Which side is lying about Israel’s Attack on Syria?
by Eric Zuesse
Photo source: Reuters
On the night of May 9th, Ynetnews, which is the online English-language website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-widely read newspaper, headlined an “Analysis” article, “A Preemptive Strike in Syria” and opened:
Even if Iran had no intention of launching missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the alleged Israeli strike came along and conveyed the following message to the Iranians: You raised the likelihood of an attack on Israel, so we’re raising the threat level, despite the tensions.
Their reporter said that the issue now would be, “We’re waiting to see what the Iranians will do: Will they continue the preparations for an attack” or stand down?
Also late on May 9th, Russian Television bannered, “Israel Launches Massive Missile Strikes in Syria” and opened:
Syrian air defenses have been deployed to thwart an attack by the Israeli rockets, Syria’s state SANA news agency reported. The bombing is reportedly being carried out by Israeli warplanes from Lebanese airspace…SANA has released footage of Syrian air defense systems responding to incoming missiles.
The Israeli strikes are seen as a continued retaliation to what Israel claims were some 20 rockets launched by Iran’s Quds Force from Syrian territory into the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights earlier in the night. The Israel Defense Forces said its Iron Dome systems intercepted some of the projectiles and the reported attack resulted in no injuries.
Also late on May 9th, the New York Times reported that,
A missile strike, apparently by Israel, south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday [May 8th], an hour after Mr. Trump’s announcement about the nuclear deal, killed 15 people, at least eight of them Iranians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
That strike, on the area of Al Kiswa, targeted facilities for the Syrian military and their Iranian allies. Israeli news media said that one of the targets was a convoy of missiles taken out of storage and heading to a launching site, and that the strike was pre-emptive.
That alleged Israeli “missile strike” against Damascus on Tuesday — which Israel did not deny — could have been the provocation for the alleged retaliation against Israel by Iranians in Syria late on Wednesday May 9th, which could have provoked Israel’s claimed “massive” missiles-retaliation soon thereafter.
The following day, May 10th, the BBC reported that,
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, confirmed that rockets were fired towards the occupied Golan. But it said the attack came after Israeli forces bombarded Baath, a town in the demilitarised zone.”
Also on May 10th, the Times of Israel newspaper bannered “Iranian military official denies firing rockets at Israel” and reported that Iran’s Government said it didn’t know anything about any missiles that might have been fired from Syrian territory into any Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights. Presumably if that rocket-firing had actually happened, Iran’s Government would have known about it, but they said they knew nothing about any such thing.
Also on May 10th, CNN reported,
Israel said more than 20 rockets were launched by Iranian forces in Syria in the direction of Israel late Wednesday, often criss-crossing in the clear night skies.”
This allegation suggests that, if, as Israel alleged, 20 Iranian rockets were being fired from Syria into the Golan Heights on the night of May 9th, then simultaneously the Syrian anti-missiles were being fired against Israel’s missiles that were attacking Syria. In that scenario, during at least a portion of those exchanges, simultaneously both Syria’s anti-missiles and Israel’s (“Golden Dome”) anti-missiles would have been firing, in opposite directions.
However, as of yet, no evidence has been presented by Israel that any attack from Syria against any Israeli facility on the Golan happened. Israel says that it happened and that this alleged Iranian missiles-hit against an Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights caused Israel’s massive missiles-attack against Syria on May 9th.
So, thus far, that alleged Iranian hit by 20 missiles against Israel on the Golan is a ghost attack, which Israel cites to justify its massive ‘response’ — which no one disputes. Was it instead simply Israel’s unprovoked provocation, Israel’s sudden and unannounced and unjustified missiles-invasion against Syria, late on May 9th? Syria’s Government claims to have fired anti-missiles against the incoming Israeli missiles, but nothing else.
Neither side is yet presenting key evidence regarding which side fired first, and which side was the actual aggressor. Are both sides lying? However, during what seems to have been the beginning of the missile-exchanges, Israel’s leading newspaper did run the headline “A Preemptive Strike in Syria”.
“Preemptive” means like George W.Bush’s 20 March 2003 invasion of Iraq was. That Israeli newspaper believes in ‘preemptive’ invasion now, and so did Americans believe in it in 2003. Today’s Israelis seem to be like Americans were in 2003 — and during America’s invasion of Libya in 2011, and invasion of Syria in 2012-, and invasion of Yemen in 2015-.
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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If anybody strikes at the Golan Heights they’re attacking Syria. It cannot be an attack on the home state of the occupying forces, ie Israel. I say the same thing about Pearl Harbour. It couldn’t be an attack on America which is thousands of miles away, but it was an attack on an American fleet at harbour on the islands America has occupied since the late 19th century.
More info trickling in from Arab sources. Sayed Hasan in today’s Saker Vineyard:
“The aggressor is undoubtedly Israel, who carried out more than a hundred strikes against Syria since the beginning of the conflict. After Duma’s chemical stage attacks, this aggresion intensified with attacks on the Syrian T-4 base on April 9, which killed 7 Iranian Revolutionary Guard [which brought a strong statement from Rev.Nasr’Allah: “Israel made its assessment, it had to be very sure of it’s assessment before striking at Iran]. . Following the US announcement of withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, new Israeli strikes targeted Syrian positions on Tuesday (May 8th) in the southern suburbs of Damascus, and Wednesday (May 9th) in Quneitra, in the south of the country. Undeniably, Syria has only responded to yet another aggression, with a firmness that has shaken Israel ….
The Syrian – and not Iranian – response consisted of more than fifty – and not twenty – rockets against four sensitive Israeli military bases in the Israeli Occupied Golan, which caused material damage and even casualties according to Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s media. These were not reported by the Israeli press because of the draconian military censorship forbidding mentioning Israel’s initial aggression, the number of rockets fired on Israel, the identification of their targets, nor any hint to the damage inflicted….
The Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen has specifically identified the military posts struck: 1/ a military technical and electronic reconnaissance center;
2/ border security and intelligence station 9900;
3/ a military center for electronic jamming, and a military spy center for wireless and wired networks;
4/ a transmission station;
5/ an observatory of precision weapons unit ;
6/ a combat heliport;
7/ the headquarters of the Regional Military Command of Brigade 810;
8/ the command center of the military battalion at Hermon;
9/ winter headquarters of a special alpine unit.
As this channel has reported, even Israeli journalists and analysts have expressed doubts about an unconvincing official version according to which these massive strikes, unprecedented since 1974 … have proved harmless.
Moreover, Norman Finkelstein has pointed out that nothing has changed for Israel’s wars against Gaza from 2008 to 2014. Despite the widely touted deployment of “Iron Dome” only 5% of the primitive Hamas rockets were intercepted during “Operation Protective Edge”. Theodore Postol of MIT, had already revealed the chronic deficiencies of this system. It is unlikely that it will be able to cope any better with the much more sophisticated Russian, Chinese and Iranian rocket launchers that Syria has. [Possible confirmation of Postol’s assessment: SyrPer reports BTL that 80% of Syrian rockets got through the Iron Dome in Israeli Occupied Golan]
Harry G in SyrPer speculates on the info from Canthama re damage to IDF electronic spy unit in Israeli Occupied Golan:
HarryG
Remember that drone swarm attack on the Russian base? That was all Israel.
Putin wants to liberate Jisr al-Shughour to protect his staff from that sort of thing; so why wouldn’t he EQUALLY want to destroy the Israeli intelligence apparatus that made such an attack possible?
How could he fraternize honestly with people that he knows are out to get him?
So I would say have faith [in Putin] until there is a real reason not to.
+6
A link to some more info BTL SyrPer:
Canthama
And here goes another article on the same subject. Should this be proved correct, Israel had a very bad day on May 9th.
http://www.partiantisioniste.com/en/news/syrian-attack-on-unit-9900-weakens-tel-aviv-intelligence.html
+10
“The times, they are a-changing”. Another crack in the MSM wall of lies, this time from the USA:
Alex in North Carolina
This afternoon there was an excellent program on Syria on One America News OAN, a TV station I recently discovered. It presented the most pro Assad program I have ever seen in North Carolina. They exposed the white helmets as terrorists while previously the networks saw them as something similar to the American Red Cross. The narrator was a Carla Ortiz who spent two years in Syria on the ground. She debunked the poison gas attack convincingly. .. The show called down Trump for assuming the gas attack was from the Syrian government and retaliating against the wrong people.. His first big blunder, as far as I am concerned. He is still well thought of in western North Carolina although Sow and Hog prices are threatened by his tariffs.
I think a lot of the mis-information in.the US is the lack of ground reporting by fair minded western reporters.
Damascus, SANA – Syria took part in the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad organized by Russia with the participation of over 50 countries.
The Syrian team includes 15 members representing centers from Damascus, Aleppo, Lattakia and Homs.
Informatics Olympiad is a five-hour online contest to solve different questions of varying difficulty.
Chairman of the Commission of Distinction and Innovation Imad al-Azb stressed that Syria’s participation came in line with the Commission’s strategy to further develop scientific excellence and creativity and strengthen Syria’s presence in international competitions. Results to be announced within a month.
Results of the 2018 ACM-ICPC coding championships at this link:
https://icpc.baylor.edu/worldfinals/results
Good to see that Syria was represented by five teams (of about 3 people each) from universities in no fewer than four cities. By contrast, I think the British could only muster two teams from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Reblogged this on Kombizz's Weblog.
More real news from Britain’s very own brave and patriotic Vanessa Beeley, via SyrPer 30min ago:
Canthama
I am reposting this comment from the previous thread due the possible importance in the weeks ahead, a video shared by the brave journalist Vanessa Beeley, this must go viral all over the world.
Important short video to watch: Terrorists are now blackmailing the Coalition of Evil Idiots who fund them, by threatening to expose all details of the CW false flags in Syria
Will Theresa May cut funds to White Helmets? If she does they will expose UK involvement in staged CW attacks.
Interesting to follow this up because, there is no way more weapons can be poured into Syria, the frontline is basically on the borders and they can’t do much from there. Time is short for the Coalition of the Killing.”
Treason May promised to look into plugging the funding gap left by Trumps fake funding cut: in response to Labour MP Mathew (very small) Pennycock’s question at PMQs. That would be the same White Helmets that Jeremy Corbyn supports (through the Jo Cox Foundation).
https://www.rt.com/uk/426257-white-helmets-syria-funding-may/
Fake funding freeze because Raed al-Saleh was still accepting contracts from Turkey and Qatar, and made no mention of frozen funds. Have the State just outsourced funding to the shadow state: in the form of John “insane in the membrane” McCain’s private Sedona Forum? And we all know who will be behind that.
http://21stcenturywire.com/2018/05/05/white-helmets-the-john-mccain-connections-and-is-the-funding-freeze-for-real/
The Fraudian has an article from some US psychopath, singing the praises of the genocidal thug/monster, McInsane. It’s an interesting read to see the full extent of psychopathy and delusion among the Thanatopia ‘elite’, the most Evil sub-species of Homo sapiens ever seen.
It’s rude to gloat, but it’s good to know he was an utter embarrassment to his heritage …a useless pilot, a Hanoi songbird, and the only one to bear his name that didn’t reach the rank of Rear Admiral …but boy, did he take out his psychotic angst on the rest of the world? What a hateful evil man: Reagan should have had him shot as a traitor. Thank you, but I won’t be reading the article.
I see that a US elite psycho/thug admitted that McInsane was a stool-pigeon among the captured US war criminals kept in Hanoi. The thug, naturally, lied that McInsane ratted because of ‘torture’ ie refusing to deliver ice-cream to the Exceptionals as expected.
Personally, I do not blame him for that. If someone was sharpening long slivers of bamboo to insert under my fingernails …there would be no stopping me telling them everything! The lies and “war hero” mythos I can accept too, as his compensatory accommodation. What I will condemn him for was his treatment of other relatives of POWs Missing In Action. He DELIBERATELY blocked all efforts to find and return his brothers in arms, probably to save his own worthless reputation …so that he could go on to foment evil. That I cannot abide. Because of him, grieving mothers and fathers had their sons abandoned. He may have been a coward and a traitor to his father (who just happened to be the ranking officer in the Pacific Fleet, in charge of the whole shooting match) …at least he was a live coward and traitor. McCain saw to it that other parents were not so lucky. [Add expletives of choice.]
I read a long time ago that not only did he sing like a canary, he had specially good treatment from the VietCong because of all he revealed to them.
Here is a link – unfortunately, the pdfs are missing:
http://beforeitsnews.com/awakening-start-here/2015/07/john-mccain-sang-like-a-canary-to-the-north-vietnamese-2798.html
A couple of links:
https://www.facebook.com/thehanoihilton/photos/a.361134417363776.1073741829.340747436069141/361134424030442
https://liberalscumbuster.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/%E2%99%AA%E2%99%ABmccain-sang-like-a-canary-as-a-pow-%E2%99%AA%E2%99%AB/
The evidence is quite strong: irrefutably so. The CIA even released one of the broadcasts he made …they are probably keeping the others in case he should say something his Uncle George doesn’t approve of. The really, really scary thing is that he is the Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee. In effect, the MIC controlled Pentagram asks for enough weaponry to blow up the world many times over, and the wholly owned and controlled “Hanoi Songbird” authorises MORE.
Lethal weaponry for neo-nazis …no problem.
https://rightedition.com/2017/02/18/songbird-mccain-evidence-words-fellow-veterans-captors/
There were NO US POW MIAs-that was a propaganda lie invented to continue hatred of the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese co-operated fully with US efforts to find US military remains, and repatriate them. On the other hand, 250,000 Vietnamese went missing, a fact NEVER mentioned by the Western fakestream media hate-machine.
As an opponent of White Helmets etc, I say let them release it all. Then refuse to fund.
SyrPer editor Ziad Fadel: “Iran’s reaction to the airstrike on the Tiyaas Airbase which killed about 7 of its military advisors last week was a test of Tehran’s resolve. We were not disappointed. Iran and Syria fired over 20 ground-based rockets at Zionist positions on the Golan Heights. The rockets hit a surveillance facility killing all 4 Zionist terrorists inside with 2 being from the Zionist Druze community in northern Palestine. The rockets also hit directly an early detection radar station with no data on casualties. Other missiles were aimed at a tank battalion.
There were many killed or wounded in the Syrian rocket attack. We know this from reports coming from villagers on the Golan who saw and heard over 50 ambulances rushing to the scenes of destruction and the whir of helicopters medvac-ing the casualties out of the area. Unlike what the MSM reports here in the West, the Zionists took a big hit when they were least expecting it. They appear to be genuinely surprised that the Syrian government permitted the armed forces of Iran and their own to retaliate for the attack on the T-4 base in Homs.”
Reference has been made to Mossad’s motto:”“By way of deception we shall wage war”.
In order to understand it, we have to put in the context of Israel’s state motto:
” We make war. Therefore we exist.”
The purpose of Israel has become simply to expand. Like a cancer it devours all around it.
It has no other purpose except that of providing a sort of Disney World attraction for tourists combining holidays with a haj. And making war.
It claims that without constantly fighting wars it would cease to exist.
People interpret this as meaning that it feels threatened but the truth is that war is its purpose, the glue that keeps it together, nothing else really matters.
Every year, in Israel and throughout the Diaspora, Purim and Passover are celebrated. Passover celebrates the murder by ‘God’ of all the Egyptian first-born, even the animals, whose ‘crime’ is hard to comprehend. Purim celebrates, raucously and drunkenly, the genocide of ‘75,000’ Persian ‘followers of Haman’, on the pretense that they were ‘threatening’ a genocide. Fortunately both are myths, but their continued celebration does betray a certain antipathy, amounting to genocide, on the part of our Judaic fellows towards the rest of humanity.
It might teach them a lesson if 75,000 celebrants suffered the same fate as those long dead whose deaths they so ghoulishly celebrate…..
The current Gaza massacre follows the Purim faery story to the letter. The Evil Ones, in Purim ‘Haman’s followers’, want to kill us. Who says so? We do! So we must, and do, slaughter them happily, killing 75,000 and hanging Haman and his sons. Hosanna.
Today, the imprisoned, starved, regularly slaughtered Gazans want to kill us again. Talk about ungrateful! Who says so? Why some slithering Zionist reptiles, hissing about ‘ terrorwists’ directed by Haman…oops, I mean Hamas (how about that for spooky synchronicity?) So we must slaughter them first. Hosanna. One hundred down, 74,900(at least) to go!
I searched for the string “We make war. Therefore we exist” on duckduckgo and got zero hits. I then searched for “Israel’s state motto” and found nothing definitive except for “hope is the way to go”:
https://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_motto_of_Israel
Admittedly, the source is hardly world class. But what is your source for the motto you cite?
On May 8th, at 21.45, Israel fired at least 3 missiles into Syria, hitting Al-Kissweh south of Damascus. Syrian state TV reported 2 civilian casualties. SOHR reported 15 casualties, 8 of which Iranian.
On May 9th, at 11.00 (am,) Syrian air defence fired at Israeli missiles in the sky over Damascus. One missile was shot down over Damascus International airport. At 13.45 IDF tanks/artillery hit Syrian Army positions in the area of Baath City in Quneitra province, near the border of the Golan Heights. It was only then, at around 14.20, that the Syrian Army retaliated, firing at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights.
In other words, Israel struck first and Syria, not Iran, defended itself. Yet the message we get from the MSM, invariably reporting from Jerusalem, is that Israel only retaliated after it was first fired upon by Iran: <a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/09/iran-fires-20-rockets-syria-golan-heights-israel>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/09/iran-fires-20-rockets-syria-golan-heights-israel.
To report, truthfully, concerning the reality of Israel and its descent into fascism under the psychopath Bibi, and his even more morally insane colleagues, is simply ‘antisemitic’, and, luckily, will soon be made illegal.
Thanks for this very good article!
Additionally this: Iran has (unlike the US) NOT ONE “military base” in Syria!
“Iran has no military bases or military presence in Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday” – see: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201802191061795050-iran-military-bases-syria-zarif/
Precisely, and therefore no missiles, either!
Reblogged this on circusbuoy.
Another interesting link:
https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/995095260513501184/video/1
As a poster wrote on facebook:
There has been a lot of misunderstanding about Putin’s recent diplomatic gestures towards Israel. Observers claim that Russia’s sold out on Iran and Syria – or never cared for them in the first place – and just let Israel bomb them. These people are conveniently forgetting that Russia has made a huge and ultimately successful super high-risk intervention into Syria in alliance with Iran and Hezbollah. They also forget that Iran is a huge crucial important country in Russia’s neighborhood and having a direct sea border with Iran in the Caspian Sea. Naturally, it must be among Russia’s absolute top priorities not to let the Israel and its US vassal to succeed in their regime change operation in Iran resulting in NATO naval bases in the Caspian.
So when push comes to shove, of course Iran takes precedence for Russia over Israel. But it does not mean that Russia should not seek to negotiate lasting solutions for peace with all sides. As Israel well understands that Syria and Iran are more important for Russia than Israel, Putin has gone out of his way to make these gestures towards Israel, to bring them to the table.
Russia has not been giving any carte blanche for Israel for its terror raids on Syria, on the contrary Russia is opposing those actions. Russia already thwarted Israel’s regime change operation there. But Russia has not yet fully given the red card to Israel, either. And that’s because Russia wants both sides to compromise. Obviously, Iran has to yield about something and Israel about something, and before the full process of negotiations has ended Russia does not want to bang its fist on the table.
Vierotchka, any one of us would be foolish to think we know exactly what is going on in the higher echelons of international relationships but the circumstances, considerations and consequent approach by the Russians which you have described in your post have much credibility.
I think I already posted this link elsewhere on OG:
http://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/05/11/could-it-be-any-clearer-russia-is-urging-syria-to-compromise-now/
I agree with both of your observations: Iran is Russia’s strategic ally in the region – not Israel – a point made to Bibi in Sochi a couple of years ago (don’t quote me on the timing!). But you cannot rule the price of oil out of the equation. All oil producers – including Russia – are suffering: and the recent events have pushed Brent futures to a three year high. Does this fact alone prove Russian/Isreali collusion: definitely not. But neither can it be ruled out a priori?
Putin and co have sold Syria and Iran out. Dress it up anyway you want, they step aside when ever the west barks.
The Russians are snakes. History repeats itself once again. China knows this to well. So does Europe. Putin has been given guarantees by the west, once their man ”The Tiger” (a Sunni) removes Assad and secular Syria falls, minorities banished to the only remaining multi cultural county in the ME, Iran, Russia can maintain their bases. Syria was a ‘show of force’ for Putin and a money maker offloading their outdated junk, it was never about helping Syria and its minorities. Would the US ever stand down when its allies are fired at? Never. That’s why you never trust the Russians. Ask the Polish.
Iran can only trust the Chinese. The only superpower that has been continuously fucked over throughout history like Iran, by both Russia and the Western powers. Putin is a predictable fraud.
And Isral can sleep soundly. Islamic state are now their border guards to the north, east and south. A ring of steel. Supplied and funded by their allies Saudi Arabia.
WARNING: New anti-Russia propaganda line detected.
The new line is – Putin is weak and betrays his allies to cosy up to the West. ZERO evidence. Just defamation. Replace the “hard man” image with the “traitor” image because research has shown it works better.
Simple fact: Russia simply can’t betray Iran and Syria without laying themselves open to the hostile takedown they have been fighting since 2000. Putin isn’t in Syria out of charity. He’s there as a vital part of Russian self-defence. And he won’t let Syria or Iran fall unless he is already defeated domestically. No sign of that as yet.
Absolute nonsense, and Russians are most definitely not snakes. You’re simply a nasty little troll – here’s a video all about you and your maleficent ilk:
You’d know a good deal about snakes in Kiev, these days.
Among the many jokes I particularly enjoyed this:
“…Would the US ever stand down when its allies are fired at? Never. That’s why you never trust the Russians. Ask the Polish…”
It is good to see Off Guardian’s comment section attracting traffic from readers of Comics. It bodes well economically.
The Americans did stand down very recently when the Kurds got pummelled by the Turks, bevin.
More to the point, the Americans have been claiming they are in Syria to defeat ISIS whilst actually supporting the throat cutters throughout. And why not. Both the Americans and ISIL were aiming to to achieve the same goal – unseat Assad.
Special deal, all this week. Wash three hogs, for the price of two.
outdated junk
More outdated junk.
Back in the late eighties, I attended an air show in Payerne, Switzerland. The star of the show was a MIG 29, and it was a most impressive performance. These 2 video are from 2014, same MIG 29 as the one I saw back in the eighties, same performance, also at the Payerne air show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-GhEzI9pYI
Do you remember when a Soviet jet crashed at the Paris Air Show some years ago? It was only metres above the ground, but the pilots survived. That came as quite a shock, as the Western hate propaganda machine had maintained for years that the ‘Evil’ Soviets didn’t bother with ejection for their robotic pilots, not being possessed of ‘Western Moral Values’. But, in reality, Soviet ejection seats were the most advanced on Earth. And the lying has only gotten worse ever since.
Even more outdated junk!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa8MaD6gQscto_Nq1i49iew/videos
Ooops, wrong link – here is the video:
Spot on; excellent post.
Those critical of Putin of his seemingly ‘defeatist’ response to Israeli aggression towards Syria forget that on June 12 the World Cup opens in Russia. This ties up his hands. It must be massively important for him to get as many Western visitors to Russia as possible, he must be hoping those coming for the games will see Russia is far from the evil construct the Western MSM are saying she is. That counts for alot, any escalation of the Syrian conflict may even scupper the Cup altogether.
Btw, the first game of the Cup is scheduled for June 12, the same day the Donald is meeting the North Korean nutter in Singapore. Any guess which of the two events will the Western MSM lapdogs cover excessively?
[[ Btw, the first game of the Cup is scheduled for June 12 ]]
It’s also, coincidentally, День независимость (‘Independence Day’) – celebrated by Russia and Ukraine alike (and other ex-USSR nations) as the day when they all got rid of the others. It’s one of the ‘new’ Russian holidays which has yet to carve out much of a tradition for itself… different themes are tried each year, but none have really caught on. I doubt anything much in Russia (some junior gymnasts from Orsk, on Red Square?) will overshadow The Donald’s big day.
Throughthesmoke,
I once held a similar, if not so vehement, antipathy toward Putin and to this day have a cautionary need to not jump into unequivocal support for him. I have however through the analysis of what he has done come to accept that the western caricature of him is far from fair or honest. At international forums he has spoken hard hitting truth to the western hegemonic empire with diplomacy, always offering a way out of the bad decisions the West has made. As a strategist he is unparalleled, always able to outmaneuvre and thwart the plans of Russia’s enemies. At home he has turned Russia from a sorry victim of rape and plunder back into a bountiful and nurturing mother that sees every index of prosperity moving in a direction that improves the lives of all Russians. As to why you view Russia as snakelike is a mystery to me.
Russia has to hold its positions in Syria to insure it’s own territorial integrity. A presence in the Med is essential to protecting it’s navigation from it’s primary Black Sea naval base in Sebastapol. Thus its operations in the Syrian War are not altruistic but a practical necessity. Though many like to say the Syrian War is all about oil pipelines I would contend its real purpose, like the coup in Ukraine, was always an attempt to neutralise Russian naval capability. And therefore Russia will never give up, well at least not softly, it’s support for the Assad led Syrian State.
I have now had a few days to ponder the significance of the most highly refined manifestation of evil I have ever observed, Bibi Netanyahu, visit to Moscow as Trump prepared to announce withdrawl from the Iran Nuclear Deal and hours before Israel cowardly attacked Syria from beyond its borders. On this site at that time I asked the question is Putin actually in collusion with Zionist ambition Or is Bibi humiliating Putin. I now think neither of these possibilities are the fact. Netanyahu is the leader of the ziofascists who hold the leash of Western Empire. It is now evident to me that he was in Moscow to deliver an ultimatum to Putin and that he did not get the answer he wanted. What followed was Trump declaring war, by withdrawl from the Nuclear treaty, on Iran and Israel petulantly attacking Syrian defences. So the game is still very much on.
There are reports that Russia has already begun to supply Syria with more advanced weapons systems so Israel will either stand down or go into open conflict. I personaly don’t see that Israel can risk the later.
As for Iran it is still a sideshow in the real face off with Russia and it will be the Gulf state monarchies not Israel that will be nervous. If Turkish stated solidarity with Tehran holds true and Iraqi elections also produce policy supportive of Tehran then the whole dynamic of the region will shift dramatically. Though I have to state i trust Erdogan less than a random lottery ticket will make me rich.
China is indeed Iran’s best friend. However it’s historical refusal to actually engage directly shows no sign of changing and such an ally is of no use in conflict. Indeed if any nation is snakelike it is China. It manages to be everybody’s friend, but only sort of.
In summary I find your distaste for Russia built on unfounded prejudices. Without Russia Syria would already have fallen and Iran would have followed.
Reblogged this on | truthaholics and commented:
On top of land-thievery, Genie Energy’s oil drilling provides more context:
“The October 2015 announcement of the potential oil reserves in the southern Golan Heights often heralded that this discovery would make Israel self sufficient in oil for many years to come. As of 2015, Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil per day.[19][20]
Genie’s founder, chairman, controlling shareholder and CEO is Howard Jonas. Avi Goldin serves as the company’s CFO, Michael Stein is the company’s COO and Geoffrey Rochwarger serves as Vice Chairman. The president of its Israeli subsidiary is Effie Eitam. Genie Energy’s Strategic advisory board is composed of: Dick Cheney (former vice president of the United States), Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and chairman of News Corp), James Woolsey (former CIA director), Larry Summers (former head of the US Treasury), Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, an ex-ambassador to the United Nations and United States Energy Secretary.[2], Michael Steinhardt, Jacob Rothschild,[3].[2], and Mary Landrieu. Former United States Senator from Louisiana.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Energy
Genie Oil and Gas (GOGAS) is exploring for conventional oil in the Golan Heights through its Afek Oil and Gas subsidiary. GOGAS previously pursued oil shale projects through American Shale Oil (AMSO), Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) and Genie Energy Mongolia. AMSO, IEI, and Genie Energy Mongolia are no longer active. 89% of GOGAS is owned by Genie Energy while Jacob Rothschild, Michael Steinhardt and Rupert Murdoch among others hold minority interests.[11][12][13]
Afek Oil and Gas
In February 2013, Israeli authorities awarded Afek Oil and Gas an exclusive 36-month petroleum exploration license to a 153-square-mile (400 km2) plot in the Golan Heights, which the UN recognizes to be Syrian territory.[14][15][16][17] Afek subsequently conducted above-ground geophysical tests and based on its preliminary analysis, has applied for a ten well exploratory drilling program.[18] South of Katzrin in the southern Golan Heights in 2015, Afek discovered a substantial amount of oil and natural gas reserves.[19][20][21][a] The company had drilled a series of exploratory wells including Ness-5, just northwest of the Avnei Eitan and Nov moshavim and south of Kibbutz Natur and the town of Katzrin; Ness-3, near the Bnei Yehuda industrial area; Ness-6, located near the entrance of Moshav Kanaf, just southeast of Gamla.[22]; and most recently Ness 10 north of the Sheikh-Ali Fault. As of August 2017, Afek was continuing drilling operations at Ness 10 in an effort to determine whether its license area contained resources that could sustain commercially production.[23] [24]”
While I’m being so Politically Incorrect, here is a skilful thrust from Sergio Weigel in today’s Saker [My extract. Is anti-business-mentality the new anti-Jewish?]:
“Applause, Mr POTUS, applause
If it wasn’t for the serious looming danger of war, we should all thank Trump and his administration for their efforts. O’Bomber brought Russia and China together, Trump has brought the two Koreas to reconciliation; and, with pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, he not only managed to ruin even the last residue of US credibility but also to put Germany into the “West’s” driver’s seat; and bring Germany closer to Russia, China, and Iran. Ha! The irony… it’s like when somebody tries to be gravely serious and ends up being involuntarily funny.
What Trump needs to learn is that his business tactics a) don’t work very well in politics and b) they only work in the USA. It’s a cultural thing. I’ve been working for two different US owned companies for almost three years, so I learned a thing or two. First, they demand a lot, so the best tactic is to offer them as little as possible and never to make any concessions or promises. Second, never expect them to keep their promises. I am not saying they’ll never keep them, but it’s just better not to expect that a deal is a deal, it’s not, it is just something temporary along the line. Third, they want everything done quickly. Just be patient, remain calm, and stoically stand your ground. It’ll drive them crazy; but again, remain calm and be friendly. Fourth, they tend to be self confident and beyond any criticism, so pretend to criticize someone else or learn the artful skill of making criticism sound like praise. But don’t shy away if criticism is needed. The worst way to handle a narcissist is to succumb.
These are just my own personal observations, and surely not meant to offend anyone (except US businessmen perhaps). However, I believe Merkel has been coached by someone, because Trump truly is a caricature of what I’ve just described.”
One blabber-mouthed Jewish grandee in the UK made plain that one of UK Labour’s unforgivable ‘antisemitic’ outrages was its ‘Leftwing policies’ under Corbyn. You can’t get more explicit than that, can you.
Simple quick answer:
The real reason for Israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan Heights:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-occupied-golan-heights-how-israel-thrives-from-syrias-natural-resources/5500214
Of course the Israel Death Force are lying. Why on Earth would the Iranians give the Zionists the opportunity to hit their troops fighting Israel’s takfiri friends in Syria? When Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006, Israeli newspapers carried stories declaring the attack, ‘..the best planned war in Israeli history’. What a pity they got their arses handed to them by the Hezbollah reserves. The Israelis had even been to the Pentagon to present Power Point outlines of their plans, but, in traditional Zionist tradition they had to lie to make themselves the victims-‘The Israeli weeps in pain even as he hits you in the face’. An old proverb.
After all the die-hard Zionists are still lying about the Nakbah in 1947-8, the Six Day war of 1967, and the murderous attack on Lebanon in 1982, and much more besides. The Iranians may not be ideal, and their theocracy not my cup of tea, but I cannot recall many instances of their lying, but in Israel mendacity is a real cottage industry.
Some truth and lotsa lies from occupied Palestine about the USS Liberty.
And don’t forget: the number is six million, that’s 6,000,000. No quibble!
http://rense.com/general39/pilot.htm
Which side is lying? I just love the fair minded policy of OffG.
“By way of deception we shall wage war”. — Mossad’s motto.
Coincidentally I have reached the section in Anthropology by Immanuel Kant where he gives that a nation of businessmen cannot be trusted because their motto is “Caveat emptor”. Adam Smith said much the same: “Businessmen never get together at a party without discussing some scheme to defraud”.
A lot of deception flying to Spread Alarm and Despondency. So much that Canthama replies in SyrPer:
“Russia is spending money on arming, funding, supporting and fighting for Syria and has done so for over 2 and half years in the form of Russian servicemen fighting and dying on Syrian soil.
The Russian military which lost over 20 million people in WW2 has not even lost 200 people in Syria and will not allows the huge investment in money, resources and effort in has made in Syria to go to waste.
At the most Israel would be able to carry out some relatively minor military strikes against Syria using Israeli planes inside Israeli airspace to launch missiles in to Syria, but considering that Turkey has done far more to the PKK and the Kurds still have not been defeated in the Turkish-south east, that the Israelis have inflicted far damage on the Palestinians but they are still fighting back or that Saddam’s Iraqi army inflicted far more damage on the Iranians but they still survived, these Israeli airstrikes are pretty meaningless.
Israel is fundamentally on the course to not existing (at least in its current format as a Jewish supremacist and Zionazi state). It seems some in the US elite are fully aware of this e.g. Kissinger himself.”
+8
To show you how bizarre the Austfailian fakestream media sewer is, the Murdoch run, but putatively Government owned, ABC, had a little groveling session this morning re. Israel’s 70th birthday. The Palestinians were mentioned twice, in an off-hand but not insulting fashion, but the height of lunacy was reached when it was posited that Israel could grow to a population of ‘100 million’ in future. You see, for the Murdochite faithful, the ecological collapse, already hitting the Near East as badly as anywhere on Earth, simply does not exist. Even ‘Eretz Yisrael”..from the Nile to the Euphrates’ will have no chance of supporting 100 million in the future-even 100,000 poor miserable blighters might be a stretch.
I would extend the problem you highlight that flows from the logic of money and business to affairs of state. There is a carefully fostered false dichotomy that The Market is somehow antithetical to The State. Nothing could be further from the truth. Market and State are siamese twins joined at the money system. Money is a tool of power, plain and simple. It is no controversy that power corrupts. As you rightly quote: ““By way of deception we shall wage war”. — Mossad’s motto.”
Toby: I remember that theory. The liberalised free market benignly discovers the mutually beneficial price for the producer and consumer; the state hands all its assets to the one percent, who are the most skillful custodians, managers and mutually beneficial wealth creators; the state ‘retires’ from the free market and “rolls back” to concentrate on the equitable redistribution of tax money …for the generation of the common good; the state reduces its function to that of a ‘Night Watchmen’ so we can all sleep and dream of our individualised libertarian freedom. Only some of us woke up, to find we were living in an Orwellian nightmare! The market had become the state. Rather than the benefit of their wealth: it was their debt that was socialised and bestowed on us. Thanks Milton, Ronnie, Maggie, and the Mont Pelerin Society. Goodnight, and sweet dreams. By the way, you were right. Thanks to you there is no longer anything that can be called a society. Your legacy is a dog eat dog world.
B, every real economist worth a toss saw through ‘neo-liberalism’ right away, as simply a return to the most parasitic rentier extraction, but that didn’t stop the parasites, and, crucially, the treachery of the ‘social democrats’ like Hawke, Keating, Blair, Brown, Clinton and all the rest, most of whom were richly rewarded for selling humanity and the natural world down the drain. And, oddly enough, groveling obeisance to Israel and the sayanim was de rigeur among this group.
I was being sardonic: of course we knew from the start. Back in the days when I had a bit of vim and vinegar about me: we protested every step of the way …right up till ’92. I got old for sure, but the economic and social conditions are worse now: and the prospects? We are decades into the biggest crime in history: the theft of the future. And no, I don’t mean that figuratively – so where are they? The peaceful anti-capitalist, anti-war, anti-nuclear protests? There is only one superpower: the human spirit …at what point did we decide just to roll over and let them steal all of our tomorrows without a murmur?
I know B-I like to take the piss from time to time, too. The process of dehumanisation of Western societies since the 1970s, as the Right imposed their ideology of hatred of all that is other to themselves ie other people, the natural world, one another, and, often enough, themselves, on societies, has been a steady forced march to auto-genocide. I blame the Right because their hatred has driven the process, and the treacherous ‘social democrat’ scum because their total sell-out in return for wealth and power and from intellectual and moral cowardice, is equally responsible. I am quite bemused that most of society in the West simply do not comprehend just how close to self-destruction we are, and how responsible capitalism is for the situation. ‘Anti-capitalism’ is still almost as great a sin as ‘antisemitism’, no doubt due to their close relationship.
I am reserving judgment until I read Jonathan Freedland’s think piece in slavish support of whatever Israel has done. Then tomorrow is Sunday – Observer Day – when we can look forward to some rabid warmongering from Nick Cohen.
Can anyone remind me why both Labour and Conservatives have a ‘Friends Of Israel’ section in their parties? Do they have a Friends of Bolivia, and Friends of Mongolia group?
And it’s not ‘Friends’, either. It is ‘Stooges’.
I hope you’re not suggesting they form an “Enemies of “israel” group”!
That would be SO antisimian.
No, they would be more positive and call that a ‘Friends of Allah’ grouping….
What is needed are ‘Real Friends of Israel’, who tell Israelis the truth about how their arrogant, aggressive, barbarity will destroy their Zionist project, not ‘Groveling Stooges and Arse-Kissers of Israel’, like May et al.
‘Antisomatic’, even.
Perhaps the perfect retort, ‘ you are antisemitic ‘, ‘no, I am antisomatic ‘.
What is Putin’s game here? What does he stand for?
It’s frustrating and bamboozling that he allows the Zionists to get away with these crimes.
You might find an answer here:
http://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/05/11/could-it-be-any-clearer-russia-is-urging-syria-to-compromise-now/
@Vierotchka. Thanks for the link. Putin is a builder, a constructive statesman. I pointed it out years ago in SyrPer, when Russia saved the day by keeping NATZO at bay in 2013, which allowed the Syrian Army to begin mopping up our Wahabeasts. Trust Putin when he says he will help in your corner, but he cannot and will not fight your fight. Though a courageous and skilled warrior, Putin is more interested in his concept of “partnership” and what he calls a Multi Polar World, than in Empire style Full Frontal Supremacy. The MENA badly needs peace and reconstruction after ‘A Century of War’ and destruction. (So does the West, only we seem to have forgotten that).
By the way, there are comments that Russia is holding back S-3xx because Syria does not need it at present (our aircraft no longer waltz in and out of Syrian airspace laughing merrily like we used to); and when this 7 year war ends, either Russia will sell Syria the S-4xx or Syria will get the advanced AA defense system that Iran has been developing.
“God helps those who help themselves — and God help those who don’t”.
You know that the S-300 family of missiles has been owned and operated by NATO members and exercised against for almost two decades and represents a pretty insignificant threat to a strike package supported by capable electronic warfare assets.
The much-vaunted S-400 family is a relatively simple evolution of the S-300, whose only real difference is the fire control and surveillance radar. It uses the same base missile as late model S-300s (the 48N6 of 1992 vintage) and has again been thoroughly analysed and countermeasures developed.
The 400km range 40N6 missile that everyone bangs on about was tested for the first time a month or so back and is wholly unsuitable for use against small and agile targets, just as the S-75 proved to be from the 80s onward.
Don’t believe the hype, these systems are on a par with and potentially superior to Western systems, but are by no means a game changer for anybody operating in Syrian airspace.
@Chris. I re-posted your post, on today’s SyrPer. A healthy antidote to putting one’s faith in any particular Superweapon.
@Vexarb, pointing out facts usually goes down very badly, so don’t be surprised if you’re down-voted / hammered for it. I’d never come across this site until yesterday, or SyrPer until you mentioned it.
If this site claims to want sourced information, that’s great, but from my limited skimming of comments I see a lot of RT and Sputnik. May as well read tea leaves IMO!
All the best.