This is a lengthy article, but one I thought was pretty good. The comments the
writer makes about the American role in Syria ("America"
meaning the US), may very well be applicable in the Libyan military
adventure as well. I have those highlighted comments which can be
related to the Libyan situation in yellow.
One of the most
important ideas that we can take from this article is that events in
this region (as in most places in the world) are complex and cannot
simply be reduced to a "them vs. us" kind of analysis.
Hajja Romi
America's Next War Theater: Syria and Lebanon?
Washington's War against the Resistance Bloc
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Washington
and its allies, Israel and the Al-Sauds, are taking advantage of the
upheavals in the Arab World. They are now working to dismantle the
Resistance Bloc and weaken any drive for democracy in the Arab World.
The geo-political chessboard is now being prepared for a broader
confrontation that will target Tehran and include Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,
and the Palestinians.
Tying Hezbollah’s Hands through External and Internal Pressure
In
Lebanon, there is a deadlock in regards to the formation of a Lebanese
government. Michel Sleiman, who holds the presidency and the new
Lebanese prime minister have been delaying the formation of the cabinet
in a political row with Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic
Movement.
It may be possible that the formation of a new
Lebanese cabinet is being delayed deliberately to keep Lebanon
neutralized on the foreign policy front.
The U.N. Security
Council and several U.N. bodies are all being used by the U.S. and the
E.U. to put pressure on Lebanon. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is
taking his orders from Washington. He has contributed to providing
legitimacy to the U.S. and NATO wars. Moscow has openly accused Ban
Ki-moon of treachery for his 2008 secret dealings with NATO.
It
is in this context that the U.N. is being used as a forum for insidious
attempts to internationalize the issue of the weapons held by the
Lebanese Resistance, with a view to disarming it. Despite the fact that
U.N. Resolution 1559 is no longer relevant, the Special Representative
for the Implementation of Resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, still
remains active and issues reports against Hezbollah.
The envoys
of the U.N. to Lebanon resemble colonial figures making uninvited edicts
in Beirut and working as agents of Washington, Brussels, and Tel Aviv.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which has an entire division in
the U.S. State Department, is also a loaded political weapon that
Washington is planning on using against Lebanon and Syria.
An
international tribunal was formed pertaining to the circumstances of the
the assassination of Rafic Al-Hariri. Hariri at the time of his murder
had no official state position, but an international tribunal has been
created for his case alone. On the other hand the so-called
international community has taken no interest in forming any type
of tribunals to investigate the assassination of thousands of people
killed in Lebanon. What does this say about the STL and the justice
being sought?
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) has also been complicit in Israeli violations against Lebanon.
Even the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees
in the Near East (UNRAW) [sic!] has been infiltrated with officials that
are supportive of Israeli crimes against Palestinians and Lebanese. This
was demonstrated by Christopher Gunness, the spokesperson of UNRAW[sic!], in
a May 15, 2011 interview with the Israeli military. While Israel’s IDF
was firing on unarmed civilian protesters during Nakba Day 2011, Gunness
reaffirmed that UNRAW[sic!] was working in the interest of Israel’s national
security, while also accusing the Palestinians of committing terrorist
acts against Israel. Even the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip was
whitewashed by the UNRAW[sic!] spokesperson.
The absence of a new
cabinet in Lebanon has also allowed Saad Hariri and the March 14
Alliance to continue having an ominous hand in managing Lebanon’s
affairs. This also buys time for the STL, which can move forward without
being challenged by a Lebanese government in Beirut that would be
hostile to the STL. In this regard, a new government in Beirut would
most certainly question to legitmacy of the STL.
Moreover, the
Internal Security Forces (ISF) of Lebanon is also being used by Saad
Hariri against Hezbollah and the political opponents of the Hariri
family. The ISF may even have a hand in working against Damascus and
helping promote violence in Syria. The ISF takes its orders directly
from the Hariri family.
Because of the free hand given to Saad
Hariri and his cronies (largely due to the absence of a
functioning cabinet in Beirut), Ziad Baroud, the acting interior
minister of Lebanon, has refused to sign any more papers from his
ministry. Baroud has taken this position, because he believes that the
ISF is acting covertly and without his approval or supervision. In this
regard, the ISF has refused to follow the orders of Ziad Baroud to allow
Charbel Al-Nahhas, the acting telecommunications minister of Lebanon,
to enter ISF headquarters for a routine check. The ISF was clearly
trying to hide its operations and was acting to prevent Al-Nahhas and
his team from going to certain floors at ISF headquarters.
It is
also no secret that Lebanon is a nest of intelligence agents and
operatives from the U.S., the E.U., Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
Their objective is to confront and dismantle Hezbollah and its
coalition.
In 2006, during the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon
the embassies of E.U. members were also collecting data against
Hezbollah. The Al-Sauds have helped facilitate the links between Israel
and the network of spies in Lebanon. This is demonstrated by the clear
link between Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hussein, the Shiite cleric caught
working for Israel, and the Al-Sauds.
In tune with all this,
Hezbollah is constantly accused of being an instrument of Iran.
Recently, Hezbollah was blamed alongside Iran for stirring protests in
the Persian Gulf, specifically in Bahrain and the Shiite-dominated areas
of Saudi Arabia. In this regard Lebanese citizens, regardless of their
faith in many cases, have also been singled out by the Khaliji regimes
and expelled from the Persian Gulf. This is part of a sectarian card to
create regional divisions and hate. Within Lebanon it has been used by
the Saad Hariri faction to target Hezbollah and its allies. Hariri has
ironically accused Iran of interfering in Bahrain at the very moment the
Saudi military invaded the island-state to keep the Al-Khalifas in
power.
The petro-sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf are now
systematically preventing Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, and
Pakistani citizens from entering their borders. Kuwait has justified
this by saying that there could be trouble within Kuwait due to
political instability in these countries.
Destabilizing Syria
Damascus
has been under pressure to capitulate to the edicts of Washington and
the European Union. This has been part of a longstanding project. Regime
change or voluntary subordination by the Syrian regime are the goals.
This includes subordinating Syrian foreign policy and de-linking Syrian
from its strategic alliance with Iran and its membership within the
Resistance Bloc.
Syria is run by an authoritarian oligarchy
which has used brute force in dealing with its citizens. The riots in
Syria, however, are complex. They cannot be viewed as a straighforward
quest for liberty and democracy. There has been an attempt by the U.S.
and the E.U. to use the riots in Syria to pressure and intimidate the
Syrian leadership. Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, and the March 14
Alliance have all played a role in supporting an armed insurrection.
The
Al-Sauds have also helped drown out any authentic calls for democratic
reform and marginalized the democratic elements in the Syrian opposition
during the protests and riots. In this regard the Al-Sauds have
supported both sectarian factions as well as terrorist elements, which
question the foundations of religious tolerance in Syria. These elements
are mostly Salafist extremists, like Fatah Al-Islam and the new
extremist political movements being organized in Egypt. They have also
been rallying against the Alawites, the Druze, and Syrian Christians.
The
violence in Syria has been supported from the outside with a view
of taking advantage of the internal tensions and the anger in Syria.
Aside from the violent reaction of the Syrian Army, media lies have been
used and bogus footage has been aired. Money and weapons have also been
funnelled to elements of the Syrian opposition by the U.S., the E.U.,
the March 14 Alliance, Jordan, and the Khalijis. Funding has also been
provided to ominous and unpopular foreign-based Syrian opposition
figures, while weapons caches were smuggled from Jordan and Lebanon into
Syria.
The events in Syria are also tied to Iran, the
longstanding strategic ally of Damascus. It is not by chance that
Senator Lieberman was demanding publicly that the Obama
Administration and NATO attack Syria and Iran like Libya. It is also not
coincidental that Iran was included in the sanctions against Syria. The
hands of the Syrian military and government have now been tied
internally as a new and broader offensive is being prepared that will
target both Syria and Iran.
Syria and the Levantine Gas Fields in the Eastern Mediterranean
Syria
is the central piece of two important energy corridors. The first links
Turkey and the Caspian to Israel and the Red Sea and the second links
Iraq to the Mediterranean. The surrender of Syria would mean that
Washington and its allies would control these energy routes. It would
also mean that the large natural gas fields off the Lebanese and Syrian
coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean would be out of reach for China
and would instead go to the E.U., Israel, and the U.S.
The
Eastern Mediterranean gas fields have been the subject of negotiations
between the E.U., Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. Aside from the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline, the existence of the Levantine
natural gas fields is also the reason why the Kremlin has created a
military foothold in Syria for the Russian Federation. This has been
done by upgrading Soviet-era naval facilities in Syria. Moreover, it has
been Iran that has agreed to explore and help develop these natural gas
fields off the Levantine coast for Beirut and Damascus.
Hamas-Fatah Rapprochement
There
is a strong correlation between war in Southwest Asia and increased
talk at the official level about Palestinian statehood. Hopes of
Palestinian statehood have been used twice to discharge pressure in the
Arab World built from rising tensions from war preparations against
Iraq. The first time was by George H.W. Bush Sr. and the second time by
George W. Bush Jr., who was praised for being the first U.S. president
to seriously talk about a Palestinian state.
Even as he
flip-flops on his position, Obama is also now talking about a
Palestinian state. Moreover, rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah has
taken place as the count-down towards international recognition of
Palestinian statehood begins. The Israelis have also released frozen
funds to the Palestinians, which they refused to do before due to Hamas.
The
rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas has also served to tie the hands
of Hamas. Hamas will have to be careful not to effectively become
a junior partner in governing Palestine under Israeli occupation. Hamas
must effectively now modify its stance in its partnership in a unity
government with Fatah. In all likelihood Tel Aviv and Washington will
seek to impose Fatah as the senior partner of the Palestinian Authority.
In a manner of speaking, Hamas is being domesticated indirectly by
Israel and Washington.
Instability in Pakistan
The
announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed by U.S. forces has
contributed to a process of covert political destabilization within
Pakistan. There has been a calculated effort to present Osama bin Laden
as a popular and venerated figure for Muslims. This is with a view of
supporting the so-called “Clash of Civilizations.”
At the same
time the U.S. government is starting a media campaign against Pakistan.
Islamabad has been portrayed as harbouring Osama bin Laden and his
Al-Qaeda network. In reality any Pakistani involvement with terrorists
has been ordered and directed by Washington. There is a much more
complicated story to all this, but what is happening in reality is that
Pakistan as a nation is being targeted for dismantlement.
The dismantlement and destabilization of Pakistan would serve three objectives:
1. Promoting a scenario of a war with
Iran: Pakistan would not be under threat of a takeover by
revolutionaries that would side with Iran and its allies.
2. The
targetting of Chinese interests in Pakistan, including the energy
corridor from Iran to China (and the Chinese port in Gwadar), which
transits through Pakistan.
3. Regional destabilization in a key
area of Eurasia where Southwest Asia, Central Asia and the Indian
sub-continent meet. This area extends from Iran and Afghanistan to
Pakistan, India, and Western China.
At the same time Washington also wants to neutralize the Pakistani nuclear
program.
The
U.S. has also announced that it has the right to violate the national
boundaries of countries which harbour terrorists as well as send troops
to these countries as part of the “war on terrorism.” Hillary
Clinton has justified Washington’s stance by saying that U.S.
forces would be assassinating terrorists. This is merely an opening door
for creating a pretext for military intervention in countries such as
Iran, where the Revolutionary Guards have been designated as a terrorist
organization by the U.S., or Syria, where several exiled Palestinian
groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by Washington.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25000
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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