Quite simply I do not believe the US, UK and French government’s assertion that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels “multiple times in small quantities”. Why on earth would they do that? The claim that “up to 150 people have died” spread over a number of incidents makes no sense at all. In a civil war when tens of thousands of people have died, where all sides have been guilty of massacres of scores at a time, I cannot conceive of any motive for killing a dozen or so at any one time with the odd chemical shell. It makes no military sense – chemical weapons are designed for use against population centres and massed armies. They are not precision weapons for deployment against small groups.
Why on earth would the Assad regime use a tiny amount of chemical weapons against tiny groups of rebels, knowing the West would use it as an excuse to start bombing? It makes no sense whatsoever. Cui bono?
The Russians have described the evidence as fabricated, and on this one I am with the Russians.
It is of course no coincidence that this humanitarian motive to start bombing Syria arises just as the tide of war turned against the rebels, and the government forces are about to move on Aleppo. I suspect now we will see massive NATO force intervention, with huge air to ground destruction of the government forces all over the country to “defend” Aleppo, just as we saw hundreds of thousands killed and whole cities destroyed in Libya to “defend” Benghazi. Whose people showed their gratitude by murdering the US Ambassador.
It is a further fascinating coincidence that this coordinated western switch of policy happens immediately after the Bilderberg conference. An analysis of which of the corporate interests there stand to gain in Syria might be a fascinating exercise.
There were two main reasons the tide of war turned against the rebels. Firstly, Hizbollah’s decision to enter the war on a large scale was provoked by the Israeli Air Force’s massive attack around Damascus, a fact the mainstream media has managed to hide completely. Secondly, at Turkish urging, the rebel forces had diverted much of their energies to attacking the Syrian kurds. This opens the interesting question of what the American client Kurds of Iraq will make of their patron sponsoring the massacre of their brethren in Syria.
Finally, chemical weapons are a terrible thing and their use should be condemned unreservedly. But where was all this Western outrage and activity when the Israelis were pouring down white phosphorous and kicking and maiming thousands of women and children in Gaza?
No, Technicolour, but I’ve heard of it and have read summaries/reviews of it. Would you recommend it?
Oh yes. Despite the fact that it makes you feel sick to your bones. It clearly shows that the Chicago School doctrine of neoliberalism/conservatism – Friedman’s economic ‘shock doctrine’ – has to be based on disasters and upheaval, either natural or created. So with Pinochet, they helped create a monster who carried out their financial theology through mass murder and torture; and this happened in China and Argentina, and elsewhere. It really is terrifying that the ‘Chicago Boys’ are behind all these regimes (and also took over the IMF and World Bank, turning them into the antithesis of the stabilising organs originally envisaged by Keynes). I can’t really do it justice in this short summary (and am now reading about how the same thing happened to Poland) but it is interesting that the Guardian review at the time emphasised that Klein only uses real electric shock torture as a metaphor, for example, when she clearly shows that in order to get a population to submit to devastating economic practices of mass privatisation, wealth and land grabs and welfare slashes, torture and repression usually have to be used to subdue them – that the two are inextricably linked, in fact. The Guardian review also approvingly suggests that Klein exonerates the corporations behind this when she does no such thing. That’s why people should read the book.
@ Suhayl :
I wouldn’t bother. It is a badly written few hundred pages based on a very thin idea.
You will of course do as you please, but I urge you to be cautious about read which our cher ami Technicolour recommends so glowingly. “By their friends shall you know them” and all that business 🙂
Just to comment briefly on Techni’s “review”, above :
1/. So the Chicago Boys were behind not only Chile but also Argentina…and China. I always wondered.
2/. Poland – which Techni informs you he’s now reading up on – is doing reather well economically at the moment. The “shock” abviously didn’t work well there … or perhaps it never existed outside Ms Klein’s book?
Argentina: under Cavallo “virtually all the country’s top economic posts were filled by Chicago Boys: president of the Central Bank was Roque Fernandez…vice president of the central bank was Pedro Pou, who had worked for the dictatorship..chief central bank adviser was Pablo Guidotti (IMF)…” (p 166)
China: “Deng was enthusiastically committed to converting to a corporate based economy – so committed that in 1980 his government invited Milton Friedman to come to China and tutor hundreds of top-level civil servants, professors and party economists in the fundamentals of free market theory@ (p 185)
Poland: the ‘Sachs Plan’ or ‘shock therapy’ advocated selling off the state mines, shipyards and factories..it was a direct clash with Solidarity’s economic programme of worker ownership…” “(Sachs) helped Poland secure some debt relief and $1 billion dollars to stabilise the economy but all of it, particularly the IMF funds, was strictly conditional on Solidarity’s submitting to shock therapy”….”According to the World Bank Poland has an unemployment rate of 20 percent, the highest in the EU…40 percent of young workers were unemployed…In 1989 15 percent of Poland’s population was living below the poverty line, in 2003 59 percent of Poles had fallen below the line”…”About 18 months in..Solidarity’s base had had enough…faced with more than 6000 strikes the government was forced to slow down its more ambitious privatisation plans…The fact that Polish workers managed to stop the wholesale privatisation of their country means that as painful as the ‘reforms’ were, they could have been far worse’.
Obviously, it helps if you’ve read the book.
Suhayl
Ha ha yes, thanks for the clarification. I did indeed mean official issue boots as opposed to the plausibly deniable variety. Although the last time I saw the SAS in action in Iraq – that time they tried to shoot their way through a police road block and had to be busted out of gaol by some squaddies – they were dressed like Lawrence of Arabia. So maybe they were wearing Jesus boots.
“The rest is thankfully behind the paywall of the soon to be divorced Murdoch.”
Murdoch has mere to gain from the overthrow of the Syrian government than most, along with Jacob Rothschild he is a major shareholder in Genie Energy. Israel has already granted them oil rights in the Golan Heights, a bit premature, that’s still Syrian territory by law. Gasprom have bought a stake too.
@ Technicolour :
Well, funnily enough, I have read it. It ‘made’ Naomi Klein and also earned her a fair bit of money. Books with a simple idea – preferably of a ‘conspiracy’ nature and castigating dark, occult forces – usually sell quite well, I’ve noticed.
On your quotations :
1/. “Argentina: under Cavallo “virtually all the country’s top economic posts were filled by Chicago Boys: president of the Central Bank was Roque Fernandez…vice president of the central bank was Pedro Pou, who had worked for the dictatorship..chief central bank adviser was Pablo Guidotti (IMF)…” (p 166)”
And? What does this tell us, apart from that “virtually all the country’s..etc”?
2/. “China: “Deng was enthusiastically committed to converting to a corporate based economy – so committed that in 1980 his government invited Milton Friedman to come to China and tutor hundreds of top-level civil servants, professors and party economists in the fundamentals of free market theory@ (p 185”
So? A lot of people these days seem to think that China’s doiung rather well economically, don’t they? Enough to be worried by it, even.
3/. re Poland : I note that the latest year you mention is 2003. By my reckoning, that’s a decade ago. Would you like to tell us something – supply figures if you feel like it – about Poland’s economic performance and prospects today? (if you wish, you could also explain why a lot of the Poles who came to the UK post-2004 have gone back to Poland)
In conclusion, beta double minus/gamma double plus – must do better!
@ Suhayl
I should also mention that the book is very long. Because the underlying idea is thin (there is in fact only one idea) this makes it an onerous and irritating read.
If you must read it, for heaven’s sake don’t buy a new copy – there are already too many authors who have got rich by castigating the ‘money men’ and the rich.
If you must , steal a copy from a charity shop (you’re sure to find one there…)
Dear Habbakuk, I wondered where you’d got to. You might like to look at your original (?) points (?) to understand that I was providing answers to them (“but also Argentina…and China. I always wondered”…) You might also like to look at the answers (“The fact that Polish workers managed to stop the wholesale privatisation of their country means that as painful as the ‘reforms’ were, they could have been far worse”)…You know, that’s kind of how this stuff works?
Fred, really? Have you got a link for the Israel granting rights bit? I’ll look anyways.
“The rest is thankfully behind the paywall of the soon to be divorced Murdoch.”
Many thanks to Mary/April Showers/Flaming June for reminding us of Mr Murdoch’s marital affairs, this is by far the most important thing we need to know.
Thanks also to Fred for re-reminding us.
BTW, I am married, Mary/April Showers/Flaming Junhe is a widow, and my post would be deleted by Jon if I were to hazard a guess as to what Fred is.
Dear Technicolour
And, of course, I’ve missed you too! I’ve always had a (very) soft spot for your way with cruel facts. You are definitely no Roundhead! 🙂
NB the ‘underlying thin idea’ is Friedman’s – that an economy needs to be wiped clean – a tabula rasa – before the grail of a rampaging free market can be achieved. He coined the phrase ‘shock treatment’. Naomi Klein, of course, came to prominence with ‘No Logo’. And China, now, thanks to the brutal enforcement of Friedman’s ideas, is now the sweat shop of the world and spending more on quelling internal protests against its devastating corporate capitalism than it is on defence.
I’m surprised Naomi gets any time to write books. She’s always out and about protesting about something or other.
Perhaps she should just enjoy her money and lie about the beach all day, like Habby.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=naomi+klein+protest&oq=naomi+klein+protest&gs_l=youtube.3…1841.14809.0.15399.19.15.0.4.4.0.198.2501.0j15.15.0…0.0…1ac.1.11.youtube.sRKYPgvCFic
But then, things are now so bad that even Jeffrey Sachs is all atonin…
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/jeffrey-sachs-on-the-budget-do-we-really-have-to-have-our-own-egypt-here-in-the-united-states.html
While we’re on the subject of Naomis, here’s another one who’s a bit too earnest for Catholic tastes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f0sBA61L0Y
Would anyone know if chemical weapons have yet been used against the CHILCOTT ENQUIRY? And if so by whom?
Abe Rene
14 Jun, 2013 – 2:00 pm
“The assessment is further supported by laboratory analysis of physiological samples obtained from a number of individuals, which revealed exposure to sarin.” – Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser”
Are you trying to make a point Abe?
If so, what is it?
Nowt
14 Jun, 2013 – 3:35 pm
“…while Israel has admitted using it over a populated area, which is forbidden, the country maintains that it was used primarily as an illumination, not a weapon, and there is no evidence to the contrary.”
Bullshit!
White phosphorus is a highly efficient smoke-producing agent, burning quickly and causing an instant bank of smoke. It creates smoke screens to mask movement, position or the origin of fire from the enemy.
Nothing to do with illumination!
Nowt, ye know nowt!
Sourcewatch on the National Endowment for Democracy and Syria. The link for the below is to a radio station, and I have to go out, so if anyone wants to check the details? Or perhaps I’ve missed something and they are widely known?
Jeffrey Blankfort reports:
[The NED] is currently involved in Syria where the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, headed by Radwan Ziadeh, has served as a front for its activities. Ziadeh is also the director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington DC, and has served as a spokesperson for the Syrian National Council, an organization of Syrian living abroad who have been calling for Western military intervention in Syria, a move that has been so far opposed by the opponents of the regime within the country…to understand what is happening in Syria today it is necessary not only to consider the repressive history of the Syrian regime under Hafez El Assad, and now under his son Bashir, but also the outside forces represented by the likes of Radwan Ziadeh, that have co-opted what initially started as a peaceful non-violent protest for a democratic reordering of Syria society in the spirit of the Arab spring. Prior to the peaceful protest, those outside elements soon began to use them as a cover for armed attacks on government forces with the obvious intention of provoking the Assad regime with heavy military force, as it has – thereby leading for external demands for foreign intervention and the demand for Assad’s ouster. Who is behind it? Well, the US, the British, the French, the Turks, the Saudis, Qatar and Israel.[12]
Latest from Turkey:
From Gezi Park Istanbul.
William Brandon Jourdan
The police are attacking hardcore. They just beat me and sprayed me with orange gas from a water cannon. Im fine and my equipment is still working. I have no idea about others injuries. They’ve worked to stop ambulances. Please forward.
This jumped up little tosser is a story teller. His efforts in trying to cover up the Benghazi US Embassy shoot out are stuff of the 1001 nights shit. This wanker only tells stories, and nothing else.
Mark Golding has posted a link about UN investigations which points to the mercenaries use of Sarin.
BTW Sarin or Mustard gas was first used in WWI, however this “cutting edge technology” apparently has just made it into the hands of the Arabs, which US wants to kill these days.
Fedup
14 Jun, 2013 – 9:10 pm
“The singular failure of ziofuckwits in their calculations has been the false narrative these have invented, and verily believe in.”
Yes, forsooth.
Thanks June.
We will indeed do our best for our nest and all the others in surrounding rookeries!
For Farters day;
This war on terror coukd so easily be a war to save the planet species and fauna.
What a war that would be;
Planting trees not freakin’ mines.
Building WMC’s- weapons of mass conservation?
Sad but true.
@ Scourge (20h55) :
“White phosphorus is a highly efficient smoke-producing agent, burning quickly and causing an instant bank of smoke. It creates smoke screens to mask movement, position or the origin of fire from the enemy.
Nothing to do with illumination!”
____________
Are you trying to make a point Doug?
If so, what is it?
Brendan
15 Jun, 2013 – 3:44 am
“Putin isn’t a nice guy, and has seriously dodgy friends.”
Yes that is true but I think Putin is a President in control; Obama is a president under the control of others.
In western “democracies” leaders are puppets of (unelected) state powers, like the security services for example.
@ Herbie (19h12) :
OBJECTION! I happen to be very active on the beach.
Glad to hear it, Habby.
John Hume was active on the beach too. Arrested by Paddy Ashdown. Funny old world.
Anyway. I’d have said that it was No Logo ‘made’ Naomi Klein. No?
Suhayl Saadi
15 Jun, 2013 – 4:15 pm
About Shock Dcoctrin
“No, Technicolour, but I’ve heard of it and have read summaries/reviews of it. Would you recommend it?”
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
15 Jun, 2013 – 5:21 pm
@ Suhayl :
“I wouldn’t bother. It is a badly written few hundred pages based on a very thin idea.”
Suhayl, don’t take any notice of Halfahaddock. He will not have read the book because it would result in steam coming out of his ears!
Read the book (576 pages) and make your own mind up.
I would also recommend you read, if you have not already done so, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.
Again, make your own mind up.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
15 Jun, 2013 – 10:16 pm
“Are you trying to make a point Doug?”
“If so, what is it?”
Stop pinching my lines Havakebab, have you nothing original to say?
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
15 Jun, 2013 – 10:24 pm
“I happen to be very active on the beach.”
Don’t get sand in your foreskin Habbabkuk!
If you have a foreskin that is.
Pictures on Occupy Gezi facebook to substantiate:
Emrah Guler
LIVE FROM ISTANBUL
Today, following Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s extremely sectarian, separatist, and fictitious speech in a rally in Ankara, around 9 PM, the Turkish police began attacking thousands of people who were at Istanbul’s Gezi Park and Taksim Square, having dinner, enjoying the tent city.
There are kids under ages 4 or 5, mothers, and elders among those who were attacked with tear gas and water cannons. According to reports, police forced journalists out of Gezi Park. They are also attacking with water cannons to businesses such as Divan Hotel that has opened its doors to protestors running away from brutality. People are saying there are thousands of wounded inside the hotel. People formed a human chain in front of the hotel to prevent the police from attacking.
Another report says that people cannot leave the hotel because police is arresting whoever leaves. Police are also attacking the makeshift infirmaries and taking into custody the volunteer doctors who are helping the injured. There are also unconfirmed reports that police shut down the metro and boats between Asia and Europe to stop people coming and joining the rest.
Another report says that there is a jammer in the area to prevent TV stations’ broadcast. There are hundreds of wounded. There are a lot of missing kids, or kids who are separated from their families. Protestors are fighting with police in various parts of Istanbul, Sıraselviler, Cihangir, Harbiye, and most likely around Dolmabahçe and Maçka.
Tonight’s most brutal attack came right before Prime Minister’s rally tomorrow in Istanbul. It is likely that the police will implant fake evidence as the journalists are forced out so that there won’t be any cameras or recording devices. People call it a total brutality, a real savagery that is going on tonight. What we are seeing an ugly war where only one side have weapons…