re the consequences of the Turkish shootdown, the war of the Israeli/French/British/Canadian to guarantee a Syrian Kurdistan? ...from Voltairenet
......is this now history? The air war effectively stopped by the Russian S-400 air defence system?
Has the YPG entered a strategic Alliance? What will Canada's position be now, that the US may be in support of the Russian strategy?
Where is the news re Canada's strategic manouevering in this imperialist war?
Canada's role as a NATO member is to support alliance objectives of regime change and the destruction of Syria, as well as the dismemberment of Iraq. As far as I know it continues to bomb with CODO (Coalition of the Dodgy Opportunists) while continuing to announce the imminent end of its bombing participation. It has special forces and JTF2 advisors working in Kurdistan which appears to be its overall focus. See Walkom below:
Russia-Turkey Conflict Another Reason For Justin Trudeau To Pull Out of Syria: Walkom
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/29/russia-turkey-conflict-ano...
"...The Liberals would be wise to honour the spirit as well as the letter of their campaign pledge to end the combat mission. They'd be wiser still to extricate Canada from this war entirely."
The Collision Course in Syria - by Daniel Lazare
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/11/28/the-collision-course-in-syria/
"President Obama's continued insistance on 'regime change' in Syria and his support for Sunni jihadists not called ISIS have escalated tensions with Moscow, especially after Turks shot down a Russian warplane along the Syrian border. This division may help only the extremists, writes Daniel Lazare..."
Brit Labour Party - Free Vote Allowed on the Question of Bombing Syria
So much for the party of Corbyn.
International Military Review - Syria, Nov 30, 2015
http://thesaker.is/international-military-review-syria-november-30-2015/
"The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has deployed newly-arrived Russian T-90 advanced battle tanks to the Southern Aleppo front for the first time. The Russian battle tanks will help to continue the SAA advance...'
Obama Talks To Putin in Paris, Expresses Regret Over Downed Su-24 Jet in Syria - Kremlin
https://www.rt.com/news/324009-putin-obama-paris-meet/
"Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama met on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris on Monday. The presidents discussed a number of issues including the Syrian crisis and the situation in Ukraine.
The talks were 'eventful' and lasted for some 30 minutes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists."
The Game Just Changed: Russia Allies With Kurds To Push Turkey Out of Syria
http://russia-insider.com/en/game-just-changed-russia-aligns-kurdish-fig...
"Russia's military response to Turkey's 'stab in the back' has arrived.
The Syrian Kurdish forces (YPG) are considered extremely valuable in the fight against ISIS. In layman's terms, this new alliance could be a fateful blow to Turkey's geopolitical aspirations in Syria (not to mention Russia's de facto no fly zone, thanks largely to a little friend called 'the S-400').
Guess Why the US Is Not (Seriously) Bombing ISIS's Oil Business
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/11/guess-why-the-us-isnt-seriously-bom...
"So far I have found 4 reasons given to explain why the US did not bomb, and does not seriously bomb, the oil truck convoys. Guess which one [if any] is the real one..."
No doubt, given it was on the sidelines of the Paris conference they spoke, Obama most likely selected the 'green option' environmental answer to Putin's question why CODO hasn't bombed ISIS fuel convoys
7,000 Kalashnikovs: Cameron's ' Moderate' Rebels' - by Robert Fisk
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/30/70000-kalashnikovs-camerons-moder...
"...But the Blairite MPS in the Labour Party are going to vote with Dave because while they hate the evil cult of ISIS, they hate the evil cult of Corbyn even more.
Are we in some auto-panic, actually working for ISIS? If that gruesome institution did not ban alcohol, their members would be toasting with champagne our political leaders for their vacuity, their sophistry, the abject fear with which they now regularly try to infect us under the dangerous old cry of 'Unify the Nation."
A Comedy of Errors: US Backed Rebels Fight US Backed Rebels in N Aleppo - by Leith Fadel
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/comedy-errors-u-s-backed-rebels-figh... rebels-northern-aleppo/
"...Perhaps what is even more odd about the US backed rebels fighting the US backed rebels in northern Aleppo is the fact that at least two parties from the opposing sides are factions of the Free Syrian Army;
this means the rebels combatting both the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS) are actually fighting one another with the same weapons transported to them from the Gulf States and the West.
Instead of fighting ISIS in northern Aleppo like they were originally propogated to do, the SDF and the FSA are fighting one another, while ISIS attempts to regroup and relaunch their offensive on the rural city of Mar'e..."
Israel and ISIS: Needed A Thorough Accounting - by Norman Pollack
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/30/israel-and-isis-needed-a-thorough...
"The tangled web of political alignments in the Middle East appears to have obscured possible connections between Israel and ISIS, so opposite in religious belief systems yet sharing a basic geopolitical framework of realpolitik in identifying their respective enemies. The adage of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, though not historically perfect, may apply here, centered on displacing the Assad government in Syria and to that end, drawing in the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar to sanctify the marriage of convenience..."
Not since Hitler ordered General Walther Wenck to send his non-existent 12th Army to rescue him from the Red Army in Berlin has a European leader believed in military fantasies as PR Dave Cameron did last week. Telling the House of Commons about the 70,000 “moderate” fighters deployed in Syria was not just lying in the sense that Tony Blair lied – because Blair persuaded himself to believe in his own dishonesty – but something approaching burlesque. It was whimsy – ridiculous, comic, grotesque, ludicrous. It came close to a unique form of tragic pantomime....
Don't Bomb Syria!
Nov 28 Stop The War Coalition demo outside 10 Downing St
'Inequality' is behind the rise of Isis, says author Thomas Piketty
Piketty writes that the Middle East's political and social system has been made fragile by the high concentration of oil wealth into a few countries
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/inequality-is-behind...
Putin's Revenge? The Fight For the Border - by Mike Whitney
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/01/putins-revenge-the-fight-for-the-...
"...The downing of the Russian warplane has only intensified Putin's determination to seal the northern border, defeat the terrorists and win the war in Syria. This is clearly not the reaction Washington was hoping for.
In candid remarks to the Russian media, Putin implicated the US in the downing of the Su-24, stating that the US military was briefed on the warplane's flightpath and then immediately passed that information to Turkey. Here's what he said:
'We told our US partners in advance, where, when, at what altitudes our pilots were going to operate. The US coalition [including Canada] was aware of the time and place where our planes would operate. And this is exactly where we were attacked....We will have to have a serious talk with our US partners.'
Putin's damning remarks have not appeared in any of the western media. The censorship of this information is similar to the blackout of comments Putin made just 2 weeks earlier at the G-20 summit where he announced that '40 countries' are financing ISIS including members of the G20.
The bottom line is this: Putin had better move quickly before Washington and Ankara set their ducks in a row and begin to mobilize. The time to seize the border is now."
Veterans To Join Last-Ditch Protest To Stop Britain Bombing Syria (and vid)
http://www.rt.com/uk/324125-stop-war-syria-protest/
"Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will join anti-war activists at an evening protest in London's Parliament Square on Tuesday night ahead of Wednesday's debate and vote on extending airstrikes from Iraq into Syria.
Speaking to RT, Ben Griffen, who served on operations in Iraq and helped to found anti-war group Veterans for Peace UK, said: 'It is making me physically sick listening to politicians telling us that it is vital for the UK to get involved in the ongoing slaughter in Syria. I have heard it all before and seen the outcomes first hand.
No good will come from this..."
Germany To Send 1200 Troops To Syria
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/12/01/germ-d01.html
"...This makes the operation in Syria the largest and second most expensive foreign deployment in the history of the Bundeswehr, without even considering likely increases once the deployment begins."
UN Slams Airstrike on Water Plant in Syria's Aleppo
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/01/439929/UN-Syria-Aleppo-airstrik...
"The United Nations has censured the bombardment of a water treatment plant in northwestern Syria. 'In Syria, the rules of war, including those meant to protect vital infrastructure, continue to be broken on a daily basis,' said Hanaa Singer, the UNICEF representative in Syria, in a statement on Tuesday.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the US-led coalition conducting airstrikes against purported positions of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Syria had bombed the water plant.
The US-led coalition airstrikes have been widely criticized as ineffective, with Syrian President Bashar al Assad saying terrorists in Syria have grown in power since the military campaign was launched in Sept 2014. Reports also show the airstrikes have repeatedly hit Syrian infrastruture."
As intended.
Long-Hidden Details Reveal Cruelty of 1972 Munich Attacker
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/sports/long-hidden-details-reveal-crue...
Erdogan Lost Nerve in Syria, Downed Russian Jet: Assad
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/02/439955/Syria-Assad-interview-Tu...
"...The 'failure' of Erdogan's terrorist groups means his political demise,' Assad added, in the interview which was conducted in Damascus. Assad also said peace would only return to Syria when 'France, the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others stop supplying terrorists.
Broaching the subject of elections in Syria, Assad said 'When there's elections the Syrian people will decide. If they want me, I'll be happy to be president; if they don't want me I'll be happy to leave it. I don't have any problem..."
Syrian Fault Lines (MUST WATCH!)
http://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/324215-russian-jet-turkey-terrorism/
The dangerous regime change precipice we now find ourselves standing on
The Real 'Terrorist Sympathizers' Want to Wage War on Syria...And Russia - by Moon of Alabama
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43601.htm
"...I smell that a trap is being laid, likely via a treacherous Turkey, to somehow threaten Russia with, or involve it in, a wider war. This would include military attacks in east-Ukraine or Crimea as well as in Syria.
Obama demanded European backing in case the issue gets out of hand. No other reason I have found explains the current panic. The terrorists the 'west' supports in Syria are in trouble. The real 'terrorist sympathizers' need to rush to their help.
It is the start of all-out war on Syria and its Russian protectors."
The British Parliament has voted 397 to 223 in favour of launching airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. Reports are that bombers are already enroute. They have voted to bomb a country they are not at war with, and without that country's consent.
Stop The War Statement On UK Parliament's Decision To Bomb Syria
"The STWC believes that the decision taken by MPs tonight is profoundly mistaken and dangerous..."
Kurds & US Special Forces Could Be Used To Seal Turkish-Syrian Border - Russia FM
https://www.rt.com/news/324487-lavrov-kurds-turkish-border/
"...Rather than launching a lengthy procedure of investigation, one must take an absolutely obvious step, i.e. close the Turkish-Syrian border,' Lavrov said, stressing that, 'Turkey's efforts will not be enough and it will need help,' Ria Novosti reports.
'As for specific ways of sealing the border between Turkey and Syria, as well as between Turkey and Iraq, once must proceed from the real situation on the ground. Kurdish militia-forces, which are allies of the US-led coalition, could be used both on the Syrian and Iraqi side of the border,' he added.
'I am convinced that it could be done only with the consent of the Syrian government' Lavrov stressed. At the same time the minister announced that the facts concerning Turkey's oil trade with Islamic State would be officially presented at the UN to all parties concerned."
Israel's Covert Involvement in Syria Conflict To Escalate - by Jean Shaoul
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/12/03/isra-d03.html
"A senior defence official has called on Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's right wing government to prepare to intervene in Syria and deal with the likely spillover of the nearly five-year long conflict into Israel itself.
Amos Gilad, the director of the political-security division in the Defence Ministry and a former senior Military Intelligence official, was reported on Israel's Army Radio on Saturday as saying: 'Syria is a dead state, and Israel must understand this and prepare accordingly.'
Just last week, Syria reported that Israel had carried out four airstrikes on Syrian government and Hezbollah positions in Syria's Qalamoun mountains that straddle the border with Lebanon, killing 13 and injuring dozens more.
****Last February, a report by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights, submitted to the UN Security Council and buried by the Western media, showed that the IDF has been in regular contact with Syrian rebels, including Islamic State militants, since May 2013.
In 2012, a secret Pentagon document, later declassified as a result of pressure from the US NGO Judicial Watch, reported that opposition groups supported by Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the US - and covertly Israel sought the establishment of a Salafist Principality in Eastern Syria [Hasaka and Deir al Zour], now part of Islamic State-held territory.
The increasingly close relations between the IDF, Islamic State and Al Qaeda along the Golan Heights coincided with the start of oil exploration by US oil company Genie Energy's Israeli subsidiary Afek Oil & Gas. In October, Yuval Bartov, Afek's chief geologist, told Channel 2 the company had found significant quantities of oil in the Golan Heights..."****
The US-Russia Proxy War in Syria - by Ray McGovern
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/12/01/the-us-russia-proxy-war-in-syria/
"The risk of Syria becoming a proxy war between the US and Russia became real last week when Turkey and Syrian jihadists used US-supplied weaponry to shoot down a Russian warplane and rescue helicopter, killing two Russians, a danger that ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains...
'Besides the neocons' close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the neocons are intimately connected to the interests of the Military Industrial Complex. Perhaps the greatest danger from Obama's acquiesence to the neocon's Cold War with Russia is that the neocon hopes for 'regime change in Moscow' will be realized, except that Putin will be replaced by some ultra-nationalist who would rather risk nuclear war than accept further humiliation of Mother Russia.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, the US establishment is such that the generals, the arms manufacturers and weapons merchants, the Defense Department and most of Congress have a very strong say in US foreign policy - and Obama seems powerless to change it..."
Syrian State Media Says British Airstrikes Are Illegal
https://www.rt.com/uk/324631-syria-regime-international-law/
"Syrian state media outlets claim the British parliament's decision to extend airstrikes against Islamic State from Iraq into Syria is in contravention of international law.
The Independent reported that the Al Baath newspaper - which reportedly answers to President Bashar Assad's own party - said Prime Minister David Cameron was running a 'PR campaign' - in support of a US-led show in violation of the UN Charter.
Al Thawra, another official newspaper, said Cameron and the House of Commons vaulted 'over international legitimacy as usual."
Imprisoned Al Qaeda Fighters Freed By US Allies To Rejoin Fight Against Assad - by Eric Zuesse
http://off-guardian.org/2015/12/03/imprisoned-al-qaeda-fighters-freed-by...
"Some of the world's top Al Qaeda operatives were freed from a Lebanese prison on Tuesday, Dec.1st, to join the US-led war against Syria's Bashar al Assad.
America's anti-Assad ally, Qatar, the chief financier of the Muslim Brotherhood, negotiated with the neutralist Lebanese government, to swap the 26 imprisoned Al Qaeda jihadists for 16 Lebanese soldiers who had been captured by Al Qaeda in Lebanon.
Qatar is part of the US-Saudi-Turkish war to overthrow Syria's Russia-allied leader, Bashar al Assad. The royal owners of Qatar, the Thani family, want to build through Syria a gas pipeline to get Qatar's gas into Europe to supplant Russia's gas there. Russia's ally Assad stands in the way of that..."
CrossTalk on Syria: Complicated Battlefield (and vid)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61RMoGAkYEw
"The plot dangerously thickens - with the UK voting to officially join the Syrian conflict, the battlefield and airspace are now precariously crowded. And since the US and its allies are unwilling to cooperate with the Syrian-led coalition, do all sides risk miscalculation?
Maybe this is what Washington wants...
US Preparing Airbase in Northeast Syria: Reports
" The US is preparing an airbase in northeast Syria as a conduit of supplies for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition fighting ISIS. A Lebanese daily and a local Kurdish outlet allege that US technicians are supervising work on an airfield in the Hassakeh town of Rimelan.
The report comes a little over a week after the local Kurd street outlet said that the US and Kurdish forces were working together to construct a 10 hectare military airbase south of the town of Rimelan in the village of Rimelan al Basha."
US Weapons Makers Struggling With Rising Arms Demands
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/05/440459/US-arms-industry-USled-c...
"The US arms industry is striving to keep up with demands for weapons and ammunition for use in the Middle East conflicts, amid speculations of lingering wars in the region and beyond. According to senior US officials and industry executives, arms makers have increased shifts and hired extra workers.
'It's a huge growth area for us,' one executive with a US arms maker told Reuters on condition of anonymity. 'Everyone in the region is talking about building up supplies for 5-10 years. This is going to be a long fight, against Daesh (ISIL)."
The Saker: Russia's Intervention in Syria, Week 9: The Empire Strikes Back
http://thesaker.is/week-nine-of-the-russian-intervention-in-syria-the-em...
"...The empire correctly identified the weakness of the Russian force in Syria and decided to use Turkey to provide itself a measure of plausible deniability. This attack is probably only the first step of a much larger campaign to 'push back' Russia from the Turkish border.
The next step apparently includes the dispatching of western forces into Syria, initially only as 'advisors', but eventually as special forces and forward air controllers. The US and Turkish Air Forces will play the primary role here, with assorted Germans and UK aircraft providing enough diversity to speak of an 'international coalition.'
Eventually NATO will create a de facto safe haven for its 'moderate terrorists' in northern Syria and use it as a base to direct an attack on Raqqa. Since any such intervention will be completely illegal, the argument of the need to defend the Turkmen minority will be used R2P and all. The NATO-protected safe haven for 'moderate terrorists' could provide the first step to breaking up Syria into several small statelets.
If that is really the plan, then the shooting down of the Su-24 sends a powerful message to Russia: we are ready to risk a war to push you back - are you ready to go to war? The painful answer will be that no, Russia is not prepared to wage a war against the entire Empire over Syria, simply because Russia does not have the capabilities to do so.
The fact is that the Russian intervention in Syria was always a risky and difficult one and it did not take the Empire much time to capitalize on this. Now that the precedent has been set by Turkey's act of war on Russia, because that is what the shooting down undeniably was, any NATO member can now do the same thing while feeling protected by the alliance.
NATO is deliberately escalating its war against Russia..."
German Parliament Votes For Military Intervention in Syria
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/12/05/germ-d05.html
"On Friday, the Bundestag, the German Parliament voted to participate in the war in Syria by a large majority. The decision to launch a major deployment of the Bundeswehr, with far-reaching and unpredictable consquences, was rushed through parliament in expedited proceedings.
Not since WWII has a decision on participation in war been taken so quickly.
Under the pretext of the struggle against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS), which was built up and supported by the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, further violent division of the material-rich region has begun, threatening to prove even bloodier than the previous wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria..."
Syria Update; International Military Review (and vid)
https://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/2015/12/06/international-military-...
"Recent developments show significant changes in the strategy of Western countries involved in the conflict..."
Syrian Women's Union Calls Upon the World's Women to Make Appeal to Condemn Terrorism
HAVANA, Sana - The Syrian delegation participating in the 70th anniversary of Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) [say] that what is happening in the Arab arena - of explosions and terrorist acts - are made by the US and world imperialism to preserve the interests and security of Israel and to destroy the axis of Resistance in the Middle East.
Member of the Executive Bureau of the General Women's Union in Syria (GWU) Umayma Khaddour, called on the world's women to stop the war in Syria and to condemn terrorism in all its forms. In addition, to establish a world coalition to fight terrorism and boycott countries that sponsor and finance it.
She expressed thanks to the WDF headed by its Brazilian president Marcia Campos for its support and solidarity with Syrian people and women..."
Israeli Airstrikes over Damascus Confirmed
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-airstrikes-over-damascus-con...
"...The source further added that this deliberate attack and violation of Syrian airspace was likely to provoke an aggressive response from the Syrian Air Defense, in order for the Israeli intelligence apparatus to confirm whether or not the Syrian Government now possesses the Russian manufactured S-300 anti-aircraft missile system."
Reports: ISIS Attacks Ayash Base Following US-Led Airstrikes
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/reports-isis-attacks-ayash-base-foll...
"Following US-led airstrikes on Ayash military base in Deir ex Ezzar, it has been confirmed that ISIS immediately attacked. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has been in control of the Ayash military base for the entirety of the war..."
Either the attack was deliberate or if a mistake, further proof they should not operate without the consent and direction of Damascus.
International Military Review - South Front - Syria, Dec. 6, 2015
http://thesaker.is/international-military-review-syria-december-6-2015/
"The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) supported by the National Defence Forces continued its advance along the Turkish border in the Latakia province's northern countryside."
Full Interview with Bashar al Assad by Czech TV
http://thesaker.is/full-interview-with-bashar-al-assad-by-czech-tv-11215/
Sunday Times
Meet the Western-Backed 'Moderate' Opposition...
Will an A/Q Ally Be A Peacemaker in Syria?
Ahrar Al Sham
https://twitter.com/LinaArabii/status/671497611220791296
A/Q affiliate linked to Al Nusra - the West is seriously considering inviting these people to help form a new government in Syria..
US-Backed Syrian Opposition Official Calls For Extermination of Alawites
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/u-s-backed-syrian-opposition-officia...
"A prominent official from the US backed Syrian opposition has called for the extermination of Alawite Muslim villages. Abdullah Al Ali, a former Aleppo based attorney has since moved to Turkey where he works alongside the President of the Syrian National Council (SNC) Khaled Khoja.
According to Abdullah Al Ali's Facebook, he advises his fellow followers in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to carry out deliberate attacks against Syria's Alawite Muslim population - contrary to the message the SNC has attempted to spread to the West..."
Western Coalition Strikes Syrian Army Camp, 3 Dead, 13 Injured (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/news/324940-syrian-army-coalition-strike/
The Syrian Foreign Ministry has filed an official protest with the UN Security Council regarding the US-led coalition's airstrikes on Syrian troops, Syria's official SANA news agency reported Monday.
'Syria strongly condemns the act of aggression by the US-led coalition that contradicts the UN Charter on goals and principles...'
The US-led coalition's airstrikes in Syria are in fact illegal. In response to the UK's decision to join the bombing campaign in Syria, President Assad reiterated in an interview with the Sunday Times that the presence of Britain in Syria is unlawful as neither Damascus nor the UN has given London the green light to bomb Syrian territory.
'It will be harmful and illegal and it will support terrorism, as happened after the coalition started its operations a year or so ago, because this is like a cancer,' Assad said."
Hey Canada, why is the RCAF component of this illegal coalition still bombing, even after a supposed promise by JT to stop? When will they stop? When will you demand they do so?
CANADA STOP BOMBING NOW!
Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence
Operation Impact
http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/operations-abroad-current/op-impact.page
Coalition Bombing Linked To 48 Allegations of Civilian Casualties in Iraq, Syria
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fifth-estate-canada-airstrikes-record-coali...
Deadly Air Strike: "Washington Targets Syrian Govt Because of Fear to Lose Russia
"Damascus has sent a complaint to the UN Security Council regarding a suspected Western-coalition air strike on arm positions in Syria. Catherine Shakdam, ME expert, joins RT to discuss the issue."
CrossTalk: Syria's Wheel of Fortune
"The Syrian Civil War is a place of cruel realities and western illusions. For the sake of false pride, is Washington willing to destroy everything in its path?"
Dec 7, 2015, Foreign Policy Diary - Escalation in Syria Leads to Global War (and vid)
http://thesaker.is/foreign-policy-diary-escalation-in-syria-leads-to-a-g...
"NATO intervention in Syria leads to an imminent escalation..."
How Russia is Smashing the Turkish Game in Syria - by Pepe Escobar [MUST READ]
http://russia-insider.com/en/how-russia-smashing-turkish-game-syria/ri11686
"So whey did Washington take virtually forever to not really acknowledge ISIS/ISIL/Daesh is selling stolen Syrian oil that will eventually find its way to Turkey? Because the priority all along was to allow the CIA - in the shadows - to run a 'rat line' weaponizing a gaggle of invisible 'moderate rebels'.
As much as Daesh - at least up to now - the Barzani mob in Iraqi Kurdistan was never under Washington's watch. The oil operations the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) runs to Turkey is virtually illegal; stolen-state-owned oil as far as Baghdad is concerned.
Daesh stolen oil can't flow through Damascus-controlled territory. Can't flow through Shiite-dominated Iraq. Can't go eat to Iran. It's Turkey or nothing. Turkey is the easternmost arm of NATO. The US and NATO 'support' Turkey. So a case can be made that the US and NATO ultimately support Daesh.
What's certain is that illegal Daesh oil and illegal KRG oil fit the same pattern; energy interests by the usual suspects playing a very long game. What these interests are focused on is to control every possible oil asset in Iraqi Kurdistan and then in 'liberated' Syria.
So imagine a continuous Syrian Kurd control/autonomy/corridor all across the Turkish-Syrian border. For Ankara this is the ultimate nightmare..."
34 Syrian Civilians Reported Killed in Suspected US-Led Coalition Airstrikes
https://www.rt.com/news/325131-syria-bombing-civilians-coalition/
"The death toll from a suspected US-coalition airstrike on a Syrian village could be as high as 34, according to local sources. The US military say they are investigating the allegations. The alleged attack by US-led coalition forces on the Syrian village of Al Khan was carried out on Monday. Western sources have put the death toll at 26 but Syrian political commentator Alaa Ebrahim said the figure is likely to be even higher."
CF 18s Have Dropped More Than 500 Bombs During War on ISIL (and still bombing!)
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/cf-18s-have-dropped-more-than-500...
"Canadian warplanes have dropped over the last year in the war on the Islamic State, according to newly released figures from the Canadian military..."
NATO's Absurd Denials Amid Acts of War in Syria - by Finian Cunningham
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/324992-nato-attacks-syria-war/
"In two weeks we have seen two apparent acts of war by the US-led NATO military alliance in Syria. First, the Turkish shoot-down of a Russian warplane inside Syrian airspace; now this week, the Syrian army is hit in a deadly airstrike. Despite absurd denials, the grim conclusion is that NATO is at war with Syria.
American political analyst Randy Martin at crookedbough.com says that recent events are proof that Washington and its NATO allies are indeed at war in Syria. Not against IS jihadists, as officially claimed, but against the Syrian state. By extension that means NATO has also moved to a war footing against Russia, an an ally of the Syrian government of President Bashar al Assad."
Syria: Ultimate Pipelineistan War - by Pepe Escobar *MUST READ*
http://www.counterpunch,org/2015/12/09/syria-ultimate-pipelineistan-war/
"Syria is an energy war.
With the heart of the matter featuring a vicious geopolitical competition between two proposed gas pipelines, it is the ultimate Pipelineistan war,
the term I coined long ago for the 21st century imperial energy battlefields..."
4 US-Led Coalition Jets Seen Over Deir ez Zor in Syria, the Day Govt Troops Were Attacked - Russia MoD
https://www.rt.com/news/325179-coalition-jets-syria-army-attack/
"Four Western Coalition warplanes were spotted over the Deir az Zar area in Syria on Dec 6, when a Syrian Army camp came under attack. No Russian warplanes were in the region, says the Russian Defense Ministry.
Damascus says the airstrike against Syrian troop positions was carried out by the US-led coalition. An anonymous US military source told Reuters on Monday that Washington is certain the airstrike was carried out by the Russians..."
'Washington Moving From War on Terror To Regime Change in Syria' (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/324989-washington-moving-war-terror/
"The West has a confused policy as it claims it wants to defeat ISIS, but at the same time considers Assad to be an enemy, Middle East expert Ali Rizk told RT.
Rizk suggests the incident could have been some kind of deliberate attack."
'Hopefully No Nukes Will Be Needed' - Putin (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/news/325178-putin-nukes-missiles-isis/
"On Tuesday, a Russian Kilo-class submarine, the Rostov on Don fired Kalibr-PL cruise missiles against and IS installation near the terrorists' stronghold in Raqqa. Water to surface cruise missiles were launched from a submerged sub in the Mediterranean Sea.
'We've been registering the missiles launches, flights and of course their hitting the targets,' Shoigu said. 'We warned our Israeli and American colleagues about these launches.'
Vladimir Putin praised the Russian cruise missiles fired against terrorists in Syria from the sea. He expressed hope that these weapons would not have to be armed with nuclear warheads..."
CrossTalk: Syrian Chessboard
"It would appear Assad remains target number one."
Freedom Rider: Syria and World War - by Margaret Kimberley
http://blackagendareport.com/node/4847
"The US and its allies [CANADA - still bombing Syria/Israq. Few notice or care.] seem determined to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI, by starting WWIII. Some of the same players are involved and their motives are as ignoble..."
Where Will The Ukrainian Bombs Explode? (and vid) - by Andrey Fomine
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/12/where-will-the-ukrainian-bombs-explode/
"On December 7 the Cyber-Berkut made public another set of evidence exposing preparations for false flag attacks in Syria by the Ministry of Defense of Qatar..."
Destroying Syria To Create Sunnistan - by Mike Whitney
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/09/destroying-syria-to-create-sunnis...
"What is the connection between the US bombing of a Syrian military base in Ayyash, Syria and the Turkish invasion of northern Iraq? Both of those seemingly isolated events are part of a larger plan to Balkanize the Middle East, to strengthen Washington's grip on dwindling resources, to draw Russia into a costly and protracted war, and to ensure that ME oil remains denominated in US dollars.
[These] moves fit perfectly with the overall imperial strategy of 'deconstructing' Syria and Iraq and breaking them into smaller, innocuous statelets that will remain in a permanent state of colonial dependency for the forseeable future.
So it looks like an agreement has been struck between Turkey, the KRG (Kurds) and the US to seize parts of northern Iraq, and eastern Syria to create a de facto Sunni state that can be jointly controlled by Ankara and Washington.
It also looks like Obama has agreed to use dodgy jihadi-proxies (aka Terrorists) to work alongside US Special Forces [JTF2 anyone?) to carry out future military operations. The determination to destroy Syria is as strong as ever..."
Destroying Syria To Create Sunnistan - by Mike Whitney
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/09/destroying-syria-to-create-sunnis...
"What is the connection between the US bombing of a Syrian military base in Ayyash, Syria and the Turkish invasion of northern Iraq? Both of those seemingly isolated events are part of a larger plan to Balkanize the Middle East, to strengthen Washington's grip on dwindling resources, to draw Russia into a costly and protracted war, and to ensure that ME oil remains denominated in US dollars.
[These] moves fit perfectly with the overall imperial strategy of 'deconstructing' Syria and Iraq and breaking them into smaller, innocuous statelets that will remain in a permanent state of colonial dependency for the forseeable future.
So it looks like an agreement has been struck between Turkey, the KRG (Kurds) and the US to seize parts of northern Iraq, and eastern Syria to create a de facto Sunni state that can be jointly controlled by Ankara and Washington.
It also looks like Obama has agreed to use dodgy jihadi-proxies (aka Terrorists) to work alongside US Special Forces [JTF2 anyone?) to carry out future military operations. The determination to destroy Syria is as strong as ever..."
Kurdistan/Sunnistan see also Meyssan previously posted:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article189562.html
International Military Review - Dec 8, 2015 - Syria-Iraq Battlespace (and vid)
http://thesaker.is/international-military-review-syria-iraq-battlespace/
10 facts western governments don't want you to know:
http://www.juancole.com/2015/12/government-doesnt-about.html
Groups Linked to ISIS Attending Riyadh Talks on Syria's Future
http://www.rt.com/news/325521-isis-riyadh-syria-meetings/
"Groups linked to Islamic State are involved in talk in Riyadh which are aimed at forming a united delegation against Syrian President Bashar Assad and according to the country's civil war, according to Iran's deputy foreign minister. The talks, which began on Wednesday and are expected to last three days, have brought together publicly for the first time more than 110 Syrian political figures. Those in attendance include members of the Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army.
Some of the largest Islamist groups such as the Army of Islam are also present at the meeting, although the Islamist insurgent group Ahrar al Sham said earlier on Thursday that it was quitting the Saudi-hosted meeting because the role of 'revolutionary groups' had not been given proper attention.
Leaders of the Syrian National Coalition said the goal of the three-day meeting is to reach a consensus on a document which would outline a set of principles to form the basis of a joint negotiating position in talks with the Assad government in January. The scheduled January meeting is the result of a road map agreed to in Vienna last moth by world powers including the US, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia."
Moscow Objective To Defeat ISIS, US Objective To Defeat Assad - Galloway (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/uk/325559-galloway-russia-us-syria/
"The former MP went on to stress that it is the so-called Islamic State, Al Qaeda and other militant groups who pose the real threat to the West, not the Assad government."
The Saudi-Hosted 'Opposition Talks' Fiasco
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/11/the-saudi-hosted-opposition-talks...
"The media doesn't want the American people to know that the so-called moderate militias their government is backing are actually homicidal maniacs who are determined to topple a secular government and replace it with an Islamic Caliphate."
How Far Can the Syrian Conflict Spiral Out of Control?
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/how-far-can-the-syria-conflict-sp...
"Is the dangerously unspoken theory that ISIS is a bulwark against Iran what's keeping the West from tackling the Islamic State wholeheartedly on its territory? With no nation that can control it, the threat is now out of control and a war of ambiguous targets is emerging.."
Yes, Canada is still bombing Syriaq too.
Week Ten of the Russian Intervention in Syria
http://thesaker.is/week-ten-of-the-russian-intervention-in-syria-the-ass...
"The 'Assad must go' policy leads to war with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah."
Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Seek To Join US-Led Coalition in Syria - German Media
"The commander of the Ukrainian Azov volunteer battalion recently announced that he and his forces are ready to fight on the side of the Western coalition in Syria, DWM wrote. According to the newspaper, Ukrainian neo-Nazis have good relations with the US as many of them participated in the military training of the Ukrainian army conducted by American [and Canadian] soldiers.
The training was directed against Russia and Donbass militias seeking independence from Ukraine, DWN wrote. The Azov Battalion has been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes in Eastern Ukraine..."
More 'moderate rebels' to join the party. Careful they don't defect to ISIS upon arrival. Or maybe they can team up with their Canadian JTF2 friends. After all, they're all on the same team.
Azov Battalion: 'Heroes' of New Ukraine
Above the Law: How Israel Thrives From Syria's Natural Resources
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/20616/
"..Israel's 'oasis' in the desert continues to develop at the expense of Syria and the Syrian people. And despite international indignation for Israel's unlawful actions, nothing of any substance is done about it. Over the years this inactivity has encouraged Israel to presume it is above the law.
The Golan Heights was and still is Syrian territory."
UNSC Rejects Russian Draft as Damascus Condemns 'Discriminatory Silence' on Syria Terror Acts
http://www.rt.com/news/325821-syria-terror-security-council/
"The UN Security Council has failed to condemn a terrorist attack in the city of Homs on Saturday that took the lives of 22 civilians, rejecting a Russian draft statement. Syria criticized the international community's double standards.
The exact content of the draft has not been shared, but on Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry in its address to the UN stressed that Syria is suffering 'a series of ongoing crimes against humanity', urging the international community and members of the UNSC to cease financing terrorist groups in Syria.
The Syrian government reiterated that most of the terrorist attacks 'would not have happened without generous support with money, weapons and ammunition to the terrorist organizations as well as the poltical and media support provided by known countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,' the Ministry said.
Terrorist groups also receive 'declared and undeclared support from members of the Security Council for the crimes of terrorists,' who hardly ever react to terror acts in Syria but 'immediately condemn terrorist acts in other places.' Despite pleas from Damascus, the UNSC, which is now chaired by the US, has rejected the Russian draft and failed to issue any statement on terrorist acts in Syria, even though a day earlier the body condemned 'in the strongest terms' the attack on the Embassy of Spain in Kabul, Afghanistan."
Members of the US-led coalition in Syria include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Canada, US, UK, Australia, France, Jordan, UAE.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Sarin Materials Brought Via Turkey & Mixed In Syrian ISIS Camps' - Turkish MP to RT (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/news/325825-sarin-gas-syria-turkey/
"ISIS terrorists in Syria received all necessary materials to produce deadly Sarin gas via Turkey, a Turkish MP claimed, citing evidence from an abruptly closed criminal case. Speaking to RT, Eren Erdem said there are grounds to believe in a cover-up.
Sarin gas is a military grade chemical that was used in a notorious attack on Ghouta and several other neighborhoods near the Syrian capital Damascus in 2013. The attacks were pinned on the Syrian leadership.
Erdem argues that the West purposely blamed the regime of Bashar Assad for the August 2013 attacks and used it as part of the pretext to make US military intervention in Syria possible.
Erdem also accused the West and Europe in particular for providing 'basic materials' to create such a powerful chemical weapon. 'All the basic materials are from Europe. Western sources know very well who carried out the sarin gas atttack'..."
NATO's Got A Brand New (Syrian) Bag - by Pepe Escobar *MUST READ*
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/325845-natos-syrian-us-escobar/
"The FSB, SVR and GRU in Russia, while drawing all the right connections, cannot help but conclude that Washington is letting Cold War 2.0 escalate to the boiling point. Imagine Russian Intel surveying the geopolitical chessboard.
A Russian passenger jet is bombed by an affiliate of ISIS/ISIL/DAESH. A Russian fighter jet is ambushed and downed by Turkey (NATO); here is a partial yet credible scenario of how it may have happened...
Ukrainian right-wing goons sabotage the Crimean electrical supply. A Syrian army base near Deir Ezzor - an important outpost against ISIS/ISIL/DAESH in eastern Syria - is hit by the US-led Coalition of the Dodgy Opportunists [and Canada!]. The IMF 'pardons' Ukraine's debt to Russia as it joins, de facto, Cold War 2.0.
And this is just a short list.
This is a logical progression. The NATO-GCC compound in Syria is devoured by angst. Russia's entry into the Syrian war theater - A PROXY WAR NOT A CIVIL WAR - threw all elaborate, downright criminal regime-change plans into dissarray. If the US-led CDO [including Canada] were really committed to fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, they would be working side by side with the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), not bombing it or trying to stall it.
And they would be actually trying to shut down the key Turkey-Syria crossroads - the Jarabulus corridor which is in fact a 24/7 Jihadi Highway. NATO's game in Syria wallows in slippery ambiguity. Discussions with dissident EU diplomats in Brussels, not necessarily NATO vassals, reveal a counter-narrative of how the Pentagon clearly mapped out the Russian strategy; how they interpreted Russian forces to be relatively isolated; and how they decided to allow Ankara under Sultan Erdogan to go wild - a perfect tool offering plausible deniability.
Which brings us back to the downing of SU-24. Venturing one step further, Russian expert Alexei Leonkov maintains that not only did NATO follow the whole operation with AWACS, but another AWACS from Saudi Arabia actually guided the Turkish F-16s. All this suggests an extremely serious possibility; A DIRECT NATO-GCC OP AGAINST RUSSIA.
NATO's Syrian intervention is of course absolutely illegal..."
CrossTalk: Syrian Juggernaut (*MUST WATCH)
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/325830-syria-washington-civil-war/
"Differing agendas and competing visions. Washington and its allies continue to pursue a policy based on political outcomes. On the other hand Russia and its allies are targeting and destroying terrorists. Is working at cross purposes what keeps this war going?
CrossTalk with Michael Maloof, Kapil Kamireddi and Patrick Lawrence.
Dec 11, International Military Review - Syria/Iraq Battlespace (and vid)
http://thesaker.is/international-military-review-syria-iraq-battlespace-...
The Ghouta Chemical Attack and the Unraveling of Ankara's Official Story (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/326111-ghouta-chemical-attack-turkey/
"It was the chemical weapons attack that so nearly led to direct war between the US, UK, France and the Syrian government; a war which most likely would have delivered the whole of Syria to IS and Al Qaeda extremists. The horrific Ghouta attack of August 21, 2013 was blamed on President Assad and his government by Western political leaders, and elite media commentators.
Now Turkish MP Eren Erdem has told RT that Islamic State terrorists, then going under the name of Iraqi Al Qaeda, received all the necessary materials to produce deadly sarin gas via Turkey. The Turkish MP says the evidence shows that IS, and not the Syrian government was responsible for the Ghouta attacks..."
Clearly it was a set-up by the Western powers themselves via NATO Turkey to produce the war to deliver Syria to them.
