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Intelligence Veterans Warn of US-Russia Conflict in Syria

via antiwar.com

A group of veteran intelligence officers calling themselves the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, have composed an open memo to President Donald Trump, warning of the very real possibility of a US-Russia conflict in Syria.

They assert the need for Western voices to call for the remnants of al-Nusra and al-Qaeda to surrender, rather than continuing to support them, and highlight the dangers of accidental escalation should the US (or their allies) attempt to strike Syrian government forces.

The idea that World War III could start, by accident, because an American tomahawk missile hits a Russian base instead of a Syrian base, or because American planes are brought down by Russian anti-air missiles is an ominous one. One that we, in the alternate media, have been striving to communicate for nearly two years…but that gets little – if any – coverage in mainstream channels

These are important words, and a vital message, at a dangerous time.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

SUBJECT: Moscow Has Upped the Ante in Syria

Mr. President:

We are concerned that you may not have been adequately briefed on the upsurge of hostilities in northwestern Syria, where Syrian armed forces with Russian support have launched a full-out campaign to take back the al-Nusra/al-Qaeda/ISIS-infested province of Idlib. The Syrians will almost certainly succeed, as they did in late 2016 in Aleppo. As in Aleppo, it will mean unspeakable carnage, unless someone finally tells the insurgents theirs is a lost cause.

That someone is you. The Israelis, Saudis, and others who want unrest to endure are egging on the insurgents, assuring them that you, Mr. President, will use US forces to protect the insurgents in Idlib, and perhaps also rain hell down on Damascus. We believe that your senior advisers are encouraging the insurgents to think in those terms, and that your most senior aides are taking credit for your recent policy shift from troop withdrawal from Syria to indefinite war.

Big Difference This Time

Russian missile-armed naval and air units are now deployed in unprecedented numbers to engage those tempted to interfere with Syrian and Russian forces trying to clean out the terrorists from Idlib. We assume you have been briefed on that — at least to some extent. More important, we know that your advisers tend to be dangerously dismissive of Russian capabilities and intentions.

We do not want you to be surprised when the Russians start firing their missiles. The prospect of direct Russian-U.S. hostilities in Syria is at an all-time high. We are not sure you realize that.

The situation is even more volatile because Kremlin leaders are not sure who is calling the shots in Washington. This is not the first time that President Putin has encountered such uncertainty (see brief Appendix below). This is, however, the first time that Russian forces have deployed in such numbers into the area, ready to do battle. The stakes are very high.

We hope that John Bolton has given you an accurate description of his acerbic talks with his Russian counterpart in Geneva a few weeks ago. In our view, it is a safe bet that the Kremlin is uncertain whether Bolton faithfully speaks in your stead, or speaks INSTEAD of you.

The best way to assure Mr. Putin that you are in control of U.S. policy toward Syria would be for you to seek an early opportunity to speak out publicly, spelling out your intentions. If you wish wider war, Bolton has put you on the right path.

If you wish to cool things down, you may wish to consider what might be called a pre-emptive ceasefire. By that we mean a public commitment by the Presidents of the U.S. and Russia to strengthen procedures to preclude an open clash between U.S. and Russian armed forces. We believe that, in present circumstances, this kind of extraordinary step is now required to head off wider war.

For the VIPS Steering Group, signed:

William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)

Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) and Division Director, State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research

Philip Giraldi, CIA Operations Officer (retired)

James George Jatras, former U.S. diplomat and former foreign policy adviser to Senate Republican leadership (Associate VIPS)

Michael S. Kearns, Captain, U.S. Air Force, Intelligence Officer, and former Master SERE Instructor (retired)

John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and Former Senior Investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC Iraq; Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)

Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.)

Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret) (Associate VIPS)

David MacMichael, Senior Estimates Officer, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Ray McGovern, Army/Infantry Intelligence Officer and CIA Presidential Briefer (retired)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council (retired)

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.)

Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)

Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army reserve colonel and former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War

Appendix:

Sept 12, 2016: The limited ceasefire goes into effect; provisions include separating the “moderate” rebels from the others. Secretary John Kerry had earlier claimed that he had “refined” ways to accomplish the separation, but it did not happen; provisions also included safe access for relief for Aleppo.

Sept 17, 2016: U.S. Air Force bombs fixed Syrian Army positions killing between 64 and 84 Syrian army troops; about 100 others wounded — evidence enough to convince the Russians that the Pentagon was intent on scuttling meaningful cooperation with Russia.

Sept 26, 2016: We can assume that what Lavrov has told his boss in private is close to his uncharacteristically blunt words on Russian NTV on Sept. 26. (In public remarks bordering on the insubordinate, senior Pentagon officials a few days earlier had shown unusually open skepticism regarding key aspects of the Kerry-Lavrov agreement – like sharing intelligence with the Russians (a key provision of the deal approved by both Obama and Putin). Here’s what Lavrov said on Sept 26:

My good friend John Kerry … is under fierce criticism from the US military machine. Despite the fact that, as always, [they] made assurances that the US Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama, supported him in his contacts with Russia (he confirmed that during his meeting with President Vladimir Putin), apparently the military does not really listen to the Commander in Chief.”

Lavrov went beyond mere rhetoric. He also specifically criticized JCS Chairman Joseph Dunford for telling Congress that he opposed sharing intelligence with Russia, “after the agreements concluded on direct orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama stipulated that they would share intelligence…It is difficult to work with such partners…”

Oct 27, 2016: Putin speaks at the Valdai International Discussion Club: At Valdai Russian President Putin spoke of the “feverish” state of international relations and lamented: “My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results.” He complained about “people in Washington ready to do everything possible to prevent these agreements from being implemented in practice” and, referring to Syria, decried the lack of a “common front against terrorism after such lengthy negotiations, enormous effort, and difficult compromises.”

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) is made up of former intelligence officers, diplomats, military officers and congressional staffers. The organization, founded in 2002, was among the first critics of Washington’s justifications for launching a war against Iraq. VIPS advocates a US foreign and national security policy based on genuine national interests rather than contrived threats promoted for largely political reasons. An archive of VIPS memoranda is available at Consortiumnews.com.

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vexarb
vexarb
Sep 13, 2018 6:15 AM

“Idlib Offensive: Why Are The Ottomans Freaking Out?

https://journal-neo.org/2018/09/11/idlib-offensive-why-is-turkey-freaking-out/

Returning the Idlib Governorate back under direct control of Damascus means Ottoman Turkey would lose all grounds made in establishing its military presence and its build up of mercenary Jewhadists.

The Syrian government, for its part, has already shown enough flexibility to maintain Kurds as partners.

“The solution to the problem now is for the Kurdish groups dealing with Zio-America to turn their backs on them and turn to the Syrian state,” said Syria’s Reconciliation Minister, Ali Haidar.”

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 11, 2018 5:26 AM

What life will be like for Syrians if NATZO wins; from Al Masdar News:

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:00 A.M.) – A flotilla carrying Palestinian students and patients called ‘Freedom Ship 7’ departed from the Gaza port on Monday, in an attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Navy forces dispersed the flotilla, which saw the participation of around 55 fishing boats.

“We will not stop our movement, neither in land nor in sea, until this siege is broken,” Gaza’s spokesperson Adham Abu-Selmia said.

Bruce Wallace
Bruce Wallace
Sep 10, 2018 10:00 PM

High praise to the people who brought their hearts and mind together to produce this document and send it the way of Mr Trump…

Let’s pray that somehow their voice of experience and sanity will at least touch him as he sits on the toilet through the night, and he will get a moment of clarity amidst all of his madness and of that around him…

He may be going down… Who knows how that crazy stage game will play out…. But in the process he can call out the truly sinister agendas of the USAgressors and begin his own path of repentance…

It’s all poised on a delicate edge as to how the Syrian nation goes forward as it stands against the baying wolves on all sides…

One thing is for certain, is that if they are left to get on with it, with Russian assistance, they’ll obliterate the terrorist boot boys in Idlid..

But of course, the people tuned into sites such as this, know full well that the stakes are high for the political/financial maniacs of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US, along with the UK and France, as they have the glittering prize of Syria within sight…

For so long, idiots desperate for power have denigrated the majesty of our human nature and have wreaked havoc across the planet, behaving in ways worse than animals…

It’s all coming to a head now and something has got to change..

Brian Eggar
Brian Eggar
Sep 10, 2018 7:42 PM

Although Trump is president, he is certainly not in control. He is like a pig with a ring through his nose being led by the Deep State lobby.

This is obvious when you look at Skripal just a few weeks after Trump declared that he was going to remove US troops from Syria.

Certainly, Putin has carefully prepared the ground and is ready.

Question, just to what level is US Deep State prepared to go to back up their losing position? I am sure that Putin would be quite prepared to give the US an easy exit out of Syria without losing face but will they take it up?

Of course, Trump’s days are numbered but how he goes is not up to him.

Paul X
Paul X
Sep 10, 2018 9:46 PM
Reply to  Brian Eggar

For sure the right questions! But history isn’t much help. In 1962-3 if it hadn’t been for Kennedy then WW3 would have happened over the Soviet missiles to Cuba crisis. The US military in all their guises has for years recommended a heavy first strike using nuclear weapons in Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia – even Berlin! they are almost certain to be arguing the same now. They say it will show America is prepared to use nuclear weapons if pushed – so don’t push!

harry stotle
harry stotle
Sep 10, 2018 6:54 PM

It’s a tiny blessing, I know, but thank fuck Killary is not overseeing the endgame in Syria, a leader so addicted to violence that even a deranged narcissist like Trump is marginally less revolting.

Given the complexion of its ownership we should not be surprised western media backs US amorality to the hilt promoting without question proven myths like the White Helmets while lacing their swivel-eyed reporting with large dollops of Russophobia.

In short there is no mainstream media platform willing to contest the military-industrial complex’s version of events, and now the likes of Google and Facebook are going after the alternative media to coral the few dissenting voices wanting to provide a different perspective.

In terms of the Guardians stable of neoliberals its hard to say who is the worst offender but Nick Cohen is probably the most rabid, and certainly the densest given he appears to have learned absolutely nothing from Iraq.

JJ139
JJ139
Sep 11, 2018 4:39 PM
Reply to  harry stotle

Yes Nick Cohen, né Bourbon.

King Kong
King Kong
Sep 10, 2018 6:45 PM

Yes I read it at counterpunch. It appeals to sanity. I do believe Russia will not budge in Syria. The Hegemons plans have been exposed and I believe Russia is aware of its intentions for Russia.
Russia is a nuclear armed state, it is in fact the most heavily nuclear armed state. It will use them if forced to.
“it is inconceivable to have a world without Russia.” President V. Putins own words. That clearly means no. It is a red line.
If the Hegemon is to stupid to understand this we will likely all burn.
The bonus is Israel will burn too.

Philpot
Philpot
Sep 10, 2018 5:46 PM

Admin of this site, please be proud of this platform for airing common sense and humanity and of calling out evil in the world. This is a rare sanctuary of sanity.

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 10, 2018 5:44 PM

Hear these voices for sanity; they coincide with the policy of reconciriation by Presidents Ass’d and Putin.

archie1954
archie1954
Sep 10, 2018 5:20 PM

Russia and others have always had a problem dealing with the US. Reagan and Clinton’s agreement with Russia not to move NATO East was completely reversed by succeeding Administrations. So is dealing with the US even possible?

Harry Law
Harry Law
Sep 10, 2018 5:16 PM

The State Department described the Middle East during the Second World War, when the US was taking over thus “It’s a stupendous source of strategic power and the greatest material prize in world history.” “It’s strategically the most important part of the world” That’s why the US is occupying East Syria, it is losing the Middle East and has few cards left to play. John McCain always advocated facing down the Russians, he claimed that they would “do nothing”. Now we are approaching the time when bluff’s are about to be called, a good debate at the Saker with PC Roberts on this very point here.. https://thesaker.is/reply-to-paul-craig-roberts-crucial-question/ In my opinion Putin must stand his ground, any show of weakness will be seized on by the Neo cons, then it will be all over for Syria.

Jerry Alatalo
Jerry Alatalo
Sep 10, 2018 5:09 PM

Fight these warmonger lunatics with every ounce of spiritual, moral and creative power at your disposal. The criminal war of aggression elites’ lust for money and power is insatiable, evidenced through history by their documented willingness to mass murder innocent men, women and children to accumulate that money and power.

MICHAEL LEIGH
MICHAEL LEIGH
Sep 10, 2018 4:45 PM

In this USA mis-contrived and pending military crisis, between the USA and Russia, and by the USA and its ” Hebrew inspired nuclear-armed and willing alliance ” to complete their 28 year old plot to abolish Syria and its population.

Todays crisis to military counter the extremily high technology military armed Russian forces who continue with the unspoken agreement of China to still protect the Syrian peoples and ttheir territory from those wicked plans of the global Hebrew Bankers who continue to profit from the destruction and dissappearance of Syria, and it’s peoples!

Schlüter
Schlüter
Sep 10, 2018 4:29 PM

I think the US (Neocon) Power Elite wants to use Trump for a last weapon test! He´ll order action, if Russia ducks down, it will be very much ok, if not, it´s the Moment he´ll be removed as a “Triumph of US Democracy”!
“US „Schizophrenia“ is the Symptom of War Within the US Power Elite”: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/us-schizophrenia-is-the-symptom-of-war-within-the-us-power-elite-die-us-schizophrenie-ist-symptom-des-krieges-innerhalb-der-us-machtelite/

theroyalsecretinfo
theroyalsecretinfo
Sep 10, 2018 5:05 PM
Reply to  Schlüter

One can only hope Trump gets the message. My view is that there has been a battle royal going on between Trump and the Neocon Deep State elite since his election and more so since Trump’s brave attempt to strike up a peace with Putin as he had promised at the election. An amicable deal with Russia destroys the Neocon plans that Hilary Clinton would have carried out against Syria after Obama’s back down thanks to the British refusal to join in. It would also put an end to US oil based strategy in the whole middle East. So this moment is a vital one. If the US backed terrorist groups in Idlib are destroyed, which without major US involvement will surely happen, then years of US strategy in the Middle East since 9/11 will have failed. While if the US do engage there is very real danger of escalation at ground level, the outcome of which is by no means certain, either risking a massive loss of face by the US or even a world war.

There is no doubt the Russians are well prepared and now boast they can destroy any US carrier whenever they feel like it while when the US last sent fighter jets into Syria it was reported that their signals were being jammed as were the missiles fired by the US who then retreated their carrier group from the area rapidly. Clearly the only route now barring an all out Middle East war is a face saving withdrawal from Idlib by its terrorists. What happens next will demonstrate just who is running the US. Trump who all along has not wanted to send the US into another war or the concealed Neocons who need either come out or somehow manipulate the capricious Trump into giving the signal for a US attack, and so the blame if it all goes wrong.

Paul X
Paul X
Sep 10, 2018 5:47 PM

Well put! However if the last chance is for the terrorists to down arms and surrenders there is no hope. The most radical and brutal are ‘national’ jihadists, non Syrians. There are several thousand Chinese fighters occupying a town of their own. Surrender and be deported back to China? It sounds unlikely. It’s the same for most of the foreigners whose numbers are variously estimated at between 10,000 and 30,000. The Russian fighters will also not want to see the inside of a Russian prison. Saudis? Who knows, they might end up as Martyrs. Other Arabs won’t relish facing Egypt’s infamous system of ‘justice’ and Algeria isn’t going to put out the flags for the thousands of jihadis from there to return. The Westerners might face the rest of their lives after prolonged torture in US dungeons. The West Europeans will also face incarceration US style. It suggests the fight to the death will be a real one and one chosen by the jihadis themselves who are not even prepared to save their own wives and children let alone anybody else’s life.

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 11, 2018 5:09 AM
Reply to  Paul X

@PaulX. NATZO’s ISIS will fight to the death? I think not; they are mercenaries mostly backwoods religious young men from poor countries lured by $10kpa, an iPhone and a brand new Toyota, nice guns and as many women as they can catch. NATZO’s ‘Western’ terrorists are fake lefty snowflakes filled with dreams of laying down their lives for Socialism in the intervals between writing wellpaid articles for a Swedish feminist magazine; like Falstaff, they “will not fight longer than they see reason”. As the Syrian Army approaches, the Syrian / Russian policy of negotiation and reconciliation will look increasingly appealing to NATZO’s paid thugs.

Paul X
Paul X
Sep 11, 2018 10:17 AM
Reply to  vexarb

You may be right where Syrian militants are concerned but for the foreign fighters – take the Chinese for example – it’s hard to see them sliding comfortably into Syrian society. There only hope is slipping across the border into Turkey.

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 11, 2018 2:44 PM
Reply to  Paul X

The EU$A, Canada and Australia welcome genuine NATZO certified refugees, they’re the right stuff. Green buses will take native born Syrian “rebels” back to their homes in Syria; and foreign “‘activists” will be bussed to the country offering the most benefits to fit young male refugees expensively trained in NATZO skills.

milosevic
milosevic
Sep 11, 2018 2:54 PM
Reply to  vexarb

NATZO’s ‘Western’ terrorists are fake lefty snowflakes filled with dreams of laying down their lives for Socialism in the intervals between writing wellpaid articles for a Swedish feminist magazine

Perhaps you’re reading the wrong website. You might find 4chan more appealing; they specialize in the kind of crypto-fascism that you seem to favour.

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 11, 2018 7:18 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Milosevic, your quote omits the end of my sentence: “like Falstaff, they will not fight longer than they see reason”. Against the battle-hardened Syrian Army the “West’s” Soros-funded, Guardian-reading, fake Lefties do not stand a snowflake’s chance in Hell. They had better be drifting home.

MichaelK
MichaelK
Sep 10, 2018 3:40 PM

What makes one feel a bit sad is the perception that the ‘left’, or what passes for the ‘left’, liberal opinion… has no idea that it’s probably the monster Trump who is standing in the way of a really dangerous confrontation with Russia. Would they even care if they knew I wonder, or is their hatred of Trump such that nothing else matters? It’s like Trump, for the ‘left’ represents the incarnation of everything that’s bad and evil in the world, apart from Putin that is. If only they were gone, how much better the world would be, how different… not! One of the great puzzles of our age is how and why liberal/left opinion was so easy to manipulate and ‘play.’

nwwoods
nwwoods
Sep 10, 2018 5:23 PM
Reply to  MichaelK

RF MOD reported that US jets targeted a Syrian town with white phosphorous and that US marines staged a live fire exercise elsewhere in Syria yesterday. It doesn’t appear Trump ‘standing in the way’ is having much effect on the decision making in Syria by the Pentagon.
Trump probably learns of these actions in the press like everyone else.

MichaelK
MichaelK
Sep 11, 2018 8:27 AM
Reply to  nwwoods

Well, there’s always the possibility that things might be a lot worse and even more dangerous than they already are, if Trump wasn’t ‘standing in the way’ of powerful forces that are determined to confront Russia.

Stonky
Stonky
Sep 11, 2018 8:06 AM
Reply to  MichaelK

“Would they even care if they knew I wonder, or is their hatred of Trump such that nothing else matters?”

To answer your question needs no more than a quick scan of the Guardian and the Indy. Our self-styled ‘progressives’ have quite literally become deranged in their hatred of Trump. Nothing else matters. They will leap into bed with any filth, no matter now filthy, and couple like gymnastic monkeys with that filth, as long as any filth is anti-Trump filth. Once they get it onto their heads that someone is pro-Trump, then that person becomes the epitome of all evil.

They need to believe that ‘Russia hacked the election’ because it provides an excuse for the triumph of Trump over the beloved Saint Hillary, and having convinced themselves of this, there is nothing that extends beyond the reach of their credulity, and no horror too extreme that they will not wish it on Putin and any allies he might have.

It was instructive to read the comments in the Daily Mail in the aftermath of the latest Skripal nonsense. Thousands (literally) of Daily Mail readers queuing up to rubbish the government narrative. I sorted the comments by ‘most popular’ and read page after page of comments calling out the authorities as liars. Comments with hundreds of upticks and a few tens of downvotes. In the Daily Mail.

I genuinely believe that if the Guardian was not too craven to allow comments, its readership would provide more support for the government’s Skripal narrative, more belief in the Assad chemical weapons attacks rubbish, and more support for the government’s “let’s bomb Syria” campaign, than the readership of any other UK media outlet.

binra
binra
Sep 11, 2018 9:51 AM
Reply to  Stonky

Of course the purveyors of manipulative and fake ‘journalism’ do not believe it true, but they believe their best interests lie in complying and conforming, and that may mean they ‘need to live as if they believe it’ as a sense of self-survival in terms of the world as they experience it – so as to aligned with the carrot and escape the stick. There may also be some who actively engage in war that they identify as necessary or winnable in terms of who they believe themselves to be – which is generally defined over and against who they hate or fear.
The war of deceit cannot but escalate to insanity made obvious.

“You cannot evaluate an insane belief system from WITHIN it. Its own range precludes this. You can only GO BEYOND it, look back from a point where SANITY exists, and SEE THE
CONTRAST. Only BY this contrast, can insanity be judged as insane”. (~ACIM)

theroyalsecretinfo
theroyalsecretinfo
Sep 11, 2018 10:46 AM
Reply to  MichaelK

Yes, we could instead have had the lying cheating warmonger Hilary much preferred by neo-cons, lefties and liberals alike.

milosevic
milosevic
Sep 11, 2018 3:13 PM

the lying cheating warmonger Hilary much preferred by neo-cons, lefties and liberals alike

On the plus side, the current situation offers a quite unprecedented opportunity for distinguishing the (tiny) real left from the (much larger) fake left. Any “leftists” who went along with the Russian Meddling hysteria should never be taken seriously again; they deserve only to be mocked and spit on, as the moronic shills for fascism and imperialism that they now so plainly are.

bevin
bevin
Sep 10, 2018 3:26 PM

This is the way that the nuclear peace ends: not with the Bang of a crisis but in the whimperings of impotent politicians, elevated, unexpectedly, and thanks to society’s political and intellectual disfunctionality, into a position in which they have to behave in a manner that they conceive to be heroic.
Trump is like a turnip bobbing up and down in a seething stew of every conceivable -and unimaginable- form of anti-social activity. Compared with the neo-cons, career militarists, think tank prostitutes and journalists in the pay of the CIA, the academics who have forgotten, if they ever knew, what honesty was, the Merchants of Death and, perhaps most rotten off all the satellite equivalents of the above- The Guardian, trying harder and stooping lower than the NY Times and the AmazonPost, the May cabinet, which would sooner life in the planet ended than their salaries and perqs, and the deference they get from idiots, jeopardised, and the entire galaxy of useless, time serving ‘western leaders’ (vying for the chance to wipe America’s sloppy arse) …compared with these evil substitutes for popular representation Trump, the object of the VIPs petition is probably the best we can hope for since we have ceased, as a society, searching for decency in those arbitrating matters of life and death.
It is very simple really. And predictable since, at least, 2001. Having publicly declared that it has the right to rule the planet and hold itself the indispensable, providential nation, chosen to rule the world and capable of doing so, the United States has revealed itself to be a paper tiger unable to achieve a single military objective, and incapable of dealing with even the simplest strategic questions. To prove which, all that is necessary is to consider the situation in Syria, where Washington has systematically blocked every exit that would have enabled its withdrawal from an impossible situation. Refusing to accept the opportunities to resolve its problems diplomatically it now has no alternative to withdrawing with its tail drooping between its legs …
Except, as the VIPs understand, to mobilise its Israeli and NATO satraps for one last battle with the reservation that it cannot be publicly defeated because it is able, in extremis, to wipe out the public and the planet with it by initiating thermo nuclear war.

MichaelK
MichaelK
Sep 10, 2018 3:09 PM

What’s really disturbing and depressing in relation to the escalation and cascading events in Syria, is how little public knowledge there is about what’s happening, compared to the Cuban crisis all those years ago. I’m certain this letter and appeal won’t appear in the Guardian, for example. Most people have next to no clue that this is going on and our media are complicit in ‘blinding’ them, which, given the stakes is criminal. But isn’t that how things are now? The media has come under what looks like total state control.

George
George
Sep 10, 2018 4:43 PM
Reply to  MichaelK

I think the protest movement of the 60s scared the shit out of the ruling class and so they worked hard over the succeeeding decades to make damn sure nothing like that would ever happen again.

MichaelK
MichaelK
Sep 10, 2018 4:52 PM
Reply to  George

I think the mass protest movements up to the invasion of Iraq really scared the ruling elite and they made sure this would never happen again by taking over the media and exiling dissidents from it almost completely. Remember that John Pilger returned to the Daily Mirror to write about Iraq. Today he’s vanished from the mainstream. That’s a big change. The public no longer here critical voices anymore. Take the Guardian, how it’s lurched to the imperialist right and now supports militarism to a degree that would have been unthinkable a few short years ago. For example, their fawning over John McCain or Hillary Clinton.

George
George
Sep 11, 2018 8:23 AM
Reply to  MichaelK

True – and the shrinking of the spectrum of permitted visible opinion is a deeply ominous sign. Increasing concentrations of wealth along with increasingly aggressive acts between the competing rich signal a world in which the old liberal delusions are fast disappearing.

binra
binra
Sep 11, 2018 10:05 AM
Reply to  George

Are the elites ‘scared’ by reactions or do they simply use them to make the cage tighter?
Is how we react not what Corpgov seeks to ‘algorithmically’ monitor realtime via the IoT so as to run a self adjusting human (robot) management system?

Do the power class REALLY compete? Or only in such limited games as can serve their goals. All unite against exposures that would undermine their claim to power. But what would total domination of the mass of humanity be for? Fantasy gratifications acted out on the bodies of others?

Is this ‘power’ not a kind of addiction?

George
George
Sep 11, 2018 4:39 PM
Reply to  binra

Under capitalism the rich are always competing against each other. They compete against each other individually and also between national formations. And they have their eyes constantly on the masses because the latter have potential power of considerable extent. Imagine if the Amazon workforce decided to just stop – or if even a significant part of them chose to do so.

The alternate view you are voicing would present a world in which the elite are unified and control everything which, on the one hand, would make resistance futile although, on the other, it would ironically make things safer since this united elite would be unlikely to blow us all up.

binra
binra
Sep 11, 2018 10:04 PM
Reply to  George

Consider the term ‘corporate cartel’ or global banking system. One is a kind of corporate socialism and the other a behind the scenes influence over all and any political arrangement.

Under Aristocratic systems the officers risked injury in battle but received altogether different treatment when captured or when signing treaties. A united identity in maintaining the class dominance did not stop wars – but the other side of this is where polarities are generated and maintained – even with proxy wars and brinkmanship as the means to enslave their own peoples and in the case of the Cold War – to polarize almost all nations into alignment with one or the other.

The geopolitical balancing act may well be intended to erupt in WW3 or proxy wars such as in Syria that may yet expand to bring open hostilities between Nato/Israel and Russia/Iran. There are those who strain at the leash to make war but there are also the use of such people or the affecting of such threat so as to frame narratives and elicit responses in line with their objectives.

There are global initiatives that roll out infrastructural investments in infrastructure or systemic alignments far in advance of any local advantage or return and across seeming national divides.

While it may seem that Capitalism is competition, I suggest the super rich (who may in fact run more debt than anyone else but have a higher throughput and credit status) are essentially consolidating as part of a power class just as corporates do through ‘trade agreements’. The globalist agenda unfolds through destructive intent. The sideshow for the masses is so much part of the politic of deceit that even when things published are true, they are timed or released so as to divert attention or be hidden behind big drama.

Resistance may be futile – but what exactly is being resisted and how?
If Big Brother doesn’t yet own the resistance, it is because it is being secretly encouraged to become credible first. Look at what the eco movement is providing for
If by resistance you mean not allowing deceit to rob you of the life you have and are the unfolding of – then why would that be futile just because Caesar takes different forms?

When it comes right down to the wire – do we want to destroy everything because we cant have our own way? Or are we open to the possibility of another way? I feel we are each and all part of that choice in different facets of the human experience at this time.

The elite cannot really unify through the segregative self sense, but only align under hierarchy under the carrot and the stick. Unified purpose is by definition not against anything. Whereas unifying against a common enemy is totally dependent on fearing and hating others. Hate and fear are not unifying so much as effecting chaos whilst seeking to control its outcome. But hate and fear become the mind of the need to control an ever more complex set of chaotic outcomes, whilst presenting a narrative ‘unity’ at expense of capacity to know anything. This is apparent in the loss of the ability to question or challenge political, social and economic insanities.

“Everything is BACKWARDS; everything is upside down! Doctors destroy health, Lawyers destroy justice, Universities destroy knowledge, Governments destroy freedom, Major media destroys information, And religions destroy spirituality”. Michael Ellner

How such a backwards world can persist is a matter of smoke, mirrors and borrowed time.
But you don’t have to struggle with the call to ‘live’ backwards’ so much as put evil behind you by aligning in health, justice, knowledge, freedom, communication and a true recognition of yourself, life and your fellow beings. This is not thinking about tomorrow – but always a present decision to be living from a truly unified sense of self and life rather than under divide and rule. Calling out a negative outcome from current trends is not futile in the freedom to change our mind.

rtj1211
rtj1211
Sep 11, 2018 1:00 PM
Reply to  MichaelK

The people have a choice not to listen or read those sources any more. Better to trust their instincts than be brainwashed with lies ad nauseam.

We are here and at other similar Alt-Media sites because we have rejected the MSM and glance over it solely to identify the Establishment position, not to be informed or educated in any way.

The only way the people can live in a country of social justice is to take control of how they inform themselves.

I gave up on the MSM when it started censoring fact-based dissent.

Paul X
Paul X
Sep 10, 2018 3:03 PM

When the CIA backed the Bay of Pigs in the expectation that the new young President would have no choice but to use the airforce and military to save them and bring down Castro. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Intelligence Agencies recommended a nuclear first strike of Havana. Kennedy famously refused and then pursued a policy of nuclear disarmament, withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam and talks with Castro. a an end to the Cold War. He soon paid the price for resisting the Dark State and especially Allen Dulles’ malevolence.
The situation isn’t that different now with the military and Spooks itching to get bombing Syria and Iran while the President doesn’t seem so sure. Will Trumop be as brave as JFK? Well you never know!

Schlüter
Schlüter
Sep 10, 2018 4:34 PM
Reply to  Paul X

Unfortunately Trump ´doesn´t have the stature of a JFK (but he´s well Aware how JFK ended)! Great insight into those days gives the book “The Devil´s Chessboard”, about that here:
„Deep State USA: Dulles, Dallas and Devilish Games“: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/deep-state-usa-dulles-dallas-and-devilish-games/

summitflyer
summitflyer
Sep 10, 2018 2:47 PM

I am of mixed feeling here as the terrorists ,known to be of the cut throat type ,under a cease fire agreement would live to continue it’s belligerence and Wahhabi cult influence upon the citizens of Syria .Although I consider myself a man of peace ,I am loath to advocate their continued existence based upon what we know of them.My preference would be extermination short of a mass deprogramming but how to administer to so many.

binra
binra
Sep 10, 2018 4:15 PM
Reply to  summitflyer

What exactly and directly do we ‘know’?
To what extent is the wahhabi cult a proxy of funded identity manipulation (mind-control) and psyops that are effectively deceits by which to capture minds by reaction?

The existence of anyone or anything is not our doing but is a co-existence in being. Perpetual war is a way of co-existence under the dictate of judging, invalidating and dominating or subjection. Victims and perpetrators in ever shifting roles running down the generations as the attempt to escape the crab barrel of our own denials. The ‘war against evil’ that justifies war as if good.

Recognition of our OWN programming is the opening of the desire to know truly or indeed truly know. The result of true knowing is a man of peace, because war is the condition by which to NOT know what we know. This is the pushing to ‘unconscious’ in denial and then projection as a seemingly personal (temporary) salvation at expense of our brother – except once invalidated BY such judgement ‘others’ are effectively denied humanity – and in treating them inhumanely – we also dehumanise ourselves.

A false foundation by definition -and literally by falsely defining – corrupts and distorts EVERYTHING that then follows. This is the reason why manipulating deceit interjects at the template level and why our true freedom is revealed in bringing the template level of beliefs and definitions to light, rather than living from and within their framework.

The communications framed in external drama are of a different order than insider communications. The willingness to exterminate people feeds the means to do so – no matter what ‘side’ they seem to operate. The capture of the mass mind in such hate is a fuel for a hateful agenda. How could it be otherwise.

How to cull the masses is not so difficult. Simply induce them to self-destructive thoughts and behaviours – perhaps after first baiting them with an inflated sense of self-specialness.

vexarb
vexarb
Sep 10, 2018 6:36 PM
Reply to  binra

Binra, if I get your drift, it seems in the same direction as Intelligence for Sanity: namely, surrender of foreign ‘ISIS’ terrorists and reconciliation of native Syrian ”rebels’?. This has been the policy of Dr.Assad since at least 2013 to my knowledge — and he has been much “blamed for harmful mildness” by Syrian patriots who would like to see the terrorists wiped out. Likewise President Putin has received much blame from Russian patriots who cannot understand why Putin should call F UK U$A his “partners” even while he is taking strong measures to frustrate their Imperial ambitions.

A sane world is a multi-polar world, not a world where One and One Alone has Full Spectrpm Dominance.

mog
mog
Sep 10, 2018 2:44 PM

Terrifying times.
Monbiot going all out, deranged, pro-terrorist, Russophobic, melt down on Twitter.
Bearly a single comment supporting him beneath his.

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Sep 10, 2018 3:12 PM
Reply to  mog

I’ve just replied to his tweet of “Political journalism has been taken over by gossip columnists.” with –

“You surely mean that MSM political journalism has been taken over by warmongering neoliberals and the remaining confused left-liberals wouldn’t spot their country turning into an Orwellian state if it started to happen? George, have we really “always been at war with Russia”?”

rtj1211
rtj1211
Sep 11, 2018 1:05 PM

I am afraid Monbiot is off with the fairies. My starting point is assuming he is a scheming, manipulative Londoner who wants to keeps his country pad in Somerset and so plays the game to do so.

What can he do apart from journalism to earn a crust? Where can he earn a crust writing real green left wing politics?

Certainly not in the London MSM….