Monday, June 2, 2014

Syria: War is Over U.S. In Denial Vows to Send More Arms to “Moderate” Rebels





Syrians return to Homs

Someone tell the U.S. that the Syrian war is over.  For all practical purposes the Syrian war is over.  Just a week after Pope Francis’ visit to the Middle East and his condemnation for those that manufacture and supply with world with weapons of war for profit, the Syrian war is over.  From the Global Post: 

By Lesley Wroughton and Missy Ryan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since Syrians rose up more than three years ago against longtime President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. President Barack Obama has had a clear message: Assad must go.

Now, even as the United States seeks to increase support to moderate rebels to fight his regime, U.S. officials privately concede Assad isn't going anywhere soon.

Yes, the Obama/Bush foreign policy fiascos in the Middle East are finally coming to their inevitable end, the U.S. is broke and broken can only lick its wounds and hope to recover.  The world is moving on without us.  The Middle East is sick of being the host for endless wars of aggression for the benefit of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve.
  
Colorado floods
The contrast between public rhetoric and private expectations reflects the Obama administration's struggle to address the increasingly complex, messy conflict in Syria, which is pitting world powers against one another - from Moscow to Tehran and Washington.


Assad's allies portray him as confident and in control ahead of a presidential election on Tuesday that the United States dismisses as a farce with the opposition largely unrepresented and unable to participate.



Yes, the U.S. dismisses the election in Syria as a farce because they are not able to ensure the outcome like they did in Ukraine.  So how is the U.S. installed government in Ukraine doing for the Ukrainian people?  Do Ukrainian people feel the love yet?  From Fox News:



Warplane kills 5 in attack on regional gov't office in Ukraine

At least five people were killed when a Ukrainian warplane attacked the regional government offices in the southeastern city of Luhansk, Russian media reported Monday.

The warplane strafed the building, leaving "many people dead and wounded inside" the regional government offices, which have been occupied by pro-Russian insurgents for two months, a correspondent for Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said.

Where are the shrieks of “Yats is killing his own people?”  I mean really, the U.S. installed government in Ukraine’s “warplane strafes the building” indiscriminating killing its citizens?  Is that not a war crime?



The building's exterior was "seriously damaged," the reporter said.

Ukrainian warplanes began attacking the building on Monday, rebel spokesmen in Luhansk told Russia's Interfax news agency.

"Ukrainian fighter-bombers fired a projectile in the city's center that exploded near the regional administrative headquarters," a rebel spokesman said.

"There are many dead and wounded among the rebels and civilian population," the rebel spokesman said.



Is the U.S. Government and their puppet government immune from prosecution in a World Court?  Back to the Globe article:

Obama said on May 28 he would work with Congress "to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative" to Assad and to extremists who could be more dangerous for the United States than Assad himself.

But despite that support, senior U.S. officials acknowledge in interviews the difficulty of removing Assad, who said in April the three-year war had swung decisively in his favor.



So has the administration realized the error of its ways?  Are they finally realizing that the people of Syria want the war over and that there is no alternative to Assad in the short-term? 

As the conflict deepens, Syria's neighbors Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon are struggling to contain the effects.

Lebanon is grappling with a refugee population that has increased the tiny country's population by a quarter; Iraq is beating back a surge in militant violence driven at least in part by Syria; and Assad's staying power has left Turkey's leadership frustrated and exposed.

"He may be elected to be president of Syria, but he won’t control Syria," General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, said in a recent interview with Reuters and the Pentagon's news service.



General Dempsey is starting to sound like a war criminal.  If Assad is elected President of Syria on June 3rd the US. will not allow him to control Syria?  Who the hell are they to decide?

It seems as though peace is starting to break out all over.  First signs of peace – Syria.  From the National:

BEIRUT // Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels on Wednesday left their last remaining bastions in the central city of Homs under a ceasefire deal with government forces.

The exit of about 1,200 fighters and civilians will mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against Bashar Al Assad’s rule, earning it the nickname of “capital of the revolution.”

Gaining control of Syria’s third-largest city is a major win for Mr. Al Assad on multiple levels. Militarily, it solidifies the government hold on a swath of territory in central Syria, linking the capital Damascus with government strongholds along the coast and giving a staging ground to advance against rebel territory further north.

Politically, gains on the ground boost Mr. Al Assad’s hold on power as he seeks to add a further claim of legitimacy in presidential elections set for June 3.





So, the U.S. is providing more weapons to ensure unending war in Syria and is already refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of tomorrow’s elections in Syria.  So what is Putin doing?  According to the IB Times:

Russia has pledged hundreds of millions of euros in financial aid to the Syrian regime in 2014, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Citing a high-ranking official in Moscow, the paper revealed the money will go towards running social programmes, after the Syrian government requested a financial boost.

What?? Russia’s financial aid will go to social programs?  The social programs have been devastated in the U.S. and E.U. in favor of Wall Street profits and “shareholder value”.
 
Homeless tent city in U.S.
"Syrian authorities are to receive €240m worth of help this year, it is a confirmed figure," the newspaper quoted its source as saying.

"De facto, it is a debt-for-financial-aid transaction, which won't require budget allocations since we are talking about Syria's debt payments to Russia that we couldn't receive due to the Syrian war. Now these funds, which are still in the Syrian budget, will be spent on Syrian social projects."

So how is the election in war-torn Syria shaping up, since the U.S. and E.U. are doing everything they can to thwart the will of the people?  From The Guardian:




Bashar al-Assad supporters stage rallies in Australia ahead of Syrian poll

Hundreds are expected to sign petitions backing al-Assad at rallies in major cities, in absence of polling stations.


Australians backing Bashar al-Assad in the upcoming Syrian presidential elections are staging rallies across the country to help expats register their support.

Hundreds are expected to sign petitions backing al-Assad at rallies in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne ahead of the 3 June poll. The petitions will then be sent to Damascus, organisers said.

The Syrian government has been unable to set up overseas polling stations in Australia because the country’s embassy shut in June 2012, a month after top Syrian diplomats were expelled. A consulate still operates in Sydney, but is not large enough to facilitate the poll.

“People are trying to get their voices heard,” an al-Assad supporter, Elle Mohamad, said. “I think people want the world to know that Syrians have a right to vote, to determine who their leaders are going to be.”

Now there’s a unique idea “that Syrians have a right to vote, to determine who their leaders are going to be.”  That is contrary to the elections in the United States since the Supreme Court coup of December 12, 2000.  The U.S. has not had an election determined by the people since.



Earlier this month the US secretary of state, John Kerry, labeled the presidential poll a “farce” and a “fraud on democracy”.

Well John Kerry ought to know a “farce” and a “fraud on democracy” when he sees it, just look at the Ukraine election monitored by Zionist Joe Biden, John Kerry and Victoria Nuland.

So, Syrians in Australia are demanding to determine their leadership.  But what’s this?



Syrians in Lebanon battle crowds to vote for Bashar al-Assad

Massive turnout for 'expatriate' voting in embassies before Syria's June election though many refugees boycott polls

Hundreds of Syrians desperate to vote for Bashar al-Assad tried to rush their embassy near Beirut on Wednesday, scuffling with Lebanese troops using batons and sticks to beat the crowds back as voting abroad started ahead of Syria's national election on 3 June.

Tens of thousands of Assad supporters flocked to the hilltop embassy in a town south-east of the Lebanese capital to cast ballots, snarling traffic outside, keeping schoolchildren trapped in buses for hours and forcing some schools to cancel scheduled exams. Lebanon has more than a million Syrian refugees.

"With our souls, with our blood, we will sacrifice for you, Bashar" and "long live Syria!" were some of the chants heard from many in the crowd.


Meanwhile, the election commission in Ukraine declared Petro Poroshenko the new president of Ukraine hours after government warplanes strafed a building in a city center killing civilians.  Wow, great democracy.

Despite the carnage in Syria, the country's president has retained significant support among large sections of the population, particularly among Christians, Alawites and other religious minorities.
That support has been reinforced as Islamic militants have gained more strength among the rebels fighting to topple Assad.

Assad comes from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam that has ruled Syria for the past 40 years. The majority of rebels are Sunni Muslims.

In Lebanon, a country of 4.5 million people, which has long been dominated by its Syrian neighbour, the election turned into a massive show of support for Assad and his Lebanese ally, the Shia militant Hezbollah group.

Early voting for Syrians living abroad was to take place in embassies and consulates around the world where staff have not defected to the opposition. Some European countries, including France and Germany, have said they will not allow Syrian expatriate voting to be held in their capitals.



What?? France and Germany will not allow the Syrians in their country to vote for their own government?  Well France and Germany are hostages to the Federal Reserve Bank that is “holding their gold for safekeeping.”

A funny thing happened on the way to the Vatican

June 8th has been set as the date that Pope Francis will meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Vatican.  The invitation was extended during the Pope’s recent Mideast visit.  The press in the U.S. downplayed the prayer meeting because Netanyahu was not invited.  From Newsweek:



VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet at the Vatican and pray for peace together at an unprecedented gathering on June 8, the Vatican said on Thursday.

In one of his boldest political gestures since his election in March, 2013, Pope Francis invited the two leaders to come to the Vatican and hold a joint prayer meeting with him during the pontiff's trip to the Holy Land last week…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the key Israeli decision-maker, will not be at the prayer meeting. Furthermore, Peres is due to leave office in July.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, the key “decision-maker” was no included.  I suspect that is because Netanyahu and John Kerry aren’t interested in peace.  But uh oh, looks like peace is beginning to take hold in spite of Netanyahu and Kerry.  From L.A. Times:



Hamas joins Palestinian unity government; Israel vows sanctions

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new interim government Monday following an agreement with his arch rival, the Islamist Hamas movement, to reunify their ranks after seven years of division.

Israel opposed the creation of the unity government because it is backed by Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist organization. Israeli officials said they would impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas said in a pre-recorded speech aired on official Palestinian TV following the swearing in ceremony that the new government --composed of 17 ministers who do not belong to any political party, including the incumbent prime minister, Rami Hamdallah --will not be responsible for negotiations but only for preparing for national elections and running daily life in the Palestinian areas.

Well, if you are going to have peace you need a unified Palestine.  That is the first step.



In response to the formation of the new government, the Israeli security cabinet held an urgent meeting Monday afternoon. After a two-and-a-half-hour discussion, the cabinet unanimously agreed "to not negotiate with a Palestinian government that relies on Hamas, a terrorist organization which calls for the destruction of Israel."

It also decided to authorize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose additional sanctions on the Palestinian Authority and "to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for all actions that harm the security of Israel" if they originate in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.



 Yep, Netanyahu is not interested in peace. 

Referring to Abbas by his nickname, Netanyahu said: "Today, Abu Mazen said yes to terrorism and no to peace. This is the direct continuation of Abu Mazen's policy of refusing peace."


Abbas said that while several countries, including the European Union, Russia and, to some extent, the United States, have welcomed the new government, Israel stood against it.

I think the Pope is looking at the U.S. and Israeli Governments and can see there will never be peace, partly because the U.S. is hardly a fair negotiator.  Pope Francis, in meeting with Peres and Abbas is appealing to the people of Palestine and Israel to force their governments finally make peace.
  
So June is shaping up to be a real interesting month for peace in the world.  The Syrian war is over, Syrian elections take place tomorrow and Palestine has a united government just a week away from prayer meeting in the Vatican.





The real losers here are the Ukrainian people with their U.S. installed government killing their citizens.  I suspect at some point the people of Ukraine will demand a government accountable to their people.  A government that places social programs over war and austerity.  Can’t happen soon enough.




By Patricia Baeten



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