill and destroy is insatiable. War on Syria approaches, then Iran, then new targeted states.
US to Russia: Give Up or Swim in Our Sea of Syrian Blood
US Attempts to Mass-Murder Its Way to Victory in Syria.
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Image: Brookings Institution’s
Middle East Memo #21 makes no secret about
long-planned regime change |
Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
- US planned Syrian sectarian violence since at least 2007.
- US willfully arming sectarian extremists to perpetuate violence.
- US using violence of its own creation to pressure nations into accepting “regime change.”
As revelations emerge that the violence in Syria has been premeditated by Western planners years before the Arab Spring unfolded, and as the facade of “democratic aspirations” collapse in the face of a sectarian-driven bloodbath, US officials and Western think-tank policy makers speaking with Bloomberg have stated that their final message to Russia in order to begin regime change is essentially this: the violence will continue to be purposefully escalated until regime change is accomplished – Russia can capitulate now and have a say in how a transition occurs, or capitulate later and suffer exclusion as was the case in Libya.
Bloomberg cites “US officials” who claim they are meeting with Russia to seek an “orderly transition.”
Just how close the US is, or believes it is to actually overthrowing the Syrian government is a matter of varied opinion. What is not opinion is the fact that the US has openly conspired to “bleed” Syria to death to either perpetually limit its geopolitical influence throughout the Middle East, or to eventually precipitate the fall of the government.
This was stated very clearly in Brookings Institution’s “Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf):”
An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which would have to be backed by limited military power. This would, of course, fall short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its efforts. -page 4, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution.
On pages 8 and 9, the memo states:
The United States might still arm the opposition even knowing they will probably never have sufficient power, on their own, to dislodge the Asad network. Washington might choose to do so simply in the belief that at least providing an oppressed people with some ability to resist their oppressors is better than doing nothing at all, even if the support provided has little chance of turning defeat into victory. Alternatively, the United States might calculate that it is still worthwhile to pin down the Asad regime and bleed it, keeping a regional adversary weak, while avoiding the costs of direct intervention. -pages 8-9, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution.
For those following the “humanitarian” rhetoric proposed by the West as their alleged motivation for involvement in Syria, it is clearly unconscionable to purposefully perpetuate violence, particularly the brutal sectarian violence now admittedly unfolding, simply to keep “a regional adversary weak.” And it is from this position of moral depravity that the West is negotiating with Russia for a “transition” in Syria.
The West believes that by continuing this bloodshed and by manipulating public perception that it is “the doing of the Syrian government,” “enabled” by the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians, they can “shame” opponents of their campaign of destabilization into backing this ongoing crime against world peace. However, Western propaganda is faltering in the face of the alternative media. Additionally the public in general, weary of unending war, are increasingly voicing suspicion over the motives and involvement of the West in regards to Syria. The intended sting of what appears to be a Western orchestrated atrocity in Houla Syria, exists only in the op-eds of the Western press, and extends no further – not even in the comment sections below. In other words, no one has bought it.
Image: Never again? Appeasing tyranny never works. In 1939 Hitler singed a non-aggression pact with Russia it never intended to honor. Up until the day Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, he denied his intentions of driving all the way to Moscow, claiming he was lining up troops on Russia’s borders to “protect them from British bombing.” Today, we see NATO playing the same game with the European ballistic missile shield intended for “Iran,” while undermining and invading one Russian ally after another. Apathy and tacit complicity for wars of aggression may seem “easy,” that is until one considers the price Germans ultimately paid when their fortunes finally turned. What Russia decides to do with Syria will determine the shape of the battlefield upon which they will fight when inevitably forced to confront the encroaching machinations of Wall Street and London.One misconception that cannot be made, however, is that by appeasing the West by giving up on Syria, like was done with Libya, will somehow placate the hegemonic ambitions driving this agenda in the first place. Like Hitler denying he intended to invade Russia up to the day he indeed invaded, Wall Street and London intend to go all the way to Moscow and Beijing, despite the myriad of excuses and denials they make along the way, and denials and excuses they will continue to make until the very day Western forces and their proxies begin unraveling both Russia and China.China, likewise faces encirclement and containment as the Pentagon openly declares it is shifting its attention and its fleets into the Pacific. While Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta attempts to “dispel” concerns that the US is arraying its forces to confront China, his less than credible word contradicts nearly 20 years of US policy papers that describe containing and collapsing China by this very method of reasserting US hegemony in the Pacific.
Confrontation will come sooner or later, and for those wondering why the world was so apathetic in the face of the Nazis, an obvious threat to world peace in retrospect, we are given a front-row seat today as Wall Street, London, and those in their orbit incrementally violate the sovereignty and destiny of nation after nation, aided by their own population’s seemingly infinite apathy and ignorance. And like Germany, it will be these populations that pay the ultimate price for complacency and inaction in the face of their own governments’ reckless hegemonic ambitions.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Blatant Corporate Media Propaganda Inciting Hatred of Syria to Justify Intervention
Eric Blair
Activist Post
It’s more obvious everyday that propaganda is getting more blatant, more in our face. Mostly we just assume it has always been there but it’s usually cleverly subtle. Not lately though. It’s blood in your face time especially in regards to the “conflict” in Syria.
Take a look at this Huffington Post front page from today:
This struck me for several reasons which I’ll get into; but first, this is at least the third time they’ve plastered their front page with this propaganda in the last couple of weeks. These blood-soaked headlines always lead to an Associated Press story, or, in this case, Reuters.
It’s difficult to even know where to begin breaking down the blatant propaganda tactics used here. Let’s ignore the gory red paint splatters on the Syrian flag, as that one is pathetically obvious.
To bring some immediate perspective to this headline, imagine if it read “HORROR: NEW MASSACRE IN PAKISTAN — Activists: American Drone Bombs Slaughter 78…Women and Children Killed.”
But that headline would never happen because they (the State Department controlled AP and Reuters) would never allow those emotional trigger words to be used. Instead, “militants” were always killed with maybe a bit of collateral damage during “U.S. drone mission.” No one was ever slaughtered or massacred during drone “missions” . . . those words are only used to describe the enemy’s actions.
Focus on the emotional trigger words “Horror”, “Massacre”, “Slaughter”, and “Children Killed”. All it takes is a millisecond’s glance and you want revenge on the Syrian government.
Also notice the disclaimer words “Reported” and “Activists”, meaning it may not have happened but someone said it did — so we’ll call it a massacre.
Now look at the actual title and the article which appears to be a joint effort by Reuters and the Huffington Post: Hama Massacre: Qubair, Syria, Site Of Fresh Violence, According To Unconfirmed Reports.
The crux of the short article read:
Activists said pro-government militia men and security forces killed at least 78 people, including children, in Syria’s central province of Hama on Wednesday.
Some of those killed in the village of Mazraat al-Qubair were stabbed to death, the activists said, and at least 12 bodies had been burned.
The unconfirmed reports suggest that at least 40 victims were women and children. (emphasis added)
The other line that struck me was, “The anonymous activist said that militias loyal to the regime raided the village and began executing people using knives and AK-47s.”How did this anonymous activist know this ragtag knife-wielding ”militia” was loyal to the regime? Did they announce it on their arrival? If so, that smells even worse like a false flag. Unfortunately no further details were given.But they were efficient enough to tie this story to the previous “unconfirmed” massacre by “pro-government” forces from last week to continue to display a pattern of abuse by Syria to justify Western intervention.Huffington Post is the epitome of the progressive hypocrisy in America; those who once vehemently opposed the Bush Doctrine of preemptive intervention and war to stop “bad guys” who never attacked or threatened to attack the U.S., but now support that policy with Obama in the White House.
They cheered for the Libya intervention, saying it wouldn’t take more than days when it turned out to take over six months to fully destroy that beautiful country who never harmed anyone outside of her borders.
And now it appears as though they’re cheering for more intervention into Syria, who also never harmed anyone outside her borders, and the harm (massacre) happening inside the country is coming from “unconfirmed reports” from “anonymous activists.”
Unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources shouldn’t be enough meat for such a bloody headline. Loaded with emotional trigger words, this is how they sell hatred and preemptive war. In other words, it’s clear war propaganda.
It matters not what is actually going on in Syria. I’m sure bad things are happening on both sides of the conflict. But to see a breaking “news” item presented this way over and over, only to find flimsy reports, you have to wonder what the real truth is.
It’s not quite as bad as the BBC getting caught using images from Iraq while reporting on atrocities in Syria, but it’s still going above and beyond to shill for war.
It’s time for real antiwar progressives to look past the ketchup stains on the Syrian flag at their favorite news site and dig deeper into how they are being manipulated to give up their principles of peace before they justify even more bloodshed in the name of America.
In other important news, CNN ran the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (commercial free), complete with the commentator repeatedly saying “and there’s the queen, smiling and waving to her subjects.”
Reminds me of Bill Hicks’ American Gladiator bit “Here, watch this America and shut up!”
Syria risks drawn-out civil war: experts
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 17:03 EDT
WASHINGTON — With the Annan peace plan at stalemate, a badly-fragmented opposition and fierce resistance from the regime, Syria risks descending into a long and bloody civil war, analysts say.
As international powers grapple for a solution to end the conflict, experts believe a way needs to be found to tip the scales in favor of the 15-month rebellion seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“The regime is doing its absolute best right now to create a climate of civil war. That is clear,” Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center, told AFP.
“The longer the situation goes on, I believe, Syria will be facing more of a sectarian problem than it has,” he said. “I think you’re going to find there’ll be increasingly bloody episodes because the diplomacy has not managed to keep up with the situation on the ground.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met late Wednesday in Istanbul with senior officials from 15 other countries to discuss how to halt the violence in Syria and remove Assad from power.
The talks came as the six-point peace plan drawn up by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan appears to be unravelling. One of its main resolutions is a ceasefire yet the tragedies have continued such as the massacre in Houla last month in which 108 civilians, many of them women and children, were killed.
“We are kidding ourselves if we act as if this peace plan is bringing peace… It is kind of like Tinker Bell — if we all say that we believe in it, then it will happen,” Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.
Residents in Houla blamed the massacre on residents from the neighboring Alawite villages — the same mystical Islamic sect as the Assad family who have ruled the Sunni majority nation with an iron fist for over four decades.
Fears are also growing the conflict — in which rights groups say some 13,500 Syrians have already died — is increasingly turning into a proxy war between the West and its Arab allies on one side, and Russia, China and Iran on the other.
“There’s been a privatization” of the conflict, said Shaikh, “meaning, different groups from the outside have been supporting different groups on the inside… And this is the great danger now.”
Even though Washington has been clear that so far it is only providing non-lethal support to rebel groups, such as communications equipment, there are growing calls for a greater US involvement.
Some Republicans have called for the United States to arm the rebels, but there is little appetite to enter another Middle Eastern conflict in the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There is a leadership vacuum,” said Abrams, who has argued that greater US involvement in Syria is in national strategic interests as a collapse of the Assad regime would by extension prove a blow to Iran.
West’s Syrian Narrative Based on “Guy in British Apartment”
Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
June 4, 2012
The “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” has been cited by the Western media for over a year in nearly every report, regardless of which news agency, be it AFP, AP, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, BBC, or any of the largest Western newspapers. One would believe this to be a giant sprawling organization with hundreds of members working hard on the ground, documenting evidence in Syria with photographs and video, while coordinating with foreign press to transparently and objectively “observe” the “human rights” conditions in Syria, as well as demonstrate their methodologies. Surely that is the impression the Western media attempts to relay to its readers.
From Reuters: “Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after meeting Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in central London November 21, 2011. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor” Abdelrahman is not the “head” of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, he is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, run out of his British apartment as a one-man operation. However, astoundingly, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is none of these things. Instead, it is merely a single man, sitting behind a computer in a British apartment, who alleges he receives “phone calls” with information always incriminating the Syrian government, and ever glorifying the “Free Syrian Army.” In fact, Reuters even admitted this in their article, “Coventry – an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist,” and even concedes that this man, “Rami Abdulrahman,” is openly part of the Syrian opposition who seeks the end of the Syrian government. Abdulrahman admits that he had left Syria over 10 years ago, has lived in Britain ever since, and will not return until “al-Assad goes.”
Of course, beyond this single article, Reuters and its fellow news agencies are sure to never again remind readers of these facts.
The opportunity for impropriety seems almost inevitable for a man who openly reviles a government long targeted for “regime change” by the very country he currently resides in, and who’s method of reportage involves dubious phone-calls impossible for anyone to verify. When Abdulrahman isn’t receiving mystery phone calls from fellow opposition members in Syria (like “Syrian Danny“) or passing on his less-than-reputable information to the Western press, he is slinking in and out of the British Foreign Office to meet directly with Foreign Secretary William Hague – who also openly seeks the removal of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.
….
Clearly for real journalists, Abdulrahman is a useless, utterly compromised source of information who has every reason to twist reality to suit his admittedly politically-motivated agenda of overthrowing the Syrian government. However, for a propagandist, he is a goldmine. That is why despite the overt conflict of interests, the lack of credibility, the obvious disadvantage of being nearly 3,000 miles away from the alleged subject of his “observations,” or the fact that a single man is ludicrously calling himself a “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” in the first place, the Western media still eagerly laps up his constant torrent of disinformation.
And when the Western press cites such a dubious, compromised character, it means that the actual evidence inevitably trickling out of Syria contradicts entirely the West’s desired narrative, so profoundly in fact, that they must contrive the summation of their “evidence” from whole cloth with “tailors” like Abdelrahman. And while the general public should indeed be angry over being deceived on such a vast scale, they should be utterly outraged that the establishment thinks they are so stupid – they’d believe any evidence coming from an opposition activist, disingenuously masquerading as a reputable organization, telling us all what is happening in Syria via “phone-calls” received in his plush apartment in England.
Tony Cartalucci’s post first appeared on his blog, Land Destroyer.
Dozens of Syrian Soldiers Killed as Diplomacy Stalls
VOA News
June 4, 2012
Diplomacy again stalled on Syria as clashes continued Monday, with rights groups saying dozens of people were killed in the latest battles between Syrian government forces and rebels.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports more than 75 government soldiers were killed over the last few days as rebels intensified attacks on government checkpoints. Syrian state media have not acknowledged the casualties and there is no independent confirmation.
New clashes erupted in Idlib province late on Sunday and carried into Monday, killing at least two rebel fighters. The opposition Syrian National Council reported that government forces were using tanks, rocket launchers and artillery to repel rebels.
As the attacks continued, a European Union summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to resolve differences in how to deal with Syria’s 15-month long conflict.
Speaking at the end of the summit in St. Petersburg, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the Russian leader and the 27-nation bloc have “some divergent assessments” about Syria.
In a joint news conference with Putin, Van Rompuy said both sides need to work together to achieve an immediate stop to Syria’s violence and launch a process of political transition in the country, led for 11 years by President Bashar al-Assad.
Russia and the West have long disagreed about which side of the Syrian conflict should do more to end the violence. Russia says Assad and the rebels trying to oust him have an equal obligation to stop fighting, while Western powers say the Syrian president should act first by ending his deadly crackdown on dissent.
Moscow also has rejected Western calls for Assad to step down, saying the political future of its longtime ally should be for Syrians to decide through peaceful means.
Van Rompuy said Russia and the EU agree that international peace envoy Kofi Annan’s plan “provides the best opportunity” to avoid a civil war in Syria and find a peaceful solution.
But Western powers have acknowledged that Annan’s plan is faltering as Syrian government and rebel forces engage in daily battles, ignoring the plan’s call for a cease-fire that was supposed to take effect in April.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the focus of international diplomacy on Syria is shifting to a political transition rather than negotiations with Assad’s government.
Speaking before a visit to Armenia on Monday, Clinton said Assad’s “departure does not have to be a precondition” to a resolution of the conflict, but added that “it should be an outcome.”
Britain Moves to Invade Syria Under Humanitarian Pretext
presstv.com
June 4, 2012
Britain is reportedly planning to set up refugee camps inside Syria under the pretext of saving civilian lives but in reality to help armed rebels fighting against the government.
According to a report published in Daily Star, British Special Forces would set up camps along Syria’s borders with Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon and that Special Air Service (SAS) troops and MI6 agents will help the rebels if civil war breaks out in the country.
They also have hi-tech satellite computers and radios that can instantly send back photos and details of events unfolding in Syria.
“There are guys in the communications unit who are signalers that can go right up front and get involved in close-quarter fighting,” Daily Star quoted a senior Whitehall source as saying.
The British troops would be part of an international force including French and Turkish soldiers and possibly Americans.
A senior Whitehall source said that London is preparing for the move with the full knowledge that setting up camps inside Syria would be an invasion of the country.
The camps are expected to be set up around areas that are easily accessible and even within walking distance of trouble spots. Among them is Krak des Chevaliers, a medieval castle about 25 miles west of Homs close to the Lebanon border, Al-Suwayda, near the border with Jordan and Jisr al-Shughour near the Turkish border.
The British claim that Syrian forces would not dare to come that close to the border.
Israeli intelligence news agency, Debkafile, had earlier reported that British troops are already in Syria leading armed groups in the crisis-hit city of Homs and that the MI6 has established four centers of operation in the city.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including hundreds of security forces, have been killed in the country over the past 15 months. While the West and the Syrian opposition say the government is responsible for the killings, Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Rebels set Syrian fighter jets and helicopters ablaze opposite Golan
DEBKAfileExclusive Report June 3, 2012, 10:42 PM (GMT+02:00)
As Syrian ruler Bashar Assad stood before parliament in Damascus Sunday, June 3, declaring, “Not even monsters could have carried out the Houla massacre,” rebels attacked a Syrian Air Force base east of the southern town of Deraa opposite the Israeli Golan border – their first such attack in the 14-month uprising,
debkafile’s military sources report. Several rebel bands firing mortars set fire to fighter aircraft and assault helicopters in their hangars and ripped up runways at the As Suwayda air base.
The burning warplanes were a strategic bull’s eye for the anti-Assad revolt.
The air base they attacked is Syria’s southernmost air facility. It is positioned to be available for backing up the Syrian units posted on the Golan border opposite Israeli forces – the 5th, 7th, and 10th Divisions. Arrayed behind them in reserve is the 9th Division, the only one the regime has never enlisted for operations to crush the revolt.
The air fleet housed at As Suwayda is there to provide air cover for Syrian border units in the event of a war with Israel and engage Israeli warplanes coming into to attack the divisions on the ground. It is also entrusted with providing air cover for the forces posted in the Jordanian and Iraqi border sectors.
No information was immediately available about the number or types of aircraft destroyed by the rebels or casualties. The Syrian state media have not disclosed the incident.
In northern Syria, our military sources reveal that in the last few days the rebels are showing up with a new piece of war materiel, improvised armored vehicles sporting anti-air rockets or heavy machine guns. They are capable of downing the aircraft or combat helicopters the regime is increasingly sending to attack the heavily embattled protest centers in that region.
These APC’s are essentially Toyota pickups fitted with steel plates to protect teams of three rebel fighters each behind the rockets and machine guns. Their homemade APCs are dubbed “T-HOMS 75.”
Filed Under: FALSE FLAGS / FAKE TERROR • FEATURED • WORLD NEWS
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