Thursday, 16 March 2017

What did Netanyahu and Erdogan say to Putin and what did he answer them?

Written by Nasser Kandil,
مارس 15, 2017

The Russian endeavor to leave the Kurdish issue in Syria to the US specialization since Washington’s regression with its fleets from the Mediterranean Sea in order to hit Syria has played a role in the US comfort for having a reliable ally which is not shared by anyone to wage by it the battle of Raqqa when it is the time, but it played an opposite role in forming the reason which drives Turkey to Russia when Ankara will reach to the same conclusions to which Washington has already reached by virtue of the impasse in front of the choice of war to overthrow Syria militarily or politically by the force of a decisive military victory.
It was enough for the battle of Aleppo to prove to Ankara what was shown by the experience of bringing the fleets of Washington to recognize the fertility of the continuation of the war and the attempt to search for a special Turkish ceiling to intervene in Syria, it is through the prevention of forming Kurdish security privacy on the borders with Turkey. The difference in time between the US positioning to prepare Kurdish force that follows practically the US armies and the Turkish attention was enough to the rootedness of the Kurdish situation and to make Ankara worried. The leadership of Turkey tries to tempt Washington by compensating it through direct Turkish intervention in the war on ISIS in exchange of having control over the Kurds. The Turks made efforts but they failed, so they turned twice to Moscow, including their last attempt to please Washington with an offer of barter after Aleppo and before Al Bab battle and after it, which ended with a failure that was translated by Manbej today, and the horizons of Kurdish cooperation with the Syrian army under common Russian US umbrella in the battle of Raqqa.
Moscow is aware that Washington will try to sweep the cooperation in the war on terrorism with costs in exchange, but it is aware that the Turks are the desired partner in the war on Al Nusra front, and that the Americans are an imperative party in the war on ISIS without a cost in exchange, so it is enough to put them in front of the inevitability of the Kurdish-Syrian cooperation in order to be on the right track, therefore, the Russians have ignored all the US-Turkish-Israeli-Saudi escalation against Iran and Hezbollah to suggest the willingness to have a cooperation deal in the war versus resizing the role of Iran and Hezbollah, till the Turkish President resorted to Moscow once again, because the most important player in the Syrian settlement and in the war on Al Nusra is Turkey.
The Turkish President knows that he cannot wait for the decision of the war on the Kurds by the Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Americans for the sake of Turkey which it betrayed its pledges to Russia repeatedly, and that he is going to Moscow to lose his bets, and to make the others lose their bets as well, like the Kurds. What is waiting for him in Moscow is a call to rationalize the influence in Syria in favor of the formation of a country without any security privacy. The sooner the Turks are in their cooperation to end the militia’s dominance which they support in Syria and in the partnership in the war on Al Nusra and in a support of a settlement which the Kurds are participating that is translated by a government under the leadership of the Syrian President and the Syrian army, the more attainable the opportunities become to end the chances of the birth of Kurdish canton which the Turks are afraid of. The more the Turks stick to the dominance areas in Syria, the more the Kurdish dominance gets rooted.
The Russians play their calculated steps in the war. While the justification of the survival of  the  troops of the American who accelerates to have a war on ISIS in Raqqa will end with the end of the war, whenever the settlement path accelerates where there will be no justification for any Kurdish canton that they hide behind, therefore the way to that is Turkish by facilitating the influence in the settlement project instead in the dominance areas which will legitimize the Kurdish privacy, in return the Israeli attempts to stick to the search for privacy in the southern of Syrian will not withstand according to what will happen in the north where the big war theatre, and where the Syrian army has drawn through its field movement strategic changes through its reaching to the Euphrates channel and has imposed its presence as an inevitable partner in any war on ISIS.
A long time ago Netanyahu went to Moscow, but he was a Russian ridiculous subject, but at present when Erdogan went to Moscow he became a sad dramatic subject. Netanyahu started his talking with the Russian President about the Persian Minister Haman in the time of the King Ahasuerus who has issued a demand of the extermination of the Jews, just in order to say to the President Putin that the Persians are here, this has happened since 2500 years ago, and today we are celebrating Purim for being saved from the extermination at their hands. So we do not accept them to threaten us once again, the answer was a cynical smile by the Russian President who was playing with his mobile phone in front of the TV cameras, this was broadcasted by the Russian channels. He answered those who lived in the fifth century BC cannot deal with the challenges of the twenty-first century; everything has changed, so you have to find solutions from that time. But well informed Russian resources say that Putin’s suggestions about the past time and the old history is double, he foretells Netanyahu that everything is changing in Syria specially through his clarifications to him and to Erdogan that the cooperation with Iran is so good and that Hezbollah is an important partner in the war on terrorism, moreover, its presence is accepted by the Syrian country. The resources say that Putin’s suggestion is not only for the fifth century BC and the current century but regarding what has changed in the northern of Syria and  the moving towards the demise of the dominance areas which some of them remove the others. The solution from the bygone time is a mockery of Netanyahu’s historic words, where the feast of Purim is the celebration of the success of Esther the niece of Moedecai the adviser of the King Ahasuerus with the support of his uncle to tempt the King to marry her in order to appeal him to abolish the decision of the extermination of her people.
The Russian media resources say that the President Putin has put the Turkish and the Israeli visitors in front of the fact of the Russian Iranian cooperation and the Russian confidence in the relation with Iran and Hezbollah, calling them to be convinced that the political solution in Syria and the return of the powerful Syrian country despite its difficulty and cruelty on the two guests is the least losses which may occur, because the alternative is a Syrian country that is prevented from being dominated on the  whole area of its national territory by the force of the foreign interventions. It has the right to grant some of its geography for others who disturb whom disturbs it. The more the time passes the changes get rooted, and their eradication becomes more difficult. As the moving toward a settlement is an adventure because the Syrian country may decide to enhance its relation with Iran and Hezbollah, as the opposite moving is a bigger adventure because the areas under the domination of the Kurds will get rooted, as there will be similar areas in which the Iranian will be present more freely, and areas where Hezbollah will be rooted more, while the formation of the country which is responsible of the security in the entire country is the least adventurous choice.
Translated by Lina Shehadeh,


ماذا قال نتنياهو وأردوغان لبوتين وبماذا أجابهما؟

ناصر قنديل
مارس 11, 2017

– لعب الاستثمار الروسي على ترك المسألة الكردية في سورية اختصاصاً أميركياً منذ تراجع واشنطن بأساطيلها عن البحر المتوسط بنيّة ضرب سورية دوره في استرخاء أميركي لامتلاك حليف يمكن الاعتماد عليه، ولا يشاركها به أحد لخوض معركة الرقة بواسطته عندما تدقّ الساعة، لكنه لعب دوراً عكسياً في تشكيل المهماز الذي يرمي تركيا في حضن روسيا، عندما تصل أنقرة للاستنتاجات التي وصلت إليها واشنطن لجهة انسداد الأفق أمام خيار الحرب لإسقاط سورية عسكرياً، أو سياسياً بقوة نصر عسكري حاسم.

– كان يكفي أن تقول حرب حلب لأنقرة ما قالته تجربة استقدام الأساطيل لواشنطن، للتسليم بلا جدوى مواصلة الحرب والاستدارة للبحث عن سقف تركي خاص للتدخل في سورية، وهو منع قيام خصوصية أمنية كردية على الحدود مع تركيا. وكان فارق الزمن بين التموضع الأميركي على خط الإعداد لقوة كردية تتبع عملياً للجيوش الأميركية وبين الانتباه التركي كافياً ليتجذّر الوضع الكردي الذي يسبب القلق لأنقرة، والذي تسعى قيادة تركيا لإغراء واشنطن بتعويضها عنه بتدخل تركي مباشر في الحرب على داعش للحصول على رأس الأكراد، وحاول الأتراك ما استطاعوا وباءوا بالفشل فاستداروا مرتين إلى موسكو بينهما محاولة أخيرة لاسترضاء واشنطن بعرض المقايضة، بعد حلب وقبل معركة الباب، وبعد معركة الباب، وهي التي انتهت بفشل ترجمه حال منبج اليوم، وآفاق تعاون كردي مع الجيش السوري بمظلة روسية أميركية مشتركة في معركة الرقة.

– تدرك موسكو أن واشنطن ستسعى لمقايضة التعاون في الحرب على الإرهاب بأثمان مقابلة، لكنها تدرك أن الأتراك هم الشريك المطلوب في الحرب على جبهة النصرة، وأن الأميركيين هم طرف حتمي في الحرب على داعش بلا ثمن مقابل، ويكفي وضعهم أمام حتمية التعاون الكردي السوري حتى يكونوا على المسار الصحيح، فتجاهل الروس كل التصعيد الأميركي التركي «الإسرائيلي» السعودي ضد إيران وحزب الله، للإيحاء بالاستعداد لصفقة تعاون في الحرب مقابل تحجيم دور إيران وحزب الله، حتى وقع الرئيس التركي في حضن موسكو مجدداً، لأن اللاعب الأهم في التسوية السورية وفي الحرب على النصرة وهي البعد السوري من الحرب هي تركيا.

– يعلم الرئيس التركي أنه لا يستطيع أن ينتظر من الرئيس الروسي فلاديمير بوتين قرار حرب على الأكراد ومعهم الأميركيون، كرمى لعيون تركيا التي خانت تعهداتها مع روسيا مراراً، وأنه ذاهب لموسكو ليخسر رهاناته، لكن ليجعل الآخرين يخسرون مثله رهاناتهم، وفي المقدمة الأكراد، فما ينتظره في موسكو دعوة لترصيد النفوذ في سورية لحساب قيام الدولة بمنع أي خصوصية أمنية، وكلما أسرع الأتراك في التعاون لإنهاء السيطرات الميليشياوية التي يدعمونها في سورية، وفي الشراكة بالحرب على النصرة، وبدعم تسوية يشترك فيها الأكراد تترجمها حكومة في ظل الرئيس السوري والجيش السوري، كانت الفرص حقيقية للتحرك لإنهاء فرص ولادة كانتون كردي يخشاه الأتراك، وكلما تمسك الأتراك بمناطق نفوذ في سورية تجذّرت منطقة النفوذ الكردية.

– يلعب الروس نقلاتهم المحسوبة وأمامهم رقعة الحرب، فالأميركي المسرع بحرب على داعش في الرقة، سينتهي مبرر بقاء قواته في سورية بنهاية الحرب، كلما تسارع مسار تسوية لا يبقى فيها مبرر لكانتون كردي يستظلون به، والمفتاح تركي بتسييل النفوذ في مشروع التسوية بدلاً من مناطق النفوذ التي ستشرع الخصوصية الكردية، وبالمقابل لن تصمد محاولات التمسك «الإسرائيلية» بالبحث عن خصوصية جنوب سورية، مع ما سيحدث في الشمال، حيث مسرح الحرب الكبرى، وحيث الجيش السوري رسم بحركته الميدانية تغييرات استراتيجية ببلوغه مجرى الفرات وفرض حضوره شريكاً لا مفر من شراكته في أي حرب على داعش.

– ذهب نتنياهو من زمن غابر إلى موسكو، فكان موضوع سخرية روسية، وذهب أردوغان من الزمن الحاضر فكان موضوعاً درامياً حزيناً. نتنياهو يبدأ حديثه مع الرئيس الروسي عن الوزير الفارسي هامان في زمن الملك أحشويروش الذي استصدر أمراً بإبادة اليهود، ليقول للرئيس بوتين إن الفرس صاروا هنا، وقد حدث هذا قبل 2500 عام، ونحتفل بعيد المساخر أو البوريم لنجاتنا من الإبادة على أيديهم، فلا يمكن قبولهم يهدّدوننا مرة أخرى، فكان الجواب ابتسامة ساخرة من الرئيس الروسي الذي أخذ يلاعب هاتفه الخلوي بيده أمام كاميرات التلفزة، وتنقله القنوات الروسية بهذا المشهد، ويجيب أن من يعيش في القرن الخامس قبل الميلاد لا يستطيع التعامل مع تحديات القرن الحادي والعشرين، فقد تغير كل شيء، وإلا عليك بحلول من ذاك الزمن، وتقول مصادر إعلامية روسية مطلعة أن إيحاءات بوتين عن الزمن الغابر والتاريخ السحيق مزدوجة فهو ينبئ نتنياهو أن كل شيء يتغيّر في سورية، خصوصاً مع إيضاحاته له ولأردوغان أن التعاون مع إيران على أفضل ما يكون، وأن حزب الله شريك هام في الحرب على الإرهاب ووجوده يحظى بتغطية الدولة السورية. وتقول المصادر إن إيحاء بوتين ليس مقصوداً به فقط القرن الخامس قبل الميلاد والقرن الحالي، بل أيضاً ما تغيّر في شمال سورية والسير نحو زوال مناطق النفوذ، بعضها يتكفّل بإزالة بعض، وأن الحل من الزمن الغابر هو سخرية من كلام نتنياهو التاريخي، حيث عيد البوريم هو احتفال بنجاح أستير ابنة أخ مردخاي مستشار الملك أحشويروش التي تمكّنت بمساعدة عمّها من التسلّل لإغراء الملك والزواج منه لتقوم بالتوسط لديه لإلغاء قرار إبادة قومها.

– تقول المصادر الإعلامية الروسية إن الرئيس بوتين وضع الزائرين التركي و«الإسرائيلي» أمام حقيقة التعاون الروسي الإيراني والثقة الروسية بالعلاقة مع إيران وحزب الله، داعياً إلى الاقتناع بأن الحل السياسي في سورية وعودة الدولة السورية القوية رغم مرارته وقسوته على الضيفين هو أقل الخسائر التي يمكن أن تحدث لأن البديل هو، دولة سورية ممنوعة من السيطرة على كامل ترابها الوطني، بقوة التدخّلات الخارجية، فلها حق منح بعضاً من جغرافيتها بالمقابل لآخرين يسببون الإزعاج لمن يزعجها، وكلّما مرّ الزمن تجذّرت التغييرات وصار إنهاؤها اشد صعوبة. ومثلما السير بالتسوية مخاطرة لأن الدولة السورية قد تقرّر تعزيز علاقتها بإيران وحزب الله، فالسير العكسي مخاطرة أكبر، لأن مناطق سيطرة الأكراد ستتجذّر ومثلها ستنشأ مناطق مشابهة يتواجد فيها الإيرانيون بحرية أكبر ومناطق يتجذر فيها حزب الله أكثر، ويبقى قيام الدولة المسؤولة عن الأمن في كامل بلادها الخيار الأقل مخاطرة.

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Hezbollah Denounces Dual Crime Committed by Terrorists in Damascus

March 15, 2017
Hezbollah condemned the dual crime committed on Wednesday in Damascus by the terrorist gangs as two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Justice Palace and at a restaurant, killing or injuring dozens of judges, lawyers and innocent civilians.
Hezbollah said, in a statement, that this terrorist crime synchronizes with the anniversary of the conspiracy targeting the Syrian state and people since 2011, adding that it also confirms that foreign criminal schemes are being implemented at some locals’ hands .
The party pointed out that this terrorist crime is a failed act which responds to the great victories achieved by the Syrian army and its allies on many fronts across the country against Takfiri terrorism and armed criminals.
Hezbollah called for isolating and eliminating those sinful groups in order to give the patient Syrians an opportunity to restore their normal life, to reactivate institutions and to retrieve Syria role in the Arab nation and the world.
Hezbollah finally offered deep condolences to the families of the martyrs, hoping the wounded will have a speedy recovery.
Source: Hezbollah Media Relations
Blast

Dozens of Martyrs, Injured in Two Terrorist Bombings in Damascus

March 15, 2017
25 civilians were killed and many others were injured when a terrorist suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest carried out an attack in the old Justice Palace building in al-Hamidiyeh area in Damascus.
A source at Damascus Police Command told SANA that a terrorist suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew up himself in the old Justice Palace building in al-Hamidiyeh area.
The source added that the terrorist bombing claimed the lives of a number of civilians and injured many of the citizens who were at the building.
Later, SANA reporter said that terrorist suicide bomber blew himself with explosive belt up inside one of the restaurants in al-Raboah area in Damascus, claiming the lives of a number of persons and injuring others.
Later, a number of civilians, most of them are children and women, were injured when a terrorist suicide bomber blew himself up using an explosive belt in a restaurant located in al-Rabwah area on the outskirts of Damascus city.
Special sources told SANA reporter that the bomber was being chased, along with two other terrorists, by the authorities.
The other two terrorists had been caught, while the bomber ran away and managed to enter the restaurant, where he blew himself up, the sources said.
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US Expands Illegal Defacto Syria Invasion


Source
56345342343The recent expansion of US military forces in Syria follows a predictable, singular agenda targeting this nation for decades – and more specifically – during the most recent and ongoing conflict which began in 2011 amid the US-engineered “Arab Spring.”
The UK Independent in its article, “US marines sent to Syria to help assault on Isis’ Raqqa stronghold,” would report that:
Hundreds of US marines have arrived in Syria armed with heavy artillery in preparation for an assault on Isis’ de-facto capital of Raqqa.
However, the presence of US troops in Syria is entirely unsolicited by the Syrian government and constitutes a clear violation of Syria’s national sovereignty under international law.
CNN in its article, “Assad: US military forces in Syria are ‘invaders’,” would report that:
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad scoffed and questioned US actions in Syria, calling American troops deploying to the country “invaders” because he hadn’t given permission for them to enter the country and saying there’s been no “concrete action” from the Trump administration toward ISIS.
The fact that US policy remains absolutely unchanged despite a new president taking office is no surprise.
Further Evidence of Continuity of Agenda 
With Israel occupying Syria’s Golan Heights and Turkish troops occupying a northern “buffer zone” stretching from Azaz in the west to Jarabulus on the Euphrates River in the east, US troops continuing to carve out a permanent presence in Syria’s eastern most regions threatens to fulfill a decades old conspiracy to divide and destroy the Syrian state.
Recently declassified documents from the US Central Intelligence Agency reveal that as early as 1983, the US was engaged in virtually identical covert and overt operations aimed at destabilizing and overthrowing the Syria government.
A 1983 document signed by former CIA officer Graham Fuller titled, “Bringing Real Muscle to Bear Against Syria” (PDF), states (their emphasis):
Syria at present has a hammerlock on US interests both in Lebanon and in the Gulf — through closure of Iraq’s pipeline thereby threatening Iraqi internationalization of the [Iran-Iraq] war. The US should consider sharply escalating the pressures against Assad [Sr.] through covertly orchestrating simultaneous military threats against Syria from three border states hostile to Syria: Iraq, Israel and Turkey. 
The report also states:
If Israel were to increase tensions against Syria simultaneously with an Iraqi initiative, the pressures on Assad would escalate rapidly. A Turkish move would psychologically press him further. 
That a virtually indistinguishable agenda has transcended decades and multiple presidencies allows observers of Syria’s current conflict to sidestep tempting political diversions and focus solely on the strategic overlay of the actual conflict.
Despite claims across the Western media that Turkey and the United States are at odds – and specifically at odds regarding their respective illegal occupations and operations within Syrian territory – their decades long collaboration in the attempted division and destruction of the Syrian state indicates that in all likelihood, this collaboration continues, albeit behind a veil of feigned conflicting interests.
Likewise, attempts to portray Israel as a rogue nation amid this ongoing conflict affords US policymakers flexibility through plausible deniability. Airstrikes targeting Syrian forces impossible for the US or even Turkey to justify, are tolerated by the “international community” when carried out by Israel.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other lesser members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are similarly used to launder various aspects of US foreign policy targeting Syria through, including the arming, training, and funding of various terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) itself.
Should the US-NATO-Israeli-GCC axis be more overtly apparent, such flexibility would be significantly negated.
The True Endgame for US Troops in Syria
US ambitions versus the Syrian state have been significantly rolled back by both Syrian advances on the battlefield and the direct military support it is receiving from allies including Russia and Iran. Turkish forces attempting to advance deeper into Syrian territory under the guise of fighting “terrorists” and Kurdish fighters Ankara claims threaten Turkish national security are now chaffing against Syrian Arab Army forces changing places with Kurdish forces along the perimeter of Turkey’s “buffer zone.”
Likewise, US forces are facing similar obstacles in their attempts to incrementally seize Syrian territory. Additionally, their proxy forces consist of militant organizations disinterested in long-term cooperation with the United States or in carving out autonomous regions within Syria’s borders that will inevitably face sociopolitical and economic hurdles the US will have no interest in assisting them in crossing – meaning that eventually, any long-term deal will likely be struck with Damascus, not Washington.
But like Israel’s seizure and ongoing occupation of the Golan Heights, Turkish and American incursions and territorial seizures constitutes a similar, incremental dismemberment of the Syrian state. Facing the likely prospect that most of Syria’s territory will return to Damascus’ control sooner than later, the US and its collaborators in Ankara are attempting to take and hold as much territory as possible before this happens in a bid to weaken Syria ahead of future, yet to unfold rounds of targeted destabilization.
Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.  

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Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Syrian War Report – March 14, 2017: Anti-ISIS Operation In Palmyra Countryside

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Voiceover by Harold Hoover
The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF), backed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, have resized a power station located south of the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS terrorists. Then the army and the NDF further advanced against ISIS units, by retaking the Palmyra Silos, Jabal al-Amriyah and Sabkhat Muh.
These advances are aimed at building a larger buffer zone around Palmyra, which would allow securing the area and preventing ISIS counter-attacks against the ancient city.
The mid-term goal of government troops in the area is to secure a number of gas and oil fields along the Homs-Palmyra highway and around the ancient city. In case of success, this would allow the government to ease the fuel and energy crisis in the government-held areas.
While the strategic goal of the Syrian military is to reach Deir Ezzor, the Syrian military could choose to secure the Al-Salamiyah-Palmyra highway. If the Al-Salamiyah-Homs-Palmyra triangle is secured by the army and its allies, the government will take control of the gas and oil fields located in the area and secure the southern flank of the military grouping deployed in Palmyra. This is an important move which will contribute significantly to the long-awaited advance on Deir Ezzor.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army’s Tiger Forces liberated Humaymah al-Kabira and Humaymah Saghira in the province of Aleppo, further increasing pressure on ISIS units in Deir Hafer and the Jahar Airbase.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants launched an attack against the government-held villages of Fuah and Kafraya in the province of Idlib.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized the Umm A’anoun hill in an attempt to cut off the road between two villages. The intensification of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s operations against government forces in the area indicate that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham have resolved a major part of their differences and would make an attempt to unite in battle against the Syrian government despite statements about an adherence to the ceasefire.

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The Democrat’s Anti-Russia Campaign Falls Apart

Source
while ago Matt Tabbi in Rolling Stone warned: Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media:
If we engage in Times-style gilding of every lily the leakers throw our way, and in doing so build up a fever of expectations for a bombshell reveal, but there turns out to be no conspiracy – Trump will be pre-inoculated against all criticism for the foreseeable future.
Sanity is finally winning over. After raising all kinds of shambolic rumors about “Russian interference” the “western” intelligence agencies are walking back their previous outrageous claims:
  • Former DNI James Clapper admits (vid) that he has zero evidence for any Trump-Russia collusion;
  • The British Foreign Secretary now says there is “no evidence” of any Russian interference with British democracy;
  • The German secret services have no proof (in German) for any Russian disinformation campaign.
There is no evidence for any Russian interference in the U.S., or any other, election. No evidence has been show, despite many claims, that Russia or its proxies hacked John Podesta’s emails or the DNC or collaborated with Wikileaks.
Even the Democrats now concede that the whole mountain of bullshit their anti-Trump and anti-Russian campaign created stinks to high heaven:
[S]ome Democrats on the Intelligence Committee now quietly admit, after several briefings and preliminary inquiries, they don’t expect to find evidence of active, informed collusion between the Trump campaign and known Russian intelligence operatives, though investigators have only just begun reviewing raw intelligence. Among the Intelligence Committee’s rank and file, there’s a tangible frustration over what one official called “wildly inflated” expectations surrounding the panel’s fledgling investigation.
Ardent Russia critics like Masha Geesen and former ambassador Michael McFaul now warn of irreparable damage the irrational anti-Russian campaign may cause. A New York Times opinion piece points out that the reignited anti-Russian attitude goes back to the 19th century and was as wrong then as it is now. Claims that meetings between the incoming Trump administration and the Russian ambassador were nefarious are hard to hold up when members of the Clinton campaign also met him. Trump’s National Security Advisor Flynn was accused of colluding with Russia when in fact he was paid by Turkey to lobby for Erdogan.
The disinformation campaign against Russia is falling apart for lack of any evidence. The media who ardently supported it have lost trust. As they obviously lied about Russia how much truth are they telling on other issue?
Tabbi’s warning was late. The damage is done. “Western” relations with Russia have been hurt. But also hurt are the reputations of the media and of the Democratic party. Trump though has been justified with his rejection of that campaign. He now is, as Tabbi predicted, “pre-inoculated” against other accusations – at least with his followers and those sitting on the fence. Trump has now the space to develop his original grand strategic idea of seeking amiable relations with Russia before getting embroiled in any other international dispute. Those relations are now developing on the ground in Syria where cooperation between Russian and U.S. troops intensifies:
Moscow, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis added, has “kept us abreast of their operations” in Manbij, ..
Signs are that there is way more of that then the Pentagon admits. There have been several meetings at the highest levels of Russian and U.S. military and whoever commands U.S. forces in Syria will surely have a direct line to the Russian ground commander to coordinate their moves.
The Democrats failed in their anti-Trump, anti-Russia campaign

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Will Saudi Arabia be saved and will Turkey fall? هل تنجو السعودية وتقع تركيا؟

Written by Nasser Kandil,

It seemed that since the Turkish positioning after the battle of Aleppo and the launch of Astana path Ankara knew how to play its cards at the appropriate time, how to stop at the expected Russian US intersection, and how to arrange its cards quietly with Russia as an active regional partner, depending on being the traditional ally of America in the NATO. Because the table has one left seat from the opposite bank of Iran in the region, Turkey rushed to the Russian-Turkish-Iranian tripartite meeting and presented it as a new reference for the new Middle East, but when the new US administration stumbled through its proceeding toward Russia, as was suggested by the enthusiasm of the President Donald Trump for the resolving of ISIS. Ankara stopped its movement and positioned at the line of escalation against Iran in order to keep up with the US discourse. Through Geneva Talks it tried to pass the time waiting for the effective US movement according to timing of Washington not the timing of Moscow. As the Turkish acceleration was towards Astana path to get Saudi Arabia out of the parallel seat to Iran, as the coup was on Astana through the visit of the Turkish President to Saudi Arabia to rehabilitate it and to give it its status.
Turkey found itself in a deadlock after the battle of Al –Bab which it waged for its own account and without the knowledge of Moscow and the promised pledges, in an attempt to bypass what is supposed to be done by the Syrian army after the battle of Aleppo, in addition to its coup on Astana path, so the Turks found that the Syrian army is preceding them in Al Bab towards the lines of the deployment of the Kurdish forces and leaving them alone, making a primary barrier between them and the units that belong to the Turks as the militias of the Shield of Euphrates which descendant of Wahhabi origins as branches of Al-Qaeda organization that work under the banner of Ankara, which are not reassured neither by the Russians nor the Americans. The Syrian army blocked the way which was drawn by the Turkish President in order to enter Raqaa across Manbej in front of Turkey as a temptation for the Americans to give him the green light to enter Manbej and getting the Kurds out of it. The Kurds announced their demand of the deployment of units from the Syrian army in many demarcation villages in which the Kurds live. The events occurred quickly and Turkey became in isolation unable to move forward in the battle of Manbej, after Russia and America became on the line directly, and it is unable to participate in the war on ISIS despite its losses when it announced the war on the organization which it sponsored and thinking that it is enough credentials for the Americans to sell it the Kurds. Despite the meeting of the chiefs of staff of America, Russia and Turkey the Turkish discourse is still escalating against the Kurds. Turkey seems on the eve of the visit of its President to Moscow in a state of embarrassment and in front of difficult choices.
In coincidence with the Turkish confusion, Saudi Arabia succeeds in recapturing its status at the Americans contrary to the Presidential speech during the elections. The new administration seems that it handed over the regional policies to the tripartite; the Pentagon, CIA, and the diplomacy which the Saudis have considerations and effects on them. Saudi Arabia has surpassed through surprising indicators the escalated relationship with Iran which is still in its beginning, but it is meaningful. In conjunction with the announcement of the return of the peaceful endeavors to solve the crisis in Yemen, the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Jayad Zarif visits Doha announcing a successful visit for the sake of Iranian-Gulf dialogue, and the Advisor of the Foreign Ministry Hussein Sheikh Al Islam who is closer to the decision –makers announced his optimism regarding the results of the talks of Iran’s resumption of its participation in the next pilgrimage season.
Will Turkey and Saudi Arabia exchange the seats once again?
Translated by Lina Shehadeh,

هل تنجو السعودية وتقع تركيا؟

مارس 10, 2017

ناصر قنديل– منذ التموضع التركي بعد معركة حلب وانطلاق مسار أستانة بدا أن أنقرة عرفت كيف تلعب أوراقها في التوقيت المناسب، وتقف عند التقاطع الروسي الأميركي المتوقع، وترتّب أوراقها بهدوء مع روسيا كشريك إقليمي فاعل، وتنطلق من كونها في الناتو حليفاً تقليدياً لأميركا، ولأن الطاولة تنتظر مقعداً واحداً من الضفة المقابلة لإيران في المنطقة، سارعت تركيا لاجتماع موسكو الثلاثي الروسي التركي الإيراني وتقديمه كمرجعية جديدة للشرق الأوسط الجديد، وعندما تعثرت الإدارة الأميركية الجديدة في تقدمها نحو روسيا كما كانت توحي حماسة الرئيس دونالد ترامب للحسم مع داعش، فرملت أنقرة حركتها وتموضعت على خط التصعيد بوجه إيران لتتماشى مع الخطاب الأميركي وتلاقيه، وسعت في محادثات جنيف لتمرير الوقت بانتظار الحركة الأميركية الفاعلة، وفقاً لتوقيت واشنطن لا توقيت موسكو، وبمثل ما كان الإسراع التركي نحو مسار أستانة إخراجاً للسعودية من مقعد اللاعب الموازي لإيران، كان الانقلاب على أستانة من منبر زيارة الرئيس التركي للسعودية ليردّ لها الاعتبار والمكانة.

– وجدت تركيا نفسها في مأزق كبير بعد معركة الباب التي خاضتها لحسابها ومن وراء ظهر حسابات موسكو والتعهّدات المقطوعة لها، وفي محاولة تجاوز لما يفترض أن يقوم به الجيش السوري هناك بعد حلب، هذا عدا عن انقلابها على مسار أستانة، فاستفاق الأتراك على الجيش السوري يتخطاهم في الباب ويتركهم بداخلها متقدماً نحو خطوط انتشار القوى الكردية، مقيماً حاجزاً أولياً بينهم وبين الوحدات التابعة للأتراك من ميليشات درع الفرات، المتحدّرة من أصول وهابية كتفرعات لتنظيم القاعدة تعمل تحت لواء أنقرة، والتي لا يطمئن لها الروس والأميركيون، وأغلقت على تركيا الطريق عبر منبج التي رسمها الرئيس التركي لدخول الرقة كإغراء للأميركيين لمنحه الضوء الأخضر لدخول منبج وإخراج الأكراد منها، فقد أعلن الأكراد مطالبتهم بنشر وحدات للجيش السوري في عديد من قرى التماس التي يوجد فيها الأكراد، وتدحرجت الأحداث لتجد تركيا أنها في عزلة، عاجزة عن المضي قدماً في معركة منبج وقد صارت روسيا وأميركا على الخط مباشرة، وعاجزة عن المشاركة في الحرب على داعش رغم ما تكبّدته من خسائر بإعلان الحرب على التنظيم الذي رعته وفي ظنّها أنها أوراق اعتماد كافية لدى الأميركيين ليبيعوها رأس الأكراد. ورغم اجتماع رؤساء الأركان الأميركي والروسي والتركي لا يزال الخطاب التركي تصعيدياً ضد الأكراد، وتبدو تركيا عشية زيارة رئيسها إلى موسكو في وضع حرج وأمام خيارات صعبة.

– بالتزامن مع الارتباك التركي تنجح السعودية باسترداد مكانتها عند الأميركيين خلافاً للخطاب الرئاسي خلال الانتخابات. فالإدارة الجديدة تبدو قد سلمت السياسات الإقليمية لثلاثي البنتاغون والـ»سي أي أيه» والدبلوماسية، التي يحتفظ السعوديون بحسابات وتأثيرات فيها وعليها، وتخطّت السعودية بمؤشرات لافتة العلاقة التصعيدية مع إيران التي لا تزال في بداياتها، لكنها ذات معنى. فبالتزامن يعلن عن عودة المساعي السلمية لحل الأزمة في اليمن، ويزور وزير الخارجية الإيراني محمد جواد ظريف الدوحة معلناً عن زياترة ناجحة لحوار إيراني خليجي إيجابي، ويعلن مستشار وزارة الخارجية حسين شيخ الإسلام القريب من مصادر القرار عن التفاؤل بنتائج مباحثات استئناف إيران مشاركتها في موسم الحج المقبل.

– هل تتبادل تركيا والسعودية المقاعد مجدداً؟

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

The Empire should be placed on suicide watch

This article was written for the Unz Review: 
In all the political drama taking place in the USA as a result of the attempted color revolution against Trump, the bigger picture sometimes gets forgotten. And yet, this bigger picture is quite amazing, because if we look at it we will see irrefutable signs that the Empire in engaged in some bizarre slow motion of seppuku and the only mystery left is who, or what, will serve as the Empire’s kaishakunin(assuming there will be one).
I would even argue that the Empire is pursuing a full-spectrum policy of self-destruction on several distinct levels, with each level contributing the overall sum total suicide. And when I refer to self-destructive behavior I don’t mean long-term issues such as the non-sustainability of the capitalist economic model or the social consequences of a society which not only is unable to differentiate right from wrong, but which now decrees that deviant behavior is healthy and normal. These are what I call “long term walls” into which we will, inevitably, crash, but which are comparatively further away than some “immediate walls”. Let me list a few of these:
Political suicide: the Neocons’ refusal to accept the election of Donald Trump has resulted in a massive campaign to de-legitimize him. What the Neocons clearly fail to see, or don’t care about, is that by de-legitimizing Trump they are also de-legitimizing the entire political process which brought Trump to power and upon which the United States are built as a society. As a direct result from this campaign, not only are millions of Americans becoming disgusted with the political system they were indoctrinated to believe in, but internationally the notion of “American democracy” is becoming a sad joke.
And just to make things worse, the US corporate media is finally showing its true face and now unapologetically shows the entire world that not only is it not in any way “fair” or “objective”, but that it is a 100% prostituted propaganda machine which faithfully serves the interests of the US “deep state”.
A key element of the quasi constant brainwashing of the average American has always been the regular holding of elections. Nevermind that, at least until now, the outcome of these elections made very little difference inside the USA and non at all outside, the goal was never to consult the people – the goal has always been to give the illusion of democracy and people power. Now that the Democrats say that the Russians rigged the elections and the Republicans say that it was the Democrats and their millions of dead voters who tried stealing it, it become rather obvious that these elections were always a joke, a pseudo-democratic “liturgy”, a brainwashing ritual – you name it – but never about anything real.
The emergence of the concept of 1% can be “credited” to the Obama Administration, since it was during Obama that the entire “Occupy Wall Street” movement took off, but the ultimate unmasking of the viciously evil true face of that 1% must be credited to Hillary with her truly historical confession in which she openly declared that those who oppose her are a “basket of deplorables”. We already knew, thanks to Victoria Nuland, what the AngloZionist leaders thought of the people of Europe, now we know what they think of the people of the USA: exactly the same thing.
The bottom line is this: I don’t think that the moral authority and political credibility of the USA have ever been lower than today. Decades of propaganda by Hollywood and the official US propaganda machine have now collapsed and nobody buys that counter-factual nonsense anymore.
Foreign policy suicide: let’s see what options there are to choose from. The Neocons want a war with Russia which the Trump people don’t. The Trump people, however, want, well maybe not a war, although that option is very much on the table, but at least a very serious confrontation with China, North Korea or Iran, and about half of them would also like some kind of confrontation with Russia. There is absolutely nobody, at least at the top, who would dare to suggest that a confrontation or, even worse, a war with China, Iran, North Korea or Russia would be a disaster, a calamity for the USA. In fact, serious people with impressive credentials and a lot of gravitas are discussing these possibilities as if they were real, as it the USA could in some sense prevail. This is laughable. Well, no, it it not. But it would be if it wasn’t so frightening and depressing. The truth is very, very different.
[Sidebar: While it is probably not impossible for the United States to prevail, in purely military terms, against the DPRK in a war, the potential risks are nothing short of immense. And I don’t mean the risk posed by the North Korean nukes which, apparently, is also quite real. I mean the risk of starting a war against a country which has Seoul within conventional artillery range, an active duty army of well over one million people and 180’000 special forces operators. Let us assume for a second that the DPRK has no air force and no navy and an army composed of only 1M+ soldiers, 21k+ artillery pieces and 180k special forces. How do you propose to deal with that threat? If you have an easy, obvious solution, you have watched too many Hollywood movies. You probably also don’t understand the terrain.]
But yes, the DPRK also has major wseaknesses and I cannot exclude that the North Korean armed forces would rapidly collapse under a sustained attack by the US and the ROK. I did not say that I believe that this would happen, only that I don’t exclude it. Should that happen, the US might well prevail relatively rapidly, at least in purely military terms. However, please keep in mind that any military operation has to serve a political goal and, in that sense, I cannot imagine any scenario under which the USA would walk away from a war against the DPRK with anything remotely resembling a real “victory”. There is a paraphrase of something Ho Chi Minh allegedly told to the French in the 1940s which I really like. It goes like this:” we kill some of you, you kill a lot of us, and then we win”. That is how a war with the DPRK would probably play out. I call this the “American curse”: Americans are very good at killing people, but they are not good at winning wars. Still, in the case of the DPRK there is at least a possibility of a military victory, even if at a potentially huge cost. With Iran, Russia or China there is no such possibility at all: a war with any of them would be a guaranteed disaster (I wrote about a war in Iran here and about a war with Russia too many times to count). So why is it that even though out of the 4 possible wars, one is a potential disaster and the 3 others are a guaranteed disaster, why is it that these are discussed as if they were potential options?!
The reason for that can be found in the unique mix of crass ignorance and political cowardice of the entire US political class. First, a lot (most?) of US politicians believe in their own silly propaganda about the US armed forces being “the best” in “the world” (no evidence needed!). But even those who are smart enough to realize that this is a load of baloney which nobody outside the USA still takes seriously, they know that saying that publicly is political suicide. So they pretend, go along, and keep on repetitively spewing the patriotic mantra about “rah, rah, USA, USA, ‘Merica number one, we are the best” etc. Some figure that since the USA spends more on aggression that the rest of the planet combined, that must mean that the US armed forces must be “better” (whatever that means). To the birthplace of “bigger is better” the answer is self-evident. It is also completely wrong.
Eventually, something crazy inevitably happens. Like in Syria were the State Department had one policy, the Pentagon another and the CIA yet another one. The resulting cognitive dissonance is removed by engaging in classical doublethink: “yes, we screwed up over and over, but we are still the best”. Ironically, that kind of mindset is at the core of the American inability to learn from past mistakes. If the choice is between an honest evaluation of past operations and political expediency, the latter always prevails (at least amongst civilians, US servicemen are often far more capable of self-critical evaluation, especially in ranks up to Colonel and below, the problem here is that civilians and generals rarely listen to them).
The result is total chaos: the US foreign policy is wholly dependent on the US ability to threaten the use of military force, but the harsh reality is that every country out there which dared to defy Uncle Sam did that only after coming to the conclusion that the US did not have the means to crush it militarily. In other words, only the weak, which are already de-facto US colonies, fear the USA. Or, put differently, the only countries who dare to defy Uncle Sam are the strong ones (that was all quite predictable, but US politicians don’t know about Hegel or dialectics). And just to make it worse, there is no real US foreign policy. What there is is only the sum vector of the different foreign policies desired by various more or less covert “deep state” actors, agencies and individuals. That resulting “sum vector” is inevitably short-term, focuses on a quickfix approach, and unable to take into account any complexity.
As for the US “diplomacy” it simply doesn’t exist. You don’t need diplomats to deliver demands, bribes, ultimatums and threats. You don’t need educated people. Nor do you need people with any understanding of the “other”. All you need is one arrogant self-enamored bully and one interpreter (since US diplomats don’t speak the local languages either. And why would they?). We saw the most compelling evidence of the total rigor mortis of the US diplomatic corps when 51 US “diplomats” demanded that Obama bomb Syria. The rest of the world could just observe in amazement, sadness, bewilderment and total disgust.
The bottom line is this: there is no “US diplomacy”. The USA have simply let that entire field atrophy to the point were it ceased to exist. When so many baffled observers try to understand what the US policy in the Ukraine or Syria is, they are making a mistaken assumption – that there is a US foreign policy to being with. I would argue that the US diplomacy slowly and quietly passed away, sometime after James Baker (the last real US diplomat, and a brilliant one at that).
Military suicide: the US military was never a very impressive one, certainly not when compared to the British, Russian or German ones. But it did have a couple of very strong points including the ability to produce a lot of technical innovations which made it possible to produce new, sometimes quite revolutionary, weapons. And if the US track record on ground operations was rather modest, the US did prove to be a most capable adversary in naval and aerial warfare. I don’t think that it can be denied that for most of the years following WWII the USA had the most powerful and sophisticated navy and airforce in the world. Then, gradually, things started getting worse and worse as the costs of the very expensive ships and aircraft shot through the roof while the quality of the produced systems appeared to be gradually degrading. Weapons systems which looked nothing short of awesome in the lab and test grounds proved to be almost useless once they to to their end user on the battlefield. What happened? How did a country which produced the UH-1 Huey or the F-16 suddenly start producing Apaches and F-35s?! The explanation is painfully simple: corruption.
Not only did the US military industrial complex bloat beyond any reasonable size, it also cloaked itself in so many layers of secrecy that massive corruption became inevitable. And when I speak of “massive corruption” I am not talking about millions but billions or even trillions. How? Simple – the Pentagon claimed did not have the accounting tools needed to properly account for the missing money and that the money was therefore not really “missing”. Another trick – no bid contracts. Or contracts which cover all the private contractor’s costs, no matter how high or ridiculous. Desert Storm was a bonanza for the MIC, as was 9/11 and the GWOT. Billions of dollars got printed out of thin air, distributed (mostly under the cover of national security), hidden (secrecy) and stolen (by everybody in this entire food chain). The feeding frenzy was so extreme that one of my teachers as SAIS admitted, off the record of course, that he had never seen a weapons system he did not like or which he did not want to purchase. This man, whom I shall not name, was a former director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Yes, you read that right. He was in charge of DIS-armament. You can imagine what the folks in charge of armament (no “dis) were thinking…
With the stratospheric rise of corruption, the kind of US general which had to be promoted went from fighting men who remembered Vietnam (where they often lost family members, relatives and friends) to ass-kissing little chickenshits” like David Petraeus. In less than half a century US generals went from combat men, to managers, to politicians. And it is against this lackluster background that a rather unimpressive personality like General James Mattis can appear, at least to some, like a good candidate for Secretary of Defense.
Bottom line: the US armed forces are fantastically expensive and yet not particularly well-trained, well-equipped or well-commanded. And while they still are much more capable than the many European militaries (which are a joke), they are most definitely not the kind of armed forces needed to impose and maintain a world hegemony. The good news for the USA is that the US armed forces are more than adequate to defend the USA against any hypothetical attack. But as the backbone of the Empire – they are close to useless.
I could list many more types of suicides including an economic suicide, a social suicide, an educational suicide, a cultural suicide and, of course, a moral suicide. But others have already done that elsewhere, and much better than I could ever do myself. So all I will add here is one form of suicide which I believe the AngloZionist Empire has in common with the EU: a
“Suicide by reality denial”: this is the mother and father of all the other forms of suicide – the stubborn refusal to look at reality and accept the fact that “the party is over”. When I see the grim determination of US politicians (very much including the people supporting Trump) to continue to pretend as if the US hegemony was here to stay forever, when I see how they see themselves as the leaders of the world and how they sincerely believe that they need to get involved in every conflict on the planet, I can only come to the conclusion that the inevitable collapse will be painful. To be fair, Trump himself clearly has moments of lucidity about this, for example when he recently declared to Congress
Free nations are the best vehicle for expressing the will of the people — and America respects the right of all nations to chart their own path. My job is not to represent the world. My job is to represent the United States of America. But we know that America is better off, when there is less conflict — not more.
These are remarkable words for which Trump truly deserves a standing ovation as they are the closest thing to a formal admission that the United States have given up on the dream of being the World Hegemon and that from now on the US President will no longer represent the interest of trans-national plutocracies but he will represent the interests of the American people. This sort of language is nothing short of revolutionary, whether Trump truly delivers on that or not. Unlike everybody else, Trump does not appear to suffer from “suicide by reality denial” syndrome, but when I look at the people around him (nevermind the prostitutes in Congress) I wonder if he will ever get to act on his personal instincts.
Trump is clearly the best man in the Trump administration, he seems to have his heart in the right place and, unlike Hillary, he is clearly aware of the fact that the US armed forces are in a terrible shape. But a good heart and common sense are not enough to deal with the Neocons and the US deep state. You also need an iron will and a total determination to crush the opposition. Alas, so far Trump has failed to show either quality. Instead, Trump is trying to show how “tough” a guy he is by declaring that he will wipe out Daesh and by giving the Pentagon 30 days to come up with a plan to do this. Alas (for Trump), there is no way to crush Daesh without working with those who already have boots on the ground: the Iranians, the Russians and the Syrians. It is really that simple. And every American general knows that. Yet everybody is merrily plowing ahead is if there was some kind of possibility for the USA to crush Daesh without establishing a partnership with Russia, Iran and Syria first (Erdogan tried that. It did him no good. Now he is working with Russia and Iran). Will the good folks at the Pentagon find the courage to tell Trump that “no, Mr President, we cannot do that alone, we need the Russians, the Iranians and the Syrians”? I very much doubt it. So, yet again, we are probably going to see a case of reality denial, maybe not a suicidal one, but a significant one nonetheless. Not good.
Who will be the Empire’s kaishakunin?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn used to say that all states can be placed on a continuum which ranges from states whose authority is based on their power to states whose power is based on their authority. I think that we can agree that the authority of the USA is pretty close to zero. As for their power, it is still very substantial, but not sufficient to maintain the Empire. It is, however, more than adequate to protect the interests of the United States as a country provided the United States accept that they simply don’t have the means to remain a world hegemon.
If the Neocons succeed in their attempt to overthrow or, failing that, at paralyzing Trump, then the Empire will have the choice between an endless horror or a horrible end. Since the Neocons don’t really need a war with the DPRK, which they don’t like, but which does not elicit the kind of blind hatred Iran does, my guess is that Iran will be their number one target. Should the AngloZionists succeed in triggering a war between Iran and the Empire, then Iran will end up being the Empire’s kaishakunin. If the crazies fail in their manic attempts at triggering a major war, then the Empire will probably collapse under the pressure of the internal contradictions of the US society. Finally, if Trump and the American patriots who do not want to sacrifice their country for the sake of the Empire succeed in “draining the DC swamp” and finally crack-down hard on the Neocons then a gradual transition from Empire to major power is still possible. But the clock is running out fast.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!