The US Govt Created ISIS, And Doesn’t Care How Many Children It Kills (Video)

Ricky Twisdale } Russia Insider
It’s just another episode in the long history of moral depravity of US foreign policy

In this report by noted investigative journalist Ben Swann, he presents documentary evidence of what everybody has long known or believed, namely, that the US was the primary force behind the emergence of Islamic State.

The Pentagon document leaked to Judicial Watch talks of creating a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria, which would serve as a counterweight to the Shiite influence in the region as represented by the Alawite (a Shiite sect) al-Assad government and their Iranian allies.

Not to mention ISIS also provides a very convenient excuse for further US intervention in Syria – the real goal of which is removing Assad at any cost, including even the deaths of hundreds of thousands, the laying waste to a country and subjecting large territories to the scourge of medieval barbarism.

But the United States of America has never shirked from the hard decisions needed to “defend freedom.” [Corporate freedom, that is.—Ed.]

Sometimes killing millions is what it takes. You know, the general in Vietnam who said “We had to destroy the village, in order to save it.” Hiroshima and Dresden. Or Madeleine Albright telling 60 Minutes that killing 500,000 Iraqi children was “worth it” just to depose Saddam Hussein:

Being a member of the inner councils of imperialism makes you immune to prosecution for any crime against humanity no matter how heinous…she says she made a “mistake”, but clearly what she has gotten is no more than a slap on the wrist.

In one of the recent GOP presidential deabtes, Hugh Hewitt made it clear what is expected of a US president: being able to “kill innocent children, by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands” if that’s what it takes to acheive US policy objectives. The audience wasn’t even shocked by the question. They only booed when Hewitt attacked Carson personally:

We shouldn’t be surprised then that the United States considers it “worth it” to create ISIS and kill many thousands more, just to depose Bashar al-Assad. This is the total moral depravity which charaterizes US foreign policy and has done for at least a century.

And we equally shouldn’t be surprised at Washington and the MSM’s intense hatred of Vladimir Putin, who actually had the gall to fight and destroy ISIS rather than let their savagery spread to Russia (and Europe).

Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 8.14.47 AM

The CIA (with Zbigniew Brezinski) provoked a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, then created the Mujahadeen which morphed into al-Qaeda.

Yesterday in Brussels we saw another example of the blowback from Western regime change operations. We shall surely see more.

But the CIA and Mossad never think that far ahead. Or more likely they just don’t care.

About the Author

Ricky Twisdale is a deputy editor at Russia Insider and lives in Moscow. From 2013-2015 he lived in western Ukraine.

@RickyTwisdale

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Obama’s Hypocritical Legacy-Building Sends Saudi Allies Flying Off the Handle

=Mark Nicholas=
Russia Insider

Senior member of the Saudi royal family and former Ambassador to Washington slams ‘petulant’ Obama

One thing you can count on from the image-conscious Obama (the man published an autobiography before he was 35 years old) is that there’s little he won’t say to make himself look good. This is particularly true in his final year as president when his mind turns to the question as how he will be remembered as..

The book-length interview he recently gave his personal hagiographer, Jeffrey Goldberg, should be seen in this context – as Obama’s desperate attempt to put a positive spin on his presidency. He has been an empty suit in thrall to a hyper-interventionist Washington establishment, but in the Goldberg interview is angling to leave us with the image of a strong, orthodoxies-busting realist instead.

That is no easy task, but neither is Obama taking any prisoners in accomplishing it. Firstly after breaking Libya and nearly breaking Syria he is now blaming Libya on his ally Cameroon and the near-disaster in Syria on his advisor Kerry.

Moreover after allowing Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to pretty much dictate United States’ Middle East agenda for the entirety of his presidency he has now come out to heavily criticize and try to distance himself from all three.

The Saudis, however, did not take kindly to Obama slamming them in public but have instead fired back. Prince Turki bin Faisal – the former Saudi top intelligence chief for over two decades and later the Saudi Ambassador to Washington in the Bush era – published a fascinating and very angry open letter in response that should really be read whole:

No, Mr. Obama. We are not “free riders.” We shared with you our intelligence that prevented deadly terrorist attacks on America.

We initiated the meetings that led to the coalition that is fighting Fahish (ISIL), and we train and fund the Syrian freedom fighters, who fight the biggest terrorist, Bashar Assad and the other terrorists, Al-Nusrah and Fahish (ISIL). We offered boots on the ground to make that coalition more effective in eliminating the terrorists.

We initiated the support — military, political and humanitarian — that is helping the Yemeni people reclaim their country from the murderous militia, the Houthis, who, with the support of the Iranian leadership, tried to occupy Yemen; without calling for American forces. We established a coalition of more than thirty Muslim countries to fight all shades of terrorism in the world.

We are the biggest contributors to the humanitarian relief efforts to help refugees from Syria, Yemen and Iraq. We combat extremist ideology that attempts to hijack our religion, on all levels. We are the sole funders of the United Nations Counter-terrorism Center, which pools intelligence, political, economic, and human resources, worldwide. We buy US treasury bonds, with small interest returns, that help your country’s economy.

We send thousands of our students to your universities, at enormous expense, to acquire knowledge and knowhow. We host over 30,000 American citizens and pay them top dollar in our businesses and industry for their skills. Your secretaries of state and defense have often publicly praised the level of cooperation between our two countries.

Your treasury department officials have publicly praised Saudi Arabia’s measures to curtail any financing that might reach terrorists. Our King Salman met with you, last September, and accepted your assurances that the nuclear deal you struck with the Iranian leadership will prevent their acquiring nuclear weapons for the duration of the deal. You noted “the Kingdom’s leadership role in the Arab and Islamic world.”

The two of you affirmed the “need, in particular, to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities.” Now, you throw us a curve ball. You accuse us of fomenting sectarian strife in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. You add insult to injury by telling us to share our world with Iran, a country that you describe as a supporter of terrorism and which you promised our king to counter its “destabilizing activities.”

Could it be that you are petulant about the Kingdom’s efforts to support the Egyptian people when they rose against the Muslim Brothers’ government and you supported it? Or is it the late King Abdullah’s (God rest his soul) bang on the table when he last met you and told you “No more red lines, Mr. President.”

Or is it because you have pivoted to Iran so much that you equate the Kingdom’s 80 years of constant friendship with America to an Iranian leadership that continues to describe America as the biggest enemy, that continues to arm, fund and support sectarian militias in the Arab and Muslim world, that continues to harbor and host Al-Qaeda leaders, that continues to prevent the election of a Lebanese president through Hezbollah, which is identified by your government as a terrorist organization, that continues to kill the Syrian Arab people in league with Bashar Assad?

No, Mr. Obama. We are not the “free riders” that to whom you refer. We lead from the front and we accept our mistakes and rectify them. We will continue to hold the American people as our ally and don’t forget that when the chips were down, and George Herbert Walker Bush sent American soldiers to repel with our troops Saddam’s aggression against Kuwait, soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder with soldiers. Mr. Obama, that is who we are.

Turki’s letter is of course a great testament to the pathological obsession of the Saudi royal court with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and particularly the Republican-Islamist Iran. Moreover, it’s homage to Saudi Orwellianism – we’re supposed to believe Riyadh is opposed to Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria and it’s dreadful war in Yemen is a humanitarian mission.

However, Turki also raises valid complaints of what the Saudi court can’t see as anything but an insult and proof Obama’s duplicity:

We buy US treasury bonds, with small interest returns, that help your country’s economy.

In other words: You will crawl before us to finance your debt, then turn around and badmouth us in public to enhance your profile.

Your secretaries of state and defense have often publicly praised the level of cooperation between our two countries.

…

You noted “the Kingdom’s leadership role in the Arab and Islamic world.”

Translated: You will say one thing to our face, then turn around and say something else to our backs.

Prince Turki served three Saudi kings before him but has no official role under Salman who rose to the throne last year. That actually goes to emphasize just how irritated the Saudis have to be with the White House right now.

Turki had served in Washington and under past kings who were very close to the US. Salman and his men today, however, are as inclined to talk to the Chinese as they are to continue economic ties with Washington. If Obama has alienated even Turki who should be closest to the US then the Saudi top leadership which was less pro-US to begin with must zero respect for Obama left.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. The US and Saudi Arabia have been a joint force for chaos and war in the rest of the world. A break between the two might bring the planet some respite from that.

However, if Obama was going to sacrifice US-Saudi ties it should have been to check their export of Islamist fundamentalism, sponsorship of terrorism, or the horrible war in Yemen. This would have been the conduct of a statesman.

Instead he has continued to enable Saudi horrors in Yemen and to cooperate with its fundamentalist agenda in Syria – but is now risking Saudi goodwill in a interview to his hagiographer just to embellish his presidential “legacy” before he steps down next year.

Having already fed the people of Yemen and effective international anti-terrorism to Saudi-US relations and the petro-dollar gravy train, he now risks the latter out of a personal rather than national or world interest.

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Syrian war enters sixth year with graver dangers still ahead

=By= Bill Van Auken
Senior Editorialist with wsws.org

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his week marks the fifth anniversary of the war in Syria that has claimed well over a quarter of a million lives, and, between turning nearly five million into refugees and internally displacing another seven million, has driven more than half the country’s population from their homes. The national economy has been shattered, with over half of Syrians unemployed and 85 percent living in poverty. Much of the country has been plunged into darkness after continuous attacks on power stations and other electricity infrastructure.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he regime change operation has turned most of Syria’s once beautiful cities into literally piles of rubble—the signature of a superpower as indecent as it is hypocritical.

A photo taken on January 30, 2015 shows the eastern part of the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab. Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier on January 26, in a symbolic blow to the jihadists who have seized large swathes of territory in their onslaught across Syria and Iraq. AFP PHOTO/BULENT KILIC

BELOW: More evidence of the degree of destruction inflicted by this lunatic, utterly criminal war wholly manufactured in Washington.

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]erhaps most staggering of all, the unrelenting violence combined with the destruction of the country’s health care system and other social infrastructure as well as the plummeting of living standards has driven down life expectancy in Syria from 70.5 years in 2011 to just 55.4 years in 2015.

The rape of Syria, alongside the decimation of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, constitutes one of the great crimes of imperialism in the 21st century. What is commonly referred to by the media as the Syrian civil war or “uprising” has in fact constituted a massive “regime-change” operation carried out by Washington and its regional allies with complete contempt for the lives and well-being of the Syrian people.

This proxy war has been waged almost entirely by Al Qaeda-linked militias armed and funded by the CIA, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which all collaborated to funnel in tens of thousands of so-called foreign fighters.

The attempts to sell this war to the American people, as a “humanitarian” intervention by the Obama administration and its media accomplices, and even—by various pseudo-left organizations—to portray it as a “revolution” have fallen totally flat.

As the anniversary fell this week, the level of fighting had diminished significantly under a “cessation of hostilities agreement” brokered by Washington and Moscow. The United Nations has brought together representatives of the Syrian government together with the collection of Islamist fanatics and foreign intelligence assets united in the Riyadh opposition in a third attempt to negotiate a cease-fire and “political transition.”

Meanwhile, the government of Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that it was withdrawing the majority of its military forces from Syria, while maintaining its naval facility in Tartus and its air base in the western province of Latakia.

In less than six months, the Russian intervention enabled Syrian government troops to regain some 4,000 square miles of territory and 400 towns, solidifying their grip over the western part of the country which includes the major population centers, while cutting off the main supply routes from Turkey for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise.

The Russian intervention only underscored the phony character of the “war on ISIS” waged by the US, which was calibrated not to weaken the “rebels,” among whom ISIS and al-Nusra counted as the most potent contingents.

The recent turn of events prompted angry and sarcastic editorials from both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, both of which from the outset have reflected the views of those within the US ruling establishment and the Obama administration itself who have pressed for a more direct US military intervention. Both papers ridiculed Obama for suggesting that the Putin government’s Syrian intervention would lead it into a “quagmire.”

“As quagmires go, Mr. Putin will take it,” the Journal commented. “On Monday he announced that Russia will begin withdrawing the ‘main part’ of its forces in Syria having accomplished his strategic goals at little cost.”

Similarly, the Post editorialized that far from landing in the quagmire, “Mr. Putin has accomplished quite a lot, and his gains have come at the expense of US interests and of Mr. Obama’s stated goals in the region.”

It would be a serious mistake to interpret the immediate conjuncture and the bitter recriminations over Putin’s supposed victory as a signal that Washington has thrown in the towel over its Syrian intervention. US imperialism is not about to accept the consolidation of a regime in Syria allied to Moscow, any more than it will countenance the rise of Russia as a regional, much less global, rival.

For the moment, the Obama administration will seek to exploit the UN-brokered “peace talks” and any concessions that it can wring from Moscow, Tehran and the government of President Bashar al-Assad itself to pursue the regime change that it has been unable to bring about by force.

After the election in November, however, it may rapidly turn to new tactics. It is a longstanding practice of the US government to delay as much as possible the launching of new wars in election years until after the vote in order to prevent militarism from becoming a subject of popular political debate.

Within the Obama administration, there is a substantial faction that has consistently pressed for more direct US military intervention, as was highlighted by the recent article published in the Atlantic magazine, headlined “Obama’s doctrine.” It quoted figures like current Secretary of State John Kerry, former secretary of state and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, former defense secretary Leon Panetta and others criticizing Obama for failing to launch missile strikes in September 2013 over the fabricated charges that the Syrian government had carried out chemical weapons attacks.

Current Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is quoted explaining that Obama’s view is that Asia “is the part of the world of greatest consequence to the American future.” He is therefore loathe to have another US war in the Middle East distract from preparations for a military confrontation with China.

Regime change in Syria was always for US imperialism a means to an end. It was aimed at preparing for confrontations with both Russia and Iran by depriving them of a key regional ally.

That the US military is preparing for such a wider conflict found fresh and ominous confirmation in testimony given this week by the uniformed commander of the US Army.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned the House Armed Services Committee that, while his troops were prepared to conduct “counterterrorism” and “counterinsurgency” missions, fighting “ISIS, Al Qaeda, al-Nusra and any other terrorist groups,” he had “grave concerns” about their readiness to engage in a “great-power war” with an enemy such as China, Russia or Iran.

“There is a high level of risk associated with those contingencies right now,” he added, arguing that failing to build up US troop strength would be to “roll the dice.” After testifying, General Milley and other service commanders gave the congressional committee “risk assessments” for another major war in a closed session.

For all of the immense carnage suffered by the Syrian people, the dangerous spread of the conflict regionally and the massive flow of refugees into Western Europe, it is becoming increasingly clear that the criminal war for regime change in Syria represents only the antechamber of far bloodier and indeed global military conflagrations.

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‘Our friends’: Saudi Arabia and the West

=By= New Internationalist

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman after he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland, on September 3, 2015, to accompany King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to visit President Barack Obama. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

‘Disgraceful!’ exploded the parliamentarian.

What appalled British MP Daniel Kawczynski was that his country was about to cancel a $8.4-million deal to modernize Saudi Arabia’s prison system amid concerns about the country’s worsening human rights.

A betrayal, in the eyes of Kawczynski, the Conservative member who has chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Saudi Arabia.

And up to then, last October, such an event was virtually unheard of. Saudi Arabia is our friend, is the mantra that has for decades rung out from corridors of power in Britain, the US, Canada and Australia.

Never mind the public executions, the medieval floggings, lack of even the most basic rights for women. Never mind that citizens of this oil-rich Gulf state have their daily lives controlled by brutal secret and religious police, and a legal system based on regal whim rather than rule of law. Or that Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies and effectively a dictatorship. Or that it produced most of the 9-11 terrorists. ¹

Saudi Arabia is our friend.

Security smoke and mirrors

If you believe the British government, it’s all about keeping safe: ‘The reason we have the relationship is our own national security,’ said David Cameron recently. ‘There was one occasion since I’ve been prime minister where a bomb that would have potentially blown up over Britain was stopped because of intelligence we got from Saudi Arabia… For me … our people’s security comes first.’²

It’s also conveniently secret. There exists a Memorandum of Understanding between Britain and Saudi Arabia on security. But despite a number of Freedom of Information requests, we are not allowed to know its contents. Australia too has a secret pact.’³,⁴

US Secretary of State John Kerry recently confirmed his country’s ongoing support for Saudi military intervention in Syria and in Yemen. ‘We have made it clear that we stand with our friends in Saudi Arabia.’⁵ Canada’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Dion, recently described Saudi Arabia as ‘an important partner in efforts to counter terrorism [and] to find a political solution in Syria.’⁶

Oil, guns and money

Something else underpins the special relationship. It’s been called ‘the prosperity agenda’.

Historically Saudi’s prodigious quantities of cheap oil helped power Western economic growth. Today, other fuel sources, such as shale, are being developed and, hit by falling oil prices, Saudi petrol revenue is not what it was.

But that has not affected the kingdom’s legendary spending on weapons. In 2014 it became the world’s biggest buyer.⁷ In 2015 it was expected to purchase $9.8 billion worth of weaponry, boosting the profits of the US, British, French and Canadian arms industries especially. Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen as well as Syria produced more orders in the past year, $1 billion worth of US bombs alone between July and September.⁸

With its undiversified economy, Saudi is a big importer of goods and services in general. Beef, barley and passenger vehicles from Australia; food, healthcare and engineering from New Zealand/Aotearoa.⁹,¹⁰ The kingdom provides thousands of well-paid jobs for Western expats. Canadian universities recently caused a storm at home by undertaking to set up men-only branches in Saudi Arabia.¹¹

Rich Saudi princes and business owners (often the same thing) are valued customers of financial services in London and New York. Extra secrecy can be made to prevail. For example, you can find out how much sovereign debt China holds in US dollars. Saudi’s holdings are a state secret, both in the US and the kingdom.¹²

The Saudi ambassador to London, Mohamed bin Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz, was less coy when he wrote an open letter complaining about negative attitudes displayed towards his country in parliament and in the media. He valued Saudi ‘private business investments’ in the country at $128 billion.¹³

The tremendous wealth of the Al Saud dynasty secures the soft power of cultural influence too. Oxford University, SOAS and the London School of Economics are among many recipients in Britain; Melbourne, Griffith and University of Western Sydney in Australia; while in the US, Yale Law School recently received $10 million from a Saudi donor.¹⁴,⁴

Saudi cash flows into new mosques and community centres; one estimate suggests that $100 billion has been spent promoting hardline Wahhabism abroad.¹⁵

But perhaps the most egregious bit of influence peddling occurred in the UN, when the British and Saudi Arabian governments agreed to swap votes to ensure that Saudi got a place on the influential UN Human Rights Council, which it now chairs.¹⁶

Changes at the top

For decades Saudi Arabia attracted only occasional interest from the international media.

Then, in early 2015, King Abdullah died and was succeeded by his 79-year-old brother Salman. It soon became clear that it was not the ailing Salman who was in charge, but his photogenic 29-year-old son, Mohammad bin Salman, acting as both Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince. He is variously described as a ‘pop idol’ prince – a hit with young Saudis – and ‘the most dangerous man in the world’. Unlike many Saudi princes he was educated not abroad but within the kingdom.

In March, MbS (as he is known) ordered the bombing of neighbouring Yemen, in a bid to oust Shi’a Houthi rebels and to reinstall the Sunni former leader Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. Estimated to have cost 6,000 lives, the heavy bombardment of civilian targets (including hospitals) has produced near-famine and brought condemnation from international charities and human rights groups.

Under King Salman’s rule, repression within Saudi Arabia has intensified too; executions in 2015 were the highest in 20 years. Then early this year, 47 ‘terrorists’ were executed in one day, including the prominent Shi’a cleric Nimr al-Nimr. This provoked outrage within Shi’a communities across the world, but especially Iran, where protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

The effect of the Iranian reaction has been to rally Saudi’s Sunni majority population around a leadership that is adept at exploiting sectarianism for political gain.

Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a population have long been discriminated against. Economically marginalized, they are excluded from positions of state. Saudi children are taught in school that Shi’a are non-believers. The regime claims that Saudi’s Shi’a communities are loyal to Iran, though experts say there is little evidence of this.

Selling arms to Saudi Arabia does not keep anybody safe. It increases the risk of terror attacks and worsens the refugee crisis

Safa Al Ahmad, who made a film about the 2011 protests in her home town of Qatif calling for the release of political prisoners, says that the mood in Shi’a communities today is one of fear: ‘The executions came as a shock. There are over 300 political prisoners. People are thinking: will they now go ahead and execute people like crazy? What will stop them? There was such a lot of high-level involvement [internationally] to stop this happening and it made no difference.’

She adds: ‘It seems the government is not interested in a political solution. In the past, someone from the government would try and reach out to the people of the Eastern Province, would make an appearance. That is not the case now.

‘The decision-making is in a far tighter circle than it used to be. Many more people used to be involved before and knew what was going on.’

Saudi social media is abuzz with rumours of strife within the royal family, centring on MbS.

While talking to The Economist about his plans for a neoliberal overhaul – including privatization of the state oil company, ARAMCO – the king’s son sounded like he was taking sole charge of the economy too.¹⁷

A kingdom in trouble

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ehind Saudi Arabia’s more aggressive stance is fragility. The Saudi economy is in trouble. This year it faces a $98-billion budget deficit.¹⁸ The oil price has collapsed – slipping to below $30 a barrel. For its existing budget to work, Saudi needed a price of $100 per barrel. Austerity measures have begun. These are anxious times for a regime used to throwing money at all problems.

The war in Yemen is costing Saudi Arabia $6 billion a month, with the Houthis showing little sign of giving up.¹⁹ The West’s recent rapprochement with Iran and lifting of sanctions has rattled Riyadh. It must be galling for the Al Saud, given the years and billions spent on buying the West.

Then there is the threat posed by Islamic State. Last year saw 15 attacks by IS militants on Saudi soil, including one on a Shi’a mosque killing 23 people. Self-acclaimed IS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has vilified the Al Saud, calling them hypocrites who are betraying Islam.²⁰ It’s ironic: the ruling family owes its legitimacy to the puritanical form of fundamentalist Islam called Wahhabism and uses it to maintain its power. But both al-Qaeda and, now, Islamic State are the ideological products, the natural offspring, of Saudi Wahhabism.²¹

The Saudi regime is often accused of funding terrorism, if not directly at least ideologically or through its mosques. IS is a proscribed organization in Saudi Arabia and it’s illegal for Saudi nationals to go abroad to fight for it. But how much public support exists is hard to tell. A 2014 survey showed about five per cent of Saudis supporting IS, but after the Paris attacks, Saudi Arabia was the overwhelming source of tweets siding with the killers.²⁰,²²

According to Saudi expert Toby Matthiesen: ‘Saudi Arabia is particularly vulnerable to Islamic State because their ideologies are very similar; a lot of people in the country sympathize with its broader aims, especially its anti-Shi’a, anti-Iran stance. It’s a double-edged sword. The government has been stoking this anti-Shi’a fire for a long time and people believe it. Then, here comes a group whose aim is to kill all the Shi’a and there are people who think this is a good idea.’

Meanwhile, the announcement by the Defence Minister that the kingdom was to lead a coalition of 34 Muslim states to fight terrorism is dismissed by most – including some of those named – as a publicity stunt. The coalition, significantly, did not include either Shi’a-led Iraq or Iran.

So the idea that Saudi Arabia is a reliable ally for the West rests on some pretty shaky assumptions: that Saudi Arabia is maintaining stability in the region; that it is genuinely committed to cracking down on Islamist terrorism; and that it is ideologically capable of doing so.

What can the West do?

Stop supplying arms for a start. Belgium and Sweden have, respectively, refused and cancelled lucrative sales.²³

Following a damning UN report, showing that civilians are deliberately targeted and starved by the Saudi coalition in Yemen, the Canadian government is under increased pressure to justify its $15 billion armoured vehicles deal.²⁴ In the US, senators are demanding greater oversight on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.²⁵ In Britain, a cross-party group of MPs is calling for a suspension, while, at the time of writing, European MEPs are due to vote on an EU-wide arms embargo to Saudi Arabia. Vested interests remain powerful, but the fact that major arms-supplying nations, like Britain, are breaking national and international law by supplying munitions for use against civilians in Yemen, might help focus the mind.

There is always a strong moral argument against selling arms. But in the case of Saudi Arabia, there are strong strategic and security reasons too.

The kingdom’s armed-to-the-teeth aggression is destabilizing the region. The proxy wars it is fighting with Iran in Syria and Yemen are wreaking havoc, writes conflict-expert Alastair Crooke on page 28. Saudi is arming and supporting the most extreme groups in Syria (Jaysh al-Islam, for example). It is using sectarianism as a political tool, to stoke up extremist sentiment in the region. This plays right into the hands of groups like IS. Al-Qaeda too has been given a new lease of life in Yemen, thanks to the Saudi intervention.

Whatever David Cameron says, selling arms to Saudi Arabia does not keep anybody safe. It increases the risk of terror attacks and worsens the refugee crisis. Ultimately, it’s self-defeating.

Western supporters of the Saudi regime often say that they can more effectively raise concerns about human rights if they have a friendly relationship with the perpetrator. If that is what they’ve been doing, they’ve been rubbish at it.

If Western leaders really do want to be friends with Saudi Arabia then why not extend a hand of friendship to the people of the country? How about reaching out to those imprisoned modernizers, described in Madawi Al-Rasheed’s article, who are asking for so little: just the basic freedoms most of us take for granted.

The hand could be stretched to the thoughtful young blogger Raif Badawi, 50 lashes into a life-threatening 1,000-lash sentence for expressing his considered and moderate opinions, now collected into a moving book entitled 1,000 lashes: because I say what I think.

Maybe that’s the sort of Saudi friend to have and defend.

Source: The New Internationalist

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America’s Genocidal Wars Likely to Go On; Putin Promises Continued Support for Syria

DISPATCHES FROM STEPHEN LENDMAN

America’s Genocidal Wars

America’s pure evil is unequaled by any previous regime in history – inflicting more harm on more people over a longer duration. None match US ruthlessness. Centuries of slaughter reduced its native population to a small fraction of its original numbers.

John Kerry lying, as usual. Talent for boundless hypocrisy is a fundamental quality in all top officials in the US executive apparatus.

John Kerry dissembling, as usual. Talent for boundless hypocrisy is a fundamental quality in all top officials of the US executive apparatus.

Five centuries of slavery were horrific. Black Africans were captured, branded, chained, force-marched, beaten, encaged, and stripped of their humanity.

…

Around 100 million human beings were sold like cattle. Millions perished during the Middle Passage, packed into filthy coffin-sized spaces, filled with human excrement, victims of dysentery, smallpox and other epidemic-level diseases, women raped and beaten, others flogged or clubbed.

Anyone believed diseased was dumped overboard like garbage. Modern-day genocide continues in new forms. WW II and endless US wars following involved mass extermination, countless millions perishing from violence, starvation, preventable diseases and overall deprivation.

Civilians are treated as ruthlessly as combatants in all US wars. State-sponsored genocide reflects their barbarity, ongoing in multiple theaters now.

High crimes demanding accountability go unreported. Wars of aggression masquerade as humanitarian intervention, responsibility to protect and democracy building.

Unparalleled US hubris and arrogance threaten humanity’s survival. America is the world’s leading exponent of terrorism, ISIS and likeminded groups its creation, CIA operatives teaching their recruits the fine art of committing atrocities.

All US wars are waged lawlessly without mercy. John Kerry’s indictment of Daesh’s (ISIS) genocidal crimes belies its US creation, America bearing full responsibility for its existence and criminality.

On Thursday, Kerry ignored where blame lies, saying “(i)n my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims.”

“Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions, in what it says, what it believes, and what it does.”

Its fighters are “also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups, and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.”

Claiming “what (it) wants to erase, we must preserve” belies longstanding US imperial policy – waging endless wars of aggression, using ISIS and other terrorists as proxy foot soldiers, wanting all sovereign independent states replaced by pro-Western puppet ones, believing genocidal slaughter is a small price to pay.

Obama, Kerry, as well as other current and earlier top US officials are unindicted war criminals – guilty of the supreme crime against peace, responsible for genocidal mass murder.

Putin Promises Continued Support for Syria

Russia is still involved militarily in Syria, despite in process of withdrawing much of its aerial and supportive ground personnel. It continues targeting terrorist groups as conditions warrant. It wants Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity preserved.

CC BY-SA by openDemocracy

On Thursday, Putin thanked Russian servicemen involved in Syrian anti-terrorism operations, presenting awards for distinguished service in the Kremlin’s Georgievsky Hall. He called anti-terrorism intervention “fully justified and necessary.” It was more effective training than military drills, saying “no one has yet invented a more effective way of training and honing skills than actual combat operations.”

“(O)nly in the battlefield could (much) of what was used (be) genuinely test(ed) (to) identify existing problems and fix them.”

He believes Russia’s involvement gives peace a chance, while knowing Washington and its rogue allies remain adversarial, likely undermining conflict resolution talks like earlier.

Syria is a valued Russian ally. It continues supplying Assad with military, intelligence and logistical support, the battle against terrorism far from over.

“Of course, we will continue to support the Syrian legitimate government,” Putin explained. “It will be financial aid, arms supplies, military training…It will be intelligence support, aid in the planning of operations, as well as direct support – the use of the Russian Aerospace Forces.”

“If needed, Russia can boost its air group in the region in literally a few hours to a size corresponding with the situation and use the whole arsenal of our opportunities.”

“We would not like to do that as military escalation is not our choice. That’s why we rely on the common sense of all parties, on the commitment of the (Damascus) authorities and the opposition to the peace process.”

Russia’s formidable S-400 aerial defense system remains in place, controlling virtually all Syrian airspace, able to target and destroy any threat, including enemy warplanes, cruise and ballistic missiles.

“We are acting according to fundamental international norms,” Putin explained. “No one has the right to violate Syria’s sovereign airspace.”

“An effective mechanism for preventing air incidents has been established with the American side, but all partners have been notified and are aware that our air defense systems will be deployed against any targets that we will consider to be a threat for Russian service personnel. I stress that these will be any targets.”

“We have strengthened (Syria’s) armed forces. Today, they are able not only to deter terrorists, but to conduct a successful offensive against them.”

Russia remains committed to help as needed. It doesn’t want important gains lost. It wants peace and stability restored to a war-torn part of the world.

Its military performed admirably, achieving its strategic objectives, showing its a formidable force against any adversary, giving US war-makers pause about a future confrontation.

ABOUT STEPHEN LENDMAN

STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." ( http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html ) Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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