- America, key NATO partners, and Israel target both countries.
-
- Israel wants regional rivals removed. Washington and
key NATO partners want independent regimes ousted, replaced with subservient
ones.
-
- At issue is establishing regional dominance. New targets
can then confronted politically, economically, and/or belligerently.
-
- Fabricated IAEA Iranian documents escalated tensions.
Rhetorical saber rattling followed. Stiffer sanctions are threatened and
perhaps war.
-
- Syria's been targeted for months. Libya's insurgency
was replicated. Street battles rage daily. Violence engulfs the country.
Assad's government is unfairly blamed. Washington's dirty hands are at
fault. So are Israel's and other conspiratorial allies.
-
- The Arab League's decision to suspend Syria makes Western
intervention more likely. The League's constitution requires unanimity.
Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted "no." Iraq abstained.
-
- Suspension's thus illegitimate. Syria's Foreign Minister
Walid al-Moallem condemned it. America was blamed for demanding it.
-
- Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
Jeffrey Feltman attended the League session to assure things went Washington's
way.
-
- On November 4, former UK official Alastair Crooke headlined
his London Guardian article, "Syria and Iran: the great game,"
saying:
-
- "Regime change in Syria is a strategic prize that
outstrips Libya - which is why Saudi Arabia and the west are playing their
part."
-
- He also said a senior Saudi officials believe toppling
Assad will greatly benefit the Kingdom by weakening Iran.
-
- Crooke explained today's "great game" strategy,
saying:
-
- "(S)et up a hurried transitional council as sole
representative of the Syrian people, irrespective of (its legitimacy);
feed in armed insurgents from neighboring states; impose sanctions that
will hurt the middle classes; mount a media campaign to denigrate any Syrian
efforts at reform; try to instigate divisions within the army and the elite;
and ultimately President Assad will fall - so its initiators insist."
-
- He believes Syrian strategy is failing, "in spite
of heavy investment." He added that if pushed to the wall, sectarian
violence may erupt in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere regionally.
-
- He also called interventionist efforts for democracy
"fanciful at best, an act of supreme callousness at worst." Washington,
key Western allies and Israel won't tolerate it at home or abroad.
-
- The "lose Assad" strategy stems from Israel's
failed 2006 Lebanon war against Hezbollah. Washington calls Syria its achilles
heel, as well as a way to weaken Iran.
-
- After Mubarak's ouster, plans gelled. Qatar got involved.
Saudi Arabia did earlier. Washington enlisted Turkey's help against Libya
and Syria. External and internal Syrian opposition forces differ.
-
- External ones back armed intervention and punishing sanctions.
Nonetheless, regime security forces remain solid after months of conflict.
Claimed defections are overhyped. Assad's support base is strong. Fear
of the unknown and opposition to Western interference sustain it.
-
- Internal forces represent most Syrians. They reject external
political, economic and/or military intervention. Most feared is all-out
civil war. Whether or not NATO intervention is planned isn't known. Nonetheless,
expect externally generated insurgency to be protracted and bloody.
-
- At a Monday Damascus press conference, Syrian Foreign
Minister al-Moallem said:
-
- "We wanted the role of the Arab League to be a supporting
role, but if the Arabs wanted to be conspirators, this is their business."
-
- Saudi Arabia and Qatar's dirty hands especially backed
suspension, following orders from Washington.
-
- On November 13, Syria called for an emergency League
summit. Assad wants it before November 16, the date suspension takes effect.
Syria acted after protesters stormed Saudi, Turkish, and Qatari Damascus
embassies and Qatar's Beirut mission.
-
- Qatar headed the League's Saturday session. In response,
crowds pelted its embassy with eggs and tomatoes. Obscenities were shouted
at Prime Minister and royal family member Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, chairing
Saturday's session.
-
- Britain's Foreign Office minister, Alistair Burt, blamed
Syria, saying:
-
- "By allowing these attacks to take place, the Syrian
regime is demonstrating yet again that its first response is repression
and intimidation. This cycle of violence must stop now for the sake of
the Syrian people and for those who support them."
-
- It would stop if Washington called off its dogs. Across
the country, millions of Syrians raged angrily against Western intervention.
-
- On November 14, China's Xinhua News Agency headlined,
"Millions of Syrians rally against the Arab League," saying:
-
- Damascus residents displayed a giant Syrian flag. Millions
"thronged main squares and streets in various cities to lend support
to their embattled President Bashar al-Assad, and to express discontent
with the Arab League (AL) decision to suspend Syria's membership."
-
- In Damascus, hundreds of thousands filled Saba Bahrat
Square. "It looks as if the whole city was out on the streets on Sunday."
-
- Residents waved personal Syrian flags. Many shouted "God,
Syria and Bashar only." Others carried banners reading "Down
with the Hebrew League," meaning Arab League duplicity.
-
- Within one hour of suspension, nationwide protests followed.
Opposition Third Way movement parliamentarian Mohammad Habash joined them,
saying:
-
- The League "deviated from its charter and internal
system" illegitimately. Syria's League ambassador Yusaf Ahmad accused
members of supporting a foreign agenda.
-
- Suspending Syria for reacting to externally generated
violence is outrageous. Notably, League members backing it suppress their
own people brutally.
-
- Qatar partnered with NATO against Libya. Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, and other regional states provided material and/or political support.
Last February 23, League members duplicitously suspended Libya for defending
itself against Western-backed rebel rats.
-
- Libya's model targets Syria, so far without NATO intervention
that may follow. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad said Western-backed
insurgents "are being financed in an unofficial way by Turkey, Saudi
Arabia, Lebanon('s opposition Hariri March 8 alliance), and Jordan."
-
- As a result, he added:
-
- "Syria has lost more than 1,150 martyrs from the
army and security forces."
-
- Turkey is conspiratorially involved. As a result, full-blown
civil war and greater regional disruption may follow. Ankara helped establish
the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) and Free Syrian Army (FSA).
SNC recognition accompanied Syria's suspension.
-
- Former Syrian Colonial Riad al-Asaad heads FSA. Turkey
provided its members refuge inside its borders. Asaad claims a 15,000-man
force. He believes Assad won't fall without war. He said he's working with
another internal group, the Free Officers Movement. He also asked for more
international support.
-
- London's Independent said insurgents' "strategy
(includes) guerrilla attacks and assassination of security force figures
and state-sponsored militias amid signs of growing armed resistance against
the regime after months of protests."
-
- Israel's Mossad-linked DEBKAfile claims NATO and Turkey
plan intervening in Syria by enlisting and arming thousands of insurgent
forces. Saudi Arabia, Lebanon's Hariri March 8 alliance, Jordan and Israel
are involved. Washington's in charge orchestrating events.
-
- Contradicting reports by US intelligence and other sources,
DEBKA cited a November 13 "closed meeting of Jewish leaders in New
York." Based on no evidence whatever, they claim Iran will have five
nuclear bombs by April 2012.
-
- According to DEBKA:
-
- "The Jewish leaders....were informed that the Obama
administration had intelligence data that the US and Israel have no more
than a couple of months left for striking down Iran's military weapons
development by force. This will no longer be viable after Iran is armed
with five nuclear bombs or warheads."
-
- In fact, Obama has nothing. As recently as March 2011,
America's Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community said
no evidence suggests Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
-
- DEBKA for sure knows it, but misreported anyway. Some
of its reports are reliable. Others fall way short, including this one.
Events remain fluid. Their consequences are unpredictable, including ones
cooler heads dread.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- On November 14, London Independent writer Robert Fisk
headlined, "Arab League's 'roar' at Syria shows how tiny Qatar is
starting to flex its muscles," asking:
-
- Did Arab Spring contagion lie behind Syria's suspension
"or was it leaned on by the British Empire-style ambitions of tiny,
rich Qatar?"
-
- Calling the League "one of the silliest, most impotent,
preposterous organizations in" Arab history, Fisk said it "suddenly
turned from mouse to lion and roared...."
-
- So did Damascus about illegitimate League action, violating
its charter. Pushed by Washington, Qatar spearheaded the decision, acting
as "the League's vanguard against Syria."
-
- Whatever unfolds ahead, Assad is seriously challenged.
He and his father called Syria the "Mother of the Arab Nation."
-
- Conspiratorially with Western powers, League members
want it isolated, weakened, humiliated, and perhaps toppled, risking what
lies ahead.
-
- An English proverb says "Be careful what you wish
for. You might just get it." Cooler heads know potential dangers most
others don't until it's too late matter.
-
- Assad may indeed fall, followed perhaps by Iran and other
regional targets. At issue is what's next?
-
- Challenged hornets' nests hold nasty surprises. In geopolitical
terms, out-of-control conflict stands out.
-
- 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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