The Morning Star has today come under massive criticism for hailing the near total recapture of Aleppo by pro-Government forces as a “liberation.” I would agree that the situation calls for more nuance. However a feeling of relief that the fighting that has ravaged Aleppo for four years is coming to a close, must form part of any sane reaction. If we are not allowed to feel relief at that, presumably it means that we must have wanted al-Nusra and various other jihadist militias to win the hot war. What do we think Syria would look like after that?
I am no fan of the Assad regime. It is not a genuine democracy and it has a very poor human rights record. If Assad had been toppled by his own people in the Arab spring and replaced by something more akin to a liberal democracy, which kept the Assad regime’s religious toleration, protection of minorities and comparatively good record on women’s rights, and added to it political freedom, a functioning justice system and end to human rights abuse, nobody would have been happier than I. Indeed I strongly suspect I have in the past done much more to campaign against human rights abuse in Syria than the mainstream media stenographers who all decry the fall of rebel Aleppo now.
But sadly liberal democracy, human rights and women’s rights are not in any sense what the jihadist militias the West is backing are fighting for.
Of course it is essential that human rights are now respected in Aleppo by the government, that civilians are looked after, and that rebel fighters once identified are incarcerated in decent conditions. I add my voice to those calls. It should be noted that the threat to life and limb, and the violations and war crimes, have been on all sides, and the oppression of the government is most unlikely to be worse than the oppression of the rebels. The jhadists impounded relief supplies from the civilian population, shot those attempting to flee, and raped on a grand scale. That is not in any way to minimise the potential for mirror abuse from government supporting troops. But it is nonetheless true and must be stated.
The freedom from rebel mortar bombardment of civilian areas of Western Aleppo will also be an added mercy.
But it is not only the western media which has been hopelessly one-sided in its coverage of events. I have been deeply shocked by the heavily politicised role played by western charities and relief agencies. And sure enough, reports reaching me today from an independent source in Syria indicate that now the Syrian government has taken over most of the ex-jihadist held areas of Aleppo, those western agencies and charities that were screaming for a ceasefire so they could get aid in to the communities, have lost all interest now that it is safe to do so and the Syrian government is begging them to go in. They appear interested only in servicing rebel-held areas.
Last week saw a rare moment of truth in western diplomacy as Boris Johnson accused Saudi Arabia of financing proxy wars in the Middle East and spreading the ideology of terrorism. It is a strange world when it comes as a shock when a government minister for once says something which is true. But it was a rare moment. Boris is now in Saudi Arabia touting for more arms sales. In fact the anti-democratic regimes in the Gulf loom extremely large in the affections of the current Conservative government. Both Hammond and May have recently been to Bahrain. As I said, the Assad regime does have a poor human rights record, but the Bahraini government beyond argument has a much worse one, with torture a widespread and everyday measure of oppression. The Sunni “royal family” was only maintained in its despotic rule over its majority Shia population during the Arab spring by the invasion of the Saudi army. Torture and repression has been stepped up ever since even beyond its normal appalling standards.
To repeat, Bahrain beyond doubt has an even worse human rights record than Assad. It is also even less democratic. Yet this is the UK’s close ally, and in a stunningly stupid flourish of neo-imperialism, Britain has just opened a new military base in Bahrain, indicating our desire to indulge in further disastrous military intervention in the Middle East for decades to come.
I don’t think I have ever been more ashamed of my country than when reading Theresa May’s speech last week to the assorted despots, torturers and head-choppers of the Gulf Co-operation Council. A plea for our relationship with “old friends” that nowhere at all gives even a passing reference to democracy or human rights, to the extent that it even references the East India Company as a good thing in our history! A litany of begging for their cash, while at the same time focusing on the “security” and “terrorist” threats they face, the “terrorists” in question being their own disenfranchised populations.
Shameful, shameful stuff. yet where is the condemnation from those mainstream media journalists waxing lyrical today on the evils of Assad?
The game goes on. With financing and ideological underpinning from these Gulf states, and covert intelligence aid from the West, ISIS forces are allowed to slip out of Iraq, regroup and retake Palmyra as “retaliation” against Russian/Syrian success in Aleppo, and as a propaganda counter to ensure the West’s jihadist “allies” are not demoralised. The cynicism of it all is sickening. The Morning Star may indeed have not been sufficiently nuanced; but compared to the lies and elisions of mainstream media it is a beacon of truth.
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[Syria] is not a genuine democracy.
What is a “genuine” democracy? Is the UK one? Democracy is a method of control, not empowerment. The West imposed “genuine democracy” on Libya. How’s that going?
(1) A genuine democracy is one where the voters can get rid of the government.
(2) So the UK is one.
(3) So you don’t want a say in who governs you? You don’t want to vote? You’d rather not live in a democracy? More fool you.
(4) If you think that Libya is in receipt of a democratic system, then I can see you’re very confused.
(5) Libya is going very badly. Because it isn’t now, and never was in the past, a democracy.
Brendan.
I agree that Syria isn’t a democratic country, however, in your opinion would Syria be more democratic, if the Western/Saudi/Israeli proxy fighters had deposed Assad, and replaced him?
Is Libya or Iraq, in any better shape after Western intervention?
I think it would have been better if Assad had known that the use of barrel bombs and nerve gas would incur a response from the West, including at least a no-fly zone. I think the people on the receiving end of the barrel bombs and nerve gas would agree with that.
Oh behave Brendon, you’re not on the guardian site now, we all know that the supposed barrel bombs certainly weren’t fired by assad’s army. They are a well stocked military operation supplied by the Russians.
And as for a no fly zone – well let’s see what the US military has to say on the matter.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JWdnmXs-42g
Yes that’s correct – full blown with with Russia.
Glad you’re not in charge of making decisions or we’d all be nuked by lunch time.
If your are going to offered up that level of numb-minded couch potato news fodder parroting here expect to become a laughing stock.
Okay Brendan, a evasive reply but a reply nonetheless. We shall play it your way then, so tell me, why didn’t the West impose a no fly zone?
If as you say the Syrian people were suffering terribly, why wasn’t there a full scale “boots on the ground” intervention in Syria?
In answer to your question, RepublicOfScotland,
The Commons voted against any kind of intervention in Aug 2013 (I’m sorry to say, mostly MPs of my party doing the voting against). The spectre of Iraq was raised. The idea gained hold that intervention would make the UK an imperialist, occupying power. The manifold post-invasion failures of Iraq were pointed to. Fears about an ever growing engagement, with no way out, were fanned.
The vote by the Commons was enough to deter Obama, who faced similar concerns in the US. So the West did absolutely nothing. Literally nothing. Having said that the use of chemical weapons was a red line, and having done nothing once that line was crossed, it was crossed repeatedly thereafter and without any attempt at concealment by Assad. Barrel-bombing was stepped up. The number of refugees became immense. The West still did nothing, paralysed by its Iraq experience. Into that vacuum strode Putin, who has waged a war of extreme viciousness, and huge immorality, on behalf of Assad.
Thank you Brendan for that reply, though I doubt someone of Putin’s rather diminutive stature, has strode anywhere let alone into Syria.
Tell me Brendan are you familiar with the UN Convention on Human Rights delegates, who independently funded their way to Syria, to find out what is really going on in the country?
I’m sure you may find this interesting, if you have the time to watch it that is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=c8JppJyVxYU
Have you got anything to say about the UK barrel bombs being used against the poor, starving people in Yemen ? Have you got anything to say about the West’s sanctions preventing food and medicine reaching people in Syria and Yemen ?
(1) A genuine democracy is one where the voters can get rid of the government.
(1) A genuine democracy is one where the choices aren’t rigged.
(2) So the UK is one.
(2) So the UK isn’t one.
(3) So you don’t want a say in who governs you? You don’t want to vote? You’d rather not live in a democracy? More fool you.
(3) I want a genuine democratic choice, not sham democracy.
(4) If you think that Libya is in receipt of a democratic system, then I can see you’re very confused.
(4) I don’t think that, but the UK government claims it is – bringing democracy to Libya was the excuse for turning it into a perpetual bloodbath.
(5) Libya is going very badly. Because it isn’t now, and never was in the past, a democracy.
(5) Libya is going very badly by deliberate policy of the West. It’s people used to have more democratic influence over their government than I have over mine.
Node,
I think that Brendan misread you when he posted this:-
“(4) If you think that Libya is in receipt of a democratic system, then I can see you’re very confused.”
You were speaking with a tinge of mockery in so saying ( which point escaped Brendan):-
“The West imposed “genuine democracy” on Libya. How’s that going?”
I had written this at the time which was widely read in the Caribbean, published in the largest online publication in Africa and posted globally:-
http://www.normangirvan.info/barnett-libya-whither-international-law/
Perhaps it’s time for us in the west to stop trying to impose our questionable values and so called ‘liberal democracies’ on countries around the world? All I see is our governments supporting and propping up the most repressive regimes and so called ‘moderate rebels’ who are in fact terrorists with an extreme ideology and endlessly trying to destabilize countries that do not bow to opening up to our ‘liberal’ Capitalism that is highly exploitative and anti democratic.
I do not believe it is our business to impose governments on citizens of other countries, would we accept outside manipulation and constant subversion to effect a so called regime change?
Anyway, here is the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations – Press Conference, 9 December 2016. The page may need to be refreshed.
http://webtv.un.org/media/press-conferences/watch/permanent-mission-of-the-syrian-arab-republic-to-the-united-nations-press-conference-9-december-2016/5241732190001
Lots of videos coming out of Syrians rejoicing in the streets in Aleppo lasting throughout the night apparently. I no longer believe anything about Syria in our corporate and state media… that is their achievement in my case. A dark and shameful period over the last 20-30 years. No doubt it is just a continuation of past British colonial history, we just have access to other information, local reports and perspectives these days to expose it for what it is.
BBC still pushing the humanitarian angle… Truly sickening.
I’d like more info on the charities not being interested anymore…
Yes, I’ve gone back asking for detail
No ‘moderate rebels’ to support in Aleppo? Video footage coming out of vast stores of food, medicines, medical equipment and munitions in liberated areas, so ‘rebels’ were well supplied and stocked.. USAID, Saudi and Turkish stickers… perhaps these are fake? I do not believe they are.
I find it unconscionable that aid will probably not be sent to Aleppo for liberated civilians. I use the word liberated because I believe they have been liberated from repressive occupation and extreme Sharia law.
You think it is “truly sickening” that a news outlet is showing the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. I find this sickening in itself, to be frank. Have you no decency?
Brendan.
Again I’d like to ask you why the media have been very slow, in taking up the humanitarian crises in Yemen. Caused in my opinion by the relentless indicriminate bombing campaigns by Britain’s close ally Saudi Arabia.
Indeed Keith Vaz, has had to urge the British government, not to “fiddle” whilst Yemen burns, as at least half a million children face starvation, along with million more adults according to the (DEC) Disasters Emergency Committee.
Yemen is one of Africa’s poorest nations, it has to import food to sustain it’s under attack population. Why do you think it is that the West hasn’t intervened to halt the twenty month onslaught from Saudi Arabian bombing, that’s left thousands dead and thousand more injured and starving?
Brendon thinks he’s on the guardian site and and everyone who disagrees with him will be moderated.
You seem to think I am for some reason less appalled about Yemen and Saudi Arabia than you. I don’t know why you think that. But my comments today are about Aleppo.
Brendan.
I’m sure you’re appalled, and rightly so, but I asked you why (in your opinion) the media has been very slow, in the uptake of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen?
Surely you can give your opinion on Yemen, as well as Aleppo.
The corporate media don’t seem to realise that every time they lie to us about what’s going on in Aleppo, they contribute to their own demise. But that’s the line from Washington/London/NATO, so that’s what they continue to dutifully pump out. Syrians are CELEBRATING in the streets of Aleppo today, but the BBC (a bit like Russiagate in the US) refer to “reliable reports” from shadowy sources that civilians are being targeted.
It’s really rather pathetic to see our state broadcaster lead with this bullshit, when they should really be asking how 4000 ISIS maniacs – plus their heavy weaponry – managed to make it from Raqqa to Palmyra without being detected by US surveillance.
If Obama came out and said we are no longer going to protect the head-choppers, then that’s the line the media would take, and we have always been at war with Eastasia.
RIP Speaking truth to power. Long live PR.
“It’s really rather pathetic to see our state broadcaster lead with this bullshit, when they should really be asking how 4000 ISIS maniacs – plus their heavy weaponry – managed to make it from Raqqa to Palmyra without being detected by US surveillance.”
I commented on that at the time Isis first overtook Palmyra. Nothing moves without US satellites seeing it. It was clear to me US had allowed Isis to converge on Palmyra then. I have read reports radar and other communications were blocked for a time and so called operation on Isis in Raqqa was suspended apparently enabling Isis to again move to Palmyra and retake it in what is described as their largest offensive so far. Some equipment apparently been moved from Iraq. I ask myself the question is Isis a mercenary force?
“…. when they should really be asking how 4000 ISIS maniacs – plus their heavy weaponry – managed to make it from Raqqa to Palmyra without being detected by US surveillance.”
…. or how US surveillance missed 11,775 ISIS oil tankers :
Here’s the source, despite the url :
http://www.mintpressnews.com/mark-zuckerberg-cant-believe-india-isnt-grateful-for-facebooks-free-internet/212359/
Zakho is the border-point between Iraq and Turkey on the east side of the Tigris in what must be Kurdistan. Wouldn’t be easy for ISIS through there, though it is true they’re running out of options. I wouldn’t think they’re exporting much oil these days. The trucks could well be coming from the “Kurdish” oil-fields in Kirkuk.
Are we still unaware that Islamic State is an Israeli organisation, headed by an Israeli and trained and hospitalised by Israelis? What’s not easy about Barzani of Mossad shipping oil through Turkey to David Cameron?
And yet the KRG is paying no salaries. Are the off-shore banks of the world big enough to hold all the filthy lucre generated for Barzani, Erdogan, Washington, London and other I ntermediarie S?
Winston Churchill says Yes.
This is a war for the Sunnah, not a political war for global hegemony by USUKIS. How do I know? Because the politically deceitful Sunni imams tell me it is a political war for USUKIS. It is in fact a war for the Sunnah which has been put into practise with absolutely no reference to the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW.
It is a war for the Sunnah which has been supported by west even though the Qur’an categorically informs the Muslims who believe not to take the Jews and the Christians as supporters, because they will be betrayed. The West appears to wish the groups which least resemble the Sunnah of the Prophet to ransack and devastate the Muslim populations, while in fact Assad is a long-time client of USUKIS for rendition.
The West believes that it can cover its secret alliance with Russia to counter the revolution by bombing the civilian populations what have been unable to escape from the rebels by making MSM false accusations about Russian involvement with Hillary Clinton WikiLeaks.
The people fighting for the Sunnah, never pretended to follow the Sunnah. They have been deceived by the CIA, through many years of dictato oppression and torture into believing that their Islam is better than that of the majority of imams and ordinary Muslims who have exercise patience under the Western backed dictatorship of Assad.
I was talking last week with a young lady who lived until 2 years ago in Damascus while training as a journalist who firmly believed that Trump’s presence had destroyed the chances of rebel victory in Aleppo.
No hint of relief. Not a shred of sympathy for the civilians caught between the USUKIS dictator Assad and the USUKIS Al Qaida.
Of course USUKIS has to keep feeding the rebels false promises so that they can use them in future campaigns against Russia and China. Trump has appointed a Chief of Defence who will roll back the success of Assad Russia and the Shi’a, again on theological grounds of dislike of the Shi’a.
That was the intent of those who appointed Trump, namely to maintain permanent war for the Syrian people, as well as for all the people of the Middle East. During this war the USUKIS backed leadership of Kurdistan, Barzani and Yaketi, has paid none of the salaries of its employees. Schools are all closed and families are anticipating the worst.
Like the huge roller-bulldozers that squash the waste backwards and forward in the council tip skips, USUKIS policy crushes the Middle East. It is not the Sunnah of Islam to crush the Muslims backwards and forwards in continuous war. Political Islam are hypocrites. If you disobey the Qur’an and call your behaviour Sunnah, where is the difference between you and the kleptomaniac dictators who steal the oil or between you and the disbelievers who commit daily night-club rape?
Giyane, am not going to delete your comment, but I would prefer you and others not to blog based on personal religious belief, which is uninteresting to people who don’t share your beliefs. You are quite entitled to them, but I really don’t want my blog cluttered up with religious adjuration from any religion.
Thanks for not deleting it. I was working yesterday in a US owned Defence company. I am waiting for the corporate dinosaur to vet me. While it may be morally repugnant for me to ply my electrical trade in a US military establishment, I apologise for the moral repugnancy your readers must also feel for being alive at a time of theological conflict.
Just to be clear. The full responsibility for the sufferings of the Muslims in the last 30 years, and indeed in the last 1400 years is entirely on the shoulders of the Muslims themselves, because instead of practising truthfulness, they have practised deceit, instead of practising unity they have used politics one-upmanship for personal gain, and instead of shunning the temptations of the non-believers they have sold their faith and their fellow Muslims for a miserable reward of worldly power.
I have heard my Kurdish friend who belongs to political Islam boast about his superior knowledge and understanding of political deceit over that of those from other Muslim origins. Muslim leaders like Erdogan actually believe that political deception is a part of Islam and that they are triumphant heirs of this heritage of corruption, murder and oppression.
” Praise be to God who has sent to his servant a Book, and he has not made it bent.” Nobody is more bent than the people who have received the revelation of the Qur’an and Ahadith and who exercise crookedness as if it were part of our religion.
Does not Jesus pbuh say in the Gospels in the parable of the talents, that to whom has been given much. i.e. exceptional understanding of the truth that God created the world and is solely in charge of it, much will be expected?
It makes me sick that supporters of political Islam kept the citizens of east Aleppo in food from Turkey and the US, while denying the citizens of West Aleppo food access. How can you blame a charity which has responsibility for its workers’ safety for not entering an area full of booby traps and hostile civilians?
The blame lies fairly and squarely on political Islam. Another twist in their endless stream of deceit, that the Charities pick up the blame for the total mayhem that political Islam’s evil warmongering has left.
So far I’ve not come across any instances of any UK media finding any of the thousands of civilians fleeing East Aleppo (releived or otherwise) who have even heard of, let alone been saved by, The White Helmets. What with our government having given them tens of millions of pounds it might have been a question worth asking – I tweeted Lyse Doucet on this matter – she didn’t ask this time, but said she would on her next visit.
If, as the White Helmets claim 70,000 civilians have been saved by them, they ought to be easy to come across – just the kind of heart-warming story that you’d think would go straight to the top of the news.
What the white Helmets meant to say was that seven civilians has been saved ten thousand times each. So we are only looking for a handful of talented young child actors.
“Liberation” seems precisely the right word to me. Don’t know what the fuss is about.
You” don’t see what the fuss is about”? Really? This, maybe?
“Aleppo battle: UN says 82 civilians shot on the spot”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38301629
You would do better not to believe propaganda hype, Mr. O’Brien. The UN is under the American thumb these days.
Meaning? That nobody is actually being murdered in Aleppo?
Good question. Is anybody being “murdered”, rather than being killed in the heat of battle? I certainly haven’t seen any evidence. Perhaps you’d like to come up with some that isn’t simply unproven claims from the jihadis, which are swallowed uncritically by the US and its western allies, who have, after all, an agenda.
Brendan.
I’m pretty sure RT, the Russian equivalent of our Ministry of Truth, has reported similiar events, carried out by the Western backed proxy fighter’s, who at one time, were classed by the Western media as (moderate fighters), whatever that meant. Maybe it meant they only killed people moderately.
The Western media has a tendency to call the Syrian conflict a “civil war” tell me Brendan, do you agree with that description?
I’m aoncfused, RepublicofScotland. Are you saying that Assad’s forces are murdering people but so have some other forces backed by the West? That seems to be what you’re saying. How does that mean that there’s no reason now to make “a fuss” about people being murdered today in Aleppo?
Thank you Brendan, for NOT answering my question, I’m sure it was just an oversight on your behalf.
Yes Brendan you do seem a bit confused by my retort, I was merely stating that the media on both sides, have a unique way (if you can call it that) of reporting events in Syria.
If they are foreign takfiris – plenty of Chechen and even Uighur jihadis there – then they are going to be shot on the spot and rightly so.
During all these debates I find the absence of the words “proposed gas pipeline route” are hardly ever mentioned. Judging by what I last read, this will be supplying gas from Qatar via Syria and TURKEY. The pipeline from Azerbaijan will also be passing through TURKEY. Got us by the balls, haven’t they?
I think the Qatar pipeline is cancelled and gas will be coming from Iran instead. It’s that decision, made a few years ago, that got Assad into so much trouble
MJ Robert F Kennedy Jr wrote a very good article on the Middle East recently with that pipe line from Qatar one of the main reasons for the war in Syria http://www.politico.eu/article/why-the-arabs-dont-want-us-in-syria-mideast-conflict-oil-intervention/ “In their view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000, when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500 kilometer pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Qatar shares with Iran the South Pars/North Dome gas field, the world’s richest natural gas repository”. Well worth a read.
David.
Russia, already supplies vast quantities of gas to Europe through its Nord Stream, which has still to reach its full capacity.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream
Apart from aiding a long term ally in Assad, it makes sense for Russia to fend off so to speak, any other encroachment with regards to gas pipe lines feeding Europe, such as the one proposed and backed by the West in Qatar.
Thank you for this. I am coming across many who are quick to draw conclusions, who express moral absolutism, who absorb news coming from Aleppo without criticism and who are quick to attribute motive and cause. Then there are those utter wankers who will do all of the above, with virtue fully signalled like a massive fuck-off moral banner of self-righteousness and faux moral purpose, in attempt to influence domestic policy and public opinion.
What is going on in Aleppo is unacceptable, but the response has to be careful and considered, not dithering politically-motivated posturing leading to hasty and clumsy interventions. As far as I can see there is no one who can claim a moral high ground in Syria.
Thank you for the nuance.
It appears a full on propaganda campaign has been launched to demonize SAA, Syrian government and Russian intervention. Many busy rebutting horrific photos and stories being used as ‘evidence’, claiming many photos from Gaza and other heinous past atrocities.
We know from past propaganda campaigns against target countries/governments the use and abuse of photos and even lies, especially regarding children is part of the western led media play book. Remember the babies thrown out of incubators allegedly by Iraqi soldiers reported at UN and believed unquestioningly and many, many other deceptions and outright lies?
In the interests of balance here is 21 century wire Sunday show with interviews of Aleppo MP and Vanessa Beeley who is again on the ground in Aleppo. http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/12/11/episode-164-sunday-wire-liberation-aleppo-with-guests-fares-shehabi-mp-vanessa-beeley/
Just one example of what is happening. I avoided the most horrific photos being published in MSM and rebuttals. I have isolated the illustrative photo from the twitter feed.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Czjgo_UXUAQMTis.jpg:large
I am incorrect. Many of the photos claiming Aleppo atrocities by SAA are from social media propagandists. MSM appear to be not including photos to back up their claims of atrocities.
The Guardian sinks to a new low –
“There are reports that pro-Syrian regime forces have been entering homes in the last remaining rebel strongholds in eastern Aleppo and killing civilians on the spot, the UN has said.”
Actually, I’m astounded by the numbers of East Aleppans who continue to be able to tweet and facebook supposedly from inside the hell-hole of the remaining rebel-held area, although the electricity has been out for weeks, and naturally there is no internet. Their mobiles must be hanging off the West Aleppo network (Thank you, Mr Asad), or they must be using those super-expensive satellite phones that kind Mr. Hague paid for.
Another point you may not have overlooked but certainly did not mention is the fact that the West made it impossible to negotiate with the Russians a safe route out of Aleppo once they’d accused Putin of rigging their election. I am convinced that when they realised Aleppo was lost the mainstream muppet media ramped up the negative narrative against Russia and are now sitting back rubbing their hands in glee allowing and watching the massacre unfold sure that they will win hearts and minds back home. As you say Craig, where is the sense of relief that this is finally over?
The war to overthrow the Assad Govt was planned way back in 2006, as proved by the statement from the French Minister Dumas. The coalition of scoundrels that joined the illegal invasion all had their different agendas to take a bite of Syrian territory.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-french-foreign-minister-the-war-against-syria-was-planned-two-years-before-the-arab-spring/5339112
I. Turkey- to suppress the Kurds,prevent a Kurdistan state in North Syria and seize the corridor to Mosul that constitutes the oil rich areas of Syria and Iraq. This also cuts the Shia crescent from Iran to Lebanon, which isolates Hezbollah and suits Israel.
2. Israel- to further the Oded Yinon plan to weaken & dismember Arab states, enabling annexation of areas. The permanent seizure of the Golan Heights, which has large deposits of Oil and gas, now being drilled illegaly by Genie Energy, whose shareholders are Rupert Murdoch,Jacob Rothschild,Larry Summers.
3. Saudi Arabia and Qatar- who wish to run a Gas pipeline via Syria thru’ to the Mediterannean coast.This undermines Russian near monopoly of gas supply to Europe and weakens the Russian economy.This plays into the Washington plans to damage the Russian economy.
4. The USA- who are using their proxy army of Jihadists to overthrow Assad in their war on Russia. After Syria ,on to Iran and then up into Central Asia, to cut and control the New Silk Roads of hi-speed train routes to Europe. These trade routes bypass the US Navy control of the sea trade choke points and make the US Navy largely redundant. They also signal the demise of the US dollar reserve currency all along the East/West route. Syria and Ukraine were on the Silk Road routes.
The death of the US dollar as reserve currency, means the death of Washington supremacy in world affairs.
See Zbigniew Brzezinski- The Grand Chessboard and the policy he plagiarised , Sir Halford Mackendrie- Heartlands Theory.
Patrick Cockburn made it clear in an article that all reports coming from Aleppo in the MSM have to be treated with many grains of salt because the journalists covering the siege are nearly all based in Beirut or Istanbul and are therefore heavily reliant on information from those who have freedom of movement inside the besieged areas who are, by definition, sympathetic to the jihadists.
Needless to say I agree with Craig. Who wouldn’t wanted to see an end to the fighting in Aleppo except maybe Israel who is delighted to watch as Syria disintegrates especially as the war has diverted Hezbollah away from its “southern front”.
The hysteria of the MSM over Aleppo reached its apogee weeks ago in the solidly anti-Russian FT when a reporter complained that Assad and the Russians were actually using the siege to extract surrender proving that a grasp of the most elementary dynamics of war is no longer a requirement for war reporting.
Assad is no angel but if it is a choice between him and the organ-eating, throat-cutting, head-chopping jihadists of al Nusra/al Qaeda/ISIS then Assad wins hands down.
Forces loyal to the Neo-con project have been out-thought and out-manoeuvred in Syria and can do nothing now except blow raspberries from the sidelines using the only element of their power-base they can still rely on, the Western media.
Indeed and it has been a pleasure to watch.
The Western MSM is heavily compromised by their adherence to the Washington message, especially in details of Foreign affairs .They have now lost control and all remains of credibility.
Govt relies heavily on propaganda to control the population.The advent of the internet and social media has disrupted their near total domination of news and reporting.
They are in a panic and are flapping about in a bid to regain that control;,hence the ‘fake news’ being heavily promoted to denigrate independent blogs.
Truth is the biggest danger to our pseudo democracies. Congratulations to the Morning Star for reporting the real news from Aleppo. Of course they are demonised for going against the Western meme ,of ‘ Russia and Assad bad’.
Boris had a taste of this medicine when he fingered the Saudis for promoting terrorism.Truth must not be told in the make believe world of the West.
It’s depressing that MSM news sources are not questioning the supposed moral authority of western commentators on the horrors happening in Aleppo.
It’s as if BBC and others have forgotten about Fallujah.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah_during_the_Iraq_War
Excruciating stuff coming out of the HoC at the moment in an emergency debate on Aleppo called by Andrew ‘Plebgate’ Mitchell who opened. Even from Thornberry who want air drops. I think Boris is there to ‘reply’.
The HoC is a theatre that produces mainly farce.
Most MPs are pro war and want to support so called ‘rebels’ and regime change. There is no need for air drops, aid can be trucked to Aleppo, Castello road secured over a week ago. Air drops is code for weapons and ‘aid’ for terrorists. Vanessa Beeley is in Aleppo and been in east Aleppo, if she is safe there than so are aid trucks.
“The HoC is a theatre that produces mainly farce.”
It really specialises in horrifying tragedies. The fact that the actors are mostly clowns simply makes their psychotic violence more sinister.
Just to outline the official narrative (all papers):
Heroic good guys –
1. The Kurds. In order to create an enlarged Kurdistan occupying NE Syria, N, Iraq, part of NW Iran and a third of Turkey.
2. Freedom fighters, whose original attempt (suggested but not actually supported by the US etc) at a peaceful revolution was hijacked by everyone else after it went predictably tits-up. Now indistinguishable from
3. Moderate (‘nice’) Islamists. Who are Sunnis, and hence part of the West’s divide-and-traumatise ME strategy. They detest Alawis and Shi’as generally, and aren’t too keen on Christians either. They don’t want a Caliphate, honest..well, not this minute.
4. AQ. Whom the West has been fighting for a decade and a half across the ME and Maghreb. Pretty bad guys who are however assisting the Syrian people in their struggle for peace, love, and compulsory prayers. In Aleppo, that is. Caliphate? Why not?
5 IS. Definitely bad guys given honorary good guy status around Aleppo as long as they don’t get in the way. Caliphate or bust.
Evil villains:
1. Assad. Who was running a pretty relaxed police state until this lot blew up. You could at least get a drink, and at least the omnipresent informers weren’t reporting people to the religious police for infringing the dress code*. Bad guy. Really bad to persons sent to him by the US in Gulfstreams from Afghanistan etc, but we prefer to forget that.
2. Russia. Boo. Which likes its base at Tartus, and intends to keep it. And indeed a friendly Syria as a spanner in the neocon project’s works – also as an ally of the joker in the pack –
3. Iran. Which has been nasty about Israel and is therefore automatically beyond the pale, or an existential threat to Israel’s existence, as the AIPAC lobbyists have it. Iran for some reason – possibly being a large, oil-rich and in fact pretty civilised country – thinks that it is entitled to some regional influence.
4. Hizb’ullah. Shit, when they were attacked, they fought back, the animals. Longstanding and loyal allies of Syria and Iran, and without whom Lebanon could look forward to another 25 years of civil war with optional visits from next door.
We hope that’s quite clear.
*like this
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/saudi-woman-arrested-posing-outside-without-hijab-defiance-strict-moral-code-1596285
Damn. I forgot the Turks. Who are currently conflicted about whether they detest Assad or the Kurds more. The dilemma is resolved by supporting both sides as the occasion demands.
Good article, I totally agree that the Assad regime lacks democracy in spades. However as I’ve said in here on several occasions, the West/Saudi/Israeli forces/proxy fighters, can’t be allowed to waltz in and regime change because it benefits their needs.
You mention women’s rights, yet Britain has yet to ratify the Istanbul Convention, which combats violence against women.
Staying on women’s rights for a moment, the SNP’s Eilidh Whiteford has a Private Members bill about to be debated in the House of Commons, that Jeremy Corbyn said he’ll back, but and it’s a big but, Corbyn won’t impose a three-line whip. Corbyn claims he wants Britain to ratify the Istanbul Convention, but he won’t force his own MP’s to attend Parliament on Friday to back the bill.
The only people who can impose whips on Labour MPs, apart from the US Embassy, are the Constituency Labour Parties. And they will need to shake off the grip of the Stalinists (sorry Joe, they don’t have your excuses, I know) in the party apparatus.
If Corbyn can be blamed it is for not moving more quickly to assert democracy within the party, but he is dealing with a very delicate situation, so I’m inclined to give him ‘a break’.
“The only people who can impose whips on Labour MPs, apart from the US Embassy, ”
_________
Aren’t you forgetting the Tories, infact the Tories don’t even need to ask the Blairities. ?
Bev,
I think Robin Ramsays assessment of the labour right about covers it,m
http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/rrtalk.htm
I just watched on RT the celebration by people of Aleppo of what they are calling the liberation of their city.
The streets are said to be covered with hastily shaved-off facial hair as wahhabists attempt to fade into the crowds of their victims.
Not necessarily wahhabists. I imagine all men in areas ruled by the jihadis felt compelled to grow facial hair.
True. A cheap shot by the troll who uses my name on occasion.
Most of the western ‘reporters’ sending news from Aleppo are in fact living in Beirut where they are clients of the Hariri/Saudi faction.
As to the ‘news’ that civilians have been shot in house to house searches, it will take very little thought to put this into perspective.
Firstly, all those in Aleppo are civilians (with the exception of the SAA and its allies) in that none wear uniforms.
Secondly, it is in the nature of house to house fighting, urban warfare, that troops search one house after another looking for booby traps and ambushes. Of course there is shooting going on.
Those shocked to learn this obviously missed the US/UK assaults on Fallujah and are unaware of the current struggle in a city called Mosul.
Clear thinking is the antidote to propaganda. And Media Lens, an invaluable source for those interested in winnowing the truth out of propaganda ‘news’ has a new alert today on the BBC, a British institution which does, truly, punch above its weight in the international Mendacity Games.
It is difficult to get into my email inbox nowadays without running across references-in the titles- to Craig’s contributions to this blog.
He just missed out on ‘Man of the Year’ consideration but this late surge towards global recognition is greatly deserved.
Bevin, we posted at the same time. I forgot to mention the Beirut angle, but you forgot to mention the guy in a flat in Coventry.
I’ve just brought up another bucket load of vomit: Boris is giving his final flourish and is talking about how terrible barrel bombs are.
Depleted uranium, white phosphorus, flechette shells, anyone?
As I type this I’m watching the debate in the House of Commons.
I’ve already brought-up two bucket loads of vomit, and the debate is far from over.
What’s very worrying is how many of these MPs buy into the propaganda. They’re talking about all these ‘atrocities’ that the Syrians and the Russians are committing, but there’s no real reporters on the ground in Aleppo. The ‘news’ they are stating as fact comes from a guy in a flat in Coventry, and from the White Helmets, an organisation that has been proven many times to be part of the western backed head choppers.
The only interest this debate has is to guess Washington’s next move, which looks like an attempt to partition Syria.
Oh, and I could add for the umpteenth time that America & Co are in Syria totally against international law, whereas Russia & Co are there at the invitation of the Syrian government and thus are acting within international law. I mention this because many of these egit MPs are saying that Russia is totally breaking international law.
The hot air and lies in the House of Commons this afternoon is quite breathtaking.
Ach. The de-escalation must be one of the benefits of Trump. Certainly Assad and Hillary share an equally evil visage, but now…well Putin has suddenly become less odious.
What a conundrum. Isn’t International relations fun? Especially when you have to accept the cognitive dissonance of progressives.
What’s going on in Syria – and elsewhere – in one sense isn’t really about political tribalism.
It’s about humanity.
Indeed. But your progressive tears don’t lessen the inhumanity. And your toothless scribblings don’t save a single child’s life.
The point is that it is not our business to judge the government in Syria- we have no experience of it, we don’t even speak its language.
On the other hand we are all experts on our own governments: we live under their rule, we pay the taxes that they live off. We consume the propaganda they pour over us daily.
Thus it is that our judgements of Hillary, May, Trudeau et al are of much more interest than our views on Putin, Assad or whomever.
I really have no idea what it is like to live in Russia, ruled by Putin, though I guess that it is better than living under Yeltsin was and may be better than living under the rule of the Communist Party.
As to ‘progressives’ what do you mean by them? If you mean critics of the system, critics of capitalism and imperialism, I don’t agree. But I don’t see such people, including myself, as ‘progressive’. It is capitalism which is obsessed by growth, transforming peasants into proletarians, and in other ways constantly revolutionising society in order to force it into conformity with its ideal of two classes, rich and poor, the one living off the other, the poor doing all the work, the rich doing all the thinking, taking all the decisions.
My view of what is desirable is Cobbett’s: “We want great change. But we want nothing that is new.”
There is nothing new about democracy, communities in which the strong protect the weak, nobody starves while there is food for anyone, nobody shivers of the cold where there is fuel for fires, nobody is homeless, except by choice, nobody goes without medicine for want of money, children play, the old do little work.
All these things are the rules among humans, callous class society is the exception. And the road downhill to it was called progress.
Progressive; Someone who feels for the whole world but cant get along with peers. They know better than the unwashed masses what is good for them, and they have no problem imposing their values on everyone with legislation that controls all human behavior; alcohol use, cigarettes and other consciousness altering substances. Their core is middle and upper classes consumed with noblesse oblige, which is not bad in and of itself, but they pervert the notion until everyone is paying up through personal taxes (other people’s money is easily spent) There’s more but that’s the gist.
See in the UK Keith what you’re describing we call the common or garden Liberal, which no one likes. Sadly they attached themselves to right wing of the Labour Party in the form of the fabian society like limpets, they were obsessed with eugenics and clearly still are, and they also tend to conspire with the US Democratic Party quite regularly and quite often against the better interests of the uk. And that’s why they’re hated.
Progressive is a weasel term like moderate. And these days both terms seem to be warm as a mantel with very little action beneath them.
I’ve posted this before, it’s the delegates for the UN Convention on Human Rights report from Syria.
The delegates funded and paid their own way to Syria, to speak to the Syrian people, to find out what’s really going on in Syria.
It’s a eye opening video, and if you haven’t already watched it, I strongly urge you to do so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=c8JppJyVxYU
Quite right RoS. Thank God some people are aware of the truth because Mitchell’s debate has nobody as far as I can see who does not support war and none of them knows what has happened there. In short it is an attempt at regime change that did not come off. Those that did come off, Iraq and Libya, are great examples of what not to do.
One has to take into account, in just about any conflict these days humanitarianism, and although it’s a noble approach to protecting the citizens.
Humanitarianism, or the actions of the NGO’s can cloud our judgement, as some of these interventionist movements project lofty goals, but in reality they are there to manipulate and report, mostly propaganda, for one protagonist or another.
The need for genuine humanitarianism, has never been greater, and in most part the majority do save REAL lives. But one cannot deny, that in this ever increasing propagandised world, using humanitarian intervention to promote a cause, is on the rise.
A Labour MP today in parliament John Woodcock (Labour/Coop) was trotting out the same nonsense about Syria with the repeated lie “This was a regime that has used chemical weapons . . .” and claimed we made a mistake not going to war in Syria. He sees the liberation of Aleppo from ISIS terrorists as a mistake. He praised both Osborne and Boris Johnson for wanting the war. He is totally out of touch as are so many people. But I would expect better from a Labour MP. I would expect him to know what had really happened. That the west had funded and armed ISIS to overthrow the legitimate regime. What he does not seem to realise is that is the west had not intervened to build a pipeline from the kindom of slavery, Saudi Arabia, to the Mediterranean.
http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/a41b2a80-49f2-4104-a9b2-5bacdee1d992?in=13:29:47
Then another Stephen Doughty (Labour/Coop) got up on his pins wanting to impose further sanctions on Russia. These people do not represent reason and peace, but oppression and war. And they do not know what is going on.
It is so sad. When I informed my own MP that the US was funding ISIS, Daesh, ISIL, Al Nusra or whatever name these terrorists are going under he did not believe it. He may not believe it now even though Obama has admitted it. Probably a large majority of our Labour MPs read the Guardian and think they have a balanced view. MPs should be more accountable and take a test on Middle East Affairs if they are allowed to spout about it.
“What he does not seem to realise is that if the west had not intervened to build a pipeline from the kingdom of slavery, Saudi Arabia, to the Mediterranean” there would have been no attempt at regime change.
These two were followed by Mary Creagh (Wakefield Labour) who is just as brainwashed. She does not know that all the information coming out of East Aleppo came from a partisan living in a house in Oxford with nobody there on the ground. She does not understand that the people who are leaving East Aleppo are pleased to be liberated.
The MSM have been telling lies over Syria, all to back up the regime change intentions of ‘the West’ with backing from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, anyone can read the Clinton emails and US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford claiming that he colluded with the Syrian opposition way before 2011. Assad is the legitimate President of Syria, in the Presidential election in 2014 Assad received 88% of vote on a turnout of 70%, the Ba’ath party won 80% of seats in 2016 election, The election was deemed legitimate by over 30 observing countries. He clearly commands the support of Syrians of all political and religious persuasions. Professor Tim Anderson cuts through all this propaganda in a series of articles like this one. link to http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dirty-war-on-syria/5491859
Boris Johnson says after giving a graphic picture of what they are that barrel bombs have been dropped every day by the Assad regime. Bearing in mind that there is nobody on the ground in eastern Aleppo how he has this information. Where is the evidence because Assad denies that any barrel bombs have been dropped. So where has this information come from. The information house in Oxford.
Vanessa Beeley is in east Aleppo now. I posted a link to an interview, from Sunday, with her and the MP (yes MP!) of Aleppo above, 21 Century wire one.
Eva Bartlett has been in Syria including Aleppo on six trips since 2014. She is currently travelling with the Hands of Syria coalition speaking tour in US. She also speaks fluent colloquial Arabic. I already posted a link to the UN press conference on 9/12/16 she was a speaker at above but it is also on this link to Hands off Syria coalition. I recommend watching if you haven’t, lots of nuggets of information and context from all speakers combined and replies to questions. Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic press conference at the UN on 9/12/16. Video on this link. http://handsoffsyriacoalition.net/
Eva speaks fluent colloquial Arabic.
Of course independent reports that are not approved by the empire establishment are ignored by the main stream and majority of the political class as is usual. Politicians cannot get on with their careers if they stray from accepted narrative.
John, the reason there are no confirmed reports from accredited reporters in Aleppo [as opposed to the activists], is because real reporters would be guaranteed to have their heads cut off. I had to laugh at Peter Tatchell interrupting Corbyn’s speech, If Tatchell had entered East Aleppo, he would have been thrown off a very tall building then had his head cut off by the Saudi backed Jihadis.
Harry, honest reporting played a large part in swaying public opinion and ending the Vietnam war.
Ever since then honest reporting on wars has been verboten in the West. It’s all tightly controlled, with MSM reporters being embedded with the military (no one’s allowed to wander around a war zone any more). The handful of independents – such as Vanessa Beasley and Eva Bartlett – who do go to these war zones and report back are either totally ignored by the MSM or are disparaged.
The biggest propaganda machine in history most definitely does not have the concept of ‘truth’ on its agenda.
Unfortunately the enlightened, and I love Eva Bartlett in a spiritual sense, are still thin on the ground. I could not believe nobody speaking in this debate uderstood the truth.
Boris Johnson’s comments on Saudi Arabia must be welcomed, however Boris appears to have changed his mind on Syria, this is what he said on 7th December 2015..”I am backing the Assad regime, and the Russians, in their joint enterprise to recapture that amazing site [Palmyra]? You bet I am. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/07/boris-johnson-allies-should-join-assad-and-russia-against-isis
Boris singing for his supper after a word in his ear from the US.
One has to bear in mind that we are dealing here with desperate people: something like 200 Labour MPs who will shortly be looking for new jobs (involving no work) and a new Party to sustain them.
Naturally these poor souls are ‘auditioning’ in full view of prospective employers- NGOs, International Agencies, MI6, CIA, the Ukrainian government- anything rather than ending up as non-resident Fellows of the Henry Jackson/Joseph Goebbels Institute.
And what better way to display not just their talents but their souls than a debate in the Commons on the tragedy which is the return of civilisation and order to the city of Aleppo, from which one of the first and most saintly of our Archbishops of Canterbury came.
You can tell that it is an audition, because it is wholly theoretical: the UK will be lucky to extract its various special forces and advisors from Syria before they start telling the government what they have been doing and what their orders were. There is no way that the UK is going to start a war with Syria, Iran or Russia. That is not what Jackals do, they hang around lions picking up scraps.And, these days, under the rule of the Blairites, who are filling the air of Westminster with their poison, the UK is no longer a lion but a very scrawny jackal. With bad breath.
Regarding the extraordinary (in anyone else) claims of Woodcock (BAE Barrow in Furness) the sarin gas claims are totally discredited.
As Pepe Escobar puts it:
http://thesaker.is/obama-out-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/
“…US intel at the time was sure that Jabhat al-Nusra – a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria (or “moderate rebels”, according to the Beltway “consensus”) – was capable of producing sarin gas. And yet Obama insisted Bashar al-Assad had done it, thus violating Obama’s silly self-proclaimed red line. Straight out of the neocons-do-Iraq playbook, Obama picked intel to justify what would have been a war on Syria.
“The fact was that the sarin gas was transferred to al-Nusra under the influence of notorious Bandar Bush – then tasked by the House of Saud to provoke regime change in Damascus by all means necessary. Bandar in fact was even more influential than the CIA; he was directly coordinating the handout of tons of cash and weaponizing to jihadists in Syria, as well as concocting false flags such as Ghouta. And all this after Obama himself had ordered, in early 2012, the CIA rat line through the Turkish-Syrian border of Libyan weapons destined to supply the “moderate rebels”.
“The bottom line is that Nobel Peace Prize Obama – lying through his teeth like a lowly neocon – had been on the brink of launching a full-scale war on Syria for a “crime” about which there was no evidence.”
And so has Mr Woodcock, been lying through his teeth.
It is what Blairites do.
Good article bevin. Reminds me of(wish i could link to it) the excellent bill hicks take on us foreign policy. A us marshall tries to hand a strangrr a gun but the stranger repeatedly,wisely,refuses. Eventually he is gorced into taking iy…at which ppint the us marshall shoots him dead, declaring the stranger haf a gun! Wish hicks was still around to lambast this current crop of neocons.
*sorry for typos….samsung youngs are not great for typing on!