Lincoln: “The Yankee Nero,” Comic News, London, 1864
Abraham Lincoln is a butcher who attacks his own people. He is responsible for the blood of countless Americans and has to go. He declared a brutal war on the democratic, peace-loving opposition in the South. There is no end in sight to the bloodshed until Lincoln steps down or is removed from power. We can’t just stand idly by and watch the carnage as the death toll grows by the day. We have to do something!
Mr. Lincoln has lost his legitimacy and is no longer fit to rule!
Yes, that’s right! Not Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but LINCOLN!
If you had lived in London or Paris during the time of the American Civil War, this is the Abraham Lincoln you would have known – not the great (or perhaps greatest) American President, liberator of slaves, preserver of the Union, proponent of the American system of economics, etc. The aristocracy of Great Britain (especially Lord Palmerston) and France were anti-Lincoln and pro-Confederacy, and there was a very strong sentiment among their ranks that Britain and France should intervene in order to stop the bloodshed and help the rebels gain their freedom from the tyrant Lincoln who was not only slaughtering his own people but was even cracking down on the once free press of the United States and exercising total government control over the media. As current US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power would say, Britain and France had the “responsibility to protect”.
The moderate opposition
If all of this sounds very familiar – wait, there’s more!
You’ll never guess in a million years which nation actually intervened in order to stop this planned Anglo-French intervention. Go ahead and try anyway!
Did you say Canada? Sorry, guess again. That was the place where the British troops were waiting to swoop in and bring “peace and freedom”.
Mexico? No, not them either.
Japan? No, you’re thinking of something else.
Did you by any chance say Russia? Really? Russia? The evil Czarist Russian Empire? That’s insane!
What’s even more insane is that you would be correct! It was Russia – Lincoln’s only significant international friend was Czar Alexander II of Russia, and yes, they did intervene on behalf of the Union. If you didn’t hear about this in school, you might want to ask yourself why.
I highly recommend listening to Dr. Webster G. Tarpley’s excellent and scrupulously researched 2013 CSPAN Lecture on the Russian Fleets of 1863:
In 2013, the leader of Russia intervened to keep the peace yet again.
Much more serious was the situation that developed late in the summer of 1862. At that time, as far as any European could see, the Confederacy was beginning to look very much like a winner – a point which James Mason insistently pressed home with British officialdom. The Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital had failed, Virginia’s soil had been cleared of invaders, and in the East and West alike the Confederates were on the offensive. Minister Adams warned Seward that the British government might very soon offer to mediate the difficulty between North and South, which would be a polite but effective way of intimating that in the opinion of Great Britain the quarrel had gone on long enough and ought to be ended-by giving the South what it wanted. Adams knew what he was talking about. Earl Russell had given Mason no encouragement whatever, but after news of the Second Battle of Bull Pun reached London, he and Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, agreed that along in late September or thereabouts there should be a cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary would ask approval of the mediation proposal. (Implicit in all of this was the idea that if the Northern government should refuse to accept mediation, Britain would go ahead and recognize the Confederacy.) With a saving note of caution, Russell and Palmerston concluded not to bring the plan before the cabinet until they got further word about Lee’s invasion of the North. If the Federals were beaten, then the proposal would go through; if Lee failed, then it might be well to wait a little longer before taking any action.
Undeniable, glaringly obvious facts about the US, Russia & Syria that people need to get into their heads:http://tinyurl.com/qx5fbyf
Keep this little history lesson in mind the next time the media start another smear campaign against whatever evil dictator du jour finds his or her way onto the Pentagon hit list.
Terms like “the responsibility to protect”, “moderate rebels”, “humanitarian intervention”, and “evil dictator” are usually nothing more than doublespeak dreamed up by some PR agency. Ask the people of Libya what they think of the US / EU “humanitarian intervention” now that they live in the chaos and hell that followed the removal of their “evil dictator” from power.
If nothing else, consider all the taxpayer money wasted on these interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, just to name a few. You pay for all of this.
Ignore the consequences of endless foreign interventions at your own peril.
Rest in peace, little boy.
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brows would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.
1. The democratically-elected government of Syria invited Russia to help them fight ISIS and related terrorist groups. This is in accordance with international law (host-state consent, intervention by invitation). The United States was never invited by the Syrian government to intervene.
2. There are no moderate rebels fighting against the government of Syria. The moderate opposition is in the parliament. The armed opposition outside the parliament that’s attempting to overthrow the government are terrorists. These so-called “moderate” rebels are linked with well-known terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Nusra, and are responsible for handing US weapons over to ISIS. It is simply a matter of playing with words to speak of moderate rebels or relatively moderate rebels or reconcilables as Former CIA Director and CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus recently put it. The reconcilable, relatively moderate Syrian rebels are doing the same things and pose the same threat to civilization that ISIS, ISIL, or IS do.
Can we get over this “moderate Syrian rebels” myth, for crying out loud? There is no “moderate” opposition running around with machine guns and shooting at people, even if the people they’re shooting at are all military and police. What would you call, say, “moderate” Tea Party rebels (and this is totally hypothetical) trying to remove Obama from office through an armed uprising? Would you call that a “legitimate” and “pro-democracy” moderate opposition? And what would you call it if another country actively supported and funded it? Would it matter to you if you approved of President Obama’s activities or not?
Bashar al-Assad: Do you have military opposition in the United States? Would you accept it? You wouldn’t!
3. Bashar al-Assad (the democratically-elected leader of Syria) has never attacked and has never even threatened to attack the United States.
Assad has warned of blowback against the West if they attack Syria, but he has never threatened the United States or the NATO allies. Newspapers such as The Guardian try to spin his warnings into direct threats:
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has hinted at terrorist reprisals against western interests in the event of a US strike against his country, saying he could not rule out that chemical weapons might be used.
If you read his actual statements, it becomes clear that Assad is simply warning of repercussions in the region (or blowback) as many western analysts have also said:
Assad: “If you strike somewhere, you have to expect repercussions somewhere else. It may take different forms, direct and indirect. Direct when governments want to retaliate, and indirect when you are going to have instability and the spread of terrorism over the region that will influence the west directly.”
Asked if chemical warfare could be one repercussion, Assad added: “That depends if the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it. It could happen. You are going to pay the price if you are not wise with dealing with terrorists.”
What he is saying is factual and based on historical precedent – if you attack Syria, you will unleash forces that neither I (Assad) nor you (the West) can predict or control. This is actually a friendly warning and nothing more.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has also made the same type of warning to Russia for being involved in Syria, but the Western media do not attempt to spin this into a direct threat.
4. The refugee crisis in Europe was caused by ISIS and their allies, the “moderate” Syrian rebels, not Assad.
5. The regime-change policies of the United States have ended in catastrophe in every case.
6. “Humanitarian intervention” means war. This is doublespeak.
“Police actions” are wars. The Vietnam “conflict” or “police action” was a war, and it doesn’t matter what words are used to designate it.
“Kinetic military actions with no boots on the ground” are wars. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a kinetic military action with no boots on the ground, and it was indeed an act of war.
This also applies to the following (real) examples: limited operations; time-limited, scope-limited military action; a very limited operation that is geared to save lives; an unbelievably small military action; a response to violations of a norm; surge; overseas contingency operation; humanitarian mission; nation-building mission; action limited in duration and scope; a signal; the authorized use of force; a very limited, very targeted, short-term effort; putting enablers on the ground.
7. The US and UK governments lied about Saddam Hussein having nuclear weapons. They invaded Iraq and overthrew his government. The US, UK, and France lied about Muammar Gaddafi killing peaceful protesters and overthew his government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then gloated over his brutal death. The US and UK lied about Assad using chemical weapons on his own supporters. They’ve been obsessed with overthrowing his government ever since.
8. If pro-American, anti-Russia propaganda is OK, then so is Russian propaganda. The difference is that the US media does it on a much larger scale with a lot more money and bigger audiences, and relies more on lies (eg. Saddam’s nuclear weapons), deception, doublespeak (eg. kinetic military actions), twisted logic, blatant hypocrisy (eg. accusing Russia of bombing “moderate” rebels in Syria at the same time the US bombed a hospital in Afghanistan), constantly claiming to be unbiased (eg. Fox News), and faked evidence (eg. the September Dossier).
A bias in reporting the news will always be present – it can’t be avoided. In telling any story, decisions have to be made about what to leave in and what to leave out. It is impossible to present every angle to a story and to do so in an entirely neutral way. Nor is this necessarily a bad thing. Who, for example, would care to see the History Channel give a “fair and balanced” or unbiased account of Nazi Germany, giving equal time and weight to both the pro- and anti-Nazi sides?
Nearly the entire US media tells the US side (or the Pentagon side) while bashing Putin at every opportunity. Why shouldn’t Russia be allowed to tell their side of the story? Why is it always propaganda when they do it, and “investigative journalism” when we do it?
9. Russian news outlets RT and Sputnik are state-funded.So is the BBC. In shaping public opinion against the Assad government and their supposed war crimes against the Syrian people, the BBC and other news outlets have relied heavily upon “evidence” gathered from “experts” such as Eliot Higgins (an unemployed office worker with no training in weapons) and his Brown Moses blog. There is also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (according to Wikipedia: cited by virtually every western news outlet since the beginning of the uprising), which is run by Rami Abdulrahman (a shop owner in Coventry, England) from his home.
10. Russia (unprovoked) poses no threat to American national security – on the contrary, they are vital partners in the national security of the United States. Russia has neither attacked nor even threatened to attack the United States or Europe.
On September 11, 2001, Vladimir Putin was the first international leader to call President George Bush to express his sympathy and to offer the support of Russia in the war on terror. When the US was preparing to launch the invasion of Afghanistan, Putin said, “Russia will continue to provide intelligence information we have collected on the infrastructure, location and training of international terrorists.” He also allowed and coordinated for the US the use of former Soviet military bases in central Asia. Until 2015, Russia generously gave the US and NATO allies access to Afghanistan through a vital transit route for military and non-lethal supplies.
On two occasions, Russian authorities warned the US government about the Tsarnaev brothers who were accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings.
When the US and UK governments were planning a lunatic invasion of Syria over the made-up story of Assad gassing his own people, it was not Obama (the Nobel Peace Prize winner) who prevented the US from leaping into yet another Iraq war disaster, it was Putin and Lavrov who gave Obama a way of getting out of his foolish “red line” promise. It was Putin and Lavrov who saved American and British kids from getting plunged into the chaos of the Syrian Civil War.
And now Russia is joining Assad in the fight against ISIS in Syria. This means that Russian soldiers are now putting their lives at risk instead of Americans. Isn’t this worth our gratitude?
11. Putin never said that he wants to bring back the Soviet Union. Here’s what he said:
“Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.”
“Anyone who doesn’t regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.”
12. Syria, Ukraine, and Crimea are all of vital national security interest to Russia. Russia has close ties to Assad and has a naval base in Syria, as well as in Crimea. The United States may have some security or economic interests in Syria, but is currently unwelcomed there. The United States has countless military bases all over the world. Ukraine and Crimea represent no national security interests for the United States.
13. The US strategy in Syria has been muddle-headed (at best) and doomed to failure from the beginning. This is due in large part to the unwillingness of the US government to work with Assad. Instead, the US has adopted the hopeless strategy of working with so-called moderate rebels to overthrow Assad while at the same time fighting terrorist groups who also seek to overthrow Assad. The worst-kept secret in the world is that these “moderate” rebels have been working with ISIS to overthrow Assad all along. As pointed out by Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif in an interview with Charlie Rose, the US government didn’t care about ISIS until they started attacking Iraq. Before that, the US was content to sit back and watch ISIS attack the Syrian government.
Now, after over a year of fighting ISIS, the US and NATO allies have achieved practically nothing.
In spite of this, we still have people like David Ignatius, one of the US State Dept. mouthpieces at The Washington Post, saying that the Pentagon needs to find a more secretive way to work with al Qaeda in Syria: “The Pentagon needs to assess immediately why this overt, U.S.-backed program failed so badly, and whether it can be rebuilt. A better bet may be the CIA’s covert training program, whose fighters can make tactical battlefield deals with Jabhat al-Nusra without publicly allying with it.”
By working with the government of Syria and refusing to work with any terrorist groups, Russia has a much better chance of eliminating the threat of ISIS and alleviating the refugee crisis in Europe. This should be cause for celebration everywhere.
14. Everyone, starting with the United States, should be happy that Russia is fighting terrorists in Syria, but instead they whine, criticize, and even threaten military retaliation against Russia!
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov: “One would think the world should applaud, but then we have US and the West worrying about ISIL losses. Yesterday they said it was evil, yet as soon as Russian aviation started conducting airstrikes, they suddenly condemn bombings and call for taking measures against Russia. But there’s the nation behind our army, and nobody cares about the West’s whining.”
Among the lunatics in the US who have actually called for military action against Russia to protect our so-called “assets” in Syria, we have: Presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Senator Marco Rubio, career Russophobe Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Senator John McCain. I submit to you that these people are traitors to the real national security interests of the United States. These fascist lunatics talk about “standing up to Russia” and protecting our “assets” in Syria, but nobody wants to call it what it really would be: World War III. We have no assets in Syria worth that! We need to get our ASSETS out of Syria now if they’re so important, and anyway, didn’t we already say NO several times to “intervention” in Syria?
15. Obama’s (now former) ISIS Czar General John Allen conducted the “fight” against ISIS by doing everything possible to undermine the main enemy of ISIS – Assad. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has employed the same strategy by working to overthrow Assad, bombing ISIS a little from time to time, bombing the Kurds (true enemies of ISIS and effective fighters as well) a lot, and refusing to seal the Syria-Turkey border, allowing ISIS terrorists in and out of Syria. Erdogan’s daughter even runs a covert hospital to treat wounded ISIS terrorists!
15. Globalization (including the Washington Consensus and global free trade policies with America as the world policeman) has been an unmitigated disaster for the entire world, including the United States.
The unipolar world led by the United States as the lone superpower (otherwise known as the world police) has not led to a golden age of universal democracy and freedom and the free market utopia promised in the post-USSR 90s. It has led instead to a world of brutal IMF-style austerity, out-of-control speculation and toxic derivatives markets, the absolute rule of finance capitalism in place of industrial capitalism, a Wall Street / military-industrial-complex oligarchy with an utterly subservient, toothless political class to do their bidding (lest the Too-Big-To-Fails fail and the apocalypse ensues, bringing, so they say, death, destruction, anarchy and martial law), seemingly endless wars (not of conquest of land, but of the vital assets and resources of nations), nation-building (doublespeak for attacking nations), CIA-backed color revolutions and uprisings (the disastrous Arab Spring, the Euromaidan in Kiev), speculation-driven financial warfare on nations such as Greece (followed of course by demands for ruthless, barbaric austerity), and low-wage, rip-off, monetarist economies in place of the high-wage, productive labor-oriented economies of the past, just to name a few glorious triumphs of the globalized / free trade world. The living standards of the lower and middle classes have declined throughout Europe and America, while the wealthiest of the wealthy, the one percent of the one percent, have acquired ungodly, incalculable wealth, expanding the gap between the rich and the poor to unprecedented levels. Borders open up everywhere, first world jobs are lost, third world sweat shops thrive, profits roll in, bankers rejoice, the jobless recovery is trumpeted from the mountaintops, and Ross Perot’s “giant sucking sound” gets louder and louder year after year.
The return to a multipolar world will not solve all of these problems, nor will socialism, or communism, or Bernie Sanders, or anything we can imagine. Jeremy Corbyn can’t save us and neither can Putin. But as Russia takes back their rightful place as a global power, along with China and the BRICS nations, what we can now hope for is the beginning of the end of Francis Fukuyama’s prophesied pseudo-Hegelian “End of History” American style – the ultimate and utter triumph of “Washington Consensus” liberal democracy, small (and feckless) government dominated by multi-national corporations and cocaine-addicted Wall Street speculators, and at the very least we can hope for an end to the nightmare of the lunatic “Wolfowitz Doctrine” neocon wars to spread democracy and topple governments around the world without any meaningful dissent. As Peter Lavelle put it, “Finally we are witnessing the first steps beyond the post-Cold War order – and praise God for this!” Since the neolibs and neocons couldn’t care less what the people think about all of this, we should all welcome Vladimir Putin’s insistent NYET, and we should all be asking our leaders the same question Putin put to them at the UN General Assembly:
Marco Rubio Would Risk War With Russia In Order To Enforce Safe Zone In Syria:http://tinyurl.com/qc55qkb
War Psychosis Grips Washington Elites as Russia Hits CIA’S Pet Syrian Terrorist Rebels with Ship-Launched Cruise Missiles from Caspian Sea:http://tinyurl.com/p434lzu
Soros-Sponsored NGO (The White Helmets) in Syria Aims at Ousting Assad, Not Saving Civilians:http://tinyurl.com/p9txfcb
Counting the Dead in Syria:
Consistent with earlier analyses, most people who have tragically lost their lives in Syria are not civilians, but rather active combatants. This is worth bearing in mind when U.S. senators repeat the inaccurate statement that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has “massacred” 200,000 of his own people.
When you said you were going to bomb the terrorists, we didn’t think you were serious!
The US couldn’t find any “moderate” rebels in 3 years. Apparently the Russians did within 24 hours! – Mark Adomanis
The anti-Putin, Russophobe whine-fest is about to reach a new peak of absurdity as the US accuses Russia of bombing the moderate Syrian rebels instead of ISIS – the problem is that there has never been a “moderate” opposition in Syria distinguishable from ISIS. This is why more than a year of American “attacks” on ISIS have yielded no results. The US has been supporting and funding the “moderate” opposition to Assad while supposedly attacking ISIS, only to find that our own weapons end up in the hands of ISIS! And now, Russia is going after all of them, whatever they may call themselves: ISIS, ISIL, IS, Nusra, al Qaeda, the moderate Syrian rebels, the Free Syria Army, the moderate Syrian ISIS terrorists…
So now, the message Russia is getting from Washington is: stop bombing the Nusra branch of al Qaeda and bomb the ISIS branch of al Qaeda! But since they all work together to overthrow President Assad, they are all on the same side and completely indistinguishable from each other.
The US government and military-industrial complex are furious at Vladimir Putin for coming to the UNGA in New York and trolling everyone by offering to help America in the fight against ISIS, because the sad truth is, America has not been fighting ISIS – they have, along with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, been trying to remove Assad from power at all costs. Putin (displaying the skills of both master statesman and expert troll) called everyone on this bluff and left the “international community” with a question which will echo down through the years as the iconic quote of the age of the War on Terror: DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE DONE?
So let the next round of hysterical Russia-bashing begin!
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say
Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn’t targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One of the airstrikes hit an area primarily held by rebels backed by the Central Intelligence Agency and allied spy services, U.S. officials said, catapulting the Syrian crisis to a new level of danger and uncertainty. Moscow’s entry means the world’s most powerful militaries—including the U.S., Britain and France—now are flying uncoordinated combat missions, heightening the risk of conflict in the skies over Syria. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Russia’s approach to the Syrian war—defending Mr. Assad while ostensibly targeting extremists—was tantamount to “pouring gasoline on the fire.” “I have been dealing with them for a long time. And this is not the kind of behavior that we should expect professionally from the Russian military,” Mr. Carter said at a Pentagon news conference. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and said he raised U.S. concerns about attacks that target regime opponents other than Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In Syria’s multi-sided war, Mr. Assad’s military—aided by Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah—is fighting both Islamic State and opposition rebel groups, some of which are supported by the U.S. and its allies.
Don’t expect a lot of thanks from the US, Russia, but maybe the Europeans will at least give you a tip of the hat for doing something constructive to address the refugee crisis!
Webster G. Tarpley: After a year of phony war vs ISIS, US whines that Russia is hitting al Qaeda-Nusra, not al Qaeda-ISIS.
Jeffrey Laubach: “Enough is enough. Mainstream media are now reporting that Russian airstrikes targeted “Western-backed moderate” rebel forces, rather than ISIS. Please keep in mind that the U.S. just cancelled a failed program to train and arm “moderate” rebel forces that spent $500 million and yielded only a few dozen fighters who are now either dead or have defected to al-Qaeda. So now who is this magical army of moderate freedom fighters that the Western governments are supposedly backing that the Russians have just hit? The FSA? The same second rate mafia made up of thieves and brigands who have made absolutely no secret of their alliance with al-Qaeda? Or is it the Islamic Front? The so-called “moderate” Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia whose leader, Zahran Alloush (who’s known to carry a Hello Kitty notebook) has openly called for the extermination of all of Syria’s Alawis and Shias? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
This Is How Russia Handles Terrorists: Moscow Releases Video Of Syria Strikes
Now that Russia has officially begun conducting airstrikes on anti-regime forces operating in Syria, commentators, pundits, and analysts around the world will be keen to compare and contrast the results of Moscow’s efforts with the year-old US-led air campaign against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. Clearly, Russia has a very real incentive to ensure that its airstrikes are effective. Preserving the global balance of power means preserving the Assad regime and, by extension, ensuring that Iran maintains its regional influence. On the other hand, the US and its regional allies actually have an incentive to ensure that their airstrikes are minimally effective. That is, for the US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the idea is not to kill Frankenstein, but rather to ensure that he doesn’t escape the lab.
Russia in Syria: When the propaganda is kind of true – Russia bombing ‘U.S.-trained’ nutjobs
Kerry and Lavrov both know what’s really going on here: the U.S. has numerous assets among the terrorist groups, it doesn’t really want them defeated, but it must make a show of it in order to keep up the public pretense of wanting to fight terrorism. Perhaps Russia is even giving the U.S. and its allies a chance to remove key assets from within their mercenary groups operating in Syria. There’s not much else they can do, having been cornered by Russia’s quick action. And, what? No mention of Assad resigning? Whodathunkit! Kerry basically admitted defeat, and Lavrov didn’t even gloat. After being caught with their pants down, the U.S.’s options are rather limited at this point in time in response to Russia. But they’re really trying their best, making two basic claims via the media: 1) Russia isn’t really targeting ISIS, 2) Russia is killing civilians. For example, yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that at least one airstrike targeted U.S.-trained and -supported rebels.
Vladimir Putin:The only real way to fight international terrorism is to take the initiative and fight and destroy the terrorists in the territory they have already captured rather than waiting for them to arrive on our soil.
ISIS ON THE RUN: Russian Airstrikes Totally Obliterate Terrorist Forces in Just 72 Hours
Russian Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said that “intelligence has captured that militants are leaving the areas under their control”, and, most importantly, he added that “panic and desertion have begun in their ranks. About 600 mercenaries have left their positions and are trying to get to Europe”. Due to this runaway success, Kartapolov said “we will not only continue conducting our airstrikes, but will also increase their intensity”
Keep in mind that during the anti-Assad “regime change” hysteria of 2013, not one shred of hard evidence that “Assad gassed his own people” was ever put forward by the lunatic, fascist neocons and mush-head, neolib humanitarian bombers:
Did Assad gas his own people, or is this a false flag attack by the opposition?http://tinyurl.com/n9pkd69
Any attempts by the Western media to present “evidence” have usually come from utterly dubious sources like the unemployed office-worker Eliot Higgins of the Brown Moses blog:
Obama Accuses Russia of Going After America’s “Good Guy Terrorists”
Russia is being blamed for targeting a terrorist entity which is not only on the UN Security Council blacklist but which has ties to the Islamic State (ISIS).
Max Abrahms: The Pentagon suspended the train & equip program because we couldn’t find moderates. But now we’re told moderates abound & are under attack.
The Saudis are furious at Russia for bombing their “moderate” terrorists:
There is no difference between McCain’s “moderate” terrorist friends and ISIS – none! McCain is very much part of the problem. This is why Russia has to clean this mess up, because after the US enables ISIS to take over Syria, they will be in Russia! Thank God McCain is not President!
And thank God for Russia!
#Lavrov: We are not planning to expand airstrikes to Iraq, we weren’t asked; we are #politepeople
Peter Lavelle:Finally we are witnessing the first steps beyond the post-Cold War order – and praise God for this! For the last two decades Washington has been sloppy and arrogant in its foreign policy all over the world. It has acted like a criminal – like when the police are on strike or non-existent. The Syrian civil war (encouraged by the west) and the migrant/refugee crisis intentionally or unintentionally created by the west are clear examples of this. Russia’s enhanced intervention in Syria (at the invitation of the Damascus government) is a game changer. Washington and its minions need to stop playing God and return to environment of diplomacy and negotiations.
“We in Russia, and me personally a few years ago, said it straight that pervasive problems would emerge, if our so-called Western partners continue maintaining their flawed … foreign policy, especially in the regions of the Muslim world, Middle East, North Africa, which they pursue to date… I think the crisis was absolutely expected.”
“… if we act unilaterally and argue about the quasi-democratic principles and procedures for certain areas, that will lead us to an even greater impasse.”
Remember that it was Vladimir Putin who warned the US to back off the planned humanitarian (regime change) invasion of Syria in 2013 with his historic New York Times op ed:
A Plea for Caution From Russia:
Putin: The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance. Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.
Putin – People flee from Syria because of ISIS, not Assad regime:
“Of course, we know that there are different approaches to Syria. By the way, people are running away not from the regime of Bashar Assad, but from Islamic State, which seized large areas in Syria and Iraq, and are committing atrocities there. That is what they are escaping from,” RIA Novosti quoted Vladimir Putin as saying on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Russia Was Right About How to Deal with Syrian Crisis:
Russia’s assistance might’ve helped the Syrian crisis long ago if only the West would’ve listened, according to Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö.
According to (Finland’s former president Martti) Ahtisaari, Russia had been willing to cooperate with the West since 2012, but the US and the UK were only interested in removing Assad. “Ahtisaari was right,” Niinistö told Nykypäivä ja Verkkouutiset.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said everything you ever really needed to know about the refugee crisis… in August 2013! (while former British Secretary of State William Hague also took the opportunity at the time to demonstrate that he’s a hopeless scoundrel).
Russia warns West over ‘illegal’ Syria intervention:
“Lavrov warned that in any case Western intervention on the side of the opposition forces would be a “grave mistake” and scupper any hopes of convening a peace conference to resolve the conflict. “If anyone thinks that destroying Syria’s military infrastructure and leaving the battleground open for the opposition to take victory would be the end of it, that is an illusion,” said Lavrov. Speaking at a hastily convened news conference, he (Lavrov) added that the West was currently moving towards “a very dangerous path, a very slippery path”.
His comments came after William Hague today refused to rule out bombing Assad regime targets within days, warning that the Syrian regime could not be allowed to use chemical weapons against its own people “with impunity”, following an alleged attack last week in which at least 355 people were killed and 3,600 injured.”
Hague said the UK did not rule out anything for the future as the situation in Syria was unpredictable and may get even worse. He reiterated that to date, the help the UK was giving the Syrian opposition was largely made up of a humanitarian nature and was designed to save lives.
The Syrian “opposition” as Hague called them, also described as the “moderate Syrian rebels”, has never been anything other than ISIS! The entire point of the Anglo-American-EU outrage over the situation in Syria from day one has been the removal of Assad from power and the continuation of the destabilization of the Middle East. Control over resources and pipeline routes is one of the main motives, as most people are able to deduce, but it must also be kept in mind that Syria is more or less within the Russian sphere of influence, and Assad is a key ally to Russia. Those who are unable to connect the dots regarding Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Russia, the EU, and the US (as well as US allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey) are likely to be led astray by mainstream media talking heads who tend to separate these matters in order to more easily demonize Putin and Assad.
Studying the works of key Western insiders like Zbigniew Brzezinski helps to clear away the fog of confusion which currently prevails in Europe and the Anglo-American world.
Brzezinski Mapped Out the Battle for Ukraine in 1997:
Assad is not and never has been the problem – Erdogan is!
The duplicitous Turkish leader Erdogan also blames the West.
On Thursday, Erdogan “expressed with sorrow” that some European countries have “double standards,” slamming the West for drowning “humanity,” Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Erdogan is one of the biggest problems in the Middle East right now. Everyone who is freaking out over Iran needs to shift the focus of their hysteria to this guy. Turkey claims to be fighting ISIS, while in reality continuing to bomb the Kurds – the people who are actually fighting ISIS and doing so successfully. All that Erdogan’s pathetic bombing campaigns against ISIS are doing is driving them closer to Iran and Russia. He’s using the Syrian civil war as an excuse to attack Assad, thinking some day he can carve off a few slices of Syria for his neo-Ottoman empire.
Anyone who is attacking Assad right now is out of their mind!
The myth that Assad gassed his own supporters (in the vicinity of the UN building the day before the weapons inspectors were due to arrive) has been conclusively debunked by numerous investigative journalists. Here is my contribution from those deeply Orwellian days of 2013:
Did Assad gas his own people, or is this a false flag attack by the opposition?
The cynicism and hypocrisy of the neocons and “humanitarian” neolibs knows no bounds – blaming the refugee crisis on Assad and using this as an excuse to bomb Syria! When you think about the Syrian boy lying face down on the beach, remember the neocon lunatics who see this as an opportunity for regime change in Syria. Erdogan is also posturing over this picture – yes, the ISIS caliph himself! The man who could allow these refugees to pass to Europe over land, BUT DOESN’T! That boy’s blood is on Erdogan’s hands!
No more humanitarian bombing! No more Libyan adventures, no more Syrian adventures! Work with Assad, work with Putin. Anything else is nuts!
Beware the do-gooders who never give up on their dream of bombing Syria and removing Assad!
Piers Morgan wrote an article in the Daily Mail in which he puts the blame on us, the West! This is largely true, thanks to all the humanitarian bombers, the neolib R2Pers, and our old friends the neocon madmen who started everything with the criminal invasion of Iraq. Morgan says that we now have to “make it right”, which suggests duplicity and neoliberal delusion on his part.
PIERS MORGAN: Don’t shut your eyes to this picture because WE did this. Now we have to make it right:
The method of doublespeak being used by The Sun is similar:
“bringing an end to the war” = bombing Syria now!
British PM David Cameron, on the other hand, does not even attempt to conceal his chicanery with doublespeak, opting instead to flaunt his stupidity and repugnant nature as some kind of badge of honor.
Assad & ISIS responsible for drowned Syrian boy, says Cameron:
Prime Minister David Cameron has blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad and Islamic State militants for the “terrible scenes” on Europe’s beaches as the refugee crisis worsens. Speaking after MPs from across the political spectrum called for Britain to accept more refugees, Cameron said the crisis needs a “comprehensive solution” which includes a new government in Libya and being “tough” on Assad…
Funny how Syrians didn’t flee en masse from Assad’s “tyranny” before the uprising of the “moderate” rebels, and Libyans didn’t flee Gaddafi’s Libya but are fleeing “liberated” Libya.
Isn’t it also odd that all the Samantha Powers, Eliot Higginses, and similar neolib R2Pers and Euro-do-gooders were willing to spare no cost to “save” the children then, but not so much now?
Europe can’t afford to take care of so many refugees (from conflicts they started), but they can give hundreds of millions of euros to the Ukrainian Nazis!
Whenever you see that heartbreaking, iconic photograph of poor Aylan Kurdi (and it is indeed heartbreaking – I don’t do a lot of crying myself, and I don’t like to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I cry almost every time I see or think about that poor, innocent toddler lying face down on the beach), do not forget for one second where the blame lies!
The blame lies squarely with: US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ISIS Czar General John Allen, US Secretary of State John Kerry, former British Secretary of State William Hague, the shameless, pathetic Brown Moses Blog liar and BBC’s go-to weapons “expert” Eliot Higgins, Keating Five and 47 Traitors member, and ISIS supporter – US Senator John McCain, and former CIA director David Petraeus, among many others, including the rotten Saudi royal family, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (who takes every opportunity to attack Assad), and to some degree the pathetic President Obama, who has, however, lately backed off the lunatic agenda of warmongering in the Middle East, so we can give him the benefit of the doubt for now – something we are not willing to do for his predecessor, the idiot George W. Bush and his insane VP Dick Cheney.
Soros-funded White Helmets are in Syria rescuing terrorists and attacking Assad:
Don’t let anyone fool you: Sectarian strife in Syria has been engineered to provide cover for a war for access to oil and gas, and the power and money that come along with it:
Senator John McCain has been one of the leading advocates of arming the fascist junta of Kiev and the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Now he says he is ashamed of America!
John McCain: I’m ashamed of my country:
“This is a shameful chapter. I’m ashamed of my country. I’m ashamed of my president. And I’m ashamed of myself,” McCain said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
McCain, a former presidential candidate, strongly believes the US should be providing weapons to Ukraine’s government, which is battling Russian-backed separatists.
John McCain has lost his mind. He has become a reckless warmonger and a raving, hysterical Russophobe with absolutely no regard for American interests or the lives of American troops, who are being put at risk of a bloody, devastating war with Russia for the benefit of his fascist friends in Kiev.
John McCain with Ukrainian fascist Oleh Tyahnibok.
John McCain Went To Ukraine And Stood On Stage With A Man Accused Of Being An Anti-Semitic Neo-Nazi:
McCain to Protesters: Get out of here, you lowlife scum!
Senator McCain is willing to risk a war with Russia (a great strategic ally of the US) over Ukraine (a country of no strategic value to the US) in order to bring “democacy” to Ukraine (which they already had.) But notice how he reacts when American citizens dare to speak up:
John McCain tells protesters at hearing – Get out of here, you lowlife scum:
So John McCain supports Neo-Nazis in Kiev and ISIS terrorists in Syria… and now he says he’s ashamed of America?
As many people have pointed out, if George W. Bush had done any of the things Obama has been doing, like drone-striking women and children throughout the Middle East and helping to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, leaving Libya in utter chaos and turmoil, the left libs would be screaming bloody murder!
But now imagine if Obama had said the things John McCain has said. What if Obama announced that he was ashamed of America? How would the right-wingers on Fox News react to that? Probably the same way they reacted to these less harmful incidents:
Fox Analyst – Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Speech Sounded Like Rev. Wright:
Johnson ultimately declared that Obama’s message was one of “guilt,” “shame,” and “remorse,” and said the entire Obama Administration is “confused” and “needs therapy.” He added that the U.S. has nothing to be ashamed of and should not be showing sympathy. “The president’s comments, in my view, are not helpful and are confused and confusing,” Johnson concluded. “And he needs quickly to make it clear what he really means about American exceptionalism, superiority, and keeping America safe.”
I never thought I would find myself defending President Obama, but here we are! Obama is far from perfect, but he has tried (in his own pathetic way) to slow down the “bomb everything that moves” agenda, at least since the disaster of Libya, and now he finds himself under constant attack by neocon nutjobs like John McCain. Obama should at least be supported when he wavers on the warmongering agenda, because wavering is better than what the Republicans have in mind, which is – war with Russia to oust Putin and support Kiev’s genocide in eastern Ukraine, war in Syria to remove Assad, and more war in Iraq.
Enough is Enough!
Senator John McCain is a lowlife scum, and I am ashamed of him! #ArrestMcCain4ISIS
Forget all our other troubles – the Russians are coming!:
The gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow. Train and bus fares continue to rise. Twice as many people are living in poverty than 30 years ago. And our National Health Service is being privatized before our very eyes. But hey – we Brits must forget about all those things – because there’s something far more important to worry about. The Russians are coming!
Beware the neocon warmonger clique: NATO Commander Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, US Army European Commander Gen. Ben Hodges, ISIS Czar John Allen, Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Gen. Jack Keane, Gen. David Petraeus, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Jen Psaki, and Senator John McCain.
In Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy, the philosopher delivered his summarization of the writings of Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas thusly, “Before he begins to philosophize, he already knows the truth; it is declared in the Catholic faith. If he can find apparently rational arguments for some parts of the faith, so much the better; if he cannot, he need only fall back on revelation. The finding of arguments for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy, but special pleading.”
American foreign policy is determined in much the same fashion…
One lie is that Putin has a feverishly expansionist foreign policy. No evidence exists for this claim, repeated ad nauseum in the West…
Another lie is that we know Russia was behind the downing of MH17…
A third lie is that the toppling of Viktor Yanukovych was a democratic uprising…
A fourth lie is that Western sanctions against Russia are merited, since they are based on Russian aggression…
This isn’t nuanced propaganda. It isn’t hedging or garden variety bias. It’s flat-out mendacity…
How soon before the term “Hun” starts circulating?
It is an excellent rule to be observed in all disputes, that men should give soft words and hard arguments; that they should not so much strive to vex as to convince each other.
Classroom materials and teaching tips from TEFL lifer Alex Case. See the drop-down menus under the photo for thousands of photocopiables and articles, and for how to support TEFLtastic
Go to theindicter.com. The Professors' Blog, founded 2005, is Sweden's earliest blog by univerisity professors (In Swedish: "professorsblogg"). Founded by Prof. Marcello Ferrada de Noli
Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms.. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Lincoln: “The Yankee Nero,” Comic News, London, 1864
The moderate opposition
Rest in peace, little boy.
Bperet's Blog 