“Whoever is not prepared to talk about capitalism should also remain silent about fascism…”
— Max Horkheimer
Nikita Khrushchev: The difference between the Soviet Union and China is that I rose to power from the peasant class, whereas you came from the privileged Mandarin class.
Zhou Enlai: True. But there is this similarity. Each of us is a traitor to his class.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is now a clear genocidal intent in the Saudi attack on Yemen. An attack assisted by and designed in part by the United States. It is worth noting at the top that once King Abdullah died, and Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the throne, the shape of the Saudi power structure was changed. And the most important part of that change was the ascension of Mohammad bin Salman to defense minister. Bin Salman is all of thirty one, and in addition has retained the title of Minister of State, and added secretary general of the Royal Court. A rather astounding and nearly unprecedented consolidation of power in the hands of a thirty one year old. Additionally the eighty-one-year-old King is already suffering dementia and is not expected to long survive his tenure as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques {sic}. Bin Salman is second in line to the throne.
Also worth noting that a week after Trump visited the Kingdom and did the sword dance and touched the orb (and seriously, what the fuck is all that?) the president appointed clear-cut nut job Michael D’Andrea to head up Iranian affairs at the CIA. A guy nicknamed ‘The Undertaker’. And a chain smoking abusive bully who converted to Islam (I mean there is a real story in unpacking D’Andrea). And a short time later a terror attack hit Tehran. Not to mention that secretary of war James ‘Mad Dog” Mattis is a longtime anti-Iranian zealot. You connect the dots. The U.S. is now ramping up an already breathtaking assault on the Arab world, and on the global south overall. And barely any of this is even mentioned in the mainstream press.
The logic at work, from the U.S. assault on Yugoslavia (which looms as the real trial run) to Libya and Iraq and now Syria, has been not just to defuse pockets of developing resistance to Western capital, but to dominate labor markets and control resources. The penetration of Western capital is the engine behind this massive wave of attacks on the global south. All of this began, in a sense, at least in its current incarnation, after 1989 and the fall of the U.S.S.R. But the hyper escalation began with 9/11. And it was Obama, far more than Bush, that implemented the structural and tactical policy that Trump has inherited. And to return to the Saudis for a moment; Obama oversaw a cooperation with the Saudis in channeling money to Takfiri mercenaries as part of the assault on Syria. To the tune of billions of dollars (or as one analyst put it, over a hundred thousand dollars a year for every single anti Assad terrorist mercenary). And it was Obama who had U.S. military advisors in Riyadh, from day one, of the Saudi attack on Yemen. An attack that has left millions suffering starvation, and an outbreak of Cholera — a proxy biological attack itself, and a totally destroyed infrastructure.
Crown Prince bin Salman: liable to rule for a long time. We must wonder what kind of shadow he will cast.
And remember, too, that Saudi Arabia only exists in its current form because of the U.K., and because of subsidizing from the West. And the British saw some sort of logic in supporting the minority fringe fundamentalism of Wahabbist Islam. A short bit of history here: it was in the 1700s that Ibn Saud formed an alliance with itinerant religious fanatic Adl al-Wahhab and this alliance formed into a movement of fanatic reformists who terrorized the peninsula until the start of the 19th century. And once destroyed by Egyptians (and Turks), the Wahab doctrine survived underground in small enclaves of nomadic tribes. But it was the start of the 20th century that saw the return of Saudi power and Wahabi ideology.
Johnny Grant wrote…
“…Abd-al Aziz, the then Saud leader, returned from exile determined to reclaim the family’s former power. In doing so he used much the same tactics as his ancestor, Ibn Saud, namely employing fear under the banner of jihad. But there were two other important aspects to Aziz’s strategy that can’t be overlooked: the Ikhwan project, and the support from the British.
A major part of Abd-al Aziz’s strategy for reclaiming the peninsula was to extend Wahhabism through radical teaching into the surrounding Bedouin tribes. The traditional tribesmen were considered theological ‘blank slates’ by the House of Saud. Primitive and unenlightened, the Jahiliyyah were opened up to Wahhabi conversion by Saudi clerics with great enthusiasm.”
Aziz courted the British, who saw the wisdom in having a fanatical puritanical autocrat control the restive tribes and signed him up as part of a British protectorate. In 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was born, and a few years later oil was discovered. The formation of the Kingdom also saw an early cooperation with Israel. Common goal drove this partnership and it was Israel, with of course U.K. help, that fought the revolutionary republican forces in Yemen that wanted to overthrow the authoritarian Imam of the time – forces backed by Egypt’s Nasser.
Asher Orkaby writes…
“Since neither London nor Riyadh wanted to openly support the royalist forces, they needed a partner that would be willing to organize airlifts clandestinely over hostile territory. They turned to Israel, the only country with more to lose than Saudi Arabia from an Egyptian triumph in Yemen. Israeli leaders, for their part, believed that supporting a proxy conflict with Egypt would forestall an Egyptian-Israeli confrontation in the Sinai, keeping Nasser too preoccupied to attack Israel.
The celebrated Israeli transport pilot Aryeh Oz, then serving as the leader of Israel’s International Squadron 120, led the mission. Using a retrofitted Boeing Stratocruiser, he oversaw 14 flight missions to Yemen’s northern highlands between 1964 and 1966, carrying vital weapons and supplies that, in numerous cases, helped turn the tide of battle in favor of the royalists. Israeli pilots charted a flight path directly over Saudi territory, avoiding Egyptian fighter jets patrolling the Red Sea.”
Israel and Saudi cooperation continues, especially in regard to Iran. And the influence of Saudi money extends to every corner of the Imperialist West. Let me quote Fintan O’Toole…
“Wahhabism was born in the 18th century, Salafism in the 19th. And they are not “Islam” – Salafis and Wahhabis make up 3 per cent of Muslims. One of the more bizarre aspects of this ideology is that it involves attacks on things most Muslims regard as sacred. When western liberals wring their hands about giving offence to Muslims by depicting or representing the prophet, they miss the most important point. Cartoons in Charlie Hebdo are vastly less offensive to most Muslims than the destruction of early Islamic tombs by the Saudis. But of course self-appointed defenders of Islamic sensitivities, funded by Saudi largesse, won’t tell you that.”
Western governments abide by the dictum, just don’t mention the Saudis. The vast majority of Iraqis and Syrians believe ISIS is a western invention. And so it is, by way of Saudi Arabia. The modernist blog notes…
“These are precisely the populations which the western media universally insisted ISIS drew its support and sympathy. These are the people who the Western right insist simply spawn such savage groups periodically from the depths of their Oriental inscrutability, and of whom Western liberals parrot the equally racist absurdity that they are just so constitutionally barbaric as to morph into head-choppers after a certain sum of bombs have been dropped.”
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Western mainstream press and good deal of the left in the West continue to express the generalizing Orientalism that links Milosevic, Qadaffi, and Assad as all the same, and all somehow inherently despotic and creations outside history. The demonizing of Islam is linked to the Western (meaning U.S. and U.K.) need to bury the reality of Saudi influence, and the history of Wahabbi fanaticism. But it is also a part of the hidden security apparatus (or deep state, a term predictably being ridiculed in mainstream media now) that works to defuse and squash any organic grassroots movements of resistance.
Ole Tunander wrote….
“US Rear-Admiral James Lyons, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans, Policy and Operations, in 1984 set up a ‘terrorist unit’ — known as the Red Cell — recruited from his own naval special forces (SEAL Team Six), to attack naval bases worldwide. This unit set off bombs, wounded US personnel and took hundreds of hostages as part of its operations. According to Lyons, it was necessary for US forces to get ‘physical’ experience of the terrorist threat in order to ‘change the mindset’ and ‘raise the awareness’ of the troops to prevent a possibly even more devastating attack.
Once again, the US was developing a security system that included both sides of the coin. With the end of the Cold War and the decline of the Soviet threat, however, many Europeans believe this ‘dual structure’ — with its specifically tasked terrorist units — may have evolved into an instrument for establishing not only internal Western stability but also US global hegemony.”
Ya think? The recent Manchester bombing is a perfect expression of the mechanisms of the hidden security hierarchy. John Pilger observed…
“The unsayable in Britain’s general election campaign is this. The causes of the Manchester atrocity, in which 22 mostly young people were murdered by a jihadist, are being suppressed to protect the secrets of British foreign policy.
Critical questions – such as why the security service MI5 maintained terrorist “assets” in Manchester and why the government did not warn the public of the threat in their midst – remain unanswered, deflected by the promise of an internal “review”. The alleged suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, was part of an extremist group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, that thrived in Manchester and was cultivated and used by MI5 for more than 20 years.”
When Hillary Clinton ordered the assassination of Qadaffi, the killers were part of this same group that the U.K. protected and employed, in theory, when necessary. Again, this imperial policy goes back to WW2. And the goal was to stop secular states, to stop Pan-Arabism lest control of resources fall out of Western control. And the creation of Israel was part of the plan. Pilger adds…“Pan-Arabism has since been crushed; the goal now is division and conquest.” The truth is Mu’ammar Gaddafi never intended to massacre anyone. But the fact he controlled massive oil reserves served, among other things (like wanting to create a new currency to replace the dollar), to put a target on his back. The destruction of Libya included massive bombing of civilian areas and an estimated death toll (including a high percentage of children) in the tens of thousands. Obama ordered troops to South Sudan, the Congo, and the Central African Republic…a de-facto invasion of desperately poor nations, all with total invisibility in U.S. media. The western narrative on terrorist attacks never varies. Lone wolf acting alone. Product of a barbaric Islam, a culture of violence, anti modern, savage and anti democratic.
Jim Kavanagh wrote…
“The Abedi family was part of a protected cohort of Salafist proxy soldiers that have been used by “the West” to destroy the Libyan state. There are a number of such cohorts around the world that have been used for decades to overthrow relatively prosperous and secular, but insufficiently compliant, governments in the Arab and Muslim world—and members of those groups have perpetrated several blowback attacks in Western countries, via various winding roads. In this case, the direct line from Libya to Mali to Manchester is particularly easy to trace.”
The attack in Tehran, the one applauded by Trump and the craven imbecile Dana Rohrbacher, was claimed by ISIS. And ISIS, as must be clear by now, is the creation of Saudi Arabia with huge amounts of help from the U.S., Israel, and U.K. And secondary assistance from NATO, Turkey, Jordan, and the other gulf monarchies. When Trump blames Iran for the terror in its capital, he is part of the inversion of reality that is now daily fare in western media. Iran is the largest democracy in the region and the greatest opponent of fanatical Salafi terrorism. Israel continues to be a crucial actor in the global Imperial project of the U.S. They support ISIS financially, but also with safe passage through the Golan Heights, and with free hospital care; not to mention the intermittent air strikes by the Israeli air force. With Netanyahu under investigation for corruption, one can expect Israeli aggression will only increase in an effort to distract from his domestic problems.
“…more than seventy American companies and individuals have won up to $27 billion in contracts for work in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan over the last three years, according to a recent study by the Center for Public Integrity. According to the study, nearly 75 per cent of these private companies had employees or board members, who either served in, or had close ties to, the executive branch of the Republican and Democratic administrations, members of Congress, or the highest levels of the military.” — Garikai Chengu
So what is the conclusion one draws from all these facts? Well, firstly, the United States is the #1 world aggressor. The Saudis, like ISIS, like Kagame, are just a tool. Iran hasn’t invaded anyone for 300 years. It isn’t Russia that has 800 military bases around the world. That would be the U.S. And it was under Obama, who now looms as the worst president in history, that the constitution was essentially shredded. The U.S. now assassinates anyone anywhere in the world without due process, advocates indefinite detention of anyone, even U.S. citizens, without trial, and can label any American a terrorist without due process (you can be labeled a terrorist for paying cash at an internet cafe).
The U.S. has entered a gilded age in which the affluent classes, the managerial class (now increasingly elitist, and including a kind of new technological expert priest class ) who live largely in big urban centers, have grown ideologically and culturally apart from the underemployed working class, are aligned with the impossibly rich 1%. The haute bourgeoisie are now not just structurally opposed to the working class, but culturally as well. They are white professional gentrifying educated and anti socialist. Race and gender cut across this, too. The violence against the third world is the same violence vented on black communities in the U.S. And I’ve seen essays arguing that racism is at an all time low (and argued this with a pseudo leftist in fact) when of course it is only a certain kind of manufactured image of anti racism that has grown. The real racism against black people is reaching new levels of sadism. The academic left concerns itself increasingly with identity issues while ignoring the massive uptick in direct violence against the global poor. No country the U.S. has attacked has offered even the remotest threat. Yemen was and is the poorest country in the Arab world. And domestically, despite various liberal laws now providing protection (and Dean Spade is very good on this with regards to trans people) there has been a growth of material punishment and marginalization of the most vulnerable. The mythology that passing laws changes something, like racism say, is actually one that ends up justifying racism because now, supposedly, in a post racist society if you fail it is because you are lazy or somehow just not up to the task. And running alongside this is the growing prison population. The violence against black communities is the same violence directed at Yemen, and Libya and Syria. There remains in the U.S. a dire housing shortage, food insecurity has grown, and stripped down welfare benefits. The state is the great punisher today, both domestically and globally. And the global violence is masked because much of it takes place through the hidden security apparatus, and domestically through the illusions of legal faux legitimacy. That Obama succeeded in sustaining an image of progressive liberalism is one of the great propaganda achievements of the modern era. For Obama did nothing for the poor, and globally intensified the imperialist drive for global hegemony. And that is the story in one sentence. Globally the United States has destroyed secular governments, supported monarchies and dictatorships, propagandized against all secular socialist minded leaders and in fact against any leader not prostrate in obedience. Our allies, such as Israel, are exactly the same. Expansionist and racist and militant. Or like Saudi Arabia, degenerate and morally bankrupt societies of bigotry and cruelty. That is the company the U.S. keeps.
Gordon Huff, a Vietnam veteran, wrote…
“Every day my father would return from the Ford factory, describing 120-degree heat and air steeped in carcinogenic solvents. His friends and coworkers died in their 50s. By age 55, he had suffered half a dozen heart attacks and was on disability of $60 a month to support a family of 4. This is a common story, not an exception, this is how my generation grew up, mowing lawns, shoveling snow for money for shoes, working to support a family as early as 10. This is the American generation that went to Vietnam and it was the generation that taught the Pentagon that their games would not continue unopposed.
Today it’s different. The public questions little, those in the military question nothing. When America’s invading armies in Iraq and Afghanistan, under bush never found WMDs or the massive underground terrorist fortresses Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld spoke of, what was the downside? Thousands of American military were killed over not just nothing but abject lies.
When billions in cash was stolen in both Iraq and Afghanistan, when 250,000 AK 47’s purchased by the US government for the Iraqi military simply disappeared, nobody saw it. When Haliburton Corporation furnished the US Army with drinking water taken unfiltered from the Euphrates River, one of the most polluted bodies of water on Earth, hundreds infected with Hepatitis and other diseases, nothing was said, certainly no congressional investigation but the Pentagon was silent as well. Also silent were the troops in the field, silent then and still silent.”
And Hollywood deserves a fair share of blame for the effectiveness of the propaganda. The endless repetition of Imperial lies and the fawning adoration of militarism has helped create a nation run by a sub literate gangster billionaire. A president who appoints only other billionaires or just old fashioned regressive cracker racists like Jefferson Sessions. Raw meat tossed to the xenophobic right wing. And I will tell you now, Trump will get re-elected because the class segregation is now deeply entrenched and the collaborator liberal class will in the end defer to their own self interest. They will vote Democratic (Chelsea Clinton? Michelle Obama? Cory Booker?…who is the next Democrat to run against Trump? It won't be Hillary because I think her health will prevent it). But whoever it is, they will lose. And for the same reasons Hillary lost this time.
This is a society of extraordinary denial and self delusion. Global aggression and the artificial Salafi terrorist mercenaries are the result of Capitalism and Imperialism. They are the proxy warriors in the West’s irrational lust for more. Of everything. And of the barely concealed death instinct of the western psyche.
They're Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST'S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
Both President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Theresa May of UK, have already gone on record as supporting the neoconservative position, that the U.S. and its allies should dictate to the sovereign government of Syria, and that Syria’s government should obey. Macron himself has even warned that “the use of chemical weapons will be met with a response, and even if France acts alone.” 
This latest attack has to be seen in the context of the statement by Russia’s Defence ministry in which they say –
“In fact, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Jabarov declared right after the first incident that “Russia has no intentions to use its Aerospace Forces against US missiles if Washington decides to carry out new strikes in Syria as it could lead to a large-scale war”, thereby confirming that there’s close to no chance that Russia would come to Syria’s aid if the US unleashed HIMARS against Deir az-Zor-destined SAA forces. Despite this unfavorable state of affairs, Damascus more than likely won’t be discouraged, and could still very well make a dash for the desert town regardless of the HIMARS hindrance. Even in the event that its soldiers are martyred, Syria might be calculating that their sacrifices would be worth it if there’s even a slight possibility that they can help delay the country’s post-war “decentralization” and de-facto internal partition”
from – http://www.globalvillagespace.com/syrias-dash-deir-az-zor-americas-himars-missiles-threaten-progress/
The above referenced by Andrew Korybko.
I won’t say anything intemperate just ask if people here still think Syria can prevail. The US can destroy Syria whenever and if ever it chooses.
Russia will bomb terrorists but never defend Syria against the US military and they have announced this fact to the world.
Yes,Russia just refuses to understand that by not defending your allies you will end with no allies when your “time” comes. The US has zero reason to stop their aggression since Russia has given them the leeway to continue it.Its almost as big an error as Stalin made before Barbarossa. There needs to be a translation in Russian sent to Putin of the saying,”fool me once shame on you. But fool me twice (we are running out of times now) and shame on me”.
This is really bad news, because it means the Russians have no real capacity to defend their allies when push comes to shove. The US will just up the ante. As Syria is dismantled, then it will be Irans turn and finally Russia. The global hegemon cannot be resisted it seems. And China won’t step up to the plate. Wouldn’t be surprised if they turn on Russia?
Uncle Bob 1 – Right. The benefits to Russia of the Syrian engagement are several.
In Syria Russia has been enabled to rotate thousands of it’s troops giving them real battle experience and they have also tested hundreds of weapon systems in war situations.
They have acquired a beefed up naval base on the Med and an airbase in Syria they didn’t have before.
They have destroyed huge numbers of terrorists thus preserving (they hope) Russia from similar attacks.
As a result they have also been able to sell weapons systems benefitting their economy and massively leveraging their global standing as a world power.
Thanks to the Russians the Syrians have regained a good portion of their country back.
However if Russia is only attacking terrorists on the ground this leaves Syria facing the mighty US and NATO all alone. ( with Iran).
Syria is three quarters rubble, it’s army well depleted.
It has virtually no air defenses that work (removed – please stop these unsubstantiated statements about what the Russians have said – either back up your slander with facts or refrain from these comments. Mod.)
Russia has been doing – tv shows, interviews with famous film producers etc all of which may be good PR but changes nothing because the west gives absolutely nothing in return.
Indeed today Strategic Culture Org reports new US military bases and radars going into Norway, a complete departure from Norway’s hitherto position.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/06/18/norway-way-become-unfriendly-neighbor-in-russia-eyes.html
The west continues on it’s relentless path whilst clearly Russia continues to believe they can be persuaded to be reasonable. Will they ever learn?
The US is torn with internal strife right now but as soon as they get their act together they will carry on with their stated aim of destroying Syria and Iran before finishing off Russia which as you say won’t have single ally. China of course is nowhere to be seen.
I have read here that the Russians are great strategists. Could someone please explain how you win a war by shooting the mercenaries whilst leaving the entire machinery behind it – the US and NATO – intact.?
Maybe, just maybe, if they had shot down one of the US planes which recently bombed the Syrians the US would have got the message that they mean business.
The US is getting a different message though.
As usual the Anti-Putin/Russia bashers above are proved wrong yet again!
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706191054760684-russia-us-syria-deconfliction-channel/
The Russians have now answered the US – no co-operation; any coalition planes and drones will be intercepted – basically a no fly zone will now be in affect; the US never contacted the Russians before shooting down the Syrian plane.
The Russian MOD saying its an “Act of Aggression”
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706191054760519-russia-mod-syria-jet-downing/
What is missing in this analysis by Andrew is Iran.
The moves by Iran today with a missile attack into ISIS at Deir ez Zor, and the PMUs it has employed at the Iraq-Syria border and into the zone of al Tanf indicate that Iran and the Quds and Hezbollah will fight with Syria against the US.
How much of the US is artillery and some air power and how much is on the ground?
The US can do heavy damage, but the ground will not be theirs without a commitment of troops.
I think everything changes when the US takes some missiles incoming. And both Hezbollah and Iran are very capable of achieving those strikes.
How long did it take to destroy Libya with NATO bombing, NATO special forces on the ground and an army of terrorists?
No full on US army invasion needed.
Now the US has been given the green light and as VK says they will up the anti. from now on.
What nonsense! Libya did not have Iranian and Russian assistance.
A cursory look at the map shows that the Syrian army has made great strides in recent months and a single downed fighter jet will not change the military calculus all that much, though it may suggest things are ready to heat up. At some point the Russians will have to make a stark choice, confront the US and its proxies directly or back away. What Putin does next remains to be seen.
and those missiles flying to Deir-ez-Zor during a joint military naval training with the PLA in the strait. clear signal. china shows where her support will be landed if things get ugly.
Iran just launched groud-to-ground missile strikes from Iran against US-ally terror targets in Syria. The zionist puppet parliament in Washington and Trump will declare these missile strikes as direct proof of Iran’s clear and present danger to the ‘master race’ HQed in Israel.
America’s coming invasion and decapitation strike in Syria, to destroy Assad and the current Syrian leadership, is the first step on the road to war with Iran. The USA will spend two weeks exterminating all traces of the Syrian government while Russia withdraws its forces to ‘safe spaces’. And during that two weeks, America will ensure its invasion forces clash with Iranian units as much as possible.
America’s destrucion of the Syrian warplane is yet another ‘proving’ act designed to convine the doubters at the top of the US military that Putin will not confront the invading force. Iran’s use of the missiles is helpless ‘posturing’ designed to make America think twice. Iran intends the message to be that Israel will not be safe, but the USA does not care. All the USA cares about in this circumstance is the ‘safety’ of its invading units- and without Russian assistance, America will grind to dust any Iranian opposition in Syria.
Israel will not directly engage in the invasion of Syria, so any Iranian strikes on Israel as a result will simply make Iran look criminal in the eyes of the sheeple- and the zionist demons that head Israel will be safe in their bunkers anyway. They actually want Iran to hit Israel.
No, the game is Russia’s to lose, and Russia’s alone. Today’s Russia is history’s worst ally- for Russia will do nothing against the Empire of the West to help its so-called ‘allies’.
PS understand that the very moment any anti-Russian/anti-Syrian propaganda gets significant traction with the sheeple of the West, the invasion is on. The invasion force is ready and waiting in Jordan, and lesser West nations are moving their forces into Jordan on a daily basis. This anti-syrian invasion force is going to be as multi-national as that in the first Gulf War by the look of it, and Putin’s choices in Syria are helping it magnify.
The escalation will happen in the North of my beloved Syria, I’m assured of this.
I’m not even afraid of the consequences, as the destruction of the enemy of good and humanity give me more joy…no matter how much of our blood needs to be spilled, we are conscious and ready, the sacrifices of all the martyrs that paid the price and those that follow on their path in the near future will not go in vain !
The RuAF will have to fly these missions once there aren’t enough Syrian jets/pilots left. That will change the situation quite a bit.
Exactly. The Russians will fly. And the Iranians and their proxies will move on the ground. And more powerful missiles and rockets will be the major exchanges with the US-Coalition.
As for an invasion force from Jordan, a few missiles will stop that.
The de-escalation zone in that corner of Syria is a free-fire zone against any force that does not stand down. Turkey-Iran and Russia have agreed on that stipulation.
Al Tanf will become a boiler, US artillery or not.
Iran’s missile attack serves notice that no US base will be safe above ground in the East or South.
CENTCOM wants a war and so does Israel. It looks like Syria and Iran will give it to them. They have no choice.