- Last March, Syria's externally generated uprisings began.
Despite legitimate grievances, Washington orchestrated change there like
elsewhere in the region.
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- It's part of its imperial "New Middle East"
project to control North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia to Russia's
borders.
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- For over a decade, regime change plans targeted Iraq,
Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria, and other countries
outside the region.
-
- Libya's model is the template for future Washington aggression.
Whether it's employed in Syria remains to be seen.
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- So far, heavily armed insurgents entered from regional
countries. Anti-government demonstrations have been disruptive and violent.
Trapped between warring sides, civilian casualties keep mounting.
-
- Washington and other Western nations blame Syria. Its
security forces, in fact, confronted an armed insurrection. Conflict keeps
raging unresolved.
-
- Russia and China blocked America's (Western supported)
Security Council resolution. If passed, it would have been a first against
Syria, perhaps opening the way for greater conflict or war like against
Libya.
-
- Despite watered down language, both countries opposed
options, including the UN Charter's Article 41 provisions, stating:
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- "The Security Council may decide what measures not
involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its
decision, and it may call upon (UN members) to apply such measures."
-
- "These may include complete or partial interruption
of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio,
and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations."
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- In other words, stiff sanctions harming Syria's weakened
economy further might topple it.
-
- On October 4, New York Times writer Neil MacFarquhar
headlined, "UN Resolution on Syria Blocked by Russia and China,"
saying:
-
- "Nine nations, including the United States and its
Western allies voted for the measure, while Brazil, India, South Africa
and Lebanon abstained."
-
- France's Gerard Araud called the veto "disdain(ful)
for the legitimate interests that have been fought for in Syria by protesters
since March."
-
- Britain's Mark Grant said vetoing the resolution "will
be a great disappointment to the people of Syria and the wider region that
some members of the council could not show their support for their struggle
for basic human rights."
-
- Washington's Susan Rice said:
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- "Those who oppose this resolution and give cover
to a brutal regime will have to answer to the Syrian people - and, indeed,
to people across the region who are pursuing the same universal aspirations.
The crisis in Syria will stay before the security council and we will not
rest until this council rises to meet its responsibilities."
-
- Russia's Vitaly Churkin and China's Li Boadong expressed
concern about the resolution's thinly veiled regime change scheme. Both
were adamant about Syria not becoming another Libya.
-
- Churkin said it reflected a "philosophy of confrontation,"
knowing full well how Britain, France, and especially Washington operate.
-
- This evil troika's lawlessness is transparent and appalling.
-
- Against Libya, Washington, Britain and France led NATO's
killing machine, turning the country into a charnel house. A peaceful country
lies ruined. Corpses pile up daily on others. Human misery levels are horrific.
-
- Libyans know their friends and foes. They understand
supportive and hostile nations. They despise imperial Washington and Western
allies.
-
- So do Syrians. They want no part of foreign intervention
in their internal affairs, especially if Washington, Britain, France, and
Israel are involved.
-
- They know what happened to Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan
awaits them if NATO's "humanitarian intervention" targets them.
-
- In December 2008, Susan Rice became UN ambassador. She
was chosen for supporting unilateral use of military force against any
US target for any reason or none at all.
-
- She and other Obama war cabinet picks then and now represent
extreme imperial lawlessness, arrogance and hypocrisy.
-
- She continues that tradition, supporting America's worst
crimes of war and against humanity, perhaps targeting Syria like Libya.
-
- On October 6, NSNBC's Christof Lehmann addressed the
issue of America's unconventional warfare, involving:
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- "freedom fighter" insurgents;
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- recruited homegrown and/or US Special Forces death squads;
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- color revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and
elsewhere; and/or
-
- the "modified Chechnyan model," involving "Arab
Spring Subversion" and financial warfare sanctions.
-
- A rogue network of "think tanks, endowments, funds
and foundations" are involved. So are CIA, the National Endowment
for Democracy, and other congressional funded groups. Internal figures
are bribed to defect.
-
- Other tactics are also used. They including enlisting
support from human rights organizations, corrupted NGOs and the UN. Major
media scoundrels support them and administration policy.
-
- The clear message to targeted regimes is "go or
be gone." End results aim for "post-modern coup d'etat(s)."
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- A Syrian National Council (SNC) was established, similar
to Libya's puppet Transitional National Council (TNC).
-
- Originally formed in 2005, it was revived on August 23,
2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. It represents Western-backed internal opposition
elements against the rights and interests of most Syrians.
-
- It called for a Libyan-style "no-fly zone"
and foreign intervention. It supplies intelligence to Washington and other
Western nations. If unconventional tactics fail, stepped up violence and
war remain options.
-
- Since early 2011, NATO countries used regional bases
to provide anti-regime support. Saudi Arabia and Lebanon's Saad al Hariri
were implicated in financing and arming insurgents. Israel, Jordan and
Turkey are also believed to be involved.
-
- So far, Russia and China blocked a Libyan-style "humanitarian
intervention." Once Washington wants regime change, it's open to question
what measures can stop it.
-
- On October 6, Jeremy Salt separated fact from fiction
about Syria, saying:
-
- It's insurrection threatens civil war. Western intervention
and propaganda fuel it. What, in fact, is going on?
-
- Hafez al-Assad consolidated Syrian authoritarian rule
for three decades (1971 - 2000) until his death. He "crushed all dissent
ruthlessly." Bordering on Israel, he feared assassination and subversion,
including by "western intelligence agencies."
-
- In July 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him.
Israel occupies its Golan. Syria wants it back. On October 7, in fact,
hundreds of Syrian Golan residents rallied supportively for Assad.
-
- Ma'an News said they marched carrying banners and Assad
portraits, chanting:
-
- "We love you, Bashar." "We are with the
Syrian army." A banner read, "We are for a dialogue aimed at
national unity."
-
- Washington invention prevents it. Staying vigilant is
key to avoid being toppled and replaced by pro-Western elements.
-
- Syrians indeed want democratic change nonviolently. "(A)rmed
groups operating from behind the screen of the demonstrations have no interest
in reform." Representing Western interests, "(t)hey want to destroy
the government."
-
- In contrast, large segments of Syria support it. Externally
supported "armed gangs" fueled anger over "their country
(being) the target of an international conspiracy."
-
- Heavily armed insurgents "killed hundreds of police,
soldiers and civilians, in total probably (around) 1,000...." Those
killed include "university professors, doctors, and (recently) the
son of the Grand Mufti of the Republic."
-
- Armed gangs "massacred, ambushed, assassinated,
attacked government buildings and sabotaged railway lines."
-
- Clearly Western intervention is involved in what's tearing
apart the country.
-
- Assad "has a strong base of personal popularity.
(It's) misleading to call him a dictator." Decades long regime power
is authoritarian and dictatorial. Clearly it resists change. Assad supports
it.
-
- After earlier demonstrations, his government proposed
reforms. Opposition elements rejected them out of hand. "No attempt
was even made to test the bona fides of the government."
-
- Instead, insurgents fueled violence since protests began
last winter. They're funded, "well armed and well organized. Large
shipments of weapons have been smuggled (in) from Lebanon and Turkey."
-
- They include "pump action shotguns, machine guns,
Kalashnikovs, RPG launchers, Israeli-made hand grenades, and numerous other
explosives."
-
- Western intervention fueled violence for regime change.
Once initiated, it's hard shutting it off. Media scoundrels regurgitate
official lies, including the New York Times on its Syria page.
-
- Ignoring a Western backed insurgency, it accused Assad
of "launching....a series of withering crackdowns, sending tanks into
restive cities as security forces opened fire on demonstrators."
-
- "Syria's crackdown has been condemned internationally,
as has Assad...."
-
- As explained above, Assad responded to well-armed insurgents
brought in from outside Syria to stoke violence and reject mediation efforts
to stop it.
-
- Western countries are behind so-called international
condemnation - the same ones responsible for instigating violence for regime
change.
-
- Salt agreed that Western media Libya and Syria coverage
"has been appalling." NATO intervention everywhere causes mass
death, destruction and human misery.
-
- Western Media distortions and lies blame victims, not
perpetrators. Al Jazeera notably "lost all credibility." America's
media and BBC never had any. Their Libya and Syria reporting reflects "blind
support of anything that discredits" governments Western nations oppose.
-
- Washington "is doing its utmost to drive Syria into
a corner," including financing its opposition and using proxy sources
to arm insurgents.
-
- Security Council efforts may try instituting a no-fly
zone, "opening the door to foreign attack" like against Libya.
So far, Russia and China strongly oppose turning Syria into another charnel
house.
-
- Knowing their long interventionist histories, it's "inconceivable
that the US and Israel, along with France and Britain" aren't behind
violence in Syria for regime change.
-
- If Washington, its Western allies, and Israel succeed,
"every last Baathist and Alawi will be hunted down" the way Gaddafi
loyalists have been arrested or murdered in cold blood.
-
- Supportive of Israel, Washington's wanted Syria's government
ousted "for twenty years. The dismantling of unified Arab states along
ethno-religious lines has been an aim of Israel's for decades."
-
- Whatever Israel wants from Washington it gets, including
unqualified support for its worst crimes of war and against humanity.
-
- If Syria's Baathist government falls, it will be "a
strategic victory of unsurpassed value to the US and Israel. (The) strategic
relationship between Iran, Syria and Hizbullah will have been destroyed...."
-
- Lebanon and Iran will be more vulnerable to Washington
and Israeli attacks. General war could erupt, destabilizing the entire
region and beyond if Russia and China decide to defend their interests.
-
- Syrians deserve democratic reforms. Western intervention
won't tolerate them. Washington, Britain, France and Israel assure unconscionable
state terrorism wherever they intervene.
-
- Syrians know what happened elsewhere in the region. It's
their choice to rally against it at home.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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