From: Sunthar Visuvalingam <suntharv@yahoo.com>
Date: 4 February 2012 23:13
Subject: [Abhinavagupta] "NATO versus Syria" (Philip Giraldi) - chronicle of Western propaganda
To: Abhinavagupta@yahoogroups.com, WTC-911 <WTC-911@yahoogroups.com>, MeccaBenares <MeccaBenares@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Akandabaratam <Akandabaratam@yahoogroups.com>
Russia and China have vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for the Syrian president to step down, provoking a furious reaction.
All 13 other members of the council, including the US, France and Britain, voted in favour of the resolution, which backed an Arab peace plan aimed at stopping the violence in Syria. Russia and China blocked the resolution because of what they perceived to be a potential violation of Syria's sovereignty, which could allow for military intervention or regime change.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, condemned the decision. "More than 2,000 people have died since Russia and China vetoed the last draft resolution in October 2011," he said after the vote. "How many more need to die before Russia and China allow the UN security council to act?
"Those opposing UN security council action will have to account to the Syrian people for their actions, which do nothing to help bring an end to the violence that is ravaging the country. The United Kingdom will continue to support the people of Syria and the Arab League to find an end to the violence and allow a Syrian-led political transition."
The draft resolution, tabled by Morocco, did not impose sanctions or authorise military action and contained nothing that warranted opposition, Hague said. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, reacted angrily to the news at a press conference in Munich on Saturday night: "What more do we need to know to act decisively in the security council? To block this resolution is to bear responsibility for the horrors that are occurring on the ground in Syria."
Responding to the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who asked "What's the endgame?", Clinton replied: "The endgame in the absence of us acting together as the international community, I fear, is civil war." […]
The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as "one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria". It said it believed Assad's forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.
Another group, the Local Co-ordination Committees, gave a death toll of more than 200. It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access. Video footage on the internet showed at least eight bodies assembled in a room, one of them with the top half of its head blown off. A voice on the video said the bombardment was continuing as the video was being filmed.
Paul Harris, "Syria resolution vetoed by Russia and China at United Nations" (The Guardian, 04 February, 2011)
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 (former CIA officer, is executive director of the Council for the National Interest), "NATO vs. Syria" (The American Conservative, 19 Dec 2011)
Respond only to WTC-911.
Sunthar
[Rest of this thread at Sunthar V (22 Dec 2011)
"The 'Arab spring' and the west: seven lessons from history" (Seumas Milne, Guardian, 19 Dec 2011)]
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 10:32 PM
To: Abhinavagupta@yahoogroups.com; 'WTC-911'
Cc: 'MeccaBenares'; Akandabaratam
Subject: RE: Putin, Russia and the West - the chronicle of Western propaganda (esp. by BBC)
>
Note the tactics being used to discredit, denigrate, and demonize Putin…do you think that a future Indian leader, who tries to pursue an independent course (the likes of an Indira Gandhi) will be treated differently?
Sunthar
From Sunthar Visuvalingam
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 10:19 PM
To: Abhinavagupta; WTC-911
Cc: MeccaBenares
Subject: [Abhinavagupta] Putin, Russia and the West - the chronicle of Western propaganda (esp. by BBC)
Hi Rani,
>
I'd strongly recommend balancing whatever one sees or reads regarding geopolitics on BBC, New York Times, by a good dose of the alterative media on the Net…
Sunthar
[Rest of this thread at Sunthar V (11 Dec 2011)
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