Make No Mistake: the USA just Declared War on Russia.

[teddytennisfan]

journal-neo.org
Washington has Just Declared War on Russia | New Eastern Outlook
Author: Martin Berger
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, US President Barack Obama has been steadfastly pursuing a policy of armed interventions and conflicts across the globe longer and more extensively than any other president in recent US history. Now he’s sounding an advance against Russia, paying no heed to the fact that it may result in world war followed promptly by mutual nuclear annihilation.

One could hardly make a compelling argument how else one can explain the statement made by Spokesperson for the US State Department, Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, other than a direct declaration of war. The statement reads as follows:

The consequences are that the civil war will continue in Syria, that extremists and extremists groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which will include, no question, attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities, and Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and they will continue to lose resources – even, perhaps, more aircraft…

The very same modus operandi was employed a quarter of a century ago to take down the Soviet Union. In the late 1980’s America decided it was in a position to catch the “evil empire” in an Afghan trap through the support it would provide armed terrroists that have now transformed themselves into “moderate terrorists,” including Al-Qaeda. In the 1980’s, Washington took advantage of Saudi wealth and Pakistan’s secret service. That’s how the so-called Afghan resistance was born, enjoying Pakistani logistical support and streams of “fresh recruits” from all across the Middle East.

The former US Secretary of State and now a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, openly declared back in 2012 that it was a great idea from her point of view:

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, we had this brilliant idea that we are going to come to Pakistan and create a force of Mujahideen, equip them with stinger missiles and everything else to go after the Soviets inside the Afghanistan. And we were successful, the Soviets left Afghanistan, and then we said “Great! Goodbye “, leaving these trained people who where fanatical in Afghanistan and Pakistan, leaving them well armed, creating a mess…

What Hillary forgot to mention, however, is the fact that the Mujaheddin movement in Afghanistan was a “breeding ground” for Al-Qaeda assets. Al-Qaeda was and still is directly controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to promote a process of Middle Eastern destabilization, providing US military contractors with an excuse to invade state, after state, after state.

It’s the very same scenario that the White House wants to repeat now in Syria.

It’s no wonder it allowed the violent bombardment of Syrian soldiers on 17 September, since it was made in a bid to spare the lives of Jabhat al-Nusra militants who would have had a hard time otherwise storming their positions. It should be recalled that in September 2015, the former head of the CIA, David Petraeus, one of the godfathers of US guerrilla warfare, urged the White House to “fight” ISIS side-by-side with Jabhat al-Nusra.

After six years of perpetual war the conflict in Syria is not nearly as “civil” as one would like to believe, it is a conflict entirely driven externally, not internally. Syria has become a sort of a Gordian knot, a place where the interests of Russia, China, EU, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US have been impossibly tangled up.

At this stage, Washington is completely incapable of discussing any serious political settlement in Syria, since it regards any peace process in this war-torn country as the harbinger of Moscow’s, Beijing’s and Tehran’s continuous presence in the region and the moving forward of several energy routes that will gives these states influence and wealth in the region well into the future, all of which means there will be no place for the West’s “avid defenders of democracy” at the table.

That is why the United States objected so vigorously to the release of the Russian-American cease-fire agreement details to the public and kept the discussion of the agreement as far away from the UN as it possibly could, out of fear there could be a UN resolution adopted that would make it mandatory to comply with.

That is also why, while keeping in mind its master-plan, Washington has used Syrian territory to start the largest indirect war in modern history to pursue its consequential transformation in a direct armed confrontation with Russia. A total of 80 states are fighting both directly and indirectly in Syria. It is no accident that on May 23, 2003, instead of gathering Iraqi forces into a single large unit, the US occupation administration disbanded the Iraqi army, creating pre-conditions for the rise of ISIS.

In January 2012, in the midst of the Syrian civil war, the CIA created a “branch” of Al Qaeda in Syria – the notorious Jabhat al-Nusra. It’s no secret that the militants of this terrorist group at different points of time were treated in hospitals in Turkey and Israel – both faithful satellite-states of Washington. These steps were followed with the approval of the Turkish military’s invasion of Syria, which was launched on August 20.

To create preconditions for an open armed conflict with Russia, Washington has launched a massive propaganda campaign, aimed at discrediting Moscow at every juncture.

It’s enough to remember the so-called “doping scandal” and the “revelations” that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made about the alleged presence of more than 30,000 Russian soldiers and hundreds of tanks in eastern Ukraine. And no matter how ridiculous and unfounded such allegations may be, Washington would still repeat them, as if it had no means to track a couple hundreds tanks anywhere on the face of the Earth and then provide irrefutable evidence of it to the public. Moreover, we hear repeated accusations about Moscow’s alleged involvement in the downing of the Malaysian Boeing MH-17 over Donbass and many others. And the list goes on. Looking at all these steps, one can’t help but remember the genius of Nazi propaganda – Joseph Goebbels – who swayed public perception with the continuous repetition of transparent lies up to and including the day of the Nazi invasion of Russia.

Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

 

[teddytennisfan]

russia-insider.com
Stephen Cohen: Russians Have Lost Patience With the US in Syria (Audio Podcast)
Stephen F. Cohen John Batchelor (The John Batchelor Show) 2 hours ago | 743 6
John Batchelor has a very popular political talk show on America’s largest radio network, WABC.

He has Stephen Cohen on live in the studio almost every week for a full 45 minute segment, the only guest he gives that much time to.

Why? Because Cohen’s appearances are killing the ratings. America seems to be thirsting for an alternative and critical view of Obama’s Russia policy.

See below for a summary of this program courtesy of The Nation.

Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com.) In this installment, discussion focuses again on the two most dangerous Cold War fronts, Syria and Ukraine, and the failure of the two main American presidential candidates, abetted by the mainstream media, to address these issues in any meaningful way. Cohen makes the following points:

§ The Obama-Putin plan for a joint US-Russian military campaign against terrorist movements in Syria was disrupted by the acknowledged US attack on Syrian Army forces and then by an unidentified attack on a UN humanitarian convoy to Aleppo. Such evidence as we have strongly suggests that the attack on Syrian forces was not an “accident,” as American officials claim.

Nor does it suggest that Russian-Syrian forces, which had no motive, attacked the humanitarian convoy, as US officials also claim. These developments raise the question, now openly asked in Moscow and even in the West: Who is making US foreign policy—President Obama or the Department of Defense and other enemies of détente?

§ The political impact has been negative both in Washington and in Moscow. In Washington, the Syrian fiasco has led to more vilification of “Putin’s Russia” and thus made proposals for US-Russian cooperation anywhere even more difficult. In Moscow, the collapse of the Putin-Obama attempted détente in Syria has resulted in scarcely veiled criticism of Putin’s “soft” diplomatic approach to Washington, expressed mostly in criticism of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

§ Movement toward a negotiated settlement of the Ukrainian civil and proxy war, where the new Cold War was firmly established and from which it spread to Syria and to the Baltic states, also faltered. There the problem remains as it has been for two years. Despite pressure from Europe, especially France and Germany, Ukrainian President Poroshenko has refused to grant the rebel Donbass provinces a degree of home rule, as required by the Minsk Accords. E

urope now threatens to withdraw its support for Kiev altogether, leaving Washington as Poroshenko’s primary, and perhaps only, major backer. This emerging truth was illustrated last by US-coordinated efforts to bolster Poroshenko’s crumbling standing in his own country, which included a meeting with Hillary Clinton and various Washington officials, and appearances at the Council on Foreign Relations and on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN show. None are likely to help Poroshenko at home, where his popularity is low and his ultra-right enemies numerous and armed.

§ Unlike during the preceding Cold War, there is no real discussion of perilous issues in the mainstream media, which continue to blame all aspects of the new Cold War solely on Putin and Russia, or even in the ongoing presidential campaign. Once-gold-standard media degenerate almost weekly—even apart from their neo-McCarthyite slurs of Trump—from The New York Times to CBS News’s 60 Minutes.

On September 25, for example, 60 Minutes presented a segment on nuclear weapons that can only be characterized as Strangelove-like, nuclear warmongering without any dissenting voices. Still worse, at the presidential debate on September 26, though Trump raised several issues at least elliptically, neither candidate discussed the Syrian or Ukrainian crisis, the new nuclear-arms race, or the larger issue of cooperation instead of Cold War with Russia. Nor did the moderator, Lester Holt, who apparently thought such existential dangers did not warrant time for debate—or knew nothing about them.

§ What continues to make the new Cold War more dangerous than the preceding one is in large part its near-total absence from American political discourse, certainly from any critical discussion, in sharp contrast to the intense discussions under way in Europe and in Russia. In that regard, America truly is exceptional.

 

[Billie]

Teddy, I am trying to be positive and optimistic in almost everything, but when it comes to politics it is very hard to do. One of these sides will have to admit defeat eventually, it remains to be seen who it will be.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Teddy, I am trying to be positive and optimistic in almost everything, but when it comes to politics it is very hard to do. One of these sides will have to admit defeat eventually, it remains to be seen who it will be.

IN CONVENTIONAL ARMS -- QUANTITY -- US /NATO in combination are clearly , clearly superior...

in SPECIFICALLY -- NUCLEAR power and delivery system /AND defense of that nuclear retaliation system - RUSSIA is superior.

in conventional arms (planes, helis, tanks, ships, rifles, launchers) again USA is SUPERIOR IN QUANTITY -- ..

NOT in quality.

several times now -- the best jets of the USA -- F-22 , F-16 have been ''defeated" by other countries in exhibitions - such as by INDIA JUST THIs YEAR IN england actually ...it was an embarrassment americans don't want anybody to know..indians of course were using russian SUKHOIS or MIGS from 1980's..BUT with some modernizations..to catch up to the more originally advanced but very, very expensive F-22\S which are considered the most fearsome and capable of american jets..

the F-35 'stealth' jet tha tthey are pushing to countries are supposed to be ''the best and greatest ever" -- so we'l see -- once squadrons of them can actually fly and CARRY the missiles and guns they are supposed to carry - at the speed and stealth they are supposed to provide......

so far -- they CAN fly AT the designated speed and altitude and ''stealth" but ONLY if they diminish the load.....i don't know exctly what they expect it to do

by ''shooting stealthily from a hundred miles away" so as to avoid dogfights which americans seem to be very keen on NOT having as their standard of 'air superiority" ..

but the problem with their STEALTH is russian and chinese radar can ALReady SEE THEM...20 years after they were originally designed as such......

as far as russia is concerned -- IF they feel there IS AN existential threat to their territory -- they WILL USE NUKES FIRST...they will NOT wait.

and that's why they do not want the missile defense of USA/NATO encroaching on their borders because - once again -- the USA is playing games:

claiming

1)originally they were aimed at IRAN thosuands of miles awa
2) now that iran has been PROVEN to comply with NOT having nukes and NO missiles capable of reaching europe
3) where is the remaining reason?
4) it REALLY was aimed at russia al.l along
5) the american NEW nukes and missiles in poland, romania and bulgaria are now to be outfitted by missile ''defense' that somehow have a flight distance of 400 miles to reach MOSCOW and URALS where russia's RETALIATION arsenals are concentrated

and
6) AS RUSSIA points out :"are rockets on which missiles CAN be changed without telling anyone they ARE not conventional but NUCLEAR...therefore we are forced to adjust appropriately".

7_ a russian general reminded NATO and USA IN INTERVIEW>

"IF THE poles and baltics allow themselves to be staging grounds for USA military against russia -- to try and suprise us with the shortened distance -- do they really think that we are going to WAIT? do they think they are NOT NOW TARGETS for us? for we ARE going to target those very same installations of NATO in their countries...and we CAN wipe them out quickly..for we - in our thousand years of history will NO LONGER PERMIT any war on OUR territory -- we will bring it to them once we are convinced they can not be reasoned with -- do they really want this?"

 

[teddytennisfan]

rt.com
US warning to Russia ‘unprofessional, threatening, tactless & undiplomatic' - fmr. British diplomat
With the US election approaching, the State Department is indulging in ‘Billary Clinton’ electoral rhetoric, as a number of people hope to get a promotion if she wins, William Mallinson, a former British diplomat and professor at Marconi University told RT.

The US is threatening to end cooperation with Moscow in Syria unless “Russian and Syrian attacks on the city of Aleppo stop.”

Read more


The ultimatum was made in a phone call between US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

The US State Department says it's also looking at non-diplomatic options for responding to the situation.

Reacting to State Department spokesman John Kirby, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Russia is aware there are US specialists in Aleppo planning and controlling terrorist operations.

He also accused Washington of covering up its real motives on the ground in Syria by saying it is working to separate the terrorists from the moderate rebels.

RT spoke to several experts about Washington’s unwillingness to join with Russia to try and defeat ISIS.

RT: The US State Department has warned that extremists could attack Russian cities if Moscow doesn't stop its campaign. Do you think this was sincere advice or intimidation to be more cautious?

William Mallinson: It was highly unprofessional, hysterical, threatening, tactless and undiplomatic. It stands in direct contrast to the remarkable Russian restraint by the likes of Lavrov, who is a seriously professional diplomat. It is extreme Cold War language.

I think it reflects two things: First, the fact that the US are losing.
Second, and this is quite important, there is an election coming up in the US and the State Department is indulging in what I call ‘Billary Clinton’ electoral rhetoric. There could even be a number of people who hope to get a promotion if she wins. The whole thing is irresponsible because Russia is still trying to achieve stability and peace.
And it seems to me that everything the US and its so-called allies have done since the very beginning has been what I would call the ‘Kissingerian’ double-track diplomacy - pretending that they are against ISIS when they in fact they are arming ISIS, pretending that there are moderates and non-moderates, which is pure nonsense because you can’t encapsulate the human mind into some psychological formula like that.

Anyone with a gun who is attacking a legitimate government is a terrorist, full stop.

Also, let’s not forget that because the news moves so fast, we’ve already forgotten how America - undoubtedly on purpose with Britain and Denmark - targeted and killed 62 Syrian soldiers, thus helping the extremists again… I’m glad the Russians are being restrained and carrying out a job they set out to do from the very beginning, which America isn’t.

John Graham, former US diplomat, and director of Giraffe Heroes International told RT: "This war of words is getting out of hand. It is nasty. I would hope that both sides can step back and take a deep breath. I hope that Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry can do that. One thing is for sure, I think everyone would agree is that the escalation of the war in Syria is a gift to ISIS and it is a gift to Al-Nusra."

RT: Syrian government forces have made several major gains in Aleppo in the past few days. Do you think Assad's success can somehow be linked to Washington's statement?

WM: They have and I think they are going to continue that. I think perhaps the American Special Forces that are working there and the British Special Forces are going to have to get out at some point because they are being killed slowly, to put it bluntly. And Russia has inexorably continued to support the legitimate government of Assad, which, let’s face it, is the only force in Syria that can achieve stability because without that – just like in Libya without Gaddafi - you have chaos afterwards. And that is unacceptable…

It's been a year since Russian planes first hit targets in Syria. Since then, Moscow's anti-terrorist air campaign has had considerable success in turning the tide of the war there.

The offensive began on September 30th, 2015 after an official request by the Syrian government for military help against rebel and jihadist groups.
Peter Ford, a former UK ambassador to Syria.

RT: Russia has faced a lot of criticism since it became involved in Syria. ISIS has lost a lot of territory since then though. Doesn't that suggest its campaign has been effective?

Read more


Peter Ford, a former UK ambassador to Syria: It certainly does. It was not until Russia began to attack ISIS that the ISIS –controlled oil facilities were targeted. Mysteriously the Americans didn’t seem to regard them as valid targets. Perhaps, because they were doing business with Turkey, who knows. But anyway, after Russia came in and started targeting these facilities that radically affected the finances of ISIS and began to be reflected in the loss of territory on the ground, loss of money to pay their fighters and then the Western coalition came in on the back of that and claimed the credit. But in fact it was Russia that began this move.

RT: A lot of baseless accusations have been made against Russia in the last year. Why is everyone so quick to presuppose Russian guilt?

PF: It is a sad phenomenon and I am afraid it is a reflection of the American control over mainstream media. They control the narrative, the overarching narrative of Russian and Syrian villains and Western Islamists are the good guys. It is very difficult to break through this narrative. I was on CNN the other day and all they tried to do was discredit me. It’s very hard to get a hearing.

The Americans were unable to provide maps showing where it was okay for the Russians to bomb, for the simple reason that all the Islamist forces have joined up with the Al-Qaeda group, Al-Nusra. So America does not have a solution; all they are doing is reacting, and now they acting with frenzy, hysteria, and neuroticism. It just shows they have lost the plot.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

[teddytennisfan]

ah -- the BRITISH diplomat does echo

what the russians said a YEAR ago when they decided to grant sovereign syria's desperte request to come and help...

"to the claims by our western partners and the USA that we shouldn't bomb because there are 'moderate rebels' and 'moderate opposition' among them...

"where are these so-called moderate opposition and rebels.? why don't they come out and present themselves and we can set up discussions between them and the government which is the legitimate popularly supported government? ...
"if it's walking and talking and killing and behaving like a terrorist...they are terrorists and we will bomb them".

 

[teddytennisfan]

Teddy, I am trying to be positive and optimistic in almost everything, but when it comes to politics it is very hard to do. One of these sides will have to admit defeat eventually, it remains to be seen who it will be.

BILLIE -- this will be a ''forewarning" answer from the russians:

====================================

> US State Department promises terrorist attacks against Russia
Islamic State John Kirby Putin Russia Syria terrorism US State Department USA


US State Department promises terrorist attacks against Russia
September 30, 2016 - Fort Russ -
Yuri Selivanov, Antifascist - translated by J. Arnoldski

The official spokesperson of the US State Department, John Kirby, stated that his words on possible terrorist attacks in Russia in the event of a worsening of the situation in Syria were not intended as a threat.
“I didn’t threaten anyone. It was the facts. And these facts are not new. The question was, what are the implications for Russia,” Kirby informed journalists, noting that he was merely repeating the words of US State Secretary John Kerry that there would be “more war and more blood.” He also added that assuming these words were an “incitement to terrorism” is “totally false.”

On this note, Russian folklore has a precise diagnosis in the saying “If the claw is stuck, then the whole bird is done for” [which roughly translates into English as “Once the line is crossed, there is no going back” - J. Arnoldski]. In the face of its official representative John Kirby, the US State Department has burned itself in the most obvious and irreversible way.

Now, no matter how they spin this, they understand that Russia now has 200% reason to blame the US for directly inciting terrorist attacks.

Even a complete idiot understands that if official Washington "allows for" an increase in the “risk of terrorism” for any country whose policies displease the US, then relevant organizations such as the Islamic State will perceive such as a clear signal that the US “understands” that such consequences would be “natural and inevitable.”

Since this is how things stand and the US State Department stated earlier that only Russia is to blame, then what more questions can be asked?
If, God forbid, terrorist attacks are carried out against Russian citizens, then America’s hands are far from clean.

But Vladimir Putin does need to learn how to fight against terrorists and their accomplices. The Russian president has shown the greatest patience and correctness, and he will do so until the moment that they start killing Russian citizens.

But after this happens, there will be quite another Putin.

The Putin will appear who once promised in Chechnya to “waste terrorists in the outhouse” using all available means.

This was experienced by Turkish President Erdogan himself on his own skin. The same unpleasant experiences today are being felt by the Kiev godfather, Poroshenko, who dared to raise a finger against Russians in Crimea.

The US is no exception to this rule, even if they fancy to be such.

They simply do not know the bad side of Russians, and they will not be happy when they find out.

I would advise them against this.

=====================================

as one russian commander - at the ukraine border -- said a couple years ago when the ukrainian fascists were shouting and threatening "we will kill russians, we wil BURN moscow to the ground...etc"..

====
"hmm...well maybe some of them might be able to cross our very long borders..but i can guarantee you -- whoever crosses will never get out alive..
''if any of the foreigners who wish to invade or conquer and rule over us ever try - even if they can come and take cities..we will make sure nothing will work..until they are so desperate as we draw them deeper and deeper where they will never b e seen again..

"you see - we russians - we HATE war because our history teaches us it is hell...

we LOVE life, we love family, we love friendships and loyalty, we love food and drink and celebrating, we love music and poetry, we love comfort and we love creating things of great wonder...we love nature and our land and its blessings...and our independence and sovereignty as a country...
"and when ANY of these things we treasure are threatened...

''we are also VERY, very good at destroying and killing".

 

[Billie]

These threats and fighting words do not help anyone. Anyone who has experienced the horrors of war will tell you that they hate it, and with reason. Wars stir up the most horrific and animalistic feelings and once it starts, it is hard to stop them. And no matter what one side says: every side does dirty things in any warfare. That is my main beef with the foreign policy of the USA, their only solution is rhetoric, smearing of the opposition and arming of "rebels", who can be anybody under the sun. And all under false pretenses. I hope they won't succeed in Syria, the way they succeeded in Libya. Although the country is in ruins already. Yemen is becoming a disaster as well.

 

[teddytennisfan]

These threats and fighting words do not help anyone. Anyone who has experienced the horrors of war will tell you that they hate it, and with reason. Wars stir up the most horrific and animalistic feelings and once it starts, it is hard to stop them. And no matter what one side says: every side does dirty things in any warfare. That is my main beef with the foreign policy of the USA, their only solution is rhetoric, smearing of the opposition and arming of "rebels", who can be anybody under the sun. And all under false pretenses. I hope they won't succeed in Syria, the way they succeeded in Libya. Although the country is in ruins already. Yemen is becoming a disaster as well.

nver forget this is ALL -- ABOUT WESTERN capitalist colonialism and imperialism.

if people think it is over -- it is not -- but also THAT is what it ALWAYS has been about ;

WESTERN CAPITALIST IMPERIALISM of everything 'beyond the borders" -

this includes ALL lands and peoples of NON-''western atlanticist" groupings -- \\which INCLUDES the slavs, the orthodox, the muslims, arabs, asians, africans, everyone and everywhere

that is ''not of the western european/american" ''order".

==================================================
journal-neo.org
Syria’s Heroic Fight Against Western Imperialism | New Eastern Outlook
Author: Andre Vltchek
It is hard to imagine a more resilient, more heroic nation than Syria!

With only 17 million inhabitants (according to the 2014 estimate), Syria is now facing the mightiest coalition on Earth – a coalition that consists of virtually all traditional Western colonialist and neo-colonialist nations.

It is also facing some of the cruelest and deadliest inventions of the West – the extremist and murderous post- and pseudo-Islamic groupings, similar to those that were already unleashed against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan.

Because of the tremendous determination of its people, Syria is still standing! But it is standing against all odds. Its Golan Heights are illegally occupied by Israel, its borders constantly violated by the Turkish military, and by the West’s ‘special forces’ and air force.

Syria’s “political opposition” was created, then groomed and financed by the United States and Europe, in the style of “Color Revolutions”, as has happened in all other socialist countries that the West has been trying to destabilize and return under its deadly rule. Millions of Syrian people have been, during the last six deadly years, terrorized, slaughtered and intimidated by jihadi cadres, implanted by the West and its regional allies: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Israel and others.

It is a terrible and uneven fight! Some of the greatest historical cities on Earth, like Aleppo and Palmira, now lie in ruins and ashes. What the European Christian crusaders failed to fully destroy, is now collapsing under the imperialist onslaught. Like everywhere else on Earth, everything that dares to struggle against Western colonialism is being consistently devastated and burned. Almost everyone who resists is mercilessly slaughtered. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian people have already lost their lives. And with each new day, the awful count is rising.

But Syria is standing!

5 million Syrian people have already been forced to leave their country. Now they are being scattered all over the Middle East: throughout Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey. Some have even gone as far as Europe, Canada and Chile.

How much more can one country endure?

And how can the rest of the world just stand by and watch as it is put through hell?

The answer is obvious: the rest of the world does not know; it does not understand! The propaganda coming out of the Western mass media outlets and indoctrination-spreading institutions is so thorough, so professional, that to most of people all over the world everything related to Syria appears to be blurry, murky, and incredibly complex. President al-Assad is demonized on a daily basis. Heroic resistance is called the “regime’s brutal actions”, pro-`western terror groups are described as “moderate opposition.”

In reality, Syria is suffering because it is refusing to kneel; because it is unwilling to prostitute itself; because it will never beg its torturers to stop, allowing them to grab everything above and under the surface.

The Empire never forgives disobedience. Its fundamentalist terror methods are the most brutal ever invented and implemented on Earth.

All around Syria, countries already lie in ashes. The Middle East hardly exists, anymore. And most of the Syrian people understand: it is perhaps better to die standing, than to live in shackles, on one’s knees, controlled by the kleptomaniacal Western colonialist states!

*

The more terrible the terror that the West is spreading worldwide in general and in this part of the world in particular, the more vicious its vitriolic propaganda is, the brainwashing indoctrination that flows incessantly from London, New York and Paris.

If one watches the BBC, there is no hint of objectivity left, anymore. The ranks are closed and the West is united in its final drive to discredit absolutely everything that is still fighting for survival, against its global terrorist exploits.

President al-Assad of Syria, the heroic Syrian army and the closest Syria’s allies – Russia and Iran – are being relentlessly demonized, as if it were them who began that monstrous war! And Hezbollah, which is fighting countless epic battles against the ISIS, sits firmly on the West’s terrorist list.

Everything seems to be twisted and perverted, upside down.

But what really should one expect from the expansionist hordes, from the bastions of imperialism? Or has the British (or French) propaganda been any different, when their colonialist countries have for centuries been grabbing and devastating countless foreign states and territories, slaughtering hundreds of millions of innocent people? Wasn’t anyone who resisted Western conquest always thoroughly ridiculed and demonized?

Countries like UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal and others, have centuries of experience in how to humiliate victims, how to justify their own heinous acts, how to brainwash their own populations and even some of their victims! And the United States, the direct product of Europe, its muscular offspring, is just using the same, only a bit more vulgar, propaganda tactics.

Nothing rational and objective can be expected from the people of Europe or North America, anymore. Except for a few of those insignificant protests and rebellious acts, the Western population is in a total slumber, indifferent towards the horrors that are being administered by its regime all over the globe. There is hardly any pressure to stop acts of terror against Syria. The only thing that seems to matter to Europeans is how to stop the flow of refugees from the devastated countries.

What a shame! What a thorough shame, people of Europe and North America! Your regime is murdering millions, in one country after another, and you are not even capable of recognizing what goes on… instead you are blaming the victims and those rushing to their rescue!

Now your biggest enemy is Russia. Because Russia (same as China) is clearly unwilling to dance to your fatal tune! Because Russia, for many decades, stood by almost all oppressed countries, and supported the de-colonization of the world, in all of its corners. Like China, Cuba and North Korea have always done.

Russia is now defending Syria. Not because it needs natural resources, not because it wants to plunder. It is doing so simply because it is right thing to do. It does it because if the world is abandoned fully to Western imperialism, there will actually soon be no world at all, or at least there will be no world worth inhabiting!

*

“Our country is a socialist country. For us it’s more important to consider the benefits to the entire nation than to particular individuals. I have spent more than 50 years dedicating my life to education, which is the backbone of our country, especially now… Sometimes I feel like quitting my job and returning to teaching at Damascus University, but I know that I am still needed where I am now,” I was told by Dr. Farah Motlak, Deputy Minister of Education of the Syrian Arab Republic.

We met in Cairo, Egypt, at a regional conference. I asked him about the Western propaganda against his country. He replied, shaking his head:

“I am not even angry… I am just endlessly sad. The media attacks; the propaganda that is pouring from the West is clearly designed to destroy our country. But we have hope, and we will continue our struggle.”

The international meetings and conferences clearly show how divided even the Arab world is itself. Syria is a symbol. To some, it is a symbol of resilience, of heroism. To others, mainly to those who are funded and consequently conditioned by the West, it represents everything that is evil.

*

But Egypt itself (where I’m writing this essay), just three years after the pro-Western military coup, is in ruins. Economically it has become a basket case. It is completely devastated, socially.

Of course its destruction is on a “lighter scale”, compared to Iraq, Libya or Yemen. But it is still bad enough: during the coup in 2013, at least 1, but most likely 2 thousand people were murdered by the junta, while tens of thousands were injured. An estimated ten thousand people are now in prisons all over the country; most of them in terrible conditions; many are being tortured, women prisoners are habitually raped.

“The counter revolution has triumphed,” explained Dr. Mohammed Shafik, a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Movement. “All opposition parties and organizations have been squashed. Thousands of revolutionaries have been imprisoned; hundreds executed by court orders or liquidated by the police… Neoliberalism is taking hold… people are suffering.”

But Western propaganda shows no appetite for criticizing the Egyptian military junta. It is, after all, essentially pro-Western; it is capitalist and to a great extent it is submissive to the Empire and to its allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.

As with almost all ‘client’ states of the West, Egypt will never be able to truly improve the lives of the majority of its citizens. The country is already stuck deeply and has been, for decades, in a perpetual social slumber. Those benefiting from the situation are the Western powers and their regional allies, as well as the servile Egyptian elites and the grotesquely colossal, omnipotent military.

If Syria were to surrender, the Egyptian scenario would be ‘the best’ it could hope for. But most likely, it would meet the terrible fate of Iraq or Libya.

*

62 Syrian soldiers were reported killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on the Syrian military base Deir el-Zour, on September 17, in Eastern Syria.

The planes destroyed the base housing soldiers that were involved in a battle with ISIS. Almost immediately, the ISIS took over the hill and the area, in what appeared to be a clearly coordinated operation between the West and the “Islamic State”, against the Syrian government forces.

A few days later, a humanitarian convoy was hit near the city of Aleppo. Without presenting any evidence, the West immediately pointed a finger at the Syrian government and Russia. But the Russian Ministry of Defense released images of a US predator drone operating in the area during the attack, and called for a thorough investigation.

The war goes on. The suffering of Syrian people continues.

There is one simple point that is being constantly overlooked by the West:

The legitimate government of Syria invited Russia, its close ally. It asked Moscow for help, to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups implanted by the West and its allies.

Nobody invited the West!

Or perhaps those groups that the West itself created and supported inside Syria invited it?

Both Syrian government forces and Russia are fighting brutal foreign invaders who are attempting to destroy one of the oldest nations on Earth and take control over the entire Middle East.

Syria is at the frontline of the battle against Western imperialism. And so is Russia. And also Iran, while China is joining!

The sacrifice made by the Syrian people is tremendous. But against all odds, the deadly advance of the imperialists may be stopped here, after all.

As I wrote earlier, the price may be terrible. Aleppo is turning into the Middle-Eastern Stalingrad. But the heroic Syrian nation has made its choice: it will fight brutal and barbaric invaders, as it fought the crusaders under the leadership of great Sultan Saladin.

The alternative would be slavery, something unacceptable for the Syrian people!

Andre Vltchek is philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist, he’s a creator of Vltchek’s World an a dedicated Twitter user, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

3

 

[teddytennisfan]

These threats and fighting words do not help anyone. Anyone who has experienced the horrors of war will tell you that they hate it, and with reason. Wars stir up the most horrific and animalistic feelings and once it starts, it is hard to stop them. And no matter what one side says: every side does dirty things in any warfare. That is my main beef with the foreign policy of the USA, their only solution is rhetoric, smearing of the opposition and arming of "rebels", who can be anybody under the sun. And all under false pretenses. I hope they won't succeed in Syria, the way they succeeded in Libya. Although the country is in ruins already. Yemen is becoming a disaster as well.

PUTIN actually summed it up -- and he does NOT get at least 82-90 p;ercent support from russians of VARIOUS political affiliations (they distinguish support for him FROM their support for the REST of his party United Russia at 54 percent) -- without REFLECTING what the russian people are...

and he put it this way:

"the difference between the russian and oriental societies from the west is:
'the west places above society its devotion to individualism...while we are essentially a collectivist society..this is not just about political systems...we consider that there is higher meaning to existence than just material wealth - it has to be spiritual and which can only be expressed in a collective sense".

 

[teddytennisfan]

Teddy, I am trying to be positive and optimistic in almost everything, but when it comes to politics it is very hard to do. One of these sides will have to admit defeat eventually, it remains to be seen who it will be.

you can be OPTIMISTIC despite everything, Billie.

you know why?

THERE is a country and people that are YOUR cousins -- the SLAVIC RUSSIANS - WHO HAVE THE STRENGTH to stand up to the western imperialists..

i don't particularly fllow these ''mystical" stuff--- but a VERY famous legendary american ''mystic" - JAMES? CAYCE - in the 1950's once predicted:
\
"|the salvation of the world and its true humanity -- rests in Russia".

the chinese -- a very ancient society -- has a high ranking general that said:

|"we in china have always held the people of Russia and many of their slavic family in highest regard --
why? because they are a people of such strong fibre -- who have experienced the greatest of deprivations and challenges in life - ...especially from outside forces...the russians are a people who have endured and can endure deprivations that would destroy any other country....and have endured great challenges that no westerners can imagine".

THIS is of course is why the USA and its ''allies' have, above all else, the need to try and DESTROY russia.

it is practically what stands between THEM AND THEIR ''gospel of domination" and the REST of the world's peoples for whom RUSSIA - with all its own limitations -- basically has always stood as a shield.

and THAT is the real reason -- no, not oil, not land -- russia has more of that than ANY country on earth, and certainly the most precious - LAND AND DRINKING WATER more than any country -- to be bothered by mere possession or ''profit" --

but the real reason russia came to the aid of the very desperate nation - so ancient -- SYRIA when syria is faced with the most malicious and heaviest collection of ''alliances" of such EVIL led by the USA/WEST and aided by its collaborators ....

it is basically russia telling the USA/WEST "

|"YOUR regime change operations and domination of weaker countries STOPS RIGHT HERE".

and whle that is BARELY enough even now to just kee syria hanging on as a NATION and people, one of the FREE-EST in the entire history of the world really -- and certainly in modern times -- it stands as a beacon to the rest of the world -- of what is TRUE FREEDOM for nations . ..that THEY have right TO EXIST and to BE , and follow their path of development without coercion and NOT as vassals of greater powers.

in other words - RUSSIA shows in one word what it means to BE nations:

RESPECT each other ,k big or small , for who they are. and you don't impose your will on them.

 

[teddytennisfan]

PAY ATTENTION to the words of GENERAL KONASHENKO -- should the USA go ahead with its TERRORIST ATTACKS ON RUSSIANS AND RUSSIA ITSELF;;;this is the first time i read of a high russian official

stating it in NO uncertain terms what is going to happen - and by extension - we can assume those that enable terrorists which he himself states;;BASICALLY it is A DIRECT ANSWER to the PENTAGON ITSELF from the RUSSIAN MILITARY.
==========================

sputniknews.com



US Strategy in Syria: 'If You Can't Stop a Problem, Expand It'


Sputnik







"A
'Plan B' for Syria (as it was dubbed by the mass media) has been
developed by US military institutions in case the US State Department's
efforts failed. It suggests an intensification of US-led coalition
airstrikes, a redeployment of additional Special Forces units, as well
as the increase of arms deliveries to the so-called "moderate
opposition," the diplomatic source told the newspaper.

Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation

It
also suggests toppling the government in Damascus with the help of the
rebels. The US State Department has not been drawn into planning the
alternative military strategy in Syria, the diplomatic source added.

'They Don't Want a Ceasefire': US Plan B is a Military Solution for Syria

This
"backup" plan is now on the agenda in the US, as the backers of the
military solution to the Syrian crisis have been caught by surprise
by the recent assault on the terrorists' positons in Aleppo, the outlet
says.

For them, the return by the government forces of full
control over this city is unacceptable, hence the US military are
searching for any means available to prevent it.

The newspaper's
informant also stressed that Russian representatives to the negotiations
in Geneva have pointed out discrepancies between the US State
Department and the country's military institutions. In particular,
with regards to the agreement, set by the diplomats, to disclose the
data on the locations of terrorist groups in Syria, where the Pentagon
refused to provide such data to the Russian party.

©
REUTERS/ Ammar AbdullahPentagon Decided to 'Test Russia's Strength' in Syria

According
to Franz Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the defense and security
committee in the upper house of Russia's parliament, the Americans are
"testing Russia's strength" and could resort to military operations
similar to its attack on the positions of the Syrian army at Deir
ez-Zor.

"I wouldn't have ruled out such a development. The US has
already done similar things which posed a direct threat to Russia
as well. They are apparently trying to achieve success on the
battlefield through the terrorists, while coordinating their actions,"
the politician told the newspaper.

There are
different variants which could play out in Syria, he added. However no
matter which one the US opts for, it will certainly be about testing
Russia's strength. Nevertheless, he expressed hope that there are "no
violent madmen" there and it will not escalate to a direct confrontation
between Russian and American servicemen.

'It was a Deliberate Effort to Sabotage and Cancel the Ceasefire'

A
similar point of view is being echoed by Brian Becker, national
coordinator at the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)
Coalition.

"The
most important thing is to understand why the US-Russia brokered
ceasefire collapsed, and why there will be no ongoing effort
internationally to find a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis," he said in an interview

the Iranian news network Press TV.

"The
fact is that the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and
the top uniformed officers in the Pentagon opposed the ceasefire. They
openly opposed it. This is not simply speculation, they have openly
opposed it in the US media," he said.

The expert explained that
President Obama gave the go-ahead to John Kerry's effort to find a
resolution with the Russians. However the Pentagon then announced their
opposition to the deal. Not long after, the US Air Force bombed the
Syrian Arab Army, he said.

Not al-Qaeda, not al-Nusra, not the
Army of Congress, not Daesh, it was the US which bombed the Syrian Arab
Army killing 62 people, he stressed.

"It was
a deliberate effort to sabotage and cancel the ceasefire. They got what
they wanted. They don't want a ceasefire," he stated.

'This is a War of Words'

Becker also commented on Washington's warmongering rhetoric.

“Extremist
groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria
to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian
interests, perhaps even Russian cities. Russia will continue to send
troops home in body bags, and will continue to lose resources, perhaps
even aircraft,” John Kirby, the State Department's spokesperson,
threatened on Wednesday during his press briefing.

©
Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov

"These
are direct threats against Russia. The Russian government perceived it
as that. They perceived it as escalation by the Pentagon and the State
Department canceling the resolution in Syria, but also directly
militarily threatening Russia," Becke told Press TV.

"If
Russia had ever talked like that about the US, that Americans would be
coming back in body bags or American cities would be now attacked if
America continued its foreign policy, the US would have considered it
to be a virtual act of war," he said.

"But that is what Washington is saying right now about Russia," he questioned.

"This is a war of words. Why is it happening? I think it is a precursor to a bigger confrontation," he suggested.

<B>
Referring
to Kirby's remarks, Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor
Konashenkov said on Thursday that such a statement is a "frank
confession" that the US controls terrorists in Syria.

“His
words are the most frank confession by the US side so far [that] the
whole ‘opposition’ ostensibly fighting a civil war in Syria is a
US-controlled international terrorist alliance,” Konashenkov then said.

The Russian spokesman also said that he is certain that Kirby is well aware of the “after-effects” of his statement.

©
Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin

“What
makes Kirby’s statement particularly shocking is that the scale
of direct US influence on terrorists’ activity is global. That it
reaches as far as Russia,” Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov
however warned that “should there follow any attempts to act on the
threats towards Russia and Russian military servicemen in Syria, the
militants may find themselves short of both body bags and the time
to get away.”

Brian Becker however noted that there is no hope
right now for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, because the US
foreign policy position is to sabotage the peace agreement, peace talks
and peace efforts.

"Obama is leaving, his likely successor is
Hillary Clinton, who openly called for an escalation and expansion
of the war. She has all the neo-conservatives with her. I believe that
there is going to be a wider US military intervention in Syria," he
suggested.

"They have adopted the old Donald
Rumsfeld's thesis that if you can't stop a problem, expand it. I think
what the US is preparing to do, its real plan is to expand the war
in Syria," he said.

"Because they really, ultimately want Assad
to go. That is still their ultimate objective and it explains why they
could never really come to terms with the Syrian government to carry
out a concerted effort against the terrorists. And they couldn't do that
either with the Russian government," he finally stated.

 

[teddytennisfan]

russia-insider.com
If US Attacks Syria Expect an Asymmetric Russian Response
The Saker (The Unz Review) 7 hours ago | 4,351 61
The tensions between Russia and the USA have reached an unprecedented level. I fully agree with the participants of this CrossTalk show – the situation is even worse and more dangerous than during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both sides are nowgoing to the so-called “Plan B” which, simply put, stand for, at best, no negotiations and, at worst, a war between Russia and the USA.

The key thing to understand in the Russian stance in this, an other, recent conflicts with the USA is thatRussia is still much weaker than the USA and that she therefore does not want war. That does not, however, mean that she is not actively preparing for war. In fact, she very much and actively does. All this means is that should a conflict occur, Russia you try, as best can be, to keep it as limited as possible.

In theory, these are, very roughly, the possible levels of confrontation:

1. A military standoff à la Berlin in 1961. One could argue that this is what is already taking place right now, albeit in a more long-distance and less visible way.
2. A single military incident, such as what happened recently when Turkey shot down a Russian SU-24 and Russia chose not to retaliate.
3. A series of localized clashes similar to what is currently happening between India and Pakistan.
4. A conflict limited to the Syrian theater of war (say like the war between the UK and Argentina over the Malvinas Islands).
5. A regional or global military confrontation between the USA and Russia.
6. A full scale thermonuclear war between the USA and Russia

During my years as a student of military strategy I have participated in many exercises on escalation and de-escalation and I can attest that while it is very easy to come up with escalatory scenarios, I have yet to see a credible scenario for de-escalation. What is possible, however, is the so-called “horizontal escalation” or “asymmetrical escalation” in which one side choses not to up the ante or directly escalate, but instead choses a different target for retaliation, not necessarily a more valuable one, just a different one on the same level of conceptual importance (in the USA Joshua M. Epstein and Spencer D. Bakich did most of the groundbreaking work on this topic).

The main reason why we can expect the Kremlin to try to find asymmetrical options to respond to a US attack is that in the Syrian context Russia is hopelessly outgunned by the US/NATO, at least in quantitative terms. The logical solutions for the Russians is to use their qualitative advantage or to seek “horizontal targets” as possible retaliatory options. This week, something very interesting and highly uncharacteristic happened: Major General Igor Konashenkov, the Chief of the Directorate of Media service and Information of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, openly mentioned one such option. Here is what he said:

“As for Kirby’s threats about possible Russian aircraft losses and the sending of Russian servicemen back to Russia in body bags, I would say that we know exactly where and how many “unofficial specialists” operate in Syria and in the Aleppo province and we know that they are involved in the operational planning and that they supervise the operations of the militants. Of course, one can continue to insist that they are unsuccessfully involved in trying to separate the al-Nusra terrorists from the “opposition” forces. But if somebody tries to implement these threats, it is by no means certain that these militants will have to time to get the hell out of there.”

Nice, no? Konashenkov appears to be threatening the “militants” but he is sure to mention that there are plenty of “unofficial specialists” amongst these militants and that Russia knows exactly where they are and how many of them there are. Of course, officially, Obama has declared that there are a few hundred such US special advisors in Syria. A well-informed Russian source suggests that there are up to 5’000 foreign ‘advisors’ to the Takfiris including about 4’000 Americans. I suppose that the truth is somewhere between these two figures.

So the Russian threat is simple: you attack us and we will attack US forces in Syria. Of course, Russia will vehemently deny targeting US servicemen and insist that the strike was only against terrorists, but both sides understand what is happening here. Interestingly, just last week the Iranian Fars news agency reported that such a Russian attack had already happened:

30 Israeli, Foreign Intelligence Officers Killed in Russia’s Caliber Missile Attack in Aleppo:

“The Russian warships fired three Caliber missiles at the foreign officers’ coordination operations room in Dar Ezza region in the Western part of Aleppo near Sam’an mountain, killing 30 Israeli and western officers,” the Arabic-language service of Russia’s Sputniknews agency quoted battlefield source in Aleppo as saying on Wednesday. The operations room was located in the Western part of Aleppo province in the middle of sky-high Sam’an mountain and old caves. The region is deep into a chain of mountains. Several US, Turkish, Saudi, Qatari and British officers were also killed along with the Israeli officers. The foreign officers who were killed in the Aleppo operations room were directing the terrorists’ attacks in Aleppo and Idlib.”

Whether this really happened or whether the Russians are leaking such stories to indicate that this could happen, the fact remains that US forces in Syria could become an obvious target for Russian retaliation, whether by cruise missile, gravity bombs or direct action operation by Russian special forces. The US also has several covert military installations in Syria, including at least one airfield with V-22 Osprey multi-mission tiltrotor aircraft.

Another interesting recent development has been the Fox News report that Russians are deploying S-300V (aka “SA-23 Gladiator anti-missile and anti-aircraft system”) in Syria. Check out this excellent article for a detailed discussion of the capabilities of this missile system. I will summarize it by saying that the S-300V can engage ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, very low RCS (“stealth”) aircraft and AWACS aircraft. This is an Army/Army Corps -level air defense system, well capable of defending most of the Syrian airspace, but also reach well into Turkey, Cyprus, the eastern Mediterranean and Lebanon. The powerful radars of this system could not only detect and engage US aircraft (including “stealth”) at a long distance, but they could also provide a tremendous help for the few Russian air superiority fighters by giving them a clear pictures of the skies and enemy aircraft by using encrypted datalinks. Finally, US air doctrine is extremely dependent on the use of AWACS aircraft to guide and support US fighters. The S-300V will forces US/NATO AWACS to operate at a most uncomfortable distance. Between the longer-range radars of the Russian Sukhois, the radars on the Russian cruisers off the Syrian coast, and the S-300 and S-300V radars on the ground, the Russians will have a much better situational awareness than their US counterparts.

It appears that the Russians are trying hard to compensate for their numerical inferiority by deploying high-end systems for which the US has no real equivalent or good counter-measures.

There are basically two options of deterrence: denial, when you prevent your enemy from hitting his targets and retaliation, when you make the costs of an enemy attack unacceptably high for him. The Russians appear to be pursuing both tracks at the same time. We can thus summarize the Russian approach as such

1. Delay a confrontation as much as possible (buy time).
2. Try to keep any confrontation at the lowest possible escalatory level.
3. If possible, reply with asymmetrical/horizontal escalations.
4. Rather then “prevail” against the US/NATO – make the costs of attack too high.
5. Try to put pressure on US “allies” in order to create tensions inside the Empire.
6. Try to paralyze the USA on a political level by making the political costs of an attack too high-end.
7. Try to gradually create the conditions on the ground (Aleppo) to make a US attack futile

To those raised on Hollywood movies and who still watch TV, this kind of strategy will elicit only frustration and condemnation. There are millions of armchair strategists who are sure that they could do a much better job than Putin to counter the US Empire. These folks have now been telling us for *years* that Putin “sold out” the Syrians (and the Novorussians) and that the Russians ought to do X, Y and Z to defeat the AngloZionist Empire. The good news is that none of these armchair strategists sit in the Kremlin and that the Russians have stuck to their strategy over the past years, one day at a time, even when criticized by those who want quick and “easy” solutions. But the main good news is that the Russian strategy is working. Not only is the Nazi-occupied Ukraine quite literally falling apart, but the US has basically run out of options in Syria (see this excellent analysis by my friend Alexander Mercouris in the Duran).

The only remaining logical steps left for the USA in Syria is to accept Russia’s terms or leave. The problem is that I am not at all convinced that the Neocons, who run the White House, Congress and the US corporate media, are “rational” at all. This is why the Russians employed so many delaying tactics and why they have acted with such utmost caution: they are dealing with professional incompetent ideologues who simply do not play by the unwritten but clear rules of civilized international relations. This is what makes the current crisis so much worse than even the Cuban Missile Crisis: one superpower has clearly gone insane.

Are the Americans crazy enough to risk WWIII over Aleppo?

Maybe, maybe not. But what if we rephrase that question and ask

Are the Americans crazy enough to risk WWIII to maintain their status as the “world’s indispensable nation”, the “leader of the free world”, the “city on the hill” and all the rest of this imperialistic nonsense?

Here I would submit that yes, they potentially are.

After all, the Neocons are correct when they sense that if Russia gets away with openly defying and defeating the USA in Syria, nobody will take the AngloZionists very seriously any more.

How do you think the Neocons think when they see the President of the Philippines publicly calling Obama a “son of a whore” and then tells the EU to go and “f*ck itself”?

Of course, the Neocons can still find some solace in the abject subservience of the European political elites, but still – they know that he writing is on the wall and that their Empire is rapidly crumbling, not only in Syria, the Ukraine or Asia, but even inside the USA. The biggest danger here is that the Neocons might try to rally the nation around the flag, either by staging yet another false flag or by triggering a real international crisis.

At this point in time all we can do is wait and hope that there is enough resistance inside the US government to prevent a US attack on Syria before the next Administration comes in. And while I am no supporter of Trump, I would agree that Hillary and her evil cabal of russophobic Neocons is so bad that Trump does give me some hope, at least in comparison to Hillary.

So if Trump wins, then Russia’s strategy will be basically justified. Once Trump is on the White House, there is at least the possibility of a comprehensive redefinition of US-Russian relations which would, of course, begin with a de-escalation in Syria: while Obama/Hillary categorically refuse to get rid of Daesh (by that I mean al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, and all their various denominations), Trump appears to be determined to seriously fight them, even if that means that Assad stays in power. There is most definitely a basis for dialog here. If Hillary comes in, then the Russians will have to make an absolutely crucial call: how important is Syria in the context of their goal to re-sovereignize Russia and to bring down the AngloZionist Empire? Another way of formulating the same question is “would Russia prefer a confrontation with the Empire in Syria or in the Ukraine?”.

One way to gauge the mood in Russia is to look at the language of a recent law proposed by President Putin and adopted by the Duma which dealt with the issue of the Russia-US Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) which, yet again, saw the US yet again fail to deliver on their obligations and which Russia has now suspended. What is interesting, is the language chosen by the Russians to list the conditions under which they would resume their participation in this agreement and, basically, agree to resume any kind of arms negotiations:

1. A reduction of military infrastructure and the number of the US troops stationed on the territory of NATO member states that joined the alliance after September 1, 2000, to the levels at which they were when the original agreement first entered into force.
2. The abandonment of the hostile policy of the US towards Russia, which should be carried out with the abolition of the Magnitsky Act of 2012 and the conditions of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, which were directed against Russia.
3. The abolition of all sanctions imposed by the US on certain subjects of the Russian Federation, Russian individuals and legal entities.
4. The compensation for all the damages suffered by Russia as a result of the imposition of sanctions.
5. The US is also required to submit a clear plan for irreversible plutonium disposition covered by the PMDA.

Now the Russians are not delusional. They know full well that the USA will never accept such terms. So what is this really all about?

It is a diplomatic but unambiguous way to tell the USA the exact same thing which Philippine President Duterte (and Victoria Nuland) told the EU.

the russians have a more intense way of saying it actually:
NOT JUST ''fuck you" ..
but "'oh..........go FUCK YOUR MOTHER...".

The Americans better start paying attention.