Oh Brother – here we go again.
The media has gone ballistic on Russia because Russia is involved in Syria… as though a) this is new, and b) this is news.
It always takes digging, but if one looks hard enough one can find that Russia in fact was asked to help battle ISIS in Syria. Russia has stood it’s ground with respect to honoring Assad as the President and has stated that position since the beginning of the war. Russia’s Lavrov and Putin both spoke with Kerry in November 2014 and discussed Russia’s role in providing military assistance to Syria in order to fight off ISIS, al Nusra and al Qaeda. Nearly a year has passed and now the media would have us believe that OHMYGOSH Russia is in Syria…
Russia is in Syria, but so is the US, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, UK, France, and a host of bad guys including; al Nusra, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Division 30, Hezbollah, and infinitely more. One would be hard pressed to find a major country that has NOT been involved in the Syrian war. The reason is and always has been that the situation changed radically from a toppling of Assad regime change, to the ill-advised western aid to rebels that suddenly grinned back their ISIS white teeth.
So, the US asked Russia to help fight ISIS. Russia has all along attempted to return the country to its President, Assad, so that non-interference in the sovereignty of another country can be upheld. While the news from Ukraine has faded as Russia has remained loyal to its agreement, the media needed to find another source for vilification. How trite.
The purpose? Diversion.
There is so much more going on in Syria and the Middle East in general that the media is trying to divert the attention and pretend it isn’t happening:
- ISIS is raiding or destroying all the artifacts held in Syria. The buyers include Americans, Europeans, Asians, whoever has the cash.
- Syria’s oil is continually confiscated and sold by ISIS, flooding the market and creating a glut which is impacting price levels.
- Syrian people have become a country of immigrants, Christian and Muslim, with nowhere to go – but Europe, in particular Germany.
- No one wants the immigrants but Germany, and their plight is exasperated by human traffickers whose sole investment is in money.
- The number of Syrians dead from ISIS, from western bombing, from human traffickers – far, far exceeds anything Assad ever did. We really have no legitimate count but numbers range between 300,000 to half a million.
- The number of wounded, maimed, and the effects on children – is far more astronomical than we can even fathom.
Is there a purpose here? Are we ‘saving’ the Syrians from Assad? McCain? Really…
What really happened? What was the culminating factor that led to the demonizing of Assad? In February 2005, a Lebanese-Saudi businessman, and the Prime Minister of Lebanon was assassinated. His name – Rafic Harari. His murder was blamed on Assad.
The case is still under investigation by the UN prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare. While the UN is making claims that Hezbollah was to blame, there are a multitude of other possibilities including:
- Syria occupied Lebanon and it wasn’t until 2005 that this occupation was removed per the Taif Accord. Some believe that a tit-for-tat as a result of the loss of Lebanon was vengeance against Harari.
- Israel was named a possible source given Harari openly hated Israel.
- The US was a possible culprit given Harari had refused to hand over Hezbollah terrorists per demands.
The Saudis wanted revenge. Big time. Harari was a great friend of the Saudi Royal Family. It was in Saudi Arabia that he made his fortune which gave him the edge when returning to Lebanon and pursuing politics. As Harari was brokering Lebanon’s independence from Syria, Assad (the father) had a brief but tumultuous meeting with Harari. After the meeting, Harari resigned as Prime Minister. It is fair to speculate that the meeting was the impetus. There was rampant corruption in Harari’s term and perhaps Assad had evidence. However, upon a bit of research it is worth noting that Prime Ministers in Lebanon typically only last a year or two.
After Harari’s assassination, the Saudis demanded Assad resign they knew bad blood existed between Harari and Assad and the Muslims are big believers in the tit-for-tat rationale. Assad refused. They attempted coups, impeachment, media manipulation, vilifying, demonizing, they wanted – blood. And when these tactics failed, they went after his people and his country. And here we are – today.
So, what the media is doing today in their assault on Putin is attempting to create a false ‘order’ from which they can derive meaning and substance, when there is nothing. When the focus is regenerated, when it is redefined, the world view simply moves, shifts, peers over the imaginary line and creates a new reality. The new reality is that ‘suddenly Russia is hugely involved in Syria’ when in fact, they always have been.
Why are we focusing on it now? Because it appears the Ukraine mess is no longer news, and vilifying can help prop up new and improved sanctions.