This Reuters dispatch does a decent job in communicating the essentials of the Syrian question, as we near the end of 2013:
Western concerns have moved on from toppling Assad to how to stop jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda;
The U.S. position is that the opposition must negotiate with the regime and agree on a roadmap;
The West is switching from an Arab Spring narrative to a counter-terrorism narrative;
The international consensus in support of the opposition and militarization of the conflict is no longer there;
U.S. and Russian officials are privately discussing what organs of the Syrian state would remain and at what level – who would have to go and who would have to stay
Militarily, the regular army is surrounding rebels and jihadist mercenaries in Damascus and Aleppo.
It does indeed look like both Aleppo and Damascus are being turned into a Stalingrad for jihadists: no supplies, no air support, a generally hostile population, while Syrian air raids kill rebel commanders
Are we allowed to suggest that one faction of the oligarchic transnational clique has concluded that the infighting in Syria is a smart way to get rid of Islamist sociopaths? That would greatly displease Netanyahu who, like most if not all Israeli leaders, is working towards a scenario in which all their neighbours (and Iran) are destabilised and weakened. An agenda which, apparently, finds few, if any, advocates at the present time, in Washington and Moscow. Only Paris and London appear to be prepared to go along with this suicidal plan.
This tug of war explains why the Syrian National Coalition has first agreed to peace talks with the regime:
But, almost instantly, has changed its mind forcing the Guardian to retract: “This was an editorial decision that didn’t reflect the Syrian National Coalition’s stance and has since been corrected. Thanks”
Meanwhile, Israel is eager to play extra-time before conceding defeat: “The Jerusalem Post reported in October that 15 North Korean helicopter pilots were operating in Syria “on behalf of President Bashar Assad’s regime” and said the report had been confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Other reports have identified North Korean artillery officers as being in Syria, although they were said not to be directing fire. North Korea has longstanding ties with Syria and constructed a plutonium reactor there that was destroyed by an Israeli strike in 2007. It also has links with Syria’s chemical weapons programme”.
America must prevent other states from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order…We must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role
Pentagon’s Defense Planning Guide for 1994-1999
The Israelis, whose military had close ties to General [Abdel Fattah al-] Sisi from his former post as head of military intelligence, were supporting the [military] takeover as well. Western diplomats say that General Sisi and his circle appeared to be in heavy communication with Israeli colleagues, and the diplomats believed the Israelis were also undercutting the Western message by reassuring the Egyptians not to worry about American threats to cut off aid.
Many people seem more concerned about hypothetical Islamist crimes in Egypt than about the actual crimes of the junta – seizing executive power, arresting elected politicians, torturing and killing hundreds of their own citizens (Al Sisi should be in the Hague). Their stance boils down to some Orientalist notion of Egyptians not being ready for democracy, much in the same way as authoritarians in the past supported fascist coups as the preferable alternative to democratically elected socialist governments. According to some, then as now, millions of voters made the “wrong” choice and deserve punishment for that.
Egypt has always been a military state, the army has always been in charge. 30 to 40 percent of its economy is controlled by the army. Morsi’s election could not change this state of affairs. The police and the judiciary were are loyal to Mubarak and the private media sided against the Muslim Brotherhood. This is how a false meme spread that Morsi was willing to “enforce” a “Sharia law” and something had to be done to prevent that. The truth is that Islamic law was already the official source of the legislation in the former constitution (1971) and the revised constitution (2012) has removed the reference to “the duties of a woman” in Egyptian society
If one were to judge from the results in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Gaza, West Bank, Egypt, Sinai, Greece, Mexico, and elsewhere, it would become apparent that failed states is the real Western goal. Oligarchs don’t like stability, borders, vibrant institutions and civil societies, sovereign governments. They much prefer failed states, warlords, black markets, forced choices, security vacuums, blackmailing, usury (debt servitude), anarchy and microstates with little or no ability to defend themselves from “humanitarian” (R2P) and monetary “tutors”. That is why billions are spent annually by the axis of Middle Eastern autocracies and Western oligarchies – neo-colonial powers – to ensure that chaos continues and expands, through assassinations, suicide bombs, financial terror. Regardless of the will, hopes and aspirations of hundreds of millions of people.
Unless the Arab Spring is genuinely resumed, no real progress will be made on the issue of the recognition and protection of dignity for all human beings, and the fate of Israel, Saudi Arabia and of the whole Middle East will be sealed > Armageddon, the Holocaust of all semitic scapegoats.
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Laurea in Political Science – University of Bologna (2000). Ph.D. in Social Anthropology – University of St. Andrews (2004).
Co-author of “Contro i miti etnici. Alla ricerca di un Alto Adige diverso” (2010)
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