America’s “Game” of Wars and Interventions

Source : http://journal-neo.org/2014/09/25

Since at least the end of the Second World War, the US has been directly and indirectly fostering, aiding, funding and training fighting militias and groups in different regions of the world to further its own interests. However, the irony of this policy is that in most of the cases, the US ended up fighting, in the name of establishing peace, these very forces of destruction. History is replete with such examples. As the ‘sole’ super power of the world, it has actually been fighting the war of its own survival, that is, to continue to survive as the ‘sole’ super power. As such, not only does it ‘invent’ enemies, but also reasons to fight them. Let’s have a look at some of these ‘invented’ wars.

A number of examples can be given from history to justify this proposition. For example, the emergence of the Taliban is most directly the result of the CIA’s involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War. Not only did CIA provide all possible funding, but also established camps across Pakistan-Afghan border which were extensively used to train people to do “Jihad” against the Soviet Union. And, the fact that the Americans joyfully disseminate information about different aspects of this war in the form of Hollywood movies shows the extent of acknowledgement the US has publicly made regarding once supporting the Taliban when they were hailed and glorified as the “defenders” of the “free world.” Given that, now it looks remarkably amazing how that very Taliban later on turned into enemies and dragged the US into the longest war of its history.

Nothing can explain this fundamental transition except the fact that the US first needed the Taliban to use them against its cold war rival, and then to use, as a pretext to go to war, the Taliban’s refusal to allow the US a free way to build oil and gas pipelines from the Central Asia to the India Ocean. The force that the US once ‘proudly’ created thus turned into the most pernicious enemy of the world—hence the war against “terrorism.” In other words, the most important reason of this longest war is nothing but the US’ own created group of fighters.

On the other hand, the US could still have ‘invented’ any reason to launch attack on Afghanistan even if the Taliban had not refused to accept American plans; after all, extensive militarization of the entire region around Afghanistan was, and still is, one of the cardinal policy objectives of the US’ twenty-first century grand strategy. The fact that the US wanted to militarize the entire region in order for controlling the flow of energy from here to many parts of the world becomes quite evident when we look at the very location of the key military bases of the US in Afghanistan. All of the key bases have been built on the proposed route of the TAPI pipeline.

Similar kind of things took place in Africa where the US first sponsored “rebels” to fight against the Qaddafi regime in Libya and then the same “rebels” started to threaten the US’ and its allies’ interests in Africa, particularly in Mali—hence, the French led attack on Mali in 2013. Contrary to the official propaganda narrative of the US and its allies, the “terrorists” in Mali were, until a few months earlier, the US’ frontline allies in Libya.

As a matter of fact, according to some of the very credible published material in the Western media, militancy in Mali is a direct result of the US’ and its allies’ own policies. For example, Jeremy Kennan(Professor at University of London) reported in one of his articles about the shadowy ties that link the ‘fundamentalist forces’ across the North Africa to Algeria, the U.S. and the Gulf states. The facts presented in such other reports show that the catastrophe now being played out in Mali, as also in Africa at large, is basically an inevitable outcome of the way in which the Global War on Terror has been inserted into the Sahara-Sahel by the US, in concert with Algerian intelligence operatives, since at least 2002.

According to a report of the New York Times, which uncovers the truth about the presence of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali, much of the instability in Mali is a direct outcome of the US led NATO intervention in Libya. The report highlights a very crucial fact of the mechanisms of the US’ geo-politics. According to the said report, it was the (US-backed) “heavily armed, battle-hardened Islamist fighters who returned from combat in Libya and played the precipitating role in the collapse of the US-supported central government in Mali.” Similarly, according to a report of the Guardian, Al-Qaeda itself does not as such exist in Mali. As a matter of fact, the so-called AQIM is a successor of an Algerian Islamist group, (a product of Algerian civil war) which is only using the brand “al-Qaeda”, and which is further being imposed by the West for propaganda. This militant group was smashed by the Algerian authorities, and most of its leadership is, in fact, Algerian. And, now after having been ousted from Mali, they are again challenging the Algerian government.

The fact of the matter is that it was neither AQIM nor the Tuaregs, but the US trained military officers of the Malian army, who actually overthrew the Malian government because of the latter’s inability to address the Tuareg problem, leading to instability and eventually to intervention of the West. The so-called defection of the Malian army can also be explained with reference to the US led intervention in Libya when we take into account the fact that Tuaregs – who traditionally hailed from northern Mali – made up a large portion of his army, and when Gaddafi was ejected from power, they returned to their homeland and joined the local armed resistance. Thus intervention in Libya precipitated the Malian crisis, the latter being the consequence of the former, as later on acknowledged by the UK’ Foreign Secretary William Hague himself.

Let’s now have a look at the crisis going on in Iraq. Much like the Libya-Mali case, the crisis in Iraq are deeply linked, notwithstanding the US’ own long war with Iraq, to the wider regional problem. The phenomenon of the ISIS, which was deliberately and most fervently ‘mothered’ by the US and its allies in the Middle East, has now all of a sudden gone rogue, causing a massive ‘threat’ to the US and its allied Kingdoms. However, a look at the circumstances preceding the emergence of the ISIS in the current form would suffice to show that the ISIS is also, like Afghan Taliban and fighters in Libya-Mali, a ‘child’ of the US’ geo-politics.

It is a bitter irony that until recently the rebels of the Islamic State were glorified and heralded by the West as Syria’s “opposition freedom fighters” committed to “restoring democracy” and unseating the “brutal” government of Bashar al Assad. Evidences presented and collected by certain Israeli Intelligence sources has sufficiently revealed that a number of US allies in the Middle East did take part in the recruitment, training and funding of the “jihadists” of the ISIS; and, these fighters of the ISIS, along with Al-Nusra front, had previously been the linchpin of the Western strategy to defeat the Syrian Army on ground. According to a report of London’s Daily Express, the most important source of ISIS financing, to date, has been the support coming out of the Gulf States, primarily Saudi Arabia but also Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. It is quite surprising to note that even such reports fail to mention the role of the US in channeling this support.

Undoubtedly, the crisis in Iraq has paved the way for the US intervention; however, this is not the end of the story. As a part of its favourite “game” of wars, the US is again backing the Saudi government to create another Jihadist organization to counter the ISIS in Iraq and Syria. As a part of the understanding reached between Saudia and the US, the former is to host a training facility for thousands of Syrian rebel fighters who are combating both the Islamic State and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In simple words, the chief architects of the ISIS are now, in order to conceal their true intentions and purposes, coming up with something new that would help them perpetuate chaos in order to maintain their own monopoly over the region’s Oil. The allies from Europe have, precisely for ensuring smooth supply of oil, been supporting every move engineered by the US and Saudia.

While all these actions are being undertaken under the banner of the “Global War on Terrorism”, the US has no real intention of targeting the ISIS’ terror brigades which are being systematically integrated by the Western Special Forces and intelligence operatives. In fact, the only meaningful and effective campaign against the ISIS terrorists is being waged by the Syrian army itself, which also happens to be the target of the US geo-politics.

Given that the US and its allies are at the helm of the ISIS even after the latter has occupied a large swath of territory, it becomes quite obvious that the actual purpose of this on-going “game” of war is perpetual destabilization of both Iraq and Syria, as also of other possible targets, such as Iran. The “Sunni” outlook of the ISIS is sufficient to understand that after Iraq and Syria—the two “Shia” states in the Middle East—Iran could possibly be the next target; and therefore, the government of Israel has not even opposed the ISIS’ expansion.

Such “games” of war are not and have never been waged to establish “peace” as is claimed by the so-called ‘democratic’ US and the West; rather their real aim is to eliminate all forces that stand in their way of maintaining hegemony in the world. From Asia to Africa, the “game” of wars is supposed to lead to one end: unchallenged politico-economic and military supremacy of the US and its allies. Nowhere in this “game” do ‘humane considerations’ find any reasonable space. The rhetoric of “peace and development” is only for the masses to digest to make them believe that the war is to “end all wars.” This, however, remains only a myth when it comes to ground realities where every “war on terrorism” sows seeds of a new “war,” just like stages of any game, where every stage leads to another stage, to another level.

Salman Rafi Sheikh, research-analyst of International Relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook

US Drone Crashes in Syria

Source : http://english.farsnews.com

TEHRAN (FNA)- A communication tower was damaged after a US drone crashed into it in the Syrian province of Raqqa on Tuesday.

According to eyewitnesses, a US drone crashed into a communication tower in Raqqa, a city in North central Syria, on Tuesday morning, Yahoo News reported. 

The United States and several Persian Gulf Arab allies launched air and missile strikes on the strongholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Takfiri group in Syria on Tuesday.

"US army and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles," Pentagon Spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement on Monday night.

"Head of US Central Command General Lloyd Austin decided to launch airstrikes inside Syria under authorization granted (to) him by the commander-in-chief (President Barack Obama)," he added.

Syria had earlier warned Washington against carrying out airstrikes on the ISIL terrorists in Syria without Damascus’ consent.

China plans nuclear submarines near US coast, miltary bases in South China Sea

Source : http://chinadailymail.com

The following is based on translations from Chinese media:

So far there has been no news about Chinese nuclear submarine cruising near the US. There has been official confirmation from China that a Chinese nuclear submarine operated in the Indian Ocean for a short period of time.

US nuclear submarine commander Benjamin Person (transliteration from Chinese) recently laughed at China, saying that Chinese nuclear submarines had never been active near the United States. He is happy that his nuclear submarine has been active in the seas near China for a long time.

This qianzhan.com article comments on Person’s words, saying that China obviously lags behind the US, but it has been making great efforts to catch up. China has established a coastal anti-submarine network and improved and upgraded the equipment of its anti-submarine aircraft and warships.

Such efforts will soon effectively deter the activities of US nuclear submarines in the East China Sea but not the South China Sea as the latter is vast in area and complicated under water. However China’s reclamation in key areas in the South China Sea will enable China to set up naval and air bases for anti-submarine aircrafts and warships to contain US nuclear submarines. Therefore, the article believes that US nuclear submarines will not be able to cruise freely in the East and South China Seas for much longer.

The article says that when China’s new nuclear submarines have been commissioned and communication technology improved, Chinese nuclear submarines will be able to operate near the US.

Contributor’s note: My post in early August mentioned Japanese Yumiuri Shimbun’s report that a nuclear submarine of the Chinese navy successfully launched a new-type JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in the Atlantic Ocean in late July. The missile hit its target in a desert in Xinjiang. That test proves that China’s strategic nuclear submarine can hit anywhere in the United States with its JL-3 SLBMs. Therefore, I believe it is not necessary for a Chinese strategic nuclear submarines to cruise near the US to make American people nervous.

On the other hand, what the qianzhan.com article says about keeping US attack nuclear submarines away from East and South China Seas is in fact senseless. As most major Chinese cities are located near Chinese coast, US attack nuclear submarines can hit those cities with theirTomahawk cruise missiles even if they are not in the seas near China. The missile has a range of 2,800 km. Chinese coast cities remain vulnerable to US attack even if US submarines are not in the East or South China Sea.

China has to make hard efforts to obtain the capabilities of fighting its enemy far away from its coasts to avoid damages to its homeland. That is the common views of Chinese generals.

Source: qianzhan.com “US officer laughs at China’s nuclear submarines that have so far not operated near the US” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the report in Chinese)

Russia to Supply T-90S Tanks to Peru in Medium-Term: Rosoboronexport

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - Peru is interested in a supply of Russian T-90S tanks, but plans are currently considered a medium-term project, Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport deputy general director Sergei Goreslavsky has told RIA Novosti during the exhibition, Africa Aerospace and Defence 2014.

"In collaboration with Uralvagonzavod,Rosoboronexport is working hard to promote the T -90S. This project continues to be the focus of Peruvian leaders, but is has earned a medium-term due to a number of political circumstances, such as the upcoming presidential elections," said Goreslavsky.

Peru's Ministry of Defense announced the possibility of buying some 140 T-90S tanks in the future after receiving prototypes of the Russian battle tank for trials in May of 2013 in Lima. Peru currently uses 300 AMX-13 French light tanks in addition to 300 obsolete Soviet-made T-55 tanks.

Though the T-90S trials have proved successful, a contract to supply the tanks to Peru has not yet been signed.

According to Goreslavsky, the Peruvian leadership is focused on the project with aims of establishing production of the Russian Kamaz trucks, including military versions, which can potentially be used for civilian purposes.

The modified T-90S is fitted with an increased power multi-fuel 1,130-h.p. diesel engine, giving the vehicle a top speed of over 60 km/h (37 miles per hour) on roads and up to 45 km/h on rough terrain, according to its manufacturer, Uralvagonzavod .

The 46.5 ton tank's redesigned turret features a modernized 125-mm gun fitted with an autoloader, capable of firing 9M119M missiles, new fire control, navigation and communications systems, and a remotely-controlled mounted 7.62-mm machine gun. It has a crew of three, who are protected by explosive reactive armor and an NBC protection system.

The Africa Aerospace and Defence 2014 exhibition is being held in the South African capital of Pretoria from September 17 to 21. Rosoboronexport is one of many exhibitors participating in the premier exhibition of air, sea and land technologies.

Chinese Warships Berth in Iran in the Southern port city of Bandar Abbas

Source : http://english.farsnews.com

TEHRAN (FNA)- A detachment of China's fleet of warships docked in Iran's territorial waters in the Southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday.

It is the first time that a Chinese flotilla has sailed and berthed in Iran's territorial waters.

An Iranian flotilla was in the Sea of China last year to deliver Iran's message of peace and friendship to the Chinese.

In May, 2013, the Iranian warships docked in Zhangjiagang after a 13,000-kilometer voyage in 40 days as part of their mission to convey Iran's message of peace and friendship to the East Asian states.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that presence in the Indian and Pacific oceans and the China Sea, patrolling Southeast Asia's strategic Strait of Malacca, crossing the Equator, docking at China's port city of Zhangjiagang port and identifying 370 surface and subsurface vessel units were among the important tasks carried out by the fleet.

The Iranian warships also docked in Sri Lanka after their successful mission in the Pacific Ocean and crossing the Equator.

The visit by the Chinese Navy ships also came a few days after the timely presence and action of the Iranian Navy's 31st Flotilla thwarted an attack by eight pirate speed boats, equipped with various light and semi-heavy weapons, on a Chinese container-carrier ship in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, and forced the pirates to flee the scene.

The Chinese ship was traveling en route from Singapore to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before it came under pirates' attack.

The Chinese ship continued its voyage after it was rescued by the Iranian Navy.

The 31st Fleet of the Iranian Navy, comprised of Bayandor destroyer and Bandar Abbas logistic warship, was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden and the high seas late July to protect the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates.

The fleet of warships has escorted 670 military and cargo ships by now and has identified and traced trans-regional vessels and aircraft.

Iran's 30th flotilla of warships ended its mission in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and returned home in July.

The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.

According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea pirates.

The Gulf of Aden - which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea - is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal.

Argentine groups sue Israel over Gaza war crimes

Source : http://en.alalam.ir/news/1630141

A lawsuit has been filed against the Israeli regime by actors, activists, politicians and pro-Palestinian solidarity groups in Argentina, a statement released by the Palestinian embassy in Buenos Aires said.

The legal case was brought before the federal court of justice on Saturday in Argentine city of Cordoba.

The case was named "Lawsuit against the Authorities of Israel for Committing Crimes against Humanity and Genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

Journalist Serkhio Ortiz, head of the Argentinean committee of honoring the missing and victims, actor Juan Jose-Tutu, and singer and actress Mara Santosho, were among the people who signed the case.

The signatories demanded in their legal suit for the issuance of an international arrest warrant against Israeli figures through the Interpol and forcing the Zionist regime to compensate for the human and material losses that it had inflicted on the Palestinian population during its brutal war against Gaza.

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Palestinians begin documentation of Zionist regimeˈs crimes in Gaza

Source : http://www.irna.ir/en/News

General Director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Issam Younis told IRNA if Palestinians make no serious and legal move against atrocities committed by the Zionists against the defenseless people of Gaza, then they should be waiting for more crimes to be made by the Zionists in the future. 

Al Mezan is a non-governmental organization based in the Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Its declared goals are: To promote and protect human rights in the OPT and especially in the Gaza Strip with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) and to work towards the realization of Palestinians’ individual and collective human rights.

Younis said the documentation would be prepared in two months with the help of two other Palestinian centers for human rights.

If Palestinians do nothing about Zionist regime's brutal atrocities, their future would be worse than their present, Younis told IRNA in a recent exclusive interview.

The lawyer who is educated in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights, added the unlimited support of the international community for the Zionist regime has encouraged it to carry out three major wars against Palestinians during the past six years.

Younis has lost four members of his family in the latest Israeli invasion on Gaza which ended on August 26 with an open-ended ceasefire brokered by Egypt.

Egypt has brokered a number of ceasefires between the Zionist regime and Palestinians including one on 5 August, during which all Zionist troops were withdrawn from the Gaza Strip.

Younis stressed bringing legal, political and diplomatic prosecutions to regional and international courts against crimes of the Zionist regime would help stop its carnage against Palestinians. 

He also criticized the silence of certain Arab and Islamic states over Israel's atrocities against Palestinians noting that Palestinians have no choice but to follow up in person the case of Israeli crimes at the international tribunals.

Israel’ to Evacuate Galilee As Next War Starts for Fear of Hezbollah Occupation

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb/english

The Zionist Channel 2 broadcast a report titled "Lebanon Third War" in which it warns the Israelis of the heavy prices and the massive destruction that would result from any war against Hezbollah.

"Hezbollah will strike any position across the occupied Palestinian territories, and this will impose on the Israelis to evacuate the northern settlements in Galilee, for fear of Hezbollah occupation."
 
The Israeli Channel interviewed the commander of Zionist Hiram brigade, Colonel Dan Goldvos, who said that Hezbollah possesses unprecedented and sophisticated military capacities as well as weaponry, calling on the entity to prepare seriously for the coming war.

Goldvos noted that Hezbollah possesses over 100,000 rockets and that some of them are long-range and may carry up to over a ton of explosive materials.     

The Israeli officer added that any war against Hezbollah will not similar to the recent one against Gaza, asserting that the party will fight very fiercely and will use devastating weaponry.

'Israel' has to be able to protect its vital facilities and to evacuate the settlements for fear of a Hezbollah decision to occupy Galilee, he pointed out.

Goldvos also noted that the "Iron Dome" anti-missile system will not be able to encounter Hezbollah rocketry threat.

Commenting on the threat which Hezbollah tunnels pose, the commander of Zionist Hiram brigade said that those tunnels frighten both the Israeli military units and the settlers in Galilee.

Iran orders NATO plane to land over flight plan error

Source : http://english.al-akhbar.com/content

A NATO charter plane carrying 100 people including US government contractors out of Afghanistan was ordered to land in southern Iran because of errors in its flight plan, a Tehran-based official said Saturday.

The rare incident prompted a flurry of reaction in the United States since a number of Americans were on board the plane, but the problem was solved and the aircraft headed on to Dubai, its original destination, after a few hours on the ground.

"We realized that the flight information was incorrect and to be sure there was no problem, we asked to pilot to land," said Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, head of the Iranian Airports Organization.

Flight FZ 4359, operated by Fly Dubai, landed at an airport in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Gulf. The plane had earlier left Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, US officials said on Friday.

The State Department quickly refuted US media reports that Iran had scrambled fighter jets and forced the charter plane to land.

Ilkhani said the plane was asked to land because it was in Iranian airspace and there was a problem with its route information, and that airport officials had not been aware that Americans were on board.

"We interviewed the pilot and verified his flight documents. The pilot acknowledged there had been errors. He was then allowed to leave," Ilkhani said.

After several hours on the ground, the plane was back in the air, deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said separately.

It was not immediately clear who was on board the Fly Dubai plane, but defense officials confirmed it had been chartered by the US-led NATO International Security Assistance Force.

It was not disclosed if it was carrying any US troops flying from the sprawling Bagram military air base just outside the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Officials confirmed however that there were American citizens as well as other US government contractors of different nationalities on board.

(AFP)

NATO and Georgia to Set up Training Center for Terrorist

Source : http://www.eurasianet.org/node

Georgian officials are sounding upbeat notes over a decision by NATO that seems to accelerate efforts to bring Tbilisi into the alliance. From Tbilisi’s perspective, NATO offered Georgia a package of measures at a September 4-5 summit in the United Kingdom that could potentially make the country's full membership a reality in the not-too-distant future.
 
"Today we agreed on a substantive package of measures for Georgia that will help it advance in its preparations towards NATO membership," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen tweeted on September 5.
 
Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania said that the package included a commitment to create a training center for NATO members and allies in Georgia.
 
Georgia has long sought membership in both NATO and the European Union. While wanting to encourage Georgia’s membership bid, NATO has tread cautiously on the issue out of an apparent concern not to rile Russia. Georgia and Russia fought a five-day war in 2008, and portions of Georgian territory remain occupied by Russian armed forces. Russia’s actions in Ukraine are prompting NATO to re-evaluate its relations with the Kremlin.
 
Though satisfied with the steps taken by NATO at its UK summit, Georgian officials voiced an intention to press for a formal membership invitation at the Atlantic alliance’s next gathering in 2015. "We hope that the next summit is going to be an expansion summit where Georgia will be granted membership," Alasania said at the Atlantic Council's Future Leaders' Meeting.
 

Putin may have been right about Syria all along

Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/putin-may-have-been-right-about-syria-all-along-9688838.html

What a difference a year makes. Around this time last year, the West was gearing up for military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was accused of carrying out chemical weapons attacks on his own people. That intervention never came to pass, not least because domestic public opinion in countries such as Britain and the US was opposed to further entanglements in the Middle East.

Now, the US is contemplating extending air strikes on Isis militants operating in Iraq and Syria – fighters belonging to a terrorist organisation that is leading the war against Assad. Isis’s territorial gains in Iraq and the continued repression and slaughter of religious minorities there and in Syria have rightly triggered global condemnation.

The irony of the moment is tragic. But to some, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Many cautioned against the earlier insistence of the Obama administration (as well as other governments) that Assad must go, fearing what would take hold in the vacuum. One of those critics happened to be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned against US intervention in Syria in a New York Times op-ed last September.

He wrote: “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 destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.”

Some of the crises Putin catalogued have worsened anyway, but his insistence was couched in a reading of the conflict in Syria that is more cold-blooded than the view initially held by some in Washington. “Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multi-religious country,” he wrote, suggesting that the nominally secular Assad regime, despite its misdeeds, was a stabilising force preferable to what could possibly replace it.

Putin decried the growing Islamist cadres in the Syrian rebels’ ranks: “Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria?”

That is a concern publicly shared now by US and European officials, who are alarmed by the considerable presence of European nationals among Isis forces. A British jihadist who spoke with a London accent is believed to have carried out the shocking execution of American  journalist James Foley.

That western attention has shifted so dramatically from the murders carried out by the Assad regime to those carried out by the militants fighting it is a sign of the overwhelming complexity of the war, which is collapsing borders and shaking up politics across the Middle East.

Nor is it necessarily vindication for Putin. His solemnizing over the integrity of international systems is hard to take seriously considering his controversial annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory in March and continued obstruction of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the UN Security Council.

In March 2011, Syrian protesters took to the streets. Their largely peaceful  demonstrations were met by violent crackdowns by state security forces. Eventually, the upheaval turned into a full-blown sectarian civil war that has claimed the lives of at least 191,000, according to the UN last week.

Some in Washington argue that if only Obama had started arming and empowering the “moderate” Syrian opposition sooner, the extremist forces now in the news would not wield such influence and power. But it’s hard to imagine any scenario where more direct US involvement in the Syrian conflict, aimed at toppling Assad, would not somehow also play into the hands of the Islamist factions.

But it’s worth considering what Putin’s government insisted not long after the violence began. In his op-ed, he reminded readers that from “the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future”. That “plan for the future”, the Russians insisted, had to involve talks between the government and the opposition, something the opposition rejected totally at the time.

Paul Street: ISIL Is A Frankenstein Created Largely by US Imperialism

Source : http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930609001300

TEHRAN (FNA)- Paul Street, American journalist, believes that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is in fact a Frankenstein created largely by US imperialism, and that the menace posed by the ISIL and the resurgence of Takfiri-Salafi militancy is not limited to Syria and Iraq.

"The peril ISIL poses to what has always been Washington’s primary concern in the region – the great "strategic prize" of Middle Eastern oil – raises the specter of the US having to re-send large military deployments to the world’s energy heartland. And that is something US policymakers do not relish since they know by now that it has strong potential to make the situation worse. Smart US planners have learned that direct US military intervention fuels "anti-Americanism" and strengthens the jihadist movement in the long run. The US prefers to dominate the region through proxies (including Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, and Israel) and divide-and-rule," said Street in an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency.

He believes that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan pretty much manufactured the global Jihadist network in order to bloody the nose of the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and 1980s. The ISIL is of course an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, itself largely a product of that US Cold War policy.

Fars News Agency has conducted an interview with Paul Street, an independent researcher, journalist, historian, author and speaker based in Illinois, in an attempt to study the claim by the US authorities that they are combating ISIL and terrorism in the Middle East.

Paul Street is the author of numerous books including "Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11", "Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in the Post-Civil Rights Era", and "Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: a Living Black Chicago History".

Street’s essays, articles, reviews, interviews, and commentaries have appeared in numerous outlets, including CounterPunch, Truthout, the Chicago Tribune, Capital City Times, In These Times, and Chicago History.

Street’s writings, research findings, and commentary have been featured in a large number and wide variety of media venues, including The New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera, the Chicago Tribune, WGN (Chicago/national), WLS (ABC-Chicago), Fox News, and the Chicago Sun Times.

What follows is the text of FNA’s interview with Paul Street:

Q: Would you Kindly explain the role of the US in forming and bringing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) into existence. Is this a plot orchestrated by the US and its allies? If so, why?

A: The ISIL is in fact a Frankenstein created largely by the US imperialism. Still, it’s too much and far too simple to say that it is plot or a conspiracy orchestrated by the US and its allies. To say that it is to exaggerate the US power and to unduly deny agency to Sunni Islamists. It is also to misconstrue US-imperial aims in the Middle East. The menace posed by the ISIL and the resurgence of Jihadism is not limited to Syria and Iraq. It also t