Unveiling “Western” Hypocrisy Russia Connects Syria And Ukraine

June 2, 2014

A few days ago we read this:

Australia, Luxembourg, and Jordan are planning to circulate a new U.N. Security Council resolution that diplomats say would authorize the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syria through four border crossings without approval from President Bashar Assad’s government.
…
Diplomats familiar with the draft said it is under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which means it could be enforced militarily. It would authorize humanitarian access at three crossings from Turkey and one from Iraq.
…
Some diplomats doubt Russia would approve a new humanitarian resolution under Chapter 7, but they say it could be a bargaining chip in negotiations.

That “bargaining chip” is worth nothing. Russia will veto any Chapter 7 resolution on Syria. There is nothing to bargain about that. But using that “bargaining chip” is now firing back.

For June Russia will be take up the presidency of the UN Security Council which allows it, to a certain extend, to set the agenda. The first point on that agenda is now the question of “human corridors” from Russia into east-Ukraine:

Russia will submit a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Monday calling for an immediate end to worsening violence in Ukraine and the creation of humanitarian corridors in the east of the country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
…
[The draft resolution] will also include “a demand for the creation, without delay, of humanitarian corridors though which peaceful civilians could leave combat zones if they wish,” he said. The text would also call for guarantees of unhindered access for humanitarian aid.

“Now how about a Chapter 7 clause for that?” Lavrov will ask his colleagues.

Russia is actively linking the cases of Syria and Ukraine. That may not bring any progress on either issue. But by connecting the cases Russia can publicly demonstrated the utter hypocrisy of “western” policies. The target of this is the “western” public which is already against further “western” meddling in Syria as well as in Ukraine. I expect more such political “mirroring” of the two situations in the coming weeks and month.

This morning the Kiev regime sent jets and bombed the regional administration building in Luhansk which had been taken over by federalists. At least five people were killed. This is another escalation by Kiev and the puppet players behind the regime with the larger intend to openly draw Russia into a fight with NATO. Moscow will not fall for the bait.

Posted by b on June 2, 2014 at 16:09 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Fake “Feminists” of Femen Participated in the Odessa Massacre
[Photo: Femen leader Ievgeniia Kraizman participating in the May 2nd Odessa massacre. She was part of the group of Maidan fascists who burned alive, shot, strangled, and beat to death 116 anti-fascist protesters on that day. The two accompanying photos shows her in other Feman actions.]
Info packed expose of FEMEN and their connections to the Ukrainian nazi freaks.

“Femen is known for bold and visually striking topless protests across Europe and North Africa. Often regarded as a feminist organization, the fact that they were started and was run by a man, Victor Svyatski, is less well known. He has recently been ousted from the leadership, but as Femen is his brainchild, he still worth looking at. Also less well known are Femen’s ties to the anti-woman Ukrainian neo-Nazi movement.
An early campaign of Femen was in Lvov Ukraine against Turkish football fans being able to visit Ukraine. In fact, they claimed that this was a threat to the genetic purity of Ukraine. Similarly, Femen leader Inna Shevchenko recently stated the reasons why the group is coming to the UK, listing:
“Prostitution, laws about immigration, Islamic extremism in UK will not escape Femen’s naked massacre now. Whether it’s Derby’s Al-madinah school or Buckingham Palace, Femen will always find the way to be where it’s needed.”
So like many on the far right, Femen’s apparent opposition to Islam playing a role in oppressing women in North Africa and the Middle East is actually part of a wider campaign against an entire group of peoples, men and women, as they try to immigrate. A reality usually ignored by this ideology is that these people are trying to immigrate from the repression, exploitation, poverty, sexist oppression, and wars largely imposed on the regions of their homelands by U.S. and European imperialism. This is U.S. and European imperialism in league with regional capitalists, dictators, and religious extremists. Immigrants flee the poverty imposed by imperialism. They also flee the Islamists the U.S. placed in power in Libya and Afghanistan by giving heavy backing to armed religious fanatics. Today the U.S. is also backing similar groups in Syria. Likewise, the U.S. also gives major support to the religious fanatics in power in Saudi Arabia, the most repressive and anti-woman government in the world.
Femen did recruit one woman from an Islamic country. This was a 19 year-old Tunisian named Amina Sboui (who was active under the alias Amina Tyler). She was threatened with being stoned to death for her bold topless acts and did spend four months in prison. Upon her release from prison, however, Amina Sboui quit the group, saying, “I do not want my name to be associated with an Islamophobic organization.” She was also concerned about the source of the group’s funding, saying:
“I don’t know how the movement is financed. I asked (Femen leader Inna Shevchenko) several times, but I didn’t get a clear answer. I don’t want to be in a movement supported by suspect money. What if it is financed by Israel? I want to know.”
Some funding sources for the group have been revealed, including the wealthy American capitalist Jed Sunden, who also founded the Kiev Post. The Kiev Post is a terrible news source that has backed U.S. imperialist intervention in Ukraine and the U.S. backed junta that came to power in the February 22nd coup.
In 2011 Femen leaders Inna Shevchenko, Sasha Shevchenko, and Victor Svyatski can be seen at a small picket against Belarus. Flying over their heads is the red and black checkered flag of UNA-UNSO, a far right paramilitary group that merged with the neo-Nazis of Right Sector during the Maidan riots. Standing right next to Inna Shevchenko and Sasha Shevchenko is one of their Femen comrades holding a banner that is clearly marked with the logo and name of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party. The Svoboda banner reads, “Long live independent Belarus. Freedom for Ukraine”, “No to red terror”. Of course, these are absurd slogans for Svoboda, a neo-Nazi group that calls for executing Ukrainian Russian intellectuals without trial and endorses Nazi collaborator and mass murderer Stepan Bandera as their hero. As the Femen held Svoboda banner suggests, another campaign of Femen has been against the deformed workers state of Belarus which has avoided many economic problems found in Ukraine by continuing to maintain a planned socialist economy since the days of the Soviet Union.
With the February coup, Svoboda has been given the positions of Prime Minister for Economic Affairs (Oleksandr Sych), Education Minister (Serhiy Kvit), Ecology Minister (Andriy Makhnyk), Agriculture Minister (Ihor Shvaiko), and Prosecutor-General of Ukraine (Oleh Makhnitsky). In addition, a cofounder of Svoboda, Andriy Parubiy, has also been given the portfolio of Secretary of National Security and Defense. Make no mistake, this is a fascist given a position of command in war that the capitalist state of Ukraine and its fascist thugs are now waging against the working class, leftists, women, Jews, and national minorities of Ukraine. Femen, by participating in the May 2nd Odessa massacre, is on the front lines of that war, and fighting on the wrong side. Where it counts in the world fight against fascism, Femen is supporting the fascists. Meanwhile, in western Europe, as if simply to confuse, Femen is staging hypocritical anti-fascist protests in places like Paris.”

That’s less than half, there is a lot more on the history of this fascist group. I figured FEMEN to be one of those NED/Israeli psyops jobs, like Pussy Riot, but I didn’t know how closely they were tied to the bandera freaks.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 4 2014 23:52 utc | 101

@101
Feminists who are Fascists. Lovely. For different reasons, I think both Susan B Anthony and Benito Mussolini would be rolling in their graves. Well, Mussolini would probably be doing more laughing than rolling.

Posted by: Massinissa | Jun 5 2014 0:02 utc | 102

photo of the Svoboda, UNA-UNSO picket against Belarus
Lifenews also has an article on this revelation of FEMEN’s ties to the Odessa massacre.
An activist of the Femen participated in the massacre at the House of trade unions in Odessa
They have some additional info:

“An activist of the notorious Ukrainian movement Femen Evgeny Krizman were photographed on may 2, on the background of the trade unions House in Kyiv. According to the American journalist Steven Argue, she also took a direct part in the tragic events, which, according to official data, 48 people died.
According to him, the girl posted a picture on the Internet, but two days later removed it. However, this did not prevent Network users to save the photo and put it again, this time on the forum, discussing the tragedy. Relevant materials are also published a number of Ukrainian media.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 5 2014 0:13 utc | 103

Oh what tangled webs we weave in the west.
You can catagorise US moves as ‘action in search of a strategy’.
The EU ‘leaders’ are caught between doing ‘everything the US wants them to do’ (and if they don’t they will get the boot) and their business communities (which if they don’t obey … they will get the boot). No wonder Merkal cries at times.
I am now 100% convinced that the reason the US pushed the Ukraine button when it did, was over the naval showdown over Syria. The crippling of the Russian Navy by them losing the Crimea then became a serious priority. Plus getting it’s ‘missile defence’ ships into the Black Sea in serious numbers for a major nuclear showdown.
Things are just going to simmer along for the next couple of months with the US pushing Kiev for greater and greater atrocities, the idea being to suck Russia in and then the US can, in the heat of the moment, force through total sanctions, etc.
As I have said said, from the neo-con point of view (and that is the only one in the US these days) the fact that it cripples the EU (even more) is a win-win for them and unless the EU (especially German) business community can act as a blocker there is not a ‘leader’ there that won’t do it and fall on their sword, sacrificing their countries.
So it is Russia’s interest not to fall into that trap, as least in the short term.
But in the end they will have to do it, because the US will escalate more and more, there is no going back form this now. I suspect the next move will be to use NATO troops to hammer eastern Ukraine (drawing on their extensive experience elsewhere at killings lots of civilians).
The ‘war games’ due in July will mean NATO troops in eastern Ukraine, a perfect time for a ‘request’, or a ‘false flag’ operation to justify using them for ‘peace’ and ‘democracy’ and ‘responsibility to protect’ and ‘anti terrorism’. That will get NATO troops into and fighting in the Ukraine… a total red line for Russia.
So, given that at some time Russia will have to make a move the key is for it to be on it’s own terms and at a time of its choosing.
It has to do things like get a significant number of European people on its side as a political counterweight. I note the changes in things like the Guardian’s comments. While the Guardian is (like the BBC) resolutely censoring and pushing anti-Russian propaganda, the comments are now almost universally anti-US.
Eventually at some time parts of the US/EU media will start to break.
This is important, because the public resistance to attacking Syria was an important (though only of of many) factor in it not happening.
Remembering John Boyd, conflict has 3 elements: moral, mental and physical, of which the moral is the most important. There is little doubt that Russia can win the Mental and Physical conflict, but it has to win the Moral one first (ie setting the scene).
The Moral war it has to win is to split the UK/EU media, get UK/EU (and even US) public opinion on its side and split EU/UK business and political leaders (as well as solidify Chinese and BRIC, etc support).
One thing that has to happen is there has to be far more (and quite terrible) atrocities in eastern Ukraine. Right Sector beating babies to death on video and so on and get at least some western media to show it.
We can depend on the US to oblige on the atrocity part. Nothing the Kiev does is not pushed by or cleared by the US.

Posted by: oldskeptic | Jun 5 2014 0:50 utc | 104

Bot sure why that came up in bold??? I didn’t put in any codes….

Posted by: oldskeptic | Jun 5 2014 0:51 utc | 105

Fascist propaganda on the front page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The fact that the FAZ, which has a daily circulation of 320,000 and is one of Germany’s leading newspapers, can publish such a hack piece without causing a word of protest, says much about the political climate in Germany. An article which just a few years ago would have only been printed in Nazi rags such as the National Newspaper or Young Freedom, is now the political consensus within the ruling elite.

It’s stuff like this that makes me think that Germany is preparing to pick up the standard after the collapse of the USA.

Posted by: john francis lee | Jun 5 2014 1:19 utc | 106

@Noirette – only because you mentioned “afaik” (you may know all of this), I’ll throw what I do know into this: Gennady Zyuganov, Russian in Russia (a post-soviet figure, and critic of Putin afaik not that I can sort that out clearly, who knows…), head of the Russia Communist Party, calls for no-fly zone over Donbas, Luhansk region.
They have been very vocal about the situation in the East of Ukraine, amongst the most aggressive both in declaring that there is no point in talking with NATO as NATOs intention is to dismember Russia, and calling for intervention.
As for the “critic” – I don’t know if he qualifies as a “critic” in the sense that we might think of these “Putin’ Critics” we hear of in the west (the Navalny, Kasparov, Berezovsky imbeciles) though since he heads the largest opposition party in that sense, I’m sure, does a lot of critiquing. But they are a “loyal opposition” t seems. And this is the still the Communist Party, the same on from the Soviet era (the Russian branch, to be exact). That they can be found sending Easter Greetings over Twitter not withstanding 😉
In some sense they have been gaining politically – they just won the mayoralty in Russia’s Third City, Novosibirsk (a city far, far behind both Moscow and St. Petersburg, but a big win all the same), by running a sort of fusion campaign against United Russia. But as Novosibirsk is to Moscow, so is this next generation Communist Party to Putin’s United Russia – far smaller, far less powerful, and in no sense a “threat” to taking power.
There is some interesting aspects which I don’t know how much to make of it as my knowledge of Russian politics is very shallow, but that is this: the Communists have some interesting links to the younger, more aggressive “Left Front” in Russia. The leader of that organization, Sergei Udaltsov, served as the campaign manager to Zyuganov’s Presidential run. He is now (or last I heard) under house arrest for his role in some demonstrations (demos that scumbag Navalny also took part in and was also arrested for) following Putin’s last election. His WiCIApedia reads like a classic “Amnesty International” dissident – and he may be – but my reading (based on my meager knowledge and mostly because of his connections with the Communists) is that he isn’t the same kind of CIA stooge as Navalny appears to be. Perhaps people who know Russia better could make a better judgement.
Anyway – that’s what I know.
Here are some Twitter links:
Russian Communist Party News: https://twitter.com/kprfnews
Zyuganov’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/G_Zyuganov
And RT’s “Russian Politics” section is always good to get a sense of the general lay of the land: http://rt.com/politics/
And apologies – I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to give lessons here on stuff you may already know.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 5 2014 2:07 utc | 107

@john francis lee #106:
That looks like a hack job, given that it doesn’t give links to the articles it criticizes.

Now, Jörg Baberowski, professor of European History at Berlin’s Humboldt University, can announce in Spiegel that “Nolte was right, historically,” and Nolte himself claims that the Poles shared responsibility for the Second World War

That is supposed to be an expression of fascism? It’s simply a fact that the Poles shared responsibility for WW II. The intransigence of their (fascist) government over Danzig was the direct trigger for the outbreak of the war.

Posted by: Demian | Jun 5 2014 3:10 utc | 108

Russian Spring
Slavyansk.
Strelkov:

One charred entirely, second lies on its side and will never fly again, yet third (Mi-24, helicopter) fell and burned in the area of “Slavyansk Resort”.
Confirm TWO shot Su-25 jets (armored) yesterday. One fell towards “Red Liman”, the other – North of “Slavyansk” (its pilot was seen catapulting).
A commander of battalion of 95th airmobile brigade (enemy) has fallen yesterday in battle of “Slavyansk”.
“Semenovka” was bombed and shelled whole day. 240mm howitzers were firing too. They swapped for jets and again.
We got 2 wounded. The guns were firing grossly imprecise, while the jets could not fly anywhere lower than 3km, and, accordingly, were missing targets.

P.S. Igor` Strelkov confirmed the fact of new assignment of Fedor Beresin as official deputy of the commander and defense minister of the People Republic of Donetsk (Strelkov’s deputy)

Posted by: Fete | Jun 5 2014 3:28 utc | 109

Venezuelan (Chavista) paper reporting that the junta has sent troops right up to the Russian border in an attempt to seal it.

The de facto head of state of Ukraine, Alexander Turchinov, send military forces to Donetsk and Lugansk to fence the border, one of the main elements of the “anti-terrorist” operation carried out against the rebels Federalists
The self-proclaimed President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov, said Wednesday the partial blockage of the Russian border, in the south of the popular Donetsk region and another region of Lugansk region, local media reported.
Turchinov send military forces to bring the border, one of the main elements of the “anti-terrorist” operation carried out against the rebels Federalists.
“I conveyed this matter to our experts at the National Security Council and Defense of Ukraine for study. I think in the next few days should give an answer and we will take a decision, “said Turchinov reporters.
The “anti-terrorist” operation shows how the Ukrainian military fighting to exterminate the adherents of federalization, leaving civilians dead. In the east of the country’s political crisis has been exacerbated by the fighting to try to disperse the rebels.
On Monday, an air strike undertaken by the Air Force of Ukraine against the headquarters of the Lugansk regional administration killed 7 people and injured 15 more.
Moreover, the Board of International Affairs of Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the country will not accept another wave of attack on their interests by the United States and Europe. Again warned that “disrupt the fragile political situation in Ukraine is inadmissible.” Also warned that “create a source of instability in Europe could have serious consequences.”

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 5 2014 3:56 utc | 110

Broader NATO presence in Latvia escalating antimilitary sentiment

“The increase of the NATO military contingent has brought new problems to Latvia citizens. Abrasive actions of the soldiers have already provoked several incidents involving local population, which has escalated the antimilitary sentiment in the country. The mayor of Ventspils has openly called the behavior of the NATO personnel to be beastly and complained to the authorities at the North Atlantic Alliance. But the Latvian authorities considered the position of the mayor to be a threat to the country’s security.”

That’s how it works in western colonies.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 5 2014 4:33 utc | 111

@scalawag #111:

That’s how it works in western colonies.

Do you have any idea of why Latvians prefer to be a colony of the United States to what they were before, fiefdoms of Prussia or the Russian Empire, or a republic under the Soviet Union? A mindless, all-consuming Russophobia is the only explanation I can come up with.
The Latvians have paid dearly for their subjugation to the Empire, with IMF austerity reducing living standards far below what they were under Soviet rule, and yet the Latvians prefer, as far as I can tell, to live in economic misery, just as long as they are not part of the Russian sphere of influence.

Posted by: Demian | Jun 5 2014 5:12 utc | 112

Posted by: Demian | Jun 5, 2014 1:12:21 AM | 112
I am guessing the Russophobia in Latvia works much the same way Islamophobia works in the USA. With government and media in very few, closely aligned hands, it’s the only info that most people are exposed to. As for bending over and taking it (the subjugation), that’s also indoctrination. The sort of impoverishment forced on Latvia is being introduced slowly throughout the west and most people in the west, while many do actively protest, put up with it. The key is marketing an obedient zombie state of mind, something the western fascists have down to a fine art form.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 5 2014 5:46 utc | 113

RT report that 20-30 people died when the regime attacked an hospital some hours ago.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 5 2014 5:54 utc | 114

@scalawag #113:

I am guessing the Russophobia in Latvia works much the same way Islamophobia works in the USA.

I’m not sure if that’s a particularly good analogy. I don’t know if you remember my saying this, but my parents were White Russians who grew up in Latvia. So my sense of Latvia, from my upbringing, is that Latvia has two dominant, high cultures—German and Russian—and a local, parochial, peasant culture, Latvian.
So the Latvians are like the Ukrainians, in that they never had anything but a peasant culture, with the cultures in their regions that can be taken seriously (something besides involving things like folk dances and borscht) being Germanic and Russian.
Russophobia in Latvia and the Ukraine is based on hatred of the dominant, clearly superior culture. Islamophobia in the US, at any rate, is based on the creation of a virtually entirely imaginary Other, given that Islam has had essentially no influence on the US.
The hatred that American evangelicals have for mainline Protestant/secular American culture is much more comparable to the hatred that Latvians and Ukrainians have for Russian culture than any hatred Americans have of Islam. This is because secularism and mainline Protestantism are the mainstream, dominant cultural influences in the US, just as Russian culture is the dominant, worldly culture in Latvia and the Ukraine.

Posted by: Demian | Jun 5 2014 6:23 utc | 115

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 5, 2014 1:54:26 AM | 114
The article:
Dozens feared killed in Ukrainian military assault on hospital
The war crime happened on tuesday when the western fascists overwhelmed a small self-defense force in Krasny Liman and proceeded to terrorize the town in true western death squad fashion.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 5 2014 6:34 utc | 116

“3 genocides per month ”
http://professorsblogg.com/2014/06/03/ukraine-fascists-3-genocides-per-month/
in fact genocide will be the result if this keeps on.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 5 2014 7:16 utc | 117

I think it’s now a requirement that a person has to exhibit a spoiled adolescent schoolgirl mentality and level of maturity to get anywhere in the American establishment.

Posted by: scalawag | Jun 4, 2014 3:33:52 PM | 95
Interesting article on the Russia-China gas deal, but most interesting is the author’s bewilderment over the US-staged coup in Ukraine. Once again, note the 2020-2025 time frame. My guess is that Putin — noting his comments at the recent press conference in France — is pointing toward that time to make the more decisive break with the US-EU alliance, hoping to pull the EU at least part way over to Eurasia/China. I think he’d be more than happy if the EU would just begin to see itself as an intermediary between the US/UK (the two utterly financial-sector-subservient countries) and Eurasia by then:

CNPC Deal Becomes Russia’s Gateway to Asian Gas Market
By Igor Alexeev | Wed, 04 June 2014
… The installation of a radical government in Kiev put at risk the whole system of energy supplies to Europe. By now it seems that no one in Europe can offer an intelligible explanation why it happened. Brussels has sacrificed decades of energy stability to the myth of U.S.-EU transatlantic solidarity (problem-plagued TTIP negotiations are a good benchmark here). Now the looming threat of Ukraine’s unsecured gas debt is one of Europe’s high-priority problems. Who has reaped the benefits of the dubious Western “victory” in Kiev? Just follow the money. While U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was testing the loyalty of America’s Eastern European satellites in Romania, his son, Hunter Biden, unabashedly joined the board of directors of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma.
Reorientation of Russia’s energy policy to Asia will hardly bring about a dramatic change in the short term. Europe is and will remain an important trade partner for Russia’s natural gas exporters. Although the planned shipments of 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China are impressive, they amount to only about 20 percent of what is currently being provided to Europe.
However, in 2020-2025 perspective Russia-China gas deal will make the market for natural gas in China. The absolute numbers are not as important as the total economic impact of long-term cooperation. For example …

Posted by: fairleft | Jun 5 2014 8:28 utc | 118

Oops, too many blockquotes. And was also gonna just say “YEAH, y got that right” about Scalawag’s quote. It’s enough to make a parent revolt at the prospect of his kid eventually attending one of the elite US/UK educational institutions that apparently make it their job to produce such anti-intellectual, emotionally stunted and cravenly selfish creatures.

Posted by: fairleft | Jun 5 2014 8:31 utc | 119

Posted by: Demian | Jun 4, 2014 11:10:04 PM | 108
I think you are right on with ‘where’s the link’? There’s a feedback button at the top of wsws.org pages, so I relayed your criticism.
There’s no reason for not linking to the original article … Americans who click the link and find they cannot read the German will just return, or not, as they would anyway.
There’s no charge (yet) for including a link to the article you’re citing … and when it is the entire substance of your article … why would you not do so? I agree that it looks suspicious.
I couldn’t find the original googling around by myself.

Posted by: john francis lee | Jun 5 2014 10:02 utc | 120

@ oldskeptic: the war games in July were already cancelled, so that’s a no-go.
And I can’t understand why it would require even a single Russian there, with over 10 Mio. ukrainian Russians living there. If they can’t present 100,000 fighters on their own, then why should Russia do anything and sacrifice their own people for the locals? It makes zero sense.
Next, what’s to do with the Ukrainians living in Donbass? Rest assured that one Afghanistan was more then enough for Russia, they won’t repeat the mistake hopefully.
Now on to the actual solution (at least I think it would be): the Donbass people should not fight the army at home at all, they should kill the nazi leaders and the current coup-government top “officials”. It would take less then five assasinations to get things done. I’m seriously wondering why they didn’t do this already.
Not endorsing it here, as said just wondering.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 5 2014 11:37 utc | 121

I see quite several guys copy-pasting their comments between here and the Saker blog… guys, that’s ridiculous. Also it smells like a rat right away.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 5 2014 12:18 utc | 122

t2015
Sharing is good isnt it?

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 5 2014 13:43 utc | 123

@T2015 | 121

they should kill the nazi leaders and the current coup-government top “officials”. It would take less then five assasinations to get things done

While it would be well deserved, but this wouldnt change anything, nazi leaders arent deciding anything. West (primarily US) would simply install next batch of rats to carry their orders, thats all.

Posted by: Harry | Jun 5 2014 14:07 utc | 124

Syrian Fantasies
Posted by Greg Scoblete on June 4, 2014
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2014/06/syrian_fantasies_110558.html
Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is becoming an increasingly outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s handling of the civil war there. Appearing on the News Hour, Ford made the by-now familiar accusation that the administration needlessly delayed military aid to the rebels:
We need — and we have long needed — to help moderates in the Syrian opposition with both weapons and other nonlethal assistance. Had we done that, a couple of years ago, had we ramped it up, frankly the al-Qaeda groups that have been winning adherents would have been unable to compete with the moderates who, frankly, we have much in common with. But the moderates have been fighting constantly with arms tied behind their backs because they don’t have the same resources that either Assad does or the al-Qaeda groups in Syria do.
Ford blithely brushed off the question of how the U.S. would ensure custody of those weapons by assuring us that the U.S. government had “information on reliable groups” whose “agenda was compatible with our national security interests.”
Of course, even if the U.S. did have a finely tuned understanding of various rebel groups and how they would act if they were to receive large shipments of U.S. weapons (a skill that Washington has curiously failed to manifest elsewhere) this is hardly the only argument against arming factions in Syria’s civil war.
A more serious objection is that backing one side to “victory” does nothing more than implicate the U.S. in the creation of yet-another failed state. Ford and his supporters have a surpisingly naive faith in the power of Syria’s rebel groups to not only depose Assad but to stand up a relatively cohesive and secure state in his wake. Where is this faith coming from? It couldn’t be from Iraq or Libya, where the U.S. directly and indirectly toppled regimes only to see chaos flower in the aftermath. The U.S. directly implanted a government in Afghanistan at the cost of billions of dollars and is now leaving the country at the mercy of a still-potent insurgency.
And yet, we’re supposed to believe that U.S. arms to Syrian rebel groups would buck this trend. On what grounds?
Some might argue that early U.S. intervention would have at least empowered “our guys” at the expense of Assad and may have headed off al-Qaeda. The second claim seems completely false — if rebel groups were able to depose Assad, al-Qaeda would almost certainly have slipped into the country in the resultant chaos (unless you make the over-confident assumption that U.S.-backed rebels would have quickly locked down the entire country).

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 5 2014 14:34 utc | 125

@96

“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it” – timeless George Carlin

Except that Carlin WAS in the club as he was a well-paid celebrity.
Carlin is perfectly analogous to Noam Chomsky in that they both play the role of dissident “outsiders” which cultivates them a following esp among the bourgeois left all the while they are firmly ensconced and handsomely rewarded by the very system which they seemingly lambast.
Carlin the “bad boy” of comedy, NC the “bad boy” of academia.
How cute and clever.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Jun 5 2014 16:09 utc | 126

// @ guest 77 at 107 well that helps, thx.//

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 5 2014 16:51 utc | 127

Read and weep (laugh)
http://radioyaran.com/2014/06/04/bbc-unintentionally-exposes-the-sheer-stupidity-of-some-anti-assad-syrians/
“In Deir ez-Zor, another city in the east, JAN militants from the local Sharia court beat and detained women who were not wearing full Islamic dress and who had listened to music at a wedding party in a private house.”

Posted by: Kerkaraje | Jun 5 2014 20:52 utc | 128

Robert Ford: We need — and we have long needed — to help moderates in the Syrian opposition with both weapons and other nonlethal assistance. Had we done that, a couple of years ago, had we ramped it up, frankly the al-Qaeda groups that have been winning adherents would have been unable to compete with the moderates who, frankly, we have much in common with.
Lol. I mean – this is like I read about Vietnam, all the old hands saying: “Well look, if we had just stopped the corruption of the government and put programs together to help the Vietnamese people, we could have won the war.”
Sure! But that would have been as palatable to those actually running it as letting the Viet Cong take over. I mean – they may be right but it is laughable the naiveté because, quite obviously to anyone outside of the ideological bubble world of a Washington DC useful idiot, the corruption and the elimination of programs to help people is the objective. Sure – if the sub-fascist Thieu government helped the people maybe they could have won the war, but they would have lost the corrupt, free market capitalist gangster lifestyle they were really fighting for.
Anyway. A moderate victory. That’s really rich. As if that’s who the US wants to win this (as if they want anyone to “win” this). Is Ambassador Ford a liar or a dupe? That’s the only question that that statement raises.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 6 2014 1:49 utc | 129

@ Harry: oh I think it would help, because the “next batch” would be harder to find each time.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 6 2014 5:46 utc | 130

@virgile and @guest77
Ford and his neo-lib interventionist cohorts at State have been unwilling to admit that their color-coup failed. In the first few months of the uprising, when there were still some nonviolent protests, some outspoken secular opponents to Assad, some SAA defections of draftees and photogenic generals (at the same time that the SAA was taking massive casualties from guerilla warfare) and enough popular discontent among average Syrians about the economy and the stifling security services, a quick coup against Assad might have been initially successful — especially if the installed replacement had been compliant with “reforms” of selling Syria’s resources of to Western investors and rolling over for Israel. Perhaps Bashar’s exiled uncle would have been willing to play such a role. Considering his brutal role in putting down the Muslim Brotherhood 30 years earlier, he might have been a prime candidate for the kind of “moderate” strongman America likes as friends.
But the coup failed. Assad’s inner circle was assassinated and still his administration not only survived but gained more support from average Syrians. A major fail for over two years, but no one in the US willing to admit it.

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jun 6 2014 22:31 utc | 131

Lakhdar Brahimi: Syrian opposition likely used chemical weapons
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/08/us-syria-crisis-envoy-idUSKBN0EJ0MT20140608

Posted by: Mina | Jun 9 2014 15:07 utc | 132

Back to Main