The Pentagon people out of the sudden are optimistic no more, there’s no more talks about the 3 months of bombing campaign that should gradually transform into a ground operation where the ground forces of the regional allied forces were to be supported by the Israeli and American commandos. The news is that this time around the military aggression against Syria should be carried out by 50 cruise missiles striking the “vital” targets within a 72 hour window to “punish” Assad for the alleged usage of the chemical weapons. This means that Pentagon is back at the first base with its initial plan of the attack.
It’s clear that Obama wasn’t expecting to face such strong anti-war sentiments in Europe and at home. In fact those sentiments have grown so strong in the Congress that we can now discuss in all seriousness the possibility of Obama’s impeachment. It seems that the whole Congress wants to impeach Obama today – republicans for him being indecisive, democrats for his readiness to ignore the legislative branch if it is to vote his military plan down. And there’s not a lot of support in this domain – at present one-third of senators and less than a half of representatives are eager to authorize the aggression.
It seemed that the things could go any more wronger for the US warmongers but they did, since the US media started to report that the White House officials were paid by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make the right decision on Syria. This claim is yet to be investigated by the Congress since otherwise the global policeman will have to admit that American soldiers are to die for the Wahabiite causes and the once proud United States Armed Forces are nothing more than a bunch of mercenaries working-off the Saudi money. It turned out that even the bribe giver has got caught in the spotlight, his name is Prince Bandar Bin Sultan he’s a secretary general of the National Security Council and the director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency at the same time. This statement doesn’t look as doubtful as it may sound taking into consideration the brilliant jewelery sets that were gifted by the Saudis a number of times to the high profile US authorities with each set costing from 500 thousand dollars. The two most expensive sets were presented to Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice in the midst of the Arab Spring movement. If the bribery claims are to be proven true, that means trouble for Barack Obama, since we’re not talking impeachment anymore, we’re talking treason charges. The thousands of American war veterans of all the recent American campaigns are not going to keep silent on the White House bribery cases, disappointment, and discontent are spreading fast across the American land.
The European Union position that was voiced in Vilnius in the presence of John Kerry should have shifted the Obama’s standing, but this position is miles away from being called rational. They do blame Assad for the usage of chemical weapons against the civilians but at the same time they say that everybody should wait for the UN investigation to be finished. But if the investigators haven’t provided them with any facts yet, how can they blame somebody? Haven’t they implemented the presumption of innocence in the European Union yet?
That’s a clear case of foul play since the members of the EU do understand that their major NATO ally has got itself in an awkward situation and they are willing to help him out, but at the same time they want to refrain from any statements. This position is explainable since it will be hell to pay if it turns out that the chemical substances were used by the rebels. Should they offer Assad their apologies then and demand Washington to stop its support of the rebels? Maybe they should issue a warrant to detain all the Saudi Arabia bribe givers that were trying to setup up the Syrian conflict, starting with prince Bandar himself. This sounds more like a science fictions to anybody who has a knowledge of the Western policy practices, since it cannot be imagined without the double standards department.
And while Obama tries to determine what will the scale of the future attack on Syria be, the rebels are using this time to recapture territory. After receiving the new weapons supplied by CIA at the expense of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, they’ve managed to fight through the Latakia suburbs, where they were repulsed during prolonged firefights. The Syrian army troops are using tanks, artillery and helicopters to fight them back.
This is unpleasant news for Russia, concerning the fact that it has to evacuate Russian citizens from Syria in a limited time-frame. On September 8 the Russian Emergencies Ministry has managed to evacuate 68 individuals by an airplane. The rebels are desperate to break through to the Latakian port and airport in order to bring the Russian evacuation to a standstill. Another airport in Damascus has been (due to the US military “help) under suppressing fire for a long time now. If Latakia should fall the only mean of evacuation will be the Beirut-Damascus road. Should the US military aggression start a group trained by the US specialists at the Jordan territory should block this road within hours after the initial strike.
Today Russia is a primary target of the USA warmongers in Syria. The United States are eager to get a revenge on it for the independent Russian policy it shows on the international level, for the Snowden case, for everything. In this regard the news about the preparations for the military assault of the Russian embassy in Syria is rather disturbing. If the US military aggression is to take place no one is going to be safe, especially if he’s a Russian citizen.
But the United States themselves have failed to protect their officials in the Bengasi massacre when the USA ambassador was killed by the very rebels that the United States had been supporting. Saudi Arabia had to spend a lot of “jewelry sets” for their Western allies to put the question aside.
Starting with September 11 we are heading into the waters of uncertainty, when the World will observe Obama’s movements carefully. But it doesn’t really matter what he’s going to do – he has already lost. It’s a no-win situation. He have trapped himself with his own careless pro-war rhetoric. And if he is to ride his luck and the war in Syria will be evaded, the first task should do is to change his team starting with mr. Karry.
The United States should be prepared for acts of revenge on their territory, since there’s a lot of angry Arab people that can’t and won’t forgive Syria, Libya, Egypt, Iraq and the list goes on. Americans are a Nation of clever people, why should somebody be hostages of their elected warmonger officials. Should a terrorist attack occur on the American soil after the anti-Syrian aggression, it will be the end of Obama’s political career. One can face a lifetime sentence for provoking such things. It’s time to understand that there’s no room for the John Wayne politics on the international level today.
Alexander Orlov is a political analyst and an expert Orientalist, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.