Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
May 02, 2016

Kerry To Negotiate New Ceasefire In Syria - But With His Own Side

U.S. Secretary of State is in Geneva today to renegotiate a cessation of hostilities between the Syrian government forces and the foreign supported "rebels" in Syria. But there is something very curious going on with these negotiations. Kerry will neither talk with the Syrian government nor with the Russians. The Russian Foreign Minister is not even expected to come.

No, Kerry is negotiating  with the U.S. allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia who support the same "rebels" that are opposed to the Syrian government that the U.S. itself supported all along. He now asks them to separate their proxy forces in Syria from the terrorist organization al-Qaeda/Jabhat al-Nusra.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he hoped to make progress in talks in Geneva over the next two days toward renewing a cessation of hostilities agreement throughout Syria and resuming peace talks to end the fighting.

"The hope is we can make some progress," Kerry said at the start of a meeting with Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh shortly after arriving in Geneva.
...
The Syrian army announced on Friday a "regime of calm", or lull in fighting, which applied to Damascus and some of its outskirts, and parts of northwestern coastal province Latakia. But it excluded Aleppo.

Kerry made clear that a ceasefire was needed throughout Syria and he hoped to be able to reaffirm the cessation of hostilities after talks in Geneva. He is due to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and De Mistura on Monday.

According to military spokesperson of the U.S. alliance against the Islamic State, Colonel Warren, the "rebel" occupied parts of Aleppo city are under control of al-Qaeda:

[I]t's primarily al-Nusra who holds Aleppo, and of course, al-Nusra is not part of the cessation of hostilities. So it's complicated.

Two UN Security Council Resolution calls on all UN members to "eradicate" al-Qaeda/al-Nusra. ALL UNSC members agreed to Resolution 2254 which:

Reiterates its call in resolution 2249 (2015) for Member States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da’esh), Al-Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL [...] and to eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Syria, and notes that the aforementioned ceasefire will not apply to offensive or defensive actions against these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities,...

There is simply no basis for Kerry to beg for a ceasefire for "rebel" held areas of Aleppo city when his own military says that these are in the hands of al-Qaeda which the UNSC calls to eradicate. The Russian's have said that much.

So here is what Kerry is left to do: Beg the U.S. allies to move away their "Free Syrian Army" proxy groups from al-Qaeda so al-Qaeda can be eradicated by the Syrian Army and its allies.

But al-Qaeda is by now an integrated part of those Saudi/Qatar/U.S. paid proxy forces and well accepted by those groups. It gets its weapons and ammunition from the very proxy groups the U.S. now wants to separate from it. Even if the Saudis and Jordanians assert their influence over these groups it is unlikely that the fighters on the ground will follow their directives.

The Russian air force is ready to renew its bombing campaign against all opposition forces in Syria that do not agree to a cessation of hostilities.

No U.S. propaganda campaign can wave away al-Qaeda's presence in Syria nor the UNSC resolutions the U.S. itself agreed to. Either Kerry manages to pressure Saudi Arabia and Jordan to move their proxies away from al-Qaeda or there will be again an all out Russian campaign to eradicate them. It is unlikely that any of those proxies would survive such a campaign.

Kerry is now left to negotiate with U.S allies against al-Qaeda. He now has to argue from the same perspective as the Syrian and Russian government. This is a mess of his own making. How will he escape from it?

Posted by b on May 2, 2016 at 11:00 UTC | Permalink

Comments

"Softly softly catchee monkey". Looks like Mr Heinz has been boxed in by patient diplomacy and military struggles, constantly denying the anti Syrian alliance the routes they need to defeat the Syrian state. It is a constant wonder the linguistic and mental gymnastics of the anti Syrians. Wonder how the Western media will report this story?

Posted by: Mida | May 2 2016 11:21 utc | 1

Re: Posted by: Mida | May 2, 2016 7:21:43 AM | 1

"Wonder how the Western media will report this story?"


As the Syrian/Iranian/Russian massacre of innocent civilians.

Posted by: Jules | May 2 2016 12:00 utc | 2

Keep an eye on the ny times' spin

All the world is a stage

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2016/03/americas-fake-war-on-isis-grinds-on.html?m=1
http://www.dansanchez.me/feed/war-is-realizing-the-israelizing-of-the-world

and even zerohedge is posting content from the gatestone institute and S.I.TE. Intelligence.


Posted by: Captain Ahab | May 2 2016 12:47 utc | 3

@1 Mida

Does it make any difference how corporate media report it? They're talking to themselves. No one else is listening. The Russians and Syrians have demonstrated the whatever you say it's what you do that counts. Everyone has noticed that by now.

And when what you say is not only at odds with what you do, but internally inconsistent as well, people stop paying any attention at all. That's where Kerry/Obama are now. No one is listening. No one pays attention to them anymore.

Posted by: jfl | May 2 2016 12:54 utc | 4

For anyone paying attention, this "Negotiation" thing by JK is a joke.

"FSA rejects local ceasefires, supports halt in Syria peace talks"

https://www.rt.com/news/341572-fsa-rejects-local-syria-ceasefires/


Posted by: ben | May 2 2016 13:15 utc | 5

Kerry to "friends" in Geneva:
"The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!!!"

Posted by: Perimetr | May 2 2016 13:21 utc | 6

War & Working People Struggle for Human Dignity.
Posted on May 2, 2016 by Joe Contrarian

What Syrian war has to do with working people struggle for dignity? A lot. In fact any war ever fought after Napoleonic revolution that created notion of national army, conscripted from ordinary people, unpaid soldiers who are willing to sacrifice themselves to defend their personal stake in the nation i.e. particular state organization of society, their feel or are propagandized to feel is threatened, was fought among ordinary working people spilling blood for their rulers’ profit, political interests and delusions of godly mission of grandeur. And Syrian war is an example of just that, unquenched US imperial hubris paid for with blood of innocent peaceful ordinary working people.......

In the western instigated and financed Syrian war situation is the same. Desperate homeless, dispossessed and jobless often young people unable to marry in times of economic depression are joining ISIL and other terrorists to attack fellow working people on the other side and both killing each other ultimately for benefit of global oligarchs no matter what propaganda they have been conditioned to believe religious or secular.

Syrian War Update: Piece by piece local ceasefire agreements are broken amid western accusation. War continues........

Another US/UK supported NGO in Syria unmasked as terrorist helpers and enablers.......

Continue reading complete, be-warned EXTREME GRAPHICS.....

https://syrianwarupdate.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/war-working-people-struggle-for-human-dignity/#respond

Posted by: Jack Smith | May 2 2016 14:00 utc | 7

JS @ 7: Good article, thanks.

An excerpt:

" Syrian war is an example of just that, unquenched US imperial hubris paid for with blood of innocent peaceful ordinary working people.

Posted by: ben | May 2 2016 14:16 utc | 8

How will he escape from it

http://www.clowncrack.com/2016/04/28/king-me-3/

Posted by: john | May 2 2016 14:33 utc | 9

What's going on over there? (in Washington). The empire tees up Syria again by supplying weapons and launching a propaganda campaign against Assad. The Guardian reporting is shameless in blaming everything on Assad/Putin.

And yet Kerry goes in and try's to calm it all down. clearly there are two factions in the American establishment fighting it out and feckless Obama is nowhere to be seen. We saw the same dithering in Ukraine where Kerry says one thing and the opposite happens.

Posted by: Secret Agent | May 2 2016 14:49 utc | 10

The plan seems to be to fight and fight in Syria until everyone there is dead. Then we can put in our pipelines.

It's apparently about pipelines. But how can that work, since they're so easy to demolish, and so many to do the demolishing.

In the end, Europe will freeze in the dark. Then the Europeans will eat the refugees?

Kerry's string-pullers just seem to think they are bound by fate to just, you know, win in the end.

Posted by: blues | May 2 2016 14:51 utc | 11

Kerry's mission is just an attempt at damage control ... only Americans believe that Assad is responsible for the failure of the ceasefire and/or that that ceasefire covered al-Nusra etc. even CBS admits Aleppo not covered by ceasefire ...

CBS:

For Aleppo, the U.S. is considering drawing up with the Russians a detailed map that would lay out "safe zones." Civilians and members of moderate opposition groups covered by the truce could find shelter from persistent attacks by Assad's military, which claims to be targeting terrorists. One U.S. official said "hard lines" would delineate specific areas and neighborhoods. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

and who will negotiate with our rebels for zones safe from their attacks ... I guess that would be Kerry ....
The rebels again portrayed as fighting a one-sided war of self-defense against Assad's aggression

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 15:12 utc | 12

Posted by: blues | May 2, 2016 10:51:53 AM | 11

The plan seems to be to fight and fight in Syria until everyone there is dead. Then we can put in our pipelines.

Or, I'm guessing, until there is such a humanitarian disaster that R2P can popularly be deployed to "take out" Assad ... some suggestion of a willingness to set a precedent of directly assassinating an elected head of state ... because this is taking too long and he's still in power.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 15:17 utc | 13

@ Susan Sunflower | May 2, 2016 11:17:13 AM | 13

I don't see how any "R2P" action could be used to remove the Assad government. If troops are sent in, the Iranians could send in maybe 1,000,000 troops to wipe them out. If strike fighters are sent in, the Russians could easily shoot them all down.

So how could it happen?

Posted by: blues | May 2 2016 15:31 utc | 14

kerry asking sa and jordan to keep their ''moderate''' proxy forces, away from their ''isis/alqaeda'' proxy forces, is a joke right? kerry in another pr dispatch hopes to clarify what an idiot he is and what an idiot does to convince others of the sanctity of the usa's war of aggression on syria... may as well get bozo the clown to talk to saudi arabia,jordan and the msm while he's at it... and no mention of those prissy clean turks in any of this.. i guess they are not in the mood to talk! they are too busy bombing the shit out of any wandering kurds in the vicinity.. their ''moderate'' proxy forces will not be separated from their ''isis/alqaeda'' proxy forces either...

Posted by: james | May 2 2016 15:42 utc | 15

Kerry Cohen Heinz is warning the terra groups, including the FSA terra group, to run away before the next Russian incursion. (They all draw their paychecks from "the West". If they sell oil, it's because the West allows it.)

The only people who can't get out will be the poor, the sick and the elderly.

Then, it will be repeated that Putin and Assad killed civilians.

Zionist Obama Hillary Biden will concur with MSM reports.

Posted by: fastfreddy | May 2 2016 15:43 utc | 16

Strange how the moderates are so friendly and interspersed with the non-moderates. You can't even tell them apart.

Posted by: fastfreddy | May 2 2016 15:46 utc | 17

Fascinating?

Not really. Kerry is doing nothing more than making sure there is cooperation and common goals between the empire and its minions.

No, the co-conspirators are not cute little yellow guys. They are the results of an old empire (born ca 1776) attempting to regain what it now views as the glory days.

You can see this process not only in terms of Kerry and his current efforts, but also Obomba's trip to Europe (and especially London) to try to keep the Europeans on board, plus the quadrennial clown show (American election) in which the Donald and the Killary talk about 'making America great again.' The fact we are losing it, makes for interesting behaviors ...

And the great American 'booboisie' isn't being truly progressive ... it just wants to return to the illusions of greatness everyone felt after Russia defeated Germany, and China defeated Japan ... and we pretended that we (the US) had won the war.

Many of us are forgetting our history and ignoring our rapacious past and our current wants and desires.

Don't ya just love self-delusion? Even your/our own?

Posted by: rg the lg | May 2 2016 15:51 utc | 18

Cruise missile from a battleship in the Mediterranean ? consequences be damned? claim "targeting error" First act by "the new president" ? Of course, it wouldn't really be R2P ... UN approval damned near impossible ... some fabricated military coup impossible?

Americans too docile, too brainwashed, programmed to applaud ... they probably wouldn't object ... Russians forced to eat crow, unable to retaliate. "Double good." I'm seeing a lot of people who do not care about Syria at all ... or refugees, or Libya or Al-Qa’eda ... edging towards "glass them all" ... even their objections to intervention appear entirely selfish, let them exterminate each other, but no one seems to question the need for use-of-force for national security conflated with military self-defense

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 15:51 utc | 19

@ Susan Sunflower | May 2, 2016 11:51:57 AM | 19

Well the Russians would certainly see any cruise missile taking off from a battleship in the Mediterranean, and down it with a S-400 or a MiG-31. Failing that, the battleship might perhaps then decorate the floor of the Mediterranean.

The Russians seem to view the Syrian situation as an existential threat.

This is what scares me. Hillary's amateur email server was likely full of way-above top secret info. The Russians and the Chinese probably had super-stealth rootkit Trojans collecting data in it. The NSA probably could have found those Trojans and determined what had been compromised. But... Hillary erased the hard drive!!!

Way beyond stupid!!!

How much would the Russians risk in dealing with such a totally stupid U.S. president?

I guess I have to vote for the Mafia's man Trump.

Posted by: blues | May 2 2016 16:25 utc | 20

I'd expect her to at very least duplicate Bill's "show of force" response to the Embassy Bombings .. Cruise missile to Afghanistan, pharmaceutical plant demolished ... Or Obama could be responsible as he departs, once Hillary has been safely elected ... possibly even to control the target and ferocity, keep promises made. Early days ... we don't know how much Hillary is gonna paint herself into an aggressive military corner ... or if she's keep those "promises"

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 16:41 utc | 21

@21 "...we don't know how much Hillary is gonna paint herself into an aggressive military corner..."


One lead article in the NYT calling her weak and it will be bombs away.

Posted by: dh | May 2 2016 16:46 utc | 22

Hi JFL Here we go warmish from UK press.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/02/us-appeals-to-russia-to-agree-to-rebel-safe-zones-inside-aleppo/
Don't you love the following paragraph?
"The fighting has drawn in global powers and regional states after all political efforts to resolve it foundered over the fate of President Assad, who refuses to accept opposition demands that he leave power."
Well that is someone's narrative, just like saying the Earth is flat.

Posted by: Midan | May 2 2016 17:18 utc | 23

Posted by: Midan | May 2, 2016 1:18:50 PM | 23
and they keep posting that ... and never mentioning the UN agreement that was the basis for negotiations which has a timeline (the calendar of which is now destroyed) that keep Assad in power until certain things are achieved ... Audaciously they also "demand" he and his party be excluded from future elections, iirc. Manufacturing consent ... the press makes these demands seem somehow "reasonable"

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 17:28 utc | 24

Yes Susan,it all sounds soooo reasonable when taken out of context of previous UN agreements as you point out. But us poor saps can't remember those small details can we? Meantime more galaza from America etc.
On a practical note a "safe zone" is nonsense; who will police the boundaries of the zones and stop the baddies from running back to the refuge once it gets too hot next door? Not the American special forces or FSA (Ha)

Posted by: Midan | May 2 2016 17:37 utc | 25

Saudi arabia is now faced with another dilemma: accept to stop sending weapons to FSA as they are still intimate with the official terrorists groups or face a total annihilitation of the rebels and a resounding victory to Bashar al Assad. My opinion is that they will order to stop the weapons but then they will become the target of terrorist attacks like Turkey.

Posted by: Virgile | May 2 2016 17:38 utc | 26

For what it’s worth, possibly not much, from Swiss Press: When the cease-fire started to creak n’ crack and the Geneva talks were postponed for 2 weeks by De Mistura, the US team and the Russian team, about 15 ppl in each group, and of course not necessarily accompanied by Lavrov or Kerry, immediately left and went to another country (not named.) There they stayed put and met for two long sessions per week. One report said they were stymied - not in opposition to each other but in general.

Moscow (Churkin) has asked the UN to class Ahrar Al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam as ‘terrorist’ organisations.

The problem for the USA is that hybrid war (color revolutions, finance, sanctions, threats, financial penalties, terrorist support sorties / support, destabilisation moves, etc.) are not working well against Russia. Or China for that matter.

Posted by: Noirette | May 2 2016 18:01 utc | 27

@27 There is no such thing as "hybrid war", never existed, never will be--it is merely a complex of measures which in Russian is called "podryvnaya deaatelnost'" (literally, activity of laying the bomb under something, demolition). Napoleon flooded Russia with counterfeit rubles prior to his 1812 invasion. That's "hybrid". Wars are fought against full spectrum of states' activity and they were always fought like that since the emergence of the nation-states.

Posted by: SmoothieX12 | May 2 2016 18:43 utc | 28

pl at ssr had a brainy idea on safe zones which you might not all have read.. i agree with him too - "If I were the R+6 alliance I would agree to this arrangement so long as the safe zones are within government lines and that all who take shelter there are disarmed before entering." pl quote..

@17 ff.. lol... send kerry over there and see if he can distinguish...

Posted by: james | May 2 2016 19:30 utc | 29

28 per 27

Semantics unimportant. It is important to identify color revolutions, finance, sanctions, threats, financial penalties, terrorist support sorties / support, destabilisation moves..

Along with False Flags, Limited Hangouts and Mainstream Media owned entirely by a handful of plutocrats - all hell bent on the pursuit of the Yinon/PNAC Plan for greater Israel, Manifest Destiny and full-spectrum dominance.

Posted by: fast freddy | May 2 2016 19:30 utc | 30

9/11: CIA chief defends hushed-up 28 pages because of ‘inaccurate, un-vetted’ info:

The classified chapter of the 9/11 inquiry dealing with Saudi Arabia, known as the “28 pages,” should stay secret because its contents are “not corroborated, not vetted, and not deemed to be accurate,” CIA Director John Brennan said.

"I think some people may seize upon that uncorroborated, un-vetted information… to point to Saudi involvement, which I think would be very, very inaccurate," he told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

Sounds like not even CIA Director Brennan believes in the 9/11 Commission Report. Not only that, but he says so publicly.

Posted by: lysias | May 2 2016 19:35 utc | 31

@30

Semantics and definitions are always important, be it in math, engineering or operational art.

Posted by: SmoothieX12 | May 2 2016 20:02 utc | 32

Kerry is merely displaying his 'Manifest Density' protocols. Verbalized 3 Dimensional 3 card Monte. Same as it ever was.

Posted by: ALberto | May 2 2016 20:28 utc | 33

Americans have no idea whatsoever that American "sanctions" are not magically compulsory and legally binding on all nations of the world we wish to punish ... the idea that our sanctions might be illegal, might be considered acts of war, might be collective punishment war crimes, much less might be ineffective - utterly unimaginable ... our "right" to punish those who refuse to comply similarly -- we use our various treaty and trade alliances to enforce "compliance" ... trade agreements are the new binding treaties...

I'd guess few people understand that the Syrian government has been under severe trade sanctions since the beginning ... and/or that crippling another country's economy can be considered an act of war ...

I asked a number of Americans if we would have the right to declare war on and attack the Saudis if they turned off the oil spigot and trashed our economy -- absolutely! was the reply, without a pause. 2 ton canary sits wherever it wants.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 20:37 utc | 34

Even though the U.S. was very angry when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor after the U.S. cut oil and scrap metal off from Japan, which at the time was fighting a war in China.

Posted by: lysias | May 2 2016 20:40 utc | 35

#20 and Susan sunflower

Amerika has no battleships in service.

Amerikas cruise missals are on an old gps system a can easily taken over from the ground or air. That helps save the S-400 for another day. The new gps system is behind schedule because Amerika needs Russian rockets to launch new system. Then again the war heads are at lest 5yrs away from having new software installed.

Posted by: jo6pac | May 2 2016 20:44 utc | 36

The evil US empire is in a desperate push to keep the murderous battle for Aleppo going on.
And when the Russians and Syrian government wins in Aleppo soon enough, it will be lied about as a great slaughter, Setting up the pretext of R2P so the US ]can send some more invasion troops to Syria it to attempt to break up the Syrian state and demonise Russia and Assad even more.
That will mean a greater division between Europe and Russia, the ongoing disintergration between the two, and more even more troops sent to Russia borders

Posted by: tom | May 2 2016 20:46 utc | 37

Excuse my ignorance (I must have missed something in the forever fast changing situation in Syria) but when did the Jordanians with King Playstation at the helms, get infuence in Aleppo? I thought they were the Al-Qaeda controllers and suppliers in the South of Syria. I still find it ridiculous that in his interview to congressman, King Playstation said that his airforce and the Isrealis were ready to take on the Russian airforce when it seemed that an airplane was heading to Southern Syria!

Posted by: Irshad | May 2 2016 20:48 utc | 38

yeah, I was stunned when (as an adult) I learned what we had done to provoke Pearl Harbor ... I had always bought the "no one could have anticipated ... " story ... Condi Rice on 09/11 should have been shamed to resign just for that lie ... the imminent terror strike alerts had been escalating for months ... reported on the evening news and in travel advisories.

I've always wondered if the "increased chatter" that was considered so ominous had anything to do with anyone knowing about the impending attack or a result of all those other warnings ...

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2 2016 21:02 utc | 39

Increased Chatter, Pending Warnings and no one could have anticipated - propaganda tools in fear-mongering psy-op and misdirection for inside job.

Posted by: fast freddy | May 2 2016 22:16 utc | 40

Posted by: lysias | May 2, 2016 4:40:21 PM | 35
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 2, 2016 5:02:21 PM | 39

Even though the U.S. was very angry when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.......

Dun for a moment pity the stinking Jap what they did to Chinese in Southeast Asia and in China. The Jap took Taiwan and installed Puyi the last Emperor of Qing dynasty, puppet emperor in China's Northeast provinces Manchuria and took many islands.

The fucking Jap experimented on live Chinese in secret lab "UNIT 731, JAPAN'S SECRET LABORATORY OF DEATH"

http://jesus-is-savior.com/Disturbing%20Truths/unit_731-japanese_evils.htm

JAPANESE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE ATROCITIES AND THE U.S. COVER-UP OF SOME OF THE WORST WAR CRIMES OF WORLD WAR II

http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/World.war.2/Jap%20Bio-Warfare.htm

Most important read Nanking Massacre, Iris Chang wrote the book Rape of Nanking. The beautiful lady committed suicide in SFO, November 9, 2004 (aged 36).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Chang

Posted by: Jack Smith | May 2 2016 23:15 utc | 41

This story shows as clearly as possible that the Obama admin's policies in Syria are totally incoherent. There is no way that these policies are the result of any strategic goals. Kerry and Obama are, and have for the last 3 years, simply lurching from one crisis to another. The fact that CIA

Posted by: ToivoS | May 2 2016 23:19 utc | 42

Damn hit a wrong key and it posted: Let's try again.

This story shows as clearly as possible that the Obama admin's policies in Syria are totally incoherent. There is no way that these policies are the result of any centrally orchestrated effort to achieve some strategic goals. Kerry and Obama are, and have been for the last 3 years, simply lurching from one crisis to another. The fact that the CIA is supporting one militia group that is fighting the Kurds who have American Green Berets with them on the ground should be evidence enough. There is no way that US actions in Syria (or the entire ME for that matter) are being guided by some overreaching puppet master. The simplest way to look at this is that the US government is divided into multiple factions such as the Depts of State and Treasury, the CIA, the Pentagon and Obama's NSC that spend as much time fighting with each other as with any vaguely defined external enemy. This is a reflection of Obama's inability to lead.

Posted by: ToivoS | May 2 2016 23:35 utc | 43

blues (OT?) please bear with me for additional info on the stinking Jap...

Please, watch the last video (China’s V-Day military parade in Beijing 2015), this will be China responds if the stinking Jap try again to invades China with together with imperial regime changer US.

Spectrum Asia 12/13/2015 Memories of massacre, Nanjing 1937 Part 2

http://english.cntv.cn/2015/12/14/VIDE1450045688327130.shtml

Nanjing holds remembrance service for 1937 massacre

http://english.cntv.cn/2015/12/13/VIDE1449983886028248.shtml

China’s V-Day military parade in Beijing 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoC0Xcjko0A

Posted by: Jack Smith | May 2 2016 23:39 utc | 44

He will scape forward..."keeping appearances", trying save faces, portraying US as an obliging peace broker, Jerry, sorry, Kerry, the Catholic Jew, have a big mess inside that is for sure...

Posted by: Rihard | May 3 2016 2:46 utc | 45

Jack Smith @ 41:

I object to your comment referring to Japanese people as "the stinking Jap" or "the fucking Jap".

If you want to criticise the Japanese Imperial government for its policies in its SE Asian colonies and its biological and chemical warfare experiments in Manchuria and Nanjing, or the Japanese Imperial armed forces' brutality in China and beyond in the 1930s and 40s, you can do so without resorting to racist epithets.

I say this as someone whose maternal relatives fled Japanese forces in Papua New Guinea during WW2 and came to Australia as refugees with just the clothes on their backs in 1943. (They were lucky they were not deported back to China by the Australian government at the end of the war.)

Posted by: Jen | May 3 2016 2:59 utc | 46

ToivoS @43

All very true indeed, except for:

This is a reflection of Obama's inability to lead.

The USA is not a monolithic entity. No American President is, in reality, 'All Powerful', ie. some sort of Wizard of Oz ...

The situation you describe re internal warring fiefdoms/turfwars, policies and agenda's goes back to the Vietnam War(and contributed significant to the, 'Loss'), hell to the Spanish-American war circa 1898, or the Mexican-American War 184?, even since shortly after the Revolutionary War. Regretfully, one could argue it is exactly how the 'system' was designed and is intended to function ...

Posted by: Outraged | May 3 2016 3:22 utc | 47

I beg you all, fall not, ever, the religious trap...money way, idolatry or fetishism, when you get enough rest is easy (or seems alike), if not "fool" enough,...right way is hard, always...so (it is what make things interesting), I am just pointing unavoidable contradictions among deep, shadow government and a couple monotheistic, "divine" beliefs...just provoking intellectual restlessness, as Logos evolution is infinite but "reality" (God included) seems it is trans-infinite (balnance equilibrium tendency, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, etc.)..."they" try convince us there is a "key" for everything, except(ionalism) for (their) evilness...just a crazy, barroque opinion

Posted by: Rihard | May 3 2016 3:46 utc | 48

Obama's mantra is: "Never stop trying to overthrow the Syrian government until my last day in office". He is determined to keep at it no matter what the cost to the CIA budget or to the Syrian people. Don't forget that even after the Geneva talks began, Kerry was urging Obama to blow up some Syrian government targets with cruise missiles.

Gareth Porter, Middle East Eye: "Jeffrey Goldberg’s newly published book-length article on Barack Obama and the Middle East includes a major revelation that brings US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Syrian diplomacy into sharper focus: it reports that Kerry has sought on several occasions without success over the past several months to get Obama’s approval for cruise missile strikes against the Syrian government."

Posted by: Diana | May 3 2016 4:09 utc | 49

BBC reporting Erdogan/Turkey is going to get his visa-free Schengen access tomorrow or the day after ...

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 3 2016 4:18 utc | 50

JackSmith@41
[1] Battalion 731 were were doing experiments to find a way to selectively destroy a particular group based on race/biological differenciation. E.g., cause harmful effect on Manchu Chinese with minimal effect on Han Chinese. They tried all ways, including fatal operations on live civilians and American POWs, without finding any pathway. This, of course, preceded modern DNA knowledge.
##731 surrendered at end of WW@ and bought their immunity from War Criminal trials by offering their collected data to reps of US Navy. They walked free. Today, given DNA understanding, how can doubt there are covert programs to accomplish similar ends?

[2] As to "Who knew?" and "How could anyone know...?", here's 2nd-hand anecdote:
A good friend was a German national living in England in 1939, whose business was collecting photographs for sale to various media who needed some particular image. He was picked up and chose between being sent to a camp for the duration or exile in Shanghai. So he took steamer to Canada, then train to Vancouver and steamer to Shanghai. [Denied US visa while crossing Canada. Had sister in US.]
He managed bar in Shanghai while pursuing a US visa.

He and many others watched Jap. fleet movements and overwhelming coastal talk/scuttlebutt left no doubt World War was coming. Finally got visa and took first passage out on Jap. freighter to West Coast, California. Every morning the few passengers arose and immed went topside to see the sun or otherwise determine ship still heading East. They knew Jap. fleet was to turn East to hit US. Disembarked in US 6 months before Pearl Harbor.

Posted by: chu teh | May 3 2016 6:18 utc | 51

@41 js

I used to think you were just johnny-one-note, but now I see that you have a single, strong racist stripe running from head to tail as well.

@chu teh [1]

Been reading too much Robert Heinlen.

Creepy folks we have hanging in the wings here at MoA.

Posted by: jfl | May 3 2016 8:08 utc | 52

Politicians by nature are kiss up - kick down, committee navigating, consensus operators. Obama offers a prime example. Kicking down and kissing up from Chicago to WH, he's the narcissistic, cool dude - No Drama Obama. He committees with Kerry, Nuland/Nudelman/Kagan, Powers/Sunstein, Kissinger, Brzezinski, Rita Katz and dozens of others - kiss-up/kick-downs like him.

Each brings that lovely trait to the table along with varying degrees of blood lust and their own narcissism. The PNAC and Yinon Plans (similar) are their road maps.

Obama fears the CIA (father Dr. Frankenstein) and the NSA, as he well should. They all do.

Posted by: fast freddy | May 3 2016 11:05 utc | 53

@ fast freddy | May 3, 2016 7:05:29 AM | 55

{Quote} Obama fears the CIA (father Dr. Frankenstein) and the NSA, as he well should. They all do. {Unquote} -- fast freddy

Of course politicians run nothing. The Great Pirates (Skull and Bones, et al.) run it all. The security and financial class are the real mafia. Governments can only go so far, beyond which a J.F.K./Nixon event occurs. It's called regime change in other places.

The real internal conflict is between the normal gangsters and the neocon psychopaths.

Posted by: blues | May 3 2016 11:38 utc | 54

Toivos@43 "There is no way that these policies are the result of any centrally orchestrated effort to achieve some strategic goals". In my opinion the strategic policy of the US is to damage the 'arc of resistance' by replacing Assad with a puppet favourable to the GCC, Turkey and of course the US. To that end as Seymour Hersh wrote in the 'redirection' the US favours the Sunni dictators, who are more malleable and incidentally are siding with Israel at the present time. Syria is the low hanging fruit, if Assad cannot be removed, the next best option for the US is to destroy Syria, how cynical is that?

Posted by: harrylaw | May 3 2016 11:55 utc | 55

http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2016/05/02/obama-defines-his-russia-legacy/
Three incidents through the month of April involving the US and Russian forces have led to a significant rise in tensions between Washington and Moscow. Interestingly, all three incidents occurred close to Russia’s borders – two involving US spy planes sneaking close to Russian territory (one with its transponder shut down to evade detection by radar) and a third one involving USS Donald Cook, equipped with cruise missiles, coming within 70 kms of the highly sensitive Russian naval base in the Kaliningrad enclave in the Baltic Sea. (here, here and here)

Interestingly, the US has lodged protests that the Russian jets scrambled to ward off the intruders. From all appearance, Washington is dusting up the Cold-War era game of ‘poking the bear’ and provoking it to react so that synergy can be generated elsewhere on the political and diplomatic fronts. What is afoot?

Three plausible explanations come to mind. The common thread is that the Barack Obama administration is deliberately ratcheting up tensions with Russia when it is left with just 6 months in office before the presidency enters the ‘lame duck’ period between the November election and the swearing in of the new president in January.

This may seem an irrational move by a cerebral mind like President Obama but in this case he is actually creating a presidential legacy which the next US administration will be hard-pressed to revoke. In short, Obama is ensuring that the dice is cast in the US-Russia relationship even long after he is gone from the White House. Even a revisionist like Donald Trump will have to pay heed to Obama’s legacy on Russia ties.

Posted by: okie farmer | May 3 2016 12:41 utc | 56

jfl @ 54: "Creepy folks we have hanging in the wings here at MoA."

No doubt true, but, my take is, that JS only says these things to discredit b and this site. IMO, he's/ she/ it, is paid for the effort.

Posted by: ben | May 3 2016 13:57 utc | 57

harrylaw @ 57: "Syria is the low hanging fruit, if Assad cannot be removed, the next best option for the US is to destroy Syria, how cynical is that?"

Good post hl, I see it exactly the same.

This from RT, IMO supports your take.

/www.rt.com/op-edge/340874-obama-hanover-speech-troops/

Posted by: ben | May 3 2016 14:19 utc | 58

woops, try this...

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/340874-obama-hanover-speech-troops/

Posted by: ben | May 3 2016 14:20 utc | 59

chu teh | May 3, 2016 2:18:03 AM | 53
fast freddy | May 3, 2016 7:05:29 AM | 55
jfl | May 3, 2016 4:08:15 AM | 54
Jen | May 2, 2016 10:59:56 PM | 48

Chu, you are better informed than me, but had my fair shares of experiences first hand and not from horses' mouths.... been to, lived in many countries. My many trips to Shanghai walked along Nanking Road and the waterfront..... I could reveal more....

I am a PACIFY - read, watch enough of the barbarism everywhere and referring specifically to the stinking, fucking Jap. occupation in China and elsewhere especially in Nanking. China was occupied (Conquered) by multinationals.....the Mongol, Manchu and later the US, Russian, Jap., Brit, France, Australian, Germany...... in Shanghai International Settlement. Foreigners did cruel things to natives everywhere, like slavery, eliminating native Indians etc... Even smaller Belgian (Brussels) in Congo...

What amazes me was the brutality beside biological, comfort women, slavery, barbarism in China. The atomic bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki justify ending WW2 sooner or modern day DNA from barbarism, or separating natives’ children from their parents in UK, Australia, Hawaii, US and Canada?

Are we RACISTS or whatever for critical thinking regime change in Ukraine and now in Syria or systematically elimination of Palestinians?

(blues) No excuses for poor articulation, watch every word typed, wrong choices of words and sentences’ construction. Everything we wrote including blues can and will be use against us if the regime decides. We are all racists, anti-Semitic so to speak......

Most important - Japan changed and approved reinterpretation of the country's 70-yr pacifist postwar constitution... and rearming possibly for WW3 in regime change foreseeable China? Will vote for Jill Stein.. depending the outcome between Hillary and Trump before Nov.

Posted by: Jack Smith | May 3 2016 15:13 utc | 60

To describe Obama as cerebral, discredits cerebellums everywhere. His best persona was the pot-smoking dude seen bopping around Hawaii wearing that idiotic fedora.

When I saw that picture of him with the hat, I knew I'd seen him around. You see the same locals all over the island. He was a weird dude.

Posted by: fastfreddy | May 3 2016 15:20 utc | 61

Posted by: ben | May 2, 2016 10:16:46 AM | 8
Posted by: ben | May 3, 2016 9:57:27 AM | 59

JS @ 7: Good article, thanks.


Please excuse me if I send the wrong message, first you commend me for the excellent website posted in #7. I sincerely believed it, and recommended everyone to read it... it’s about humanity and wars..

https://syrianwarupdate.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/war-working-people-struggle-for-human-dignity/#respond

For those who have not read the article on Syria, please read it (very long and graphics videos)...maybe Joe Contrarian a paid troll too?

WE are human and can never agree 100% - may or may not agree with blues 100% but deep respect for his views here in MoA. My position remains clear - I am a PACIFIST and against all wars and regimes changes.

Posted by: Jack Smith | May 3 2016 16:02 utc | 62

JackSmith@63--interesting! first-hand experience. First-hand accounts IMO are represent the real sources of history. And arguably are the only source of actual history.

And the Emperor Hirohito walked free, too.
The dealmakers play both sides.
Which begs the question, For whom are the dealmakers fronting?

Posted by: chu teh | May 3 2016 16:10 utc | 63

whether jack smith is a troll always trying to upend the topic at hand or not, is hard to know for sure... the end result seems much the same though..

Posted by: james | May 3 2016 16:21 utc | 64

Smoothie at 32. I used the expression ‘hybrid war’ in its at present accepted sense, to distinguish direct murderous invasions / bombing / other use of lethal arms / flat-out murder, from manipulating currency, the price of commodities, support for “rebel” or “opposition” groups even if fakey; alienation, discriminatory diplomacy, spying and undercover ops, media hate-hype, and the like. Of course all that has always existed. Duh.

There is no way that these policies are the result of any centrally orchestrated effort to achieve some strategic goals. Kerry and Obama are, and have been for the last 3 years, simply lurching from one crisis to another. Toivos at 43.

Right on. Though the hapless muddling and messing about also serves to cover up some kind of underground, confused, purpose. Along the who cares line.

Posted by: Noirette | May 3 2016 17:41 utc | 65

Short note from Taiwan:

Yes, the Japanese colonized Taiwan.

Most of the Taiwanese were very happy about this.

The Japanese built railroads and handed out technology.

Taiwan has had various governments, various colonizers.

The Japanese are still popular in Taiwan today.

I realize most peoples who get colonized don't enjoy the experience.

Taiwan is a rare case of the colonized nation being grateful to the colonizer - in this case, Japan.

Posted by: gaikokumaniakku | May 3 2016 22:09 utc | 66

@66 gk

But, but ... weren't the Taiwanese themselves colonized by the retrograde KMT? Isn't your point like saying that after the war the Japanese 'were very happy about' the US colonization ? ... the Okinawans, not so much.

Posted by: jfl | May 3 2016 22:40 utc | 67

@65 noirette, 'Right on. Though the hapless muddling and messing about also serves to cover up some kind of underground, confused, purpose. Along the who cares line.'

Isn't that the story of 'capitalism', really ? There is no 'centrally orchestrated effort' - between crashes. When the crash hits the 'investment bankers' and their lawyers do compose a 'new' tune, just like the old tune, just 'a little' more extreme each time, and then the band plays on ... the military has always supplied the drum major and the cadences between tunes. Capitalism, there is no there, there. It's all right here, in our laps.

Posted by: jfl | May 3 2016 22:50 utc | 68

@64 james

Looks like js and chu teh might be two peas in a pod. Fledgling PRC troll[s]? I tend to scroll right over all the posts with whole lines of bolded text and otherwise few words separated by extravagant white space, a word to the wise troll who craves my eye, which I presume is the reason for posting. I imagine others have the same reaction that I do. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe its the empire of chaotic comments that's the aim. I imagine that in any case, we'll all carry on. I suppose that everyone is someone else's troll.

Posted by: jfl | May 3 2016 23:03 utc | 69

@69 jfl.. true enough and that is my approach as well - skip by a lot of those type posts that yammer on about something unrelated to the topic at hand...maybe i missed something about kerry being japanese or something.. or was he using a japanese interpreter to find an agreement with jordan and saudi arabia over those ''moderate jihadis''? kerry is a freak show either way - good rep for us foreign policy on the world stage - i will give him that..

Posted by: james | May 3 2016 23:55 utc | 70

Saudi, Turkish commanders ordered Aleppo attacks: Syrian minister


"Turkish and Saudi commanders have issued the order for targeting Syrian civilians and government troops in Aleppo," Omran al-Zoubi was quoted by Arabic-language media sources as saying on Wednesday.

I guess Kerry wasn't too successful? He's the only one who thinks others listen to him, I guess, whether those others are in the same room in the US, in Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia ... wherever.

"We need to make sure the cessation of hostilities is brought back on track," Staffan de Mistura said during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Something tells me the Syrians are trying to cease hostilities, and will ... when there're no US/EU/KSA/Turkish/GCC jihadis left standing to restart them in Syria.

Posted by: jfl | May 4 2016 2:45 utc | 71

Exclusive Interview: “Lavrov – “U.S. Tried to Include Al-Nusra Front Positions in 'Silent' Period”
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160504/1039066758/lavrov-nusra-aleppo-truce.html

The United States tried to include areas captured by al-Nusra Front terrorist group in northern Syria’s Aleppo in a recently established "silent" period during Washington’s talks with Moscow on the issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Lavrov pointed to evidence that linked the Turkish government with al-Nusra Front and Daesh terrorists, which have been excluded from all previous ceasefire deals brokered by Moscow and Washington for Syria.

"During the negotiations, our US partners actually tried to draw the borders of this ‘zone of silence’ to include a significant number of positions occupied by al-Nusra [Front]. We managed to exclude this as it is absolutely unacceptable," Lavrov said.

Lavrov suggested that some party wanted to manipulate the United States into shielding al-Nusra Front militants from government fire.[.]


Posted by: likklemore | May 4 2016 14:03 utc | 72

State Dept: Companies Using US Sanctions as Excuse to Not Do Business With Iran


Last month, Britain attempted to get a trade delegation arranged to Iran, and had no problem lining up companies, but was unable to find a single bank willing to go along, and every one cited fear that the US would “punish” them for their involvement.

The State Department has insisted from the start that this is not the case, while the US Treasury Department has bragged to Congress about how tough they remain on Iran, particularly with respect to its access to the global banking system.


Kerry and the State Department are 'out of the loop'. Just making statements and going through the motions in order to collect their salaries.

Posted by: jfl | May 5 2016 6:04 utc | 73

Good article on Iraq overall and specifically to the violence that broke out between Iraq’s Peshmerga fighters and Iraq’s Shiite Turkmen in Northern Iraq, and was mirrored in Kurd-Assyrian violence in Qameshli in Northern Syria last week ...

The Kurds, the Turkmen and the Great Middle Eastern unravelling


Now, and this is an important point – much of the ethno-sectarian violence which took place over the past weeks has been largely blown out of proportion to fit a very anti-Iranian, anti-Resistance narrative, as per the wishes of Saudi Arabia.

Asharq-al-Awsat, a Pan-Arab newspaper financed by Riyadh wrote the following lines on April 25th: “Kurdish sources told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Iranian soldiers and militants belonging to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah had been a part of the recent battles, fighting alongside the Mobilization Forces.”

If Riyadh is quiet happy to keep mum as Turkey lays waste to Kurdish villages and Kurdish minorities in Turkey, it is decidedly ringing the alarm bell over fictitious violations and crimes in northern Iraq. I’d say here that the devil is not much in the details but selectivity.

Keen to fan ethnic, and sectarian tensions to forward its own agenda in Iraq, Riyadh is once more playing asymmetrical warfare to covertly promote its Wahhabist takeover. This new logic the kingdom is now fronting – that Iran sits the political anti-Christ par excellence, only proves how determine Saudi Arabia is in cutting Iran off the map.

As Iraq is being pulled, poked and eroded at, it is really the regional geo-political order which stands in the balance. Should Iraq unravel, the region will likely descend in chaos – making a terror takeover a palpable reality.


Yes, Iraq needs a unifier. Syria needs to keep Asad, the closest they have to one. Libya needs a unifier ... Ukraine needs a unifier ...

A unified Iraq could put an end to Wahabist brutality in the Middle East, add iron to the Lebanon-Syria-Iraq-Iran backbone, and contribute mightily to the benefit of the whole Christian-Kurd-Turkman-Assyrian-Shiite-Sunni-and-others community stretching from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and points east.

Posted by: jfl | May 5 2016 8:20 utc | 74

re 74

A unified Iraq could put an end to Wahabist brutality in the Middle East
You won't get KRG to re-unify with Baghdad. It's impossible. The mental separation is now too great. On the other hand independence for KRG is also impossible, as the Kurdish economy doesn't work, and they are now bankrupt. The Angry Arab had a story yesterday about the Peshmerga running when faced with ISIS, but doesn't give many details. I'm still trying to work out what happened, but I guess that, if you no longer pay your soldiers, they're not that keen on fighting.

Posted by: Laguerre | May 5 2016 11:53 utc | 75

China Scrambles Jets as US Navy Ship ‘Challenges’ Claims to Reef


Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban said that the ship was sent to the reef specifically to “challenge excessive maritime claims” by China, saying they are inconsistent with international law, and that the US is “entitled” to sail through the area.

Secretary of State John Kerry, by contrast, insisted there was no intention to challenge anyone, and the ship was just passing through the area in a “regular process” of ships going to and fro. He said this after the Pentagon had already affirmed the move was an explicit challenge.


So does Kerry eat the same dog food that he's given to serve to the American people - surely no one in the world outside of North America takes him for anything but clown pretending to be the Secretary of State - or is his role that of an outright, habitual liar?

Posted by: jfl | May 11 2016 7:19 utc | 76

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