He is a thoroughly decent man by all appearances who recognizes the evil of the proxy war being fought by the U.S. against Syria.
A refreshing contrast to the egregious Gen. Jack Keane without whom FoxNews is incapable of forming an independent thought about Syria or the Soviet Union Russia. Lou Dobbs, an otherwise outstanding commentator, has co-authored a book about a fictional Russian character who wants to re-establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. That character's name happens to be "Putin" so it's not hard to see why Jack ("The Tiger") Keane has a lock on Fox commentary on Russia and its drive for world domination. For that matter, the whole FoxNews foreign policy commentariat is as small as a John Podesta dinner party. I can see why Fox was embarrassed by its "Fair and balanced" mantra.
Keane has the script down pat and the undisputed source of evil in this world is . . . are you ready? Assad supported by Evil Vlad Putin!
Arrogant, fatuous Americans to the rescue. We are here to help. Procrustean solutions made to order so long as they involve regime change, complete social collapse, and absolute control by jihadi scum.
Resemblance to anything as decent as envisioned by Mr. Hörstel is nowhere in sight. Nope. Mendacious, distorted, murderous policy is what's on the menu. The thought that Bashar Assad and his confederates would undertake to make chemical attacks in civilian areas at precisely the moment that it would do the most damage to Syrian interests does not disturb Keane in the least. Nuh unh! Chemicals involved; therefore Assad. And FoxNews laps it up with a spoon.
Hörstel is to be understood in conjunction with George Washington's piece[1] on the insanity of Trump's latest revelations about Mr. Assad's apparent preparations for yet another chemical attack on his own people including, wait for it . . . innocent children.
Washington has an apt observation on neocon tweeter Nikki Haley over at the United Nations. Quote:
So we have the perfect setup for the jihadis to mount another chemical attack a la Ghouta 2013 and possibly[3] Khan Sheikhoun in April of this year. WH to jihadis: "Hey, guys. If you all do something that looks like a chemical attack on Syrian civilians, we'll run with the 'Assad did it' garbage and support you with a massive attack on Syrian troops, equipment, and installations this time. Just sayin'. But it would be just awful if there were another 'Syrian' attack."[Haley tweet:] Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people.[Washington:] Notice that Haley does not say:Any further attacks CARRIED OUT BY THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT and done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people.[2]
Future Syrian government responsibility already established: "will be blamed on Assad." You can't make this stuff up.
The Ghouta gas incident has been established as not the work of Assad troops[4] and Seymour Hersh reports that military and intelligence types did not see any evidence that the Syrian Air Force attacked Khan Sheikhoun with chemical munitions. In fact, there was meticulous coordination of the Khan Sheikhoun bombing by the Russians with the Americans.[5]
If you take Hersh's report as accurate, it turns out that the initial Russian explanation was accurate: a regular, non-chemical bomb struck something on the ground that caused the injuries and deaths supposedly seen in Khan Sheikhoun. The Trump position, by way of contrast, was a lie. An unadulterated fairy tale. The Sean Spicer announcement in Washington's piece is an anticipatory lie. A future fairy tale waiting to happen:
The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.U.S. pronouncements on world events are intellectually dishonest. We are determined to conduct a proxy war for Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The whole story about Assad the evil dictator who precipitated a "civil war" is a lie. Witness a pro-Assad demonstration in the year that this "civil war" ignited in 2011:The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack. [Oh ... you mean the Syria government is planning on bombing Islamic terrorists again?]
***
If … Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.[6]
Photo: Al Jazeera.
Whatever we are doing in Syria it is underhanded and unclean.
Notes
[1] "After Getting Busted for Bombing Syria Based On a Lie, Trump Doubles Down … Threatens to Bomb Syria Even Harder Based On Same BS." By George Washington, Zero Hedge, 6/27/17.
[2] Id.
[3] I say "possibly" above because Hersh (note 5, below) reports that the Syrian Air Force attack was on a building with chlorine and fertilizer (that could cause medical effects similar to sarin). Thus, it may actually be that the jihadis didn't perpetrate the attack themselves though it's hard to believe that as the White Helmet scum were on the job "rescuing" and "treating" victims of a supposed chemical attack within the hour after the supposed Syrian Air Force attack. Someone was really prepared for that photo op. My operating assumption at present is that the Russian's were correct in their argument that a regular bomb had secondary effects unrelated to mere HE and shrapnel. Furthermore, any evidence of chemical casualties is from prior staged events or even the use of civilians kidnapped from two villages south of Khan Sheikhoun and later killed. There is precedent.
[4] "Possible Implications of Faulty US Technical Intelligence in the Damascus Nerve Agent Attack of August 21, 2013." By Richard Lloyd and Theodore Postol, Independent research study, 1/14/14.
[5] "Trump‘s Red Line." By Seymour M. Hersh, Welt, 6/26/17.
[6] Washington, supra. Bracketed comment by Washington.
H/t for the video: Marko's comment on "VICTORIOUS SYRIA: The New Dawn of Resistance Against Imperialism." By Bruno Guigue, 21Wire, 6/23/17.
The issue is, If there is another bogus chemical attack (conducted by US allies), and the US uses it to attack Assad's forces, will Russia intervene?
ReplyDeleteThat fool Gen. Keane was on Fox yesterday talking about wiping out Syria's air force. He was thinking of a major assault. It was pretty reckless given the scale of the attack he had in mind and the issue you pointedly raise. The U.S. would deserve a strong response from Russia if it proceeded dishonestly on the basis of a manufactured incident. However, given Russia's generally cautious approach I think I suspect it would not take the bait. Someone has correctly characterized the U.S. shooting down of the Syrian jet, attacks on militia around al-Tanf, the attack on the SAA at Deir-ez-Zor, and the air base (cruise missiles) as provocations. It would be dangerous for Russia to engage full tilt. However, there are limits to what sensible people will take from kiddies playing at war. The threat to paint coalition a/c west of the Euphrates was ambiguous but it was no less a warning. Presumably Russia is discussing this very issue with U.S. officials with frankness.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Russians get more PR savvy. This would be a good time for a speech at the U.N. pointing out the inadequate evidence of Syrian government in the Ghouta and Khan Sheikhoun incidents and demanding that before action is taken after another "incident" that there be a full forensic examination rather than the usual precipitous rush to blame Assad.