US Bullying Canada to Pursue Anti-Russian Foreign Policy

By Eric Draitser

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin looks dubious about shaking Obama’s hand in New York in 2015. He should be. Count your fingers afterwards, Vladimir.

Putin’s face says it all.

As the world is faced with numerous crises requiring cooperation between the US and Russia – Syria, Ukraine, and international terrorism to name just three – Washington just can’t help its Russophobic ways.

McFaul—This guy and his ilk are the men who push the world to the edge. They should be in gaol for crimes against humanity, like constant warmongering.

Most recently, former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul expressed his extreme displeasure (dare I say revulsion) at the idea that the Canadian Government, and specifically its Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, could possibly make the independent decision to not follow the diktats of Washington in adopting a Canadian version of the Magnitsky Act, a piece of proposed legislation which would have severe repercussions for the Russia-Canada relationship. McFaul, a staunch anti-Putin crusader whose time as ambassador was marred by countless failures and embarrassing public blunders, went so far as to cast doubt on the commitment to human rights of Mr. Dion and the Canadian Government.

Canada’s Stephane Dion. Flogged for refusing to become a rubber stamp of America’s State Dept.

In highly undiplomatic language, McFaul bluntly declared, “Do you stand for human rights or not? If this is an important value [sic] then this is something that should be done.” Leaving aside the condescension oozing from every word of that statement, it is quite clear that the US political establishment is not at all pleased with its usually pliant partners in the Great White North who, it seems, are attempting the unthinkable: conducting a foreign policy that is independent of the United States, at least on this issue. Indeed, despite the finger-wagging from McFaul, and the ceaseless lobbying and self-promotion of the vulture capitalist and convicted criminal Bill Browder, Canada is unwilling to sacrifice its increasingly friendly relations with Moscow simply to satisfy the anti-Putin obsession of interests based in Washington and London.

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Indeed, Browder is undeniably the leading voice of the transnational lobbying effort to internationalize the Magnitsky Act – a US law passed in 2012 that places sanctions and restrictions on key figures in the Russian government ostensibly over alleged participation in the murder of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky – and to try to isolate Russian President Putin and his closest advisers. Of course, embarrassingly for Browder, he was until a decade ago the leading pro-Putin voice in the western investing community in Russia, lauding Putin up and down as the savior of Russia.

For instance, in 2005 Browder told the New York Times, when speaking about the jailing of the criminal oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, that “Putin cares about foreign investors; he just doesn’t care about them enough to allow one oligarch to use his ill-gotten gains to hijack the state for his own economic purposes.” However, the warm and fuzzy feelings Browder once had for Putin & Co. seem to have evaporated right around the time he was curtly shown the door out of Russia. As Pando’s Mark Ames wrote in 2015:

And ever since his KGB pals decided they’d had enough of him and chased him out to London a very rich vulture capitalist, Browder has styled himself as the Mother Theresa of global vulture capitalism—and he’s thrown untold millions into promoting that public relations/lobbying effort, whose goal is to use human rights abuses he once covered for and profited from as a cudgel to force the Kremlin to become investor-friendly to vulture capitalists like Bill Browder again.

So it seems that the Magnitsky Act itself, and Browder’s crusade to make it holy writ around the world, is less a product of concern for human rights, and more the result of a personal vendetta against the Russian Government by a very rich and influential vulture capitalist nested comfortably in the City of London, hatching his various anti-Russian pressure campaigns.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dion has rightly pointed to Canada’s invitation to join the International Syria Support Group in Vienna as an example of the fruit of the Russia-Canada relationship, implicitly arguing that it would be unwise to pass a Magnitsky-style bill solely to placate anti-Russian elements in Washington and London while alienating an important global power with considerable political, economic, and diplomatic influence.

Interestingly, in all the talk of human rights, and the chastising of Dion and the Canadian government for their shameful sale of $15 billion of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia, it is completely ignored that the US is the principal arms dealer to Saudi Arabia, and countless other autocratic regimes which routinely, and quite systematically, violate the human rights of their own people. So it would seem that for the US human rights is the convenient club with which to bash allies over the head, but which can be completely ignored when it suits Washington’s political and geopolitical agenda.

Russia = bad. Russia = human rights violator. Russia must be punished.

Saudi Arabia = friend. Saudi Arabia = human rights violator but let’s not talk about. Saudi Arabia must be rewarded with tens of billions of dollars of military equipment.

Got it? Good.

Ultimately, the issue is really about control. The US would like to be able to control the way in which Canada, and all the countries of the West, carry on their relations with Russia. Washington would like to cobble together a “united front” of sorts that will isolate Russia and, in the wildest pipe dreams of strategic planners, bring down Putin and his administration.

And the US believes that the combination of sanctions, depressed oil prices, Magnitsky-style legislation, and a number of other political, economic, and diplomatic weapons will bring those pesky old Russians to heel. How little Washington has learned.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric Draitser is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City and the founder of StopImperialism.com. He is a regular contributor to RT, Counterpunch, New Eastern Outlook, Press TV, and many other news outlets. Visit StopImperialism.com for all his work.

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The US and the EU Support a Savage Dictator

=By= Brian Cloughley

Erdogan, by nature a ruthless despot, is obviously Washington’s man for the Eastern flank of NATO. Lapdogs like these proliferate in the Empire of Chaos.

There are embedded contradictions in the enthusiastic support of Erdogan by the US and the EU. The US argument is that Erdogan is a staunch ally in the effort to bring down Assad and oppose Russia. Supposedly, he is also critical in the fight against the so0called Islamic State. However, Erdogan has been benefiting handsomely by the constant passage of ISIS oil tankers into Turkey and off-loading at Turkish ports. This is not some sporadic event that slips under the radar, this is a constant flow of a fleet of trucks. Given the blatant wink and nod to ISIS by Erdogan (and therefore the US, EU, and the rest of the “alliance”) are we suppose to pretend that the US is not also supporting ISIS in a host of ways – Erdogan’s gloved fist being just one example. The grotesque irony of holding the World Humanitarian Summit it Turkey speaks volumes about the woeful lack of a true humanitarian response to the ongoing displacement of millions of people across the Middle East … and Africa. Of course the US supports Erdogan for he is little more than the henchman in this plot. -rw

On May 6 a court in Istanbul, acting on the orders of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan, sentenced the editor of the Cumhuriyet newspaper to five years and ten months in prison for publishing a report about illegal provision of weapons to Islamist terrorists in Syria by Turkey’s secret service. His bureau chief got five years.

Two weeks later Istanbul was host to the World Humanitarian Summit, which was held «to stand up for our common humanity and take action to prevent and reduce human suffering». Attendance included 65 heads of state. It was the usual total waste of time (Oxfam called it «an expensive talking shop» and those who refused to be there included President Putin and the global medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières), but the point is that a humanitarian conference should never have been held in Turkey, which is being transformed into a dictatorship by a president who is well-described by Professor Alan Sked of the London School of Economics as «a volatile, unstable, highly authoritarian personality».

The professor went on to observe that Erdogan «has pursued a civil war in his own country and has clamped down on the opposition and social media at will. Thousands have been imprisoned for merely criticising him. He has ordered the shooting down of a Russian warplane, and his country has been accused by Russia of trafficking secretly in oil with Isis. He cannot be trusted…»

Erdogan is a bigoted thug, yet the international community rushed to his country to hold a humanitarian conference and foreign heads of state flock to press his hand in friendship. He is treated with deference around the world and there can be no public criticism of him in the many countries that have laws prohibiting disparagement of heads of state and holding defamation and insult of their leaders to be a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment.

In January over 1,100 Turkish academics signed a letter asking Erdogan to cease his merciless blitz on Kurdish centres in the south east of the country. Thousands of Kurds had been (and continue to be) killed and crippled by ground and air assaults of merciless savagery. Erdogan’s response to the petition was to declare that these compassionate scholars «spit out hatred of our nation’s values and history on every occasion. The petition has made this clearer… In a state of law like Turkey, so-called academics who target the unity of our nation have no right to commit crimes. They don’t have immunity for this».

Some thirty of the humanitarian signatories were arrested and fifteen were dismissed from their university posts. They live under constant threat, as do all who attempt to disagree with the imperial president.

Yet Erdogan’s Turkey is strongly supported by the United States and by the European Union, albeit for very different reasons.

The US backs him because he supports Washington’s efforts to destroy President Assad of Syria and is a strident and aggressive opponent of Russia, while the EU is behind him because if he chose he could control the influx of Syrian refugees to Europe. So Erdogan can persecute and jail as many journalists and academics as he likes, while continuing to slaughter Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and although there may be a few murmurs of disapproval in Brussels and Washington there will be no action whatever taken by either the US or the EU to stop the President of Turkey wielding absolute power over his people.

In March, while Erdogan was attending the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington (yet another total waste of time and money, except for the travel industry) he met separately with the US president and vice-president, neither of whom had the moral courage to take him to task for his blatant oppression of those of his citizens who dare to have ideas and opinions contrary to his own.

As the Voice of America reported on March 31, «President Barack Obama assured his Turkish counterpart of American commitment to the security of Turkey, a critical ally in the fight against the Islamic State group», while the White House “readout” of the Erdogan-Biden meeting recorded that «the Vice President reiterated the United States’ unwavering commitment to Turkey’s national security as a NATO Ally». They discussed «ways to further deepen our military cooperation» which was no doubt heartening to a bellicose thug whose aim is to persecute and preferably kill Kurds wherever they may be.

In spite of all the evidence, the United States refuses to acknowledge that Erdogan’s Turkey has sent massive quantities of weaponry to Islamic terrorist groups who are prepared to kill Kurds. It does not appear to matter to Washington that «Not only has Erdoğan done almost everything he can to cripple the forces actually fighting ISIS; there is considerable evidence that his government has been at least tacitly aiding ISIS itself».

The countries of the European Union, in similar blinkered mode, ignore Erdogan’s transformation of Turkey from democracy to dictatorship because they are prepared to make almost any sacrifice to reduce the flood of refugees now threatening their countries. Their leaders are terrified that behaving in a humanitarian manner will damage their domestic electoral chances and have set up an extraordinary deal with Erdogan who has agreed to «do more to prevent refugees from traveling to Europe via its territory and take back all migrants and refugees who manage to cross into Europe from Turkey … In return, the European Union has doubled the financial aid it promised Turkey from 3 billion to 6 billion euros, has agreed to take in more Syrian refugees from Turkey, and will move to provide visa-free travel to Turks and reopen EU accession talks».

Little wonder that Erdogan is on the crest of a wave and can persecute dissenters and slaughter Kurds with hardly a word of international criticism. In March, when he took over Turkey’s largest newspaper, the independent Zaman, and replaced the entire staff with his supporters, US State Department spokesman John Kirby called the seizure «troubling». And it was reported on 25 May that, «the EU wants Ankara to narrow its definition of terror to stop prosecuting academics and journalists for publishing ‘terror propaganda’, but Turkey has refused to do so».

Unless the US and the EU bring pressure to bear on Erdogan to restore democracy in his country, he will continue to suppress and persecute his critics and continue his killing spree. But he is too valuable to them for that to happen. All they will do is hold more humanitarian conferences.

Brian Cloughley: British and Australian armies’ veteran, former deputy head of the UN military mission in Kashmir and Australian defense attaché in Pakistan

Source: Strategic Culture

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Can Russia Survive Washington’s Attack?

by
Paul Craig Roberts

“Putin doesn’t understand the power of Washington’s money. In the entire West only money counts. There is no such thing as Washington’s word, government integrity, truth, or even empirical facts. There are only well-propagated lies. The entire West is a lie. The West exists for one reason only–corporate profits.”

Shirreff: one more warmonger against Russia, and capitalizing on his semi-lunacy, too.

It is not only American generals who are irresponsible and declare on the basis of no evidence whatsoever that “Russia is an existential threat to the United States” and also to the Baltic states, Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, and all of Europe. British generals also participate in the warmongering. UK retired general and former NATO commander Sir Richard Shirreff, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe until 2014, has just declared that nuclear war with Russia is “entirely possible” within the year.

My loyal readers know that I, myself, have been warning for some time about the likelihood of nuclear war. However, there is a vast difference between me and the Western generals. I see the war as the consequence of the neoconservative drive for US world hegemony. The neoconservative drive for world hegemony is acknowledged by the neoconservatives themselves in their public position papers, and it has a 15 year record of being implemented in America’s many and ongoing wars in the Middle East and Africa. Although the Presstitute media does its best to keep our focus away from the known facts, the facts remain known.

The position of the Western generals is that “Russian aggression” is driving an innocent America/NATO to nuclear war.

Crimeans celebrate results of referendum, voting to rejoin Russia.

Crimeans celebrate results of referendum certifying their re-integration into the Russian Federation.

Here is General Shirreff’s list of “Russian aggressions”: “He [Putin] has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. He has used force and got away with it. In a period of tension, an attack on the Baltic states… is entirely plausible.” Shirreff is talking about make-believe happenings that even if real would be taking place inside what were until recently Russia’s long-standing national boundaries.

General Shirreff strikes me as either uninformed or a dissembler. It is the United States and Israel who use force and get away with it. The Russian invasion of the former Russian province, Georgia, was a response to the American puppet government’s invasion of South Ossetia in which the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian troops killed Russian peace-keeping troops and a large number of South Ossetian civilians while the Russian government was at the Beijing olympics.

Russian tanks drive through Tskhinvali, the regional capital of Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia, moving to the Russian border, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008.

It only took a small fraction of the Russian Army a few hours to roll up the American and Israeli trained Georgian Army. Putin had the former Russian province in his hand. He could have hung the American puppet president and reincorporated Georgia back into Russia, where if probably belongs, having spent all of modern history in that location.

But Putin did not see Georgia as a prize, and having made his point, let the Americans have their puppet state back. The president at the time, a scummy scoundrel, was thrown out of the country by Georgians and now serves the American puppet state of Ukraine, like so many others who are not Ukrainian. Apparently, Washington can’t find enough Ukrainians who will sell out their country for Washington and has to bring in foreigners to help Washington rule Ukraine.

There has been, alas, no Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin would not even accept the pleas of the Russian majority populations in the breakaway provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk to be reincorporated back into Russia where they belong. If Putin actually wanted Ukraine, he doesn’t need to send in an army. He can take back the eastern and southern parts just by accepting the pleas of the people to again be a part of Russia.

But Putin did not see Georgia as a prize, and having made his point, let the Americans have their puppet state back. The president at the time, a scummy scoundrel, was thrown out of the country by Georgians and now serves the American puppet state of Ukraine, like so many others who are not Ukrainian.

The only plea that Putin accepted was that of the Crimeans, who with an extremely high turnout never experienced in “western democracies” voted 97.6 percent to rejoin Russia, where Crimea resided for longer than the US has existed, until Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, transferred Crimea from the Russian Soviet Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic when both were provinces of the Soviet Union.

Little doubt that Putin accepted Crimea’s plea because Russia’s only warm water port and entrance into the Mediterranean Sea is Russia’s naval base in Crimea, and little doubt that Putin refused Donetsk and Luhansk in order to deflect Washington’s propagandistic charges, such as those of former general Shirreff. Putin reasoned, mistakenly in my view, that his refusal to accept Donetsk and Luhansk would reassure Washington’s NATO puppet states and lessen Washington’s influence over Europe. For the corrupt Europeans, facts are of no consequence. Washington’s money prevails.

Putin doesn’t understand the power of Washington’s money. In the entire West only money counts. There is no such thing as Washington’s word, government integrity, truth, or even empirical facts. There are only well-propagated lies. The entire West is a lie. The West exists for one reason only–corporate profits.

The retired general Shirreff claims, without any evidence, which is typical, that Putin “used force and got away with it.”

What force is the general talking about? Can he identify the force? The independent international observers of the Crimean voting report that it was completely fair, that there was no intimidation, no troops or any Russian intimidation present.

The former NATO general Shirreff believes that a Russian attack “on the Baltic states is entirely possible.” For what reason? The Baltic states, former provinces of the Soviet Union, comprise no threat whatsoever to Russia. The Russians have no reason whatsoever to attack the Baltic states. It was Russia that gave the Baltic states their independence. Just as it was Russia that gave Ukraine and Georgia their independence.

Imperial Washington is leveraging the reasonableness of the Russian government to put Russia in a propagandistic light. The Russian government has permitted itself to be put on the defensive and has given the attack to Washington.

Putin: A great leader with a mistaken assumption about the West. It could prove lethal.

Russia has not attacked anyone except the terrorist group ISIS. Allegedly, Washington is opposed to terrorism, but Washington has been using ISIS in an effort to overthrow the Syrian government with terrorism. Russia has put a halt to that. The question before us is whether the Russian government so desires to be accepted by the West that Putin sells out Syria to Washington/Israeli dismemberment in order to show that Russia is a good partner for the West.

If Russia doesn’t get over its affection for the West, Russia will lose its independence.

My understanding is that Russia has been resurrected as a Christian, morally principled country, perhaps the only one on earth. The question that the Russian people and their Russian government need, desperately, to ask themselves is: Do we want to be associated with the War Criminal West that disobeys not only its own laws, but also international laws?

“[For those who hope the Europeans will soon break with Washington and stop the slide to war…they need to realize that] to the corrupt Europeans, facts are of no consequence. Washington’s money prevails.”

The vast majority of the evil in the world resides in the West. It is the west with its lies and greed that has devastated millions of people in 7 countries during the new 21st century. This is the most threatening beginning of a new millennium in modern times.

Unsatisfied with its looting of the Third World, South America, Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Argentina, and now Brazil and Ukraine, the Western Capitalists have their sights set on Russia, China, India, and South Africa.

What a prize it would be to get Russia with all that vast expanse of Siberia that can be environmentally brutalized and destroyed for capitalist profits. The Russian government’s offering of free land in Siberia had better be limited to Russian citizens. Otherwise, the land is likely to be bought up by the West, which will use its ownership of Russia to destroy the country.

The Russians and the Chinese are blinded by the fact that they lived for decades under [supposedly] oppressive and failed regimes. Their elites look to the West as success. Their misreading of the West endangers their independence.

Neither Russia nor China seek conflict. It is a gratuitous and reckless act for Washington to send the message to Russia and China that they must choose vassalage or war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West, How America Was Lost, and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order.

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Nordic Vassal States Pledge Support for America’s Imperial Project

Dispatches from
STEPHEN LENDMAN

Leaders from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden arrived in Washington to kiss Obama’s ring. In a joint statement with their host, they recited the deplorable script handed them, pledging support for US-dominated NATO’s killing machine, its endless wars of aggression, its provocations against Russia and China risking direct confrontation.

So much for those “admirable” Scandinavians. It’s all over, folks. The American poison has taken.

They stressed the importance of upholding international law, breaching it in partnership with America. They condemned nonexistent Russian “aggression” and attempts to destabilize Ukraine – ignoring Moscow’s leading peacemaking role. They shamelessly called Crimeans’ self-determination right to rejoin Russia an “illegal occupation and attempted annexation.”
…
They reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s US-installed, Nazi-infested putschist regime. They back maintaining illegal sanctions on Russia, blaming it irresponsibly for US/Ukrainian efforts to undermine Minsk conflict resolution principles.

Here’s how a typical mainstream newspaper——reported the event under the headline, Nordic leaders reaffirm support for Ukraine, fret about Russian aggression, providing little or no true historical context. Note that, as usual, “Russian aggression” is taken for granted, an immutable truth that requires no proof.

Read more here about this disgusting show of vassalage to imperial Washington, as presented by regular media. Click on this bar.

Nordic leaders reaffirm support for Ukraine, fret about Russian aggression

President Obama and Scandinavian leaders on Friday renewed their commitment to NATO in the wake of Russian intransigence on Crimea and deployment of a U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe — the first of its kind on the continent.

"We're united in our concern about Russia's growing aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," President Obama said as he hosted the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at the White House. "We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia, but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong, and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations."

NATO will take over the shield operations, which has sites in Poland and Romania, once construction is complete. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the U.S.-NATO missile defense shield system could spark a new Cold War. The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to seeing Ukraine gain back control of the Crimean Peninsula.

They expressed concern for “Russia’s growing military presence” on its own territory – ignoring provocative US-led NATO’s buildup on its borders, its activated missile shield in Romania, intended solely for offense, targeting Russia, breaching the 1987 INF Treaty.

They hyped nonexistent threats instead of debunking them. They pledged subservience to Washington instead of asserting their sovereign independence.

They called terrorism and violent extremism major challenges, while failing to explain they’re US creations. They endorsed Middle East peace and stability while continuing support for endless US wars of aggression.

Stressing a “commitment to freedom, democracy, universal human rights and peace,” their policies flout them.

About the author

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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Russia’s Experiment with Diplomacy in Syria Failed

Dispatches from
STEPHEN LENDMAN

In mid-March, Putin announced the withdrawal of most Russian forces from Syria, saying: “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow, (March 15, coinciding with the beginning of dead-on-arrival peace talks).”

“In a short period of time, Russia has created a small but very effective military group in Syria. The effective work of our military forces allowed the peace process to begin. Russian government troops and (Syrian) patriotic forces have changed the situation in the fight with international terrorism and have seized the initiative.”
…
Moscow maintains a military presence at the Khmeymin airbase in Latakia and its Tartus naval facility. Its mission to defeat the scourge of terrorism remains unchanged. It hopes diplomatic efforts can be more successful than earlier. History shows America doesn’t negotiate in good faith. Washington undermined Geneva I and II peace talks. Current ones collapsed. Another round later in May won’t be more successful. Ceasefire is more fantasy than real. Terrorists Washington calls “moderate rebels” took full advantage to replenish depleted ranks, regroup, rearm and regain lost territory around Aleppo – aided by US-led Western special forces and paramilitary mercenaries.
…
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he strategic village of Khan Touman in Aleppo province held by government forces since December was retaken by US-supported takfiri terrorists. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said reoccupying the area shows foreign-backed terrorists intend continuing military operations, rejecting diplomatic conflict resolution. “We believe that the solution to the Syrian crisis is political, and the terrorists…should be denounced and crushed by (a united) international community” effort, Amir-Abdollahian stressed.

The Syrian Arab Army is currently engaged in a counteroffensive in the Khan Touman region, trying to clean the area of terrorists who regained ground thanks to the truce established between the warring factions but violated by the US-led coalition.

Syrian Arab Army forces advancing against terrorist strongholds in the Khan Touman region, in the Southern part of Aleppo province. The takfiris regained some ground as a result of US-sponsored violations of the truce accords. (Read more here:

http://en.alalam.ir/News/1816102 )
…

Government forces intend liberating Khan Touman again, a Syrian military source, saying: “Thousands of fresh soldiers and a large number of the Iraqi and Lebanese Hezbollah, deployed near the small town of Homeireh, are ready to launch a joint large-scale anti-terrorism operation to drive the terrorist groups back from the positions they captured on Thursday inside and outside the town of Kahn Touman.”
…
They’ll face thousands of heavily armed Western and regional-backed terrorists. Government forces aided by Russian air power began attacking them to gain a battlefield advantage – in preparation for a large-scale ground assault to retake the village. Ceasefire gives terrorists the advantage, government troops having to regain earlier held territory lost during a pause in fighting. Conflict won’t be resolved through diplomacy with America – committed to ousting Assad and replacing Syrian sovereign independence with pro-Western puppet governance.
…
How long will it take before Putin resumes full-scale aerial operations proved so successful while they continued? The language Washington understands best is force.

About the author

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