In the calculus of US neo cons, all US allies are all just eventual cannon fodder. They just don't know it yet....

Posted by: Steve | Jun 20 2016 13:50 utc | 1

I think you are making a mistake taking these lying neo-con 'diplomats' at face value, b. Their dupes have finally gotten the message. It's down to the 'believers' against the world at large now. And I think the number of believers, as well as the numbers of those who will die for 'the cause' on the mercenary field of battle, is melting away with the heat of summer. (It is summer back there, right?) Anti-democrats and neo-cons, Ford, Victoria, Hillary and the 50 dancing diplomats are still dangerous, but their mistakes are starting to be numbered now. Since all they do is make 'mistakes' their days are numbered as well. Hillary will set the record for shortest duration, inauguration to impeachment ... if she ever actually is elected. The bet there is less and less 'sure' every day.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 20 2016 14:00 utc | 2

Back when this whole mess started I listened to Webster Tarpley who was there before it went Bat S%$# crazy and he described it going like the coup in Ukraine with snipers shooting protesters and Syrian police .

This is a good find and post B ....thanks

Posted by: Terry | Jun 20 2016 14:02 utc | 3

HRC and Amb. Ford bothe rejected by the Egyptian people ...

Clinton's calls fall flat in Egypt political fight

'Monica, Monica' chants taunt Clinton in Egypt

... Protesters chanting against the U.S. — sometimes reaching several hundred — sprung up at several sites Clinton visited this weekend. On Sunday, protesters threw tomatoes, water bottles and shoes at her motorcade as she left a ceremony marking the opening of a new U.S. consulate in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

...
Even before a formal nomination by John Kerry, the Egyptian people will have none of it - # NotoRobertford.

Robert S. Ford, former US Ambassador to Syria and previous tenure as assistent to Negroponte
In Baghdad in 2005 ... death squads and the Salvador Option .

Robert S. Ford Political Counselor to the U.S. Embassy Baghdad (2004-2006)

Posted by: Oui | Jun 20 2016 15:24 utc | 4

thanks b... sour grapes on part of the opposition for being let down by the usa? who whudda thunk it? sleeping with whores will get you a whole lot and more..

Posted by: james | Jun 20 2016 15:38 utc | 5

○ Townhall Meeting Ms Clinton with CNN's Amanpour – June 2014

No surprise here, both Amanpour and Ms Clinton are advocates for neocon foreign policy and were trying to outdo each other. What expression is used when two women are in a contest of being more hawkish? I checked the transcript how often the progressive word peace was used during the long interview and Q&A session ... just once as in 'peace of mind.'

CLINTON: Um-hmm.
AMANPOUR: -- and also around many foreign capitals.
You were turned down -- your idea and your plan, with all those national security officials that you mentioned, was turned down. Do you believe that if it hadn't been, you would have been able to prevent what's happening now, isolate the extremists, as you said was your goal...
CLINTON: Um-hmm.
AMANPOUR: -- prevent them from going across to creating an al Qaeda state in Iraq...
CLINTON: Right.
AMANPOUR: -- 14 years after 9/11?

CLINTON: It's very difficult, in retrospect, to say that would have prevented this. There were a lot of forces at work, as you well know. There were many different sources of -- of revenue coming into these disparate extremist elements -- Russia, Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah were supporting Assad. There were already many players in this very dangerous space.
[does this statement make any sense at all, Ms Clinton refuses to name the allies giving support to Salafist extremists: Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt (under Morsi), UAE, Kuwait and Qatar - Oui]

But I did believe then, and I believe now, that it is important for us to know what's happening on the ground in these places. And unless you build relationships with people who you think are at least hopefully sharing some of your same goals and objectives, you lose -- you lose contact. You don't know what's happening...
AMANPOUR: And this is (INAUDIBLE)...
CLINTON: -- and that leaves it even more dangerous.

AMANPOUR: -- your own ambassador, the person you appointed, Robert Ford, to Syria, resigned and he told me in his first interview that he did so in protest and on principle because he could no longer defend the Obama administration's policy. And we see where we are in the world because of this. [Ford resigned after he was rejected by Egypt as ambassador – Oui]

I want to ask you...
CLINTON: But let me just...
AMANPOUR: -- should you have tried harder...
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: -- you were surrounded by the top national security people...
CLINTON: Right. Right.
AMANPOUR: -- on a mission to stop terrorism.
CLINTON: Right.
AMANPOUR: Should you have pushed harder?

Posted by: Oui | Jun 20 2016 15:44 utc | 6

You don't have to be a rebel insider to know that BHO, HRC and RSF were pressing for regime change from day one - they were quite open about so I think RSF is hoping the the American public have forgotten what was said as they always do

Posted by: blowback | Jun 20 2016 15:45 utc | 7

"so pls clarify: u knew all along tht Obama wanted "nego w gov" bt u&him "

Part of being taken seriously is spending the extra 0 seconds it takes to spell out words. Sry, wuz ur BFF Bash'r on the other line, like tots, lol!.

Posted by: IhaveLittleToAdd | Jun 20 2016 15:52 utc | 8

Maybe someone should ask the french ambassador Eric Chevalier who teamed up with Ford first then distanced from him when he realized that the guy was just a manipulator and a lier.
In 2011, Chevalier was sure that Bashar al Assad's government won't fall and he was right, but he was silenced.

"The brawl took place at the office of the Chief of Staff to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Herve Ladsous, between the French Ambassador to Damascus Eric Chevallier and Advisor to the President (Nicolas Sarkozy at the time) for Middle Eastern Affairs Nicolas Galey....
...
“The Assad regime will not fall and Assad is strong” and will stay in office, was the conviction of Ambassador Chevallier at the time. This is what he had written in his diplomatic dispatches from Damascus, for which he was summoned back to Paris.
..."But Chevallier defended his position, which was at odds with what the Elysee wanted to force through. He said that he had met with the Syrian opposition repeatedly, “but still felt that the regime has what it takes to survive as well as dependable foreign support.” “We do not care about your information,” Galey retorted again, prompting the ambassador to respond, “You want me to write something different, but my job as ambassador is to continue saying what I have written, that is, what has actually happened.” “Your information does not interest us. Bashar al-Assad must fall and he will fall,” Galey added in a sharp tone. The quarrel then grew sharper forcing Ladsous to intervene several times to end the “verbal battle.”

http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/21987

Posted by: virgile | Jun 20 2016 16:23 utc | 9

This guy confirms what we all suspected and what actions by the US and its allies demonstrated. It's nice to have that confirmation but it doesn't change the fact that Russia and friends will likely face an even more violent US regime in 6 months (the Clinton regime will likely win the election.

So what are Russia and Iran going to do? They need to end this thing unless the intent is to confront the US over Syria.

Posted by: Alaric | Jun 20 2016 17:01 utc | 10

it was the unvoluntary leaks day! today on a French governmental radio, the journalist they have in Iraq let slip that "the city hall and the hospital were bombed as they had been the two commander center of daesh"

Also, for b or others, please note that most French journalists do no understand the shortened English of twitters so it would be useful to have complete articles out there with "full translations" or detailed explanations.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 20 2016 17:06 utc | 11

Thanks b

Posted by: jo6pac | Jun 20 2016 17:12 utc | 12

David Milliband was on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show this morning, and, as usual for a good little NeoLib, told lies about how the "civil war" in Syria began. All the fault of the evil Assad who had his snipers killing peaceful protesters.

I am so sick of governmental lying and those awaiting power to tell the same lies. For the latter, the lies are an important part of their career plans.

This lying was part of a segment on world refugree day. Link is for audio, no transcript.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/world-refugee-day-reminds-us-crisis-ongoing

Posted by: jawbone | Jun 20 2016 17:38 utc | 13

Just more confirmation that Obama apologists have it all wrong. They will tell you that Obama wants peace but he is pressured by warmongers, etc.

They'll point to the Iran deal - but USA is actually now acting against the spirit of the agreement so that most sanctions effectively remain in place. Supposedly, this is to influence Iran to support regime change in Syria. But IMO the Iran 'deal' was nothing more than a means of delaying a confrontation with Iran because Syrian regime change was taking longer than expected.

Domestically, we see the same sort of duplicity from Obama and his Administration. "Progressive Initiatives" that are anything but. Obamacare is a giveaway to Insurance Companies. His tough talk on Wall Street hid the fact that there were no prosecutions.

The Home Affordability Modification Program (HAMP) was supposed to help homeowners prevent foreclosures but it was revealed that it was really a means of delaying foreclosures until Banks were ready. The homeowners that Obama fooled with this trick PAID TO WAREHOUSE THEIR PROPERTY until the Banks foreclosed. Many were minorities which had been targeted for abusive loans. (Yet Sanders wouldn't make this an issue because it would tarnish Obama's reputation. Obama had supported Sanders run for the Senate - along with other top Democrats like: Sen. Schumer and Sen. Reid)

Obama worked with the Republicans to comfort the comfortable and inflict the afflicted by making most of the Bush tax cuts permanent while cutting social programs for the poor. This trick was accomplished by clever hyping of "the fiscal cliff" followed by "the sequester" (a forced cutting of the US budget that affect Defense and non-Defense equally). What was kept quiet is this: the military budget needed to be cut anyway due to a wind-down of operations after the Iraq War.

Then there is jobs. Obama takes undeserved credit for "creating" millions of jobs during his Administration. Many of these "jobs" were just the re-hiring of people that were fired during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Non-GFC related job creation has been weak - and most jobs actually created has been of poor quality (part-time and/or low-paying).

There is much more, but I won't belabor the point.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 20 2016 18:39 utc | 14

For various reasons, I think russia needs to explicitly list Israeli targets as subject to retaliation in the event that American/allied forces attack Russian birds.

Perhaps the neocons {er...mostly Jewish Zionists - somehow it is CrimeThink to speak that truth though} will change their assessment if they believe Tel Aviv could be subject to the sort of barrage Israel loves to subject Palestinians to.

Go ahead and threaten russia with nukes. big country. Israel is a 2 bomb state.

Posted by: Florin Neamtu | Jun 20 2016 18:43 utc | 15

...
I am so sick of governmental lying and those awaiting power to tell the same lies. For the latter, the lies are an important part of their career plans.
...
Posted by: jawbone | Jun 20, 2016 1:38:39 PM | 14

You bet!
Western Democracy = 24/7 wall-to-wall & the-sky's-the-limit mendacity.
I'd really like to know how much (or how little) money these political party-nominated candidates are selling us out for?
The rampant and infantile smearing is getting beyond a joke too...

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 20 2016 18:44 utc | 16

What about translating all those tweeps exchanges in arabic and send it to pro headchoppers/unicorns/hearteaters twitter accounts? Just sayin.

Posted by: jean | Jun 20 2016 18:45 utc | 17

"Perhaps the neocons {er...mostly Jewish Zionists - somehow it is CrimeThink to speak that truth though} will change their assessment if they believe Tel Aviv could be subject to the sort of barrage Israel loves to subject Palestinians to."

Yes and yes. Russia should be rewarding Iran, Syria and especially Hezbollah every time the US acts aggressively. And Russia should list Tel Aviv as a first strike retaliatory target should any strikes occur against Russia or Russ.ians

Posted by: Alaric | Jun 20 2016 19:15 utc | 18

Sorry to be nit=picking, but it is "foment revolution", not "ferment revolution".

Love yr insightful and informative posts -- please keep up the good work.

Posted by: chet380 | Jun 20 2016 19:25 utc | 19

Off topic: why microbes produce compounds that kill microbes, and which can be used as antibiotics? Usual explanation is the struggle for lebensraum, brutal struggle for survival, and this struggle often requires weapons. Another explanation is that large concentrations were not observed in nature, so perhaps the antibiotics are used as signals. Say, cologne is used as a signal, perhaps conferring a bit of personal space to the user, but spilling gallons of the stuff in a closed subway car could kill, say, through sexual arousal too strong to allow to breathe.

I have hardly any sense of smell, so I register only particularly heavy doses. And there is a strong association of those with young males from Persian Gulf region. And there are no restrictions on the sales! Large containers have much smaller unit prices! No national policy to address the issue! I guess only IDF researches and practices olfactory warfare.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 20 2016 19:31 utc | 20

Erdogan Erdogone?

I'm guessing, just my opinion, that Turkey has felt the Russian jackboot rammed up its collective anal pore and the government, as a whole does not like the feeling ...

"Relations between Ankara and Damascus have improved in recent secret talks, as both sides are showing willingness for dialogue, Turkish mediator Ismail Hakki Pekin told Sputnik Turkey."

source - http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/06/20/they-blinked-turks-running-to-assad-clearly-afraid-of-russia/

Erdogone performs for his Kosher puppeteers ...

Erdoğan dined with Turkish transgender star after clashes at LGBT rally

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/20/erdogan-dinner-turkish-transgender-actor-bulent-ersoy-istanbul-lgbt-rally

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 19:31 utc | 21

The evil US empires pathetic obvious lies relies on the endless delusional acceptance of transparent lies accepted by self lying cowards. That's the 99% of the worlds population.. If you want to use the 99% in that way.

Amazing how many people want to mitigate US empire evil, if not outright defend. these people not want the moral and ethical responsibility of confronting evil and don't want to think about how bad it really is.

Posted by: tom | Jun 20 2016 19:33 utc | 22

Stop disregard the greatness of the Russian military force. It is able to bring out the planet from its orbit and to punish any country on earth, whatever that state.

Posted by: ALAN | Jun 20 2016 19:38 utc | 23

"The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), supported by Russian warplanes, has taken control of the Al Thawrah oil field from the ISIS terrorist group in the province of Raqqa. Now, pro-government forces are advancing on Al Hawrah, paving the way to the Tabaqa military airport."

Great 3 minute video SOUTHFRONTDOTORG report attached to this article ...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/video-syrian-arab-army-saa-supported-by-russian-warplanes-takes-control-of-oil-field-held-by-isis-terrorists-in-raqqa-province/5531981

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 19:50 utc | 24

Reuters is reporting a massive setback for the SAA in Raqqa, may even be in full retreat.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSKCN0Z623G

Posted by: wwinsti | Jun 20 2016 20:37 utc | 25

"In the case of civil war" why is it the responsibility of the US or its Western allies to make sure negotiations succeed? The only countries that should be involved, if any, are those along the borders, or close trading partners. The key issue is understanding. Any country that intervenes must have a clear understanding of the cause of the conflict, which only local or closely related people can have. The US government, on the other hand, is blind to the true plight of foreign nations.

Posted by: Karl Pomeroy | Jun 20 2016 20:45 utc | 26

@wwinsti – from Reuters link info provided by SOHR

IS launched a counter attack against fighters [U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces]
trying to capture the Syrian city of Manbij...

See info Pave Way IV and website Southfront_dot_org:

○ Kurds advance further in Northern Syria after encircking Manbij [near border with Turkey]

Posted by: Oui | Jun 20 2016 21:07 utc | 27

@25- that's the SDF, not the SAA. No surprise there.

Posted by: Nana2007 | Jun 20 2016 21:08 utc | 28

"I'd really like to know how much (or how little) money these political party-nominated candidates are selling us out for?"

Dear Hoarsewhisperer,
I truly do hate to tell you this, but the money is the excuse for 'candidates' who become our political leaders use to do what the complicit society (US) want done. IF you think about the current election, all three of the alleged leaders are looking backward to the day when the evil empire was on top of the world. The language of progressivism is being used to lead from behind the American urge to be dominant for selfish reasons.

Dear Tom,
You said "The evil US empires pathetic obvious lies relies on the endless delusional acceptance of transparent lies accepted by self lying cowards." And the self-lying cowards are not only the people who elect them, but those who don't bother. If we, the people, really wanted change then maybe the lies would be self-evident. BUT, and this is seminal, most of the people in the US just want their stuff and if that means killing the other, well, so be it. The lies you reference are ignored because the US/WE only care about our day to day illusion of prosperity. According to the myth, we are the good and what we want is good. According to the myth resistance to what we want is bad and so they are bad.

The rest of you? I guess I have nothing to say to the same old same old.

Rg

Posted by: rg the lg | Jun 20 2016 21:29 utc | 29

Lebanon? Remember Lebanon?

Ruskies tighten the noose ...

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Lebanon expects additional support of Russia in the fight against terrorism, Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Khalil said at the meeting with Russian Federation Council lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev.

"You backed our security forces and our army a long time ago, and now we would like this effort to be increased and to get additional support from you for our armed forces," the Lebanese minister told Kosachev, who heads the upper house’s foreign affairs committee.

More:
http://tass.ru/en/world/883494

Lebanon. If I remember correctly Lebanon is located right next to the only Demockracy in the
Middle East.

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 21:42 utc | 30

Wonder how combat hardened Hizbollah soldiers and command will do against mercenary forces and IDF baby killers and human organ traffickers?

'IT*' may not be 'ON' but it sure appears to be getting nearer ...

*WWIII

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 21:52 utc | 31

b, forgot about German laws. How about this ...

Lebanese Finance Minister stated that Lebanon hopes to receive additional support from Russia to help its armed forces fight terrorism.

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160620/1041606457/lebanon-russia-terrorism.html

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 22:07 utc | 32

My apologies if someone has already referenced this:

‘2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”’

“The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.
While a number of analysts and journalists have documented long ago the role of western intelligence agencies in the formation and training of the armed opposition in Syria, this is the highest level internal U.S. intelligence confirmation of the theory that western governments fundamentally see ISIS as their own tool for regime change in Syria. The document matter-of-factly states just that scenario.”

https://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-document-west-will-facilitate-rise-of-islamic-state-in-order-to-isolate-the-syrian-regime/

Posted by: wendy davis | Jun 20 2016 22:08 utc | 33

Lebanon Russia ...

"Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Khalil says Lebanon is waging war on terrorists, including the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra groups in the country’s north and east."

More:
http://tass.ru/en/world/883494

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 22:11 utc | 34

It's a bit surprising that with all the so called analysis of the Syrian civilian uprising and the war that followed Assad's violent reaction people still can't seem to understand that 'Assad Must Go' and the US negotiating with the Syrian government sans Assad was and is the goal if possible.

It appears now that Obama and many of the deep state are preparing for HRC's rise to power and much of the groundwork for more aggressive actions in the ME is being laid. Russia put on a good show in Syria but they are flailing about now and don't seem to have Assad/Iran following their plan for a negotiated settlement protecting their interests.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jun 20 2016 22:15 utc | 35

Terry @ 3, you're right about the snipers ala Maidan. The beginning of the Syrian destabilization was back before I started keeping files, but I remember clearly that the protesters were unarmed, yet half the casualties were police with bullet holes in them. Later protesters whom the police didn't confront were rejected by the local Syrians. They said that the protesters "weren't from around here, no one knows them, besides you can tell by their clothes." -- This last according to RT interviews.
---
I see Tom and rg the lg have formed a tag team to spit abuse at the 99%. Right in line w your allegiance to the 1%. You're never tired of characterizing the 99% as evil. You speak for no one except your own hostility.

Posted by: Penelope | Jun 20 2016 22:28 utc | 36

What 'B' says about the history in 2011 is wrong. Here is a quote from Robert Ford in an interview with TIME magazine on 28 September 2011. The date is about five weeks after Robert Ford and the USA gov't started saying Bashar Assad should resign:

Robert Ford, 28 Sep 2011: "The main thing for the opposition to do is figure out how to win away support from the regime, and not look to outsiders to try and solve the problem. This is a Syrian problem and it needs Syrian solutions." And on the question of whether the opposition should now turn to violent rebellion, Ford said: "It would be a mistake.... You want to be sure that if you're even contemplating this, you have a way to know that whatever you're going to do militarily is going to be effective.... I very frankly say to people, you don't have enough force to fight the Syrian army, you're not even close. We have to be realistic." Source: http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2094881,00.html

On 1 Feb 2012 Robert Ford said:

"We have cautioned the opposition that if they declare some kind of big jihad, they will frighten many of the very fence-sitters still in places like Damascus, and it will make ultimately finding a solution to this, a durable solution, more difficult." Source: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/01/u-s-sees-no-fracturing-of-assad-regime/comment-page-1/

On 11 Feb 2012 Robert Ford said:

"The US position is that we reject ANY KIND of military intervention in Syria, let's be clear about that. We are striving for a peaceful political solution. Even the Syrian people do not want a military solution to this crisis. We believe Assad should step down, but at the end of the day the Syrian people will make the decision, not the US." Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20120211-military-intervention-syria-usa-ambassador-robert-ford-bashar-al-assad

Apparently Robert Ford in the 2nd half of 2011 and early 2012 was envisioning a resignation of the Assadists under popular pressure from the Syrian masses, to be followed smoothly by a replacement goverment like what had happened in Yemen a just little time beforehand. What Robert Ford wanted to instigate in 2011 was regime change, but not violent rebellion for regime change. In this vein, in January 2012 the head of the government of Qatar (Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani) said at a news conference that the new plan for Syria by the would-be "Friends of Syria" envisaged the "peaceful departure of the country's regime," adding that the plan "resembles the one on Yemen." Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-01/23/c_131374541.htm

In early 2012 the Qatari gov't, Saudi gov't and other gov'ts were still not arming the Syrian rebellion. It wasn't until late March or April 2012 that the Saudis and Qataris decided to finance and weaponize the rebellion. The weapons and money started arriving in late May and early June. Immediately on their arrival, the Syrian army performed very poorly in the face of the newly financed and weaponized rebels in the summer of 2012, including the loss of much of Aleppo city in August.

Robert Ford in year 2014 advocated arming the rebellion. But in 2011 he was advocating a "negotiated departure" without violence. The same goes for the USA gov't.

Posted by: Ghubar Shabih | Jun 20 2016 22:35 utc | 37

History repeating itself? Why Syrians this time did not expel that scumbag Ford and his gang at once is beyond me...

The U.S. Has Already Completed Regime Change In Syria (1949), Iran (1953), Iraq (Twice), Afghanistan (Twice), Turkey, Libya and Other Oil-Rich Countries

Everyone knows that the U.S. and its allies have heavily backed Islamic terrorists in Syria in an attempt to implement regime change in that country.

But did you know that the U.S. previously carried out regime change in Syria?

The CIA backed a right-wing coup in Syria in 1949. Douglas Little, Professor, Department of Clark University History professor Douglas Little notes:

As early as 1949, this newly independent Arab republic was an important staging ground for the CIA’s earliest experiments in covert action.

The CIA secretly encouraged a right-wing military coup in 1949.

The reason the U.S. initiated the coup? Little explains:

In late 1945, the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) announced plans to construct the Trans-Arabian Pipe Line (TAPLINE) from Saudi Arabia to the Mediterra- nean. With U.S. help, ARAMCO secured rights-of-way from Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The Syrian right-of-way was stalled in parliament.

In other words, Syria was the sole holdout for the lucrative oil pipeline.

(Indeed, the CIA has carried out this type of covert action right from the start.)

In 1957, the American president and British prime minister agreed to launch regime change again in Syria. Historian Little notes that the coup plot was discovered and stopped:

On August 12, 1957, the Syrian army surrounded the U.S. embassy in Damascus. Claiming to have aborted a CIA plot to overthrow neutralist President Shukri Quwatly and install a pro-Western regime, Syrian chief of counterintelligence Abdul Hamid Sarraj expelled three U.S. diplomats ….

Syrian counterintelligence chief Sarraj reacted swiftly on August 12, expelling Stone and other CIA agents, arresting their accomplices and placing the U.S. embassy under surveillance.

***

More importantly, Syria also had control of one of the main oil arteries of the Middle East, the pipeline which connected pro-western Iraq’s oilfields to Turkey.

***

The report said that once the necessary degree of fear had been created, frontier incidents and border clashes would be staged to provide a pretext for Iraqi and Jordanian military intervention. Syria had to be “made to appear as the sponsor of plots, sabotage and violence directed against neighbouring governments,” the report says. “CIA and SIS should use their capabilities in both the psychological and action fields to augment tension.”

***

The plan called for funding of a “Free Syria Committee” [hmmm … sounds vaguely familiar], and the arming of “political factions with paramilitary or other actionist capabilities” within Syria. The CIA and MI6 would instigate internal uprisings, for instance by the Druze [a Shia Muslim sect] in the south, help to free political prisoners held in the Mezze prison, and stir up the Muslim Brotherhood in Damascus.

Neoconservatives planned regime change in Syria once again in 1991.

And as Nafeez Ahmed notes:

According to former French foreign minister Roland Dumas, Britain had planned covert action in Syria as early as 2009: “I was in England two years before the violence in Syria on other business,” he told French television: “I met with top British officials, who confessed to me that they were preparing something in Syria. This was in Britain not in America. Britain was preparing gunmen to invade Syria.”

Leaked emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor, including notes from a meeting with Pentagon officials, confirmed that as of 2011, US and UK special forces training of Syrian opposition forces was well underway. The goal was to elicit the “collapse” of Assad’s regime “from within.”

Interesting to note, Roland Dumas points fingers at the British, Tony Cartalucci wrote about the US Brookings Institution's "Path to Persia" war plans against Iran and Syria, Thierry Meyssan reported about French-British Lancaster pact to start the war and Sarkozy's plans to bomb Assad's palace by NATO (stopped by Obama)...

But what if there is only one master?

Posted by: ProPeace | Jun 20 2016 22:39 utc | 38

A Western official lies? That's never happened before! (Ha)

I have learned that when a western official speaks it is mostly lies.

Posted by: AriusArmenian | Jun 20 2016 22:44 utc | 39

@Penelope

The "snipers on the rooftops" tactics have been applied by the AngloZio anti-human bloodthirsty lowlifes already back in 1993 in Moscow:

The snipers of Black October | Oriental Review

BTW there are movies on the Internet documenting that "the Syrian peaceful protesters" were armed and murdering the Syrian law enforcement already in March 2011.

Posted by: ProPeace | Jun 20 2016 22:52 utc | 40

I have found Russia to possesses a very dry, very measured, sense of humor ...

"Russia is preparing to return an Israeli tank captured by Syrian troops in early 1980s and exhibited in the Kubinka Tank Museum near Moscow, the Israeli government said Sunday."

http://sputniknews.com/military/20160529/1040444995/russia-israel-tank-syria.html

Posted by: ALberto | Jun 20 2016 22:55 utc | 41

"...fermented the "revolution" in Syria."

It's "fomented," not "fermented."

Posted by: al | Jun 20 2016 23:18 utc | 42

More on "Black October" in 1993, the most telling part:
"Yeltsin's 'Red October II'"- TiM GW Bulletin 98/3-10

At 10:00 a.m., helicopters started firing at the White House, and at 11:30 a.m. tanks began shelling the building. Yeltsinoids announced to the world that firing began at the deadline set in their ultimatum. This is a lie - we were under fire long before that. At the time when the building was shelled, somewhere around 12 o'clock, Cossacks caught two spies wearing Spetznaz uniforms (Special Troops). They coordinated enemy fire by radio and, it must be specifically pointed out, spoke Yiddish between themselves. Cossacks executed them. Then a word of warning was passed around on the possibility of saboteurs being inside the building.

Good job on eliminating zio murderers! Unfortunately still too many alive...

Zio-scum is good at that - murdering much weaker adversary, attacking from behind, hidden. Cowards too scared to stand face to face. They also hire others to do the dirty job (terrorist in Syria), cheat, lie, blame others for their crimes (read Victor Ostrovsky on "Trojan" radio device used by Israeli military to fool the US military into bombing Tripoli).

Posted by: ProPeace | Jun 20 2016 23:20 utc | 43

Remember this from Jan 19 2012?

Giraldi: 'NATO and CIA secretly arming Syrian rebels with Libyan weapons'

Americans should be concerned about what is happening in Syria, if only because it threatens to become another undeclared war like Libya but much, much worse. Calls for regime change have come from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who several weeks ago predicted a civil war. That is indeed likely if the largely secular and nationalist regime of Bashar al-Assad falls, pitting Sunni against Shia against Alawite. Indigenous Christians will be caught in the meat grinder. Ironically, many of the Christians in Damascus are Iraqis who experienced the last round of liberation in their own country and had to flee for their lives.

NATO is already clandestinely engaged in the Syrian conflict, with Turkey taking the lead as U.S. proxy. Ankara’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davitoglu, has openly admitted that his country is prepared to invade as soon as there is agreement among the Western allies to do so. The intervention would be based on humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the “responsibility to protect” doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya. Turkish sources suggest that intervention would start with creation of a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border and then be expanded. Aleppo, Syria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, would be the crown jewel targeted by liberation forces.

Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army. Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers.

CIA analysts are skeptical regarding the march to war. The frequently cited United Nations report that more than 3,500 civilians have been killed by Assad’s soldiers is based largely on rebel sources and is uncorroborated. The Agency has refused to sign off on the claims. Likewise, accounts of mass defections from the Syrian Army and pitched battles between deserters and loyal soldiers appear to be a fabrication, with few defections being confirmed independently. Syrian government claims that it is being assaulted by rebels who are armed, trained, and financed by foreign governments are more true than false.

In the United States, many friends of Israel are on the Assad regime-change bandwagon, believing that a weakened Syria, divided by civil war, will present no threat to Tel Aviv. But they should think again, as these developments have a way of turning on their head. The best organized and funded opposition political movement in Syria is the Muslim Brotherhood.

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is executive director of the Council for the National Interest.

Posted by: ProPeace | Jun 20 2016 23:39 utc | 44

'fermented'? or Fomented?

Posted by: brian | Jun 20 2016 23:52 utc | 45

Ford uses the usual STATE DEPT sleight of hand to say that there is a 'civil war' in syria, when its a foreign invasion...US hopes at least to create oneof thsoe inclusive govts that US itself never submits to, hoping to wrest power to its puppets

Posted by: brian | Jun 20 2016 23:55 utc | 46

My apologies; someone at my home website (kindly) indicated: 'ya great idjit that link from Levant report was from a year ago'. I promise I will try to learn to read one day soon. @cordeliers had just reTweeted it via Jeffrey Kaye. My mistake.

Posted by: wendy davis | Jun 21 2016 1:39 utc | 47

@32 wow.. i am sure if you were around you would have been okay with hitlers rise to power as well... hilter, hillary - they share a lot in common - both fascists who seem to appeal to bozos like you..

Posted by: james | Jun 21 2016 1:52 utc | 48

J@45

Jimmy, you are going to injure yourself jumping to such baseless conclusions about what I write. My comment was just an observation about what is coming if HRC is elevated to CIC and the dangers of the Empress of Ineptitude projecting power.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jun 21 2016 2:12 utc | 49

@ james

WOW is an agent of agnotology, probably for filthy lucre, and since its return to MoA comments I have resumed checking the author of the comment before reading.....I suggest you do the same and don't feed the trolls.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 21 2016 2:35 utc | 50

Dear Penelope,
My criticism is based on inaction and compliance. In our small town, I am clearly part of the 1%. In our county I may be in the top 5 - 10%. In our state we just might be in the top 25% or so. Nationwide, I am clearly not much above the 55% level.
I am simply saying something that is obvious and clear: If the so-called 99% really bothered to fight back, they could simply by virtues of numbers, win. They like to complain ... but give them a tiny slice of the pie the 1% rakes off, and they'll lay down and go along. Some might argue it is forced upon them ... but if that is so why then are the numbers of people who bother to vote so small? Is it because, as you seem to suggest, because they've been duped? Or, is it that they are more or less content with the way things are?

IF we take your case, they've been duped, then why are so many so blind (or stupid)? If they are more or less complacent, then they aren't going to act because it is not in their best interest.

Normally, your analysis is fairly decent. I often find myself agreeing with some of your argumentation presented as fact. However, you seem to think that the idea that the US/WE are basically a good, if benighted, lot and therefore happy to believe we are therefore #1 in the world even when the reality dictates otherwise is to assume a benign behavior. I maintain that it is not benign ... I believe that it is driven by simple greed and a dose of hubris. It has its roots deep in what is touted as the western tradition ... one that goes back to building and creating empires at the cost of neighbors. Whether Assyrian, Greek, Roman, British or US, the empire is based on pillage. We have been a empire from our inception (beyond US to the first colonial marauder)though we pretended to be elsewise.

In my opinion, you are just the next in a long line of apologists ... and if that hurts your feelings, well I guess I should say I'm sorry?

Posted by: rg the lg | Jun 21 2016 3:00 utc | 51

This review of 2011-2012 is useful for people like me who weren't aware of the Syrian situation in its earlier days.

One retrospective worth adding to the mix is Sharmine Narwani's re-telling of how media, organizational and cultural narratives were all manipulated to inspire terror in the populace: How narratives killed the Syrian people .

Excerpt 1:

To create regime-change in Syria, the themes of the “Arab Spring” needed to be employed opportunistically - and so Syrians needed to die.

The “dictator” simply had to “kill his own people” - and the rest would follow.
[...]
Four key narratives were spun ad nauseam in every mainstream Western media outlet, beginning in March 2011 and gaining steam in the coming months.

- The Dictator is killing his “own people.”
- The protests are “peaceful.”
- The opposition is “unarmed.”
- This is a “popular revolution.”

Excerpt 2:

Longtime Syrian resident and Dutch priest Father Frans van der Lugt, who was killed in Homs in April 2014, wrote in January 2012:

“From the start the protest movements were not purely peaceful. From the start I saw armed demonstrators marching along in the protests, who began to shoot at the police first. Very often the violence of the security forces has been a reaction to the brutal violence of the armed rebels.”

A few months earlier, in September 2011, he had observed:

“From the start there has been the problem of the armed groups, which are also part of the opposition…The opposition on the street is much stronger than any other opposition. And this opposition is armed and frequently employs brutality and violence, only in order then to blame the government.”

The violence was undoubtedly coordinated with the propaganda. One often wonders how much any particular ambassador knows about the many events launched from a US embassy. My impression has always been: a lot.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 21 2016 3:06 utc | 52

And then there is a Russian attempt in 2012 to have a peace plan with Assad gradually yielding power as told by Finnish Noble Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari last year.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/west-ignored-russian-offer-in-2012-to-have-syrias-assad-step-aside

Russia proposed more than three years ago that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, could step down as part of a peace deal, according to a senior negotiator involved in back-channel discussions at the time.

Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.

Ahtisaari held talks with envoys from the five permanent members of the UN security council in February 2012. He said that during those discussions, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, laid out a three-point plan, which included a proposal for Assad to cede power at some point after peace talks had started between the regime and the opposition.

But he said that the US, Britain and France were so convinced that the Syrian dictator was about to fall, they ignored the proposal.

Posted by: Erelis | Jun 21 2016 3:10 utc | 53

Many US Ambassador are also real spies and secret agents in their own right. I am not surprised,honestly,not one bit.

Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Jun 21 2016 4:13 utc | 54

Re fomenting vs fermenting...

Isn't b allowed to have a little joke? I'd like to see the nit pickers try to squeeze a razor blade into the crack in the difference between 'fomenting' and 'fermenting' a revolution.
The Queen's English was designed, by toffs, from the outset, to create (pointless and irritating) "differences without a distinction" to amuse the Idle Rich and other class-conscious parasites responsible for England becoming known as the Perfidious Albion.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 21 2016 4:29 utc | 55

It's all bubbly.

Posted by: Eliza Doolittle | Jun 21 2016 6:50 utc | 56

@Grieved – re: Frans van der Lugt ... a tribute

○ Smothering the Last Flames of Hope in Homs, Syria

Posted by: Oui | Jun 21 2016 7:31 utc | 57

Thanks Ghubar
What he says in Sept 2011 is really far from the French position. I do believe the French+Qatari were much more implied than the US at the beginning.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 7:40 utc | 58

@50, Erellis

The story of the Russian proposal for peace in Syria in 2012, is like Sadaam's offer to step down before the US devastated and destroyed his country in 2003.

In both instances Assad and Hussein were just the excuse for the action. In each case the leadership 'of the USA' had already decided to devastate and destroy the target country, had erected the country's leadership as the reason for doing so for show - a completely illegitimate reason, the only legitimate reason to attack another country being that that country has attacked you. The last thing the USA wanted in either case was for its conditions to be met. The USA wanted to invade and destroy each country. It certainly succeeded in Iraq, and Syria was on the verge of destruction before Russia, Lebanon, and Iran came the aid of the Syrians.

The same thing went down in Ukraine, when the elected Premiere there offered to consider the country's application to join the "West". That was not what the US wanted. The US wanted to destroy Ukraine. And it has done so.

We all need to be clear on just which country is the aggressive hegemon right here and right now : it is the United States of America today, just as it was NAZI Germany and Imperial Japan some seventy-five years ago.

And if the 50 dancing diplomats + mentors + droogies have their way - and they do seem to be running the USA, Kerry has just joined them, and surely they were appointed by Hillary, or by the people who appointed Hillary the presumptive demoblican nominee - the USA will join NAZI Germany and Imperial Japan as hegemons beaten back and defeated, chiefly by Russia, and by China, but unlike Germany and Japan, left without a non-participant in the death, devastation and destruction of the WW it itself began, to rebuild it when it's over.

Perhaps, depending on the half-life of its radio-activity, China and Russia and the South Americans will follow a 'plan b' of their own, and partition the USA, and restrict the economic pursuits of its parts to agricultural pursuits, in order to forestall WW IV. Deconstructing the EU and certainly NATO would be a good idea as well, as well as erecting a statue of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who brought WW III to 'fruition', as an eternal negative example, a statue of the personification of 'War is Peace', svelte and smiling. A basketball in one hand and the joystick-trigger to all the hellfire he unleashed in the other.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 9:09 utc | 59

Like all Western backed thieves/opportunists(aka, moderate opposition), they're always thrown away like tissue paper when they're no longer useful. The US/Israel must be very happy, though. They managed, quite successfully, to get Syrians themselves to destroy their own country. Very impressive, if ya ask me!

Posted by: Zico | Jun 21 2016 9:37 utc | 60

@60, z 'They managed, quite successfully, to get Syrians themselves to destroy their own country.'

No one here buys that z. Try it somewhere else. Maybe sst? I don't follow them at all so I may be off there. But definitely not here.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 9:44 utc | 61

French government mentioned a week ago the possibility to forbid demonstrations against the project of reform of working laws. Then they suggested the unions should themselves cancel it. Now the police offers them to have a "static meeting" rather than a walking demo.

They have also started to deprive citizens with double citizenship of their French citizenship in case of terrorist affairs.

And now it gets better, one of the biggest French company, Ciments Lafarge, is shown to have continued to pay taxes to Daesh to keep working in Northern Syria in 2013-14
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/06/21/comment-le-cimentier-lafarge-a-travaille-avec-l-etat-islamique-en-syrie_4955039_3218.html

Soon there won't be any differenc between living in Europe or in KSA

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 10:58 utc | 62

jfl 61
It is alas the sad truth
look at Damascus suburbs, they didn't need foreign djihadists for that

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 10:59 utc | 63

@60. z

Okay Zico. Mina believes you. Anyone else? I read that at least 250,000 Syrians have died in this war, maybe 400,000, and millions are displaced. I imagine a few Syrians took the bait as the twits on twitter above attest. But that lasted only long enough for the horror to sink in. The pictures of the destruction of Syrian cities is fantastic, horrific. It was not accomplished by Syrians.

Has ISIS got Syrians on its payroll? Has al Nusra? Are the Syrians working for the Turks and the Saudis and the 'royalty' in Qatar, taking their money to wield the axes, to behead their compatriots, destroy their own country for EU/FR/UK/UN/US and the takfiris? I don't believe it for an instant.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 11:27 utc | 64

jfl @ 64

Who invited Al-Nusra, Jaish Al Islam/Fateh and the other hundreds of assorted terrorists groups into Syria? These guys wouldn't have entered Syria if they didn't have willing local partners! It's funny, in some Syrian provinces peope obey authorities in the Persian Gulf(Qatar, Saudi Arabia) than even their own government. The Syrian "opposition"(aka 5-star hotel opposition), are simply opportunistic thieves who had hoped to ride on the waves of the "Arab spring" into power. They have NOTHING to do with democracy or liberal values.

Syria and Libya is testament to how media can manipulate and entire societies, even the seemingly "intelligent" ones, into doing very stupid things. Syria is now destroyed and the only happy ones are the Israelis and their Western partners. Best part is, they got it on the cheap by using Syrians themselves to do the job!!! See, no body-bags being flown home...

Like I said, a very impressive feat if ya ask me.

Posted by: Zico | Jun 21 2016 11:39 utc | 65

@60 z, @63 mina

Reading the thread bottom up there is a mass of linked evidence testifying to just how quickly the 'interested' outside parties made their very own battleground of the Syrian political confrontation. The Syrian 'civil war' seems never to have been, what clashes there were in Syria 5 or 6 years ago were just the vehicle, immediately used as cover for outside aggression, which has destroyed the country. Syria was destroyed by the US/NATO/TR/KSA/GCC/UN and EU, and by all their minions, of course.

But the responsibility for the devastation and destruction of Syria lies ultimately in neo-con hands, and those hands are still cranking the organ, and the 50 dancing diplomats+2 - Kerry and BroomHillary - are still calling the tune. Unbelievable. They should be tarred and feathered and run out of Washington on a rail. The Muslims can stay, but the neo-cons have to go.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 12:06 utc | 66

Wow, this is an incredible post, b.

I hope you took screenshots of those tweets.

I don't know where these particular opposition guys are now but they may have just put a big target on their own backs. I'm sure they know that they are taking a risk by talking publicly and challenging Ford's version of events out in the open.

Ford seems prone to big mistakes, like the video he made when they captured Menagh air base, with the ISIS-friendly FSA colonel and the fighter who spoke about how ISIS helped them in the operation, on camera.

Posted by: Joanne Leon | Jun 21 2016 12:13 utc | 67

@65 z 'These guys wouldn't have entered Syria if they didn't have willing local partners!'

It was the CIA and partners who did the inviting, no shortage of Franklins in the invitations. They are all put up at the 'Istanbul Hilton' or wherever on their way into Syria. Moved through CIA rat lines from Chechnya and Xinjiang and points in between. The Syrians have been played all right. But it is not the Syrians who have destroyed Syria any more than it is the Palestinians who have destroyed Palestine, the Afghans who have destroyed Afghanistan, the Iraqis who have destroyed Iraq, the Libyans who have destroyed Libya or any of the other countries devastated and destroyed by the USA since the end of WW II. But the pace has picked up now and the DD&D is out in the open. The f'ing State Department is now openly calling for war. Even the cutthroat Dulles boys would have blanched at that.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 12:20 utc | 68

A sane Nation lead by Sane people would have two tools at her hand : Soft Power and Hard Power .

Diplomacy being representative of Soft Power and Military its Hard Power . But when Diplomacy turns into a crazed Hard Power using Mafia Style Diplomacy .... when that equilibrium is broken it is only a matter of time when the cognitive dissonance of "war is peace " gets so unbearable to the plebe ... that something within that schizo System WILL break .... and SHTF

when a ship sinks the first to leave are the rats .... it seems the rats are turning on weasel Robert Ford

Posted by: M | Jun 21 2016 13:11 utc | 69

For sure all the interested parties where there and in each corner of Syria: along Lebanese border, at Turkish border probably well in advance, and through Jordan. But ask any Syrian and they will tell you that among the Syrians who called themselves rebels in the early months of the insurrection (it is a Sunni insurrection, based on the textbook of the Hama MB uprising) many have committed far too many crimes, the worse of which was the campaign of kidnapping anyone you think is worse a ransom in order to get some fundings for your group.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 13:13 utc | 70

This new piece from NEO is interesting and has stumped me because of the coverage it got here in a earlier post .Usually a lie has to have some truth to it to make it believable but if the piece is true the the Russian's bombing the US backed rebels is a total fabrication .

"" But Did Russia Even Attack America’s Armed Invaders?

Russia however, has denied US accusations. CNN’s article, “Russia denies bombing U.S.-backed Syrian rebels near Jordan border,” states:

Russia’s Defense Ministry denied bombing U.S.-backed Syrian opposition forces in a recent military operation near the Jordania border, according to a statement released on Sunday.

The Kremlin response comes after U.S. and Russian military officials held a video conference to discuss Thursday’s strikes.

As is characteristic of all US claims regarding its multiple, ongoing foreign acts of military aggression, the most recent row in Syria is heavy on rhetoric and light on evidence. Had Russia attacked armed militants invading Syrian territory, it would have been well within its rights to do so, however it has claimed it hasn’t. The burden of proof is on the US.

Why Would the US Lie About This?

But when one considers a recent US State Department “internal memo” calling for more direct US military action to oust the Syrian government from power, it is clear such a call cannot be answered without an accompanying justification or provocation. It appears that the US-Russian row in southern Syria conveniently constitutes just such a provocation.

CNN’s article, “State Department officials call for U.S. military action against Assad regime,” claims:

More than 50 State Department officials signed an internal memo protesting U.S. policy in Syria, calling for targeted U.S. military strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad and urging regime change as the only way to defeat ISIS.

Claiming that US military strikes against the Syrian government, or that “regime change” is the only way to defeat the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) is indeed far fetched and is in and of itself a fabricated justification for an otherwise entirely self-serving geopolitical objective the US has set for itself in Syria.

It was US-led “regime change” in Libya in 2011 that has led to the country becoming a bastion for, not against IS and other notorious terrorist groups. Libya, it should be mentioned, has existed in a perpetual state of failure since the 2011 US military intervention, triggering one half of a massive refugee crisis facing the European continent, with no signs of abating any time in the foreseeable future.

In other words, the US desire for “regime change” in Syria will create another Libya, but on a scale larger than that in North Africa, all while compounding the chaos in North Africa further.
http://journal-neo.org/2016/06/21/us-seeks-direct-confrontation-with-russia-in-syria/""

Posted by: Terry | Jun 21 2016 13:16 utc | 71

Not totally off-topic, but if the assassination of anti-Brexit Jo Cox (and pro-immigration, which is why she was expendable to the zMilibanderim) works to defeat Brexit through some weird guilt-sympathy-psyop nexus, then these memoes narrating a 'he said-she said' will be resolved far more simply by another'lone gunman'. At any moment in time there are 1,000 credit-debt zeroes, brainwashed extortion-torture candidates that Deep State can use, then steer the assassination victim through a kitchen or stop in front of a storm drain or 'pull' the building, whatever it takes.

Black Hat zGlobalnazim will achieve full TPP deregulated labor and environmental no holds barred genocide of all the useless mouths to feed. Flags and faiths are barriers to profit-extraction, and resistance or boycott or exit is insulting the intelligence of the Ubers, who only have their own best interests at heart, and they don't give a frack about you.

If Brexit fails and HRH Clinton wins, we're doomed to Perpetual Black Ops behind a New Full Spectrum Dominant Google-Facebook Global Police State, making these little iconoclastic memo stories skidmarks on the way to Dachau.

Posted by: Uk Tahder | Jun 21 2016 14:13 utc | 72

Bit of realism from Patrick J Buchanan on the 50 diplomats plus Kerry
"What do we do if Syrian missiles and Russian planes starting shooting down U.S. planes?
Go to war with Hezbollah, Iran and Russia?
Assume U.S. strikes break Syria’s regime and Assad falls and flees. Who fills the power vacuum in Damascus, if not the most ruthless of the terrorist forces in that country, al-Nusra and ISIS?
Should ISIS reach Damascus first, and a slaughter of Alawites and Christians ensue, would we send an American army to save them?
According to CIA Director John Brennan, ISIS is spreading and coming to Europe and America. Does it make sense then that we would launch air and missile strikes against a Syrian regime and army that is today the last line of defense between ISIS and Damascus?
Does anyone think these things through?
Wherever, across the Middle East, we have plunged in to wage war – Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria – people continue to suffer and die, and we are ensnared.
Have we not fought enough wars in this Godforsaken region?http://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2016/06/20/trolling-war-russia/

Posted by: harrylaw | Jun 21 2016 14:17 utc | 73

59;Not one mention of Zion in your anti America diatribe???
At present whatever America does,it does at the bidding,or at least the approval of Zion.Or it wouldn't be done.
British guy tries to assassinate Trump.Don't the idiot British have enough shite on their plate?

Posted by: dahoit | Jun 21 2016 14:30 utc | 74

Being American has become very embarrassing over the course of the past few presidents.
I've never seen such childish behavior in these hand puppets to the elite. Fly me to the moon and let my spirit carry me....

Posted by: Adam Baum | Jun 21 2016 14:45 utc | 75

i tend to agree with jfl on most of jfls commentary fwiw..

@73 harrylaw. according to usa state dept spokespersons - assad is working with isis, lol.. didn't you get that memo? what the usa state dept people can't say is how the usa continues to want to use isis, al nusra and etc to further there own interests... the military intel chief in israel A HREF="https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-intelligence-chief-not-want-isis-defeat-syria/"> has no problem saying this!! - and that is another of the many reasons i don't agree with zico on the idea of syrians are doing this to themselves.. sure - a lot of people can be bought, especially if they are broke, but com'n..

Posted by: james | Jun 21 2016 15:47 utc | 76

that didn't work - here is the link - https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-intelligence-chief-not-want-isis-defeat-syria/

Posted by: james | Jun 21 2016 15:47 utc | 77

By "Syrians" you have to inlude both sides. It is only once viewed from far away on the other side of the ocean that you can imagine only foreigners can manage to do that among of destruction. And indeed, if not coached by local, they would never have made their ways in. Look at all the videos of the early very organized protests.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 17:09 utc | 78

Turd-o-Gone

Regime change U.S.A.

Ignorance of the 99% is by very high % the result of the ministry of information. The majority gets their new-speak from their tell-a-vision. Only a revolution right here will change that. Regime change our airwaves. The people will be beyond shocked to hear the truth they never got for the past ? years. Corporate crimes against humanity.

Posted by: Barbara | Jun 21 2016 17:20 utc | 79

@jfl

Fully agree with your analysis ... it were outside forces that used the early protest to fly in / ship in thousands of tons of arms. It was easy to get the arms into Syria: porous border with Turkey and through all Sunni affiliated groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan. Special forces of UK and US set up a training camp in northern Jordan near the Syrian border ... look at all supply lines that had to be destroyed. Hezbollah fighters with SAA and Iranian commanding officers fought courageously to close the Syrian-Lebanese border, especially the battle for the city of al-Qusayr (June 2013)...

Hezbollah has played an integral role in the regime’s ability to clear urban terrain in Damascus and Homs. The Assad regime sought to follow up on its successes in these areas by conducting counter-insurgency operations to clear the mountainous Qalamoun area, which lies between these cities along the border with Lebanon. A major highway runs through the area, linking Damascus to Homs and making it important terrain for securing the regime’s freedom of movement north of the capital to its coastal strongholds. Qalamoun has also functioned as a rebel support zone from which to launch attacks on regime positions along Damascus’s northern flank and to provide logistical support to opposition fighters in Eastern Ghouta. Rebels have controlled several towns throughout Qalamoun since mid-2012, including Yabrud, Nabk, and Rankous. Hezbollah has therefore sought to secure this crucial territory both to secure their interests in Lebanon and to support the Assad regime.

Libyan arms were shipped with logistocal support of the CIA in Benghazi, funding from Qatar with destination Turkey. The year 2011 and the Arab Revolt was heavily supported by the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar. Syria was split between forces of UAE | Saudi Arabia | Kuwait and the forces of Muslim Brotherhood supported by HRC at the State Dep't. The US could never create a united opposition force because of infighting between these different forces and that was an important cause for failure of the Geneva talks with Russia and Lavrov/Putin. When the Saudi rebels faced a difficult time, the former King appointed Prince Bandar to command the Sunni – AQ rebels in Syria and Iraq. Thus the AQI formed during the American occupation of Iraq grew in strength and build what is now know as ISIS of IS for short.

Prince Bandar released Saudi criminals on death row, likely AQ terrorists, for battle in Syria and an easy ticket to paradise for any believer of Islam.

HRC worked quite close with PM Erdogan and it is well know MIT took responsibility to transfer weapons and jihadists across the border into the Syrian killing fields. MIT also transported components for Sarin gas.

The fall of President Morsi in Egypt meant an end to the MB alliance with Turkey and Qatar. The other Gulf States came in and provided General Sisi with billions of funding to widen the Suez canal and furher economic development. The Muslim Brotherhood is considered a terror organization in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia. Egypt complied with its new master.

Posted by: Oui | Jun 21 2016 17:51 utc | 80

○ Stirrings In Syria - 2 Years On
○ Turks and Saudis to Install Sunni Terror in Damascus, Syria

Posted by: Oui | Jun 21 2016 17:51 utc | 81

The US Is Sleepwalking Towards A Nuclear Confrontation
Unless potential nuclear war is to be shrugged aside as an irritating distraction, here is the point of view of a former USSR citizen, now a US citizen!
https://shar.es/1J9HHu

Posted by: okie farmer | Jun 21 2016 17:59 utc | 82

Grieved at 52 -- thanks for the links. I'd been meaning to search for the early reports by Christian spokespeople who told of the early atrocities inflicted and threats made by the "rebels."

IIRC, there was a nun who tried to get the attention of the West to to try to save people's lives. Ah, the wonders of search engines....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255103/Syria-rebels-beheaded-Christian-fed-dogs-fears-grow-Islamist-atrocities.html

Syrian rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to dogs, according to a nun who says the West is ignoring atrocities committed by Islamic extremists.
The nun said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.

She said his headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. He had recently married and was soon to be a father.

Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix said: ‘His only crime was his brother criticised the rebels, accused them of acting like bandits, which is what they are.’

There have been a growing number of accounts of atrocities carried out by rogue elements of the Syrian Free Army, which opposes dictator Bashar al-Assad and is recognised by Britain and the West as the legitimate leadership.

Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, the mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara who previously has served as a source of information for WND, describes the horrors to which she was witness. One was the threat from Muslims that Christians of Maaloula would be beheaded if they did not convert to Islam.
In a question-and-answer interview with RT recently, she voiced doubt about the validity of rebel statements protesting the Aug. 21 gas attack near Damascus and expressed outrage at the “massacre” of civilians by members of Jabhat al-Nusra, the most influential of the rebel groups fighting Assad.

“What I want to ask first of all is how the international community can ignore the brutal killing spree in Latakia on Laylat al-Qadr early in the morning of Aug. 5, an attack that affected more than 500 people, including children, women and the elderly. They were all slaughtered. The atrocities committed exceed any scale. But there was close to nothing about it in the international mass media.”

The attacks included a dozen villages, she said, mostly occupied by members of the Alawite clan, an offshoot of Islam to which Assad belongs.

“That was a true slaughterhouse,” she continued. “There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage. Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths filmed.”

She appears to still be alive, as this post indicates:

https://thewallwillfall.org/2015/09/08/mother-agnes-mariam-syrian-refugee-crisis-caused-by-western-provocation/

Posted by: jawbone | Jun 21 2016 18:22 utc | 83

WHO ARE SYRIA’S WHITE HELMETS?
June 21, 2016 By Vanessa Beeley
Who are the White Helmets? This is a question that everyone should be asking themselves.

A hideous murder of a rising star in UK politics, Jo Cox MP, has just sent shock waves across the world. Within hours of her death, a special fund was established in her name to raise money for 3 causes. One of those causes is the Syrian White Helmets.

Are we seeing a cynical and obscene exploitation of Jo Cox’s murder to revive the flagging credibility of a US State Department & UK Foreign Office asset on the ground in Syria, created and sustained as first responders for the US and NATO Al Nusra/Al Qaeda forces?

If this is the case, and I fear it is, the depravity of our government, the US government, the state led media and associated Syria Campaign support groups have reached a new level of perversion of Humanity. The White Helmets have been demonstrated to be a primarily US and NATO funded organisation embedded in Al Nusra and ISIS held areas exclusively.

This is an alleged “non-governmental” organisation, the definition of an NGO, that thus far has received funding from at least three major NATO governments, including $23 million from the US Government and $29 million (£19.7 million) from the UK Government, $4.5 million (€4 million) from the Dutch Government. In addition, it receives material assistance and training funded and run by a variety of other EU Nations.

A request has been put into the EU Secretary General to provide all correspondence relating to the funding and training of the White Helmets. By law this information must be made transparent and available to the public.

There has been a concerted campaign by a range of investigative journalists to expose the true roots of these Syria Civil Defence operatives, known as the White Helmets. The most damning statement, however, did not come from us, but from their funders and backers in the US State Department who attempted to explain the US deportation of the prominent White Helmet leader, Raed Saleh, from Dulles airport on the 18th April 2016.

“It was unclear whether Mr. Saleh’s name might have shown up on a database, fed by a variety of intelligence and security agencies and intended to guard against the prospect of terrorism suspects slipping into the country.” ~ New York Times

The White Helmets are perhaps being demonstrated to be the most crucial component of the US and NATO shadow state building inside Syria. Led by the US and UK this group is essential to the propaganda stream that facilitates the continued media and political campaign against the elected Syrian government and permits the US and NATO to justify their regime of crippling economic and humanitarian sanctions against the Syrian people.

If this latest mechanised ‘NGO’ blueprint is successful then we could see it being re-deployed as key to future neo-colonialist projects. The White Helmets are a direct intra-venus line into the terrorist enclaves within Syria, acting as a conduit for information, equipment and medical support to maintain the US NATO forces.

Is this the future of warfare, is this the “swarming” outlined in a 2000 report produced by the RAND Corporation and entitled: Swarming and the Future of Conflict.

“The emergence of a military doctrine based on swarming pods and clusters requires that defense policymakers develop new approaches to connectivity and control and achieve a new balance between the two. Far more than traditional approachesto battle, swarming clearly depends upon robust information flows. Securing these flows, therefore, can be seen as a necessary condition for successful swarming.”

Is this why we are seeing what is, in effect, crowd funding for proxy war? Do we really want to look back and be “judged by history” for enabling conflict and state terrorism, violating international law and invading sovereign nations. Are we prepared to accept the consequences of such actions, consequences that should be taken by our governments alone but are now being diffused outwards to the general public. Is this an attempt by our government to disassociate themselves from their criminal actions?

To condense our research on the Syria White Helmets, we have collated all relevant articles and interviews below. We condemn wholeheartedly any senseless murder but we recommend that there is serious public and political re-evauluation of the morality of funding a US NATO organisation established to further “regime change” objectives in Syria.

Mass murder is being committed across Syria and the region by US and NATO proxy terrorist militants. Funding the White Helmets will serve to prolong the suffering and bloodshed of the Syrian people.
https://youtu.be/5k6hSS6xBTw

Posted by: okie farmer | Jun 21 2016 19:08 utc | 84

All of the above may just be so much dithering if Orlov got it right.

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2016/06/negative-interest-rates-are-coming-to.html#more

I think he very well might. Also, his speculation about genetic drift toward being passive may explain why the 99% are totally incapable of action.

Maybe the oligarchs will bring the whole system down and we won't need a revolution. Serves everyone, both the 1% and the 99% right.

Now where is grandpa's shotgun ... it's around here someplace.

Posted by: rg the lg | Jun 21 2016 19:20 utc | 85

Yesterday Le Monde latest NATO sponsored news was about Higgins finding proofs of the Russians using cluster bombs after some pics would have been shown by mistake on RT
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2016/06/20/syrie-l-utilisation-d-armes-a-sous-munitions-trahie-par-la-television-russe_4954347_3210.html?xtmc=syrie&xtcr=7
Interestingly the post they refer to is not on Higgins' site, and even more interestingly, the US/UK MSM are not following the French

Posted by: Mina | Jun 21 2016 19:43 utc | 86

@73 harrylaw, 'Assume U.S. strikes break Syria’s regime and Assad falls and flees. Who fills the power vacuum in Damascus, if not the most ruthless of the terrorist forces in that country, al-Nusra and ISIS? ... Does it make sense then that we would launch air and missile strikes against a Syrian regime and army that is today the last line of defense between ISIS and Damascus? Does anyone think these things through? '

Yeah, they think things through. Everyone still acts as though death, devastation, destruction, and deceit were an 'unintended consequence' of the neo-con USG's actions. It's not unintended.

DDD&D are carefully, 'lovingly' constructed by Brennan et. al., driven to the hoop by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and soon to Valhalla in the ride of the Valkyries, followed by the Götterdämmerung. Awesome! at Bayreuth, perhaps, in real life, not so much.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 22:57 utc | 87

@73 hl, 'Have we not fought enough wars in this Godforsaken region?'

I guess you mean Oceania? That's where the wars are all conceived and delivered, nurtured and sustained. That's where their, and Oceania's, end will be brought about. One way or another.

Posted by: jfl | Jun 21 2016 23:05 utc | 88

Yet nobody realises that it's a classic Near-East clan and sectarian warfare. Syria is a patchwork of different groups with their own authorities; Alawis came to be a force with enough responsibility to hold this country together by maintain a balance of said groups (remember how Bashar's dad crushed the Muslim Brotherhood way back when). Assad's men have, apparently, wronged one of the constituent Sunni clans that were upholding the consensus to support the center for the sake of the whole; this clan has started the protests, rather violent in themselves, and government responded to it with restrained measures, but Gulfies and Turks, along with the Indispensables, couldn't miss the opportunity, and so everything went to hell.

Posted by: Manirai | Jun 22 2016 6:30 utc | 89

Rather than a clan from inside you have to looks towards Lebanon and the Hariri family. Add the media empire owned by Rafiq...

Posted by: Mina | Jun 22 2016 7:29 utc | 90

WOW;At least you recognize the absolute mediocrity and abysmal prospects if HRC(Allah forbid)becomes POTUS.I'll give you a plus 1.
Hows the Sunni side of the street?

Posted by: dahoit | Jun 22 2016 14:08 utc | 91