<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<big><font size="3"><big><strong>For whom the Syrian bell tolls</strong></big></font></big><br>
By Pepe Escobar <br>
12/22/12<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NL22Ak03.html">http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NL22Ak03.html</a><br>
<br>
The top geopolitical tragedy in 2012 is bound to remain the top
geopolitical tragedy in 2013: the rape of Syria. <br>
<br>
Just as once in a while I go back to my favorite Hemingway passages,
lately I've been going back to some footage I shot years ago of the
Aleppo souk - the most extraordinary of all Middle Eastern souks. It's
like being shot in the back; I was as fond of the souk's architecture
as of its people and traders. Weeks ago, most of the souk - the living
pulse of Aleppo for centuries - was set on fire and destroyed by the
"rebels" of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA). <br>
<br>
In this Syrian tragedy, there is no Hemingway young hero, no Robert
Jordan in the International Brigades fighting alongside
<div id="beacon_d5978851d4"
style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><img
src="cid:part1.04030001.00060203@freedomarchives.org" alt=""
style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" height="0" width="0">Republican
guerrillas against the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. In the
Syrian civil war, the international brigades are mostly of the
mercenary, Salafi-jihadi, beheading and car-bombing type. And the (few)
young Americans in place are basically high-tech pawns in a game played
by the rapacious NATOGCC club (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
and its Arab puppets of the Gulf Cooperation Council). The tragedy
continues. The Syrian state, political and military security apparatus
will maintain its mini-blitzkriegs - with no second thoughts for
"collateral damage". On the opposing side, "rebel" commanders will be
betting on a new Saudi-Qatari-encouraged Supreme Military Council. <br>
</div>
Republican guerrillas against the fascists during the Spanish Civil
War. In the Syrian civil war, the international brigades are mostly of
the mercenary, Salafi-jihadi, beheading and car-bombing type. And the
(few) young Americans in place are basically high-tech pawns in a game
played by the rapacious NATOGCC club (the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and its Arab puppets of the Gulf Cooperation Council). <br>
<br>
The tragedy continues. The Syrian state, political and military
security apparatus will maintain its mini-blitzkriegs - with no second
thoughts for "collateral damage". On the opposing side, "rebel"
commanders will be betting on a new Saudi-Qatari-encouraged Supreme
Military Council. <br>
<br>
The Salafis and Salafi-jihadis of the al-Nusrah Front - 7th century
fanatics, beheading enthusiasts and car-bombing operatives who do the
bulk of the fighting - were not invited. After all, the al-Nusrah Front
has been branded a "terrorist organization" by Washington. <br>
<br>
Now check the reaction of a Muslim Brotherhood (MB) bigwig, Hama-born
deputy comptroller general Mohammed Farouk Tayfour; he said the
decision was "too hasty". And check the reaction of the new Syrian
opposition leader, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, at a "Friends of Syria"
meeting in Morocco; the decision must be "reexamined". Virtually all
"rebel" outfits publicly declared their undying love for the hardcore
al-Nusrah. <br>
<br>
So with the al-Nusrah fanatics probably disguising their Islamically
correct beards under a prosaic hoodie, expect plenty more "rebel"
advances on Damascus - despite two major beatings (last July and then
this month), courtesy of Syrian government counter-offensives. After
all, that lavish training by US, British and Jordanian Special Forces
has got to yield some results, not to mention the loads of extra lethal
weapons provided by those paragons of democracy in the Persian Gulf. By
the way, the al-Nusrah Front controls sections of devastated Aleppo. <br>
<br>
<b>Sectarian hatred rules </b><br>
Then there's the Orwellian, brand new National Coalition of Syrian
Revolutionary and Opposition Forces - a Washington-Doha co-production.
Meet the new boss, same as the old (lousy) boss, which was the Syrian
National Council (SNC). It's just rhetoric; the only thing that matters
for the "National Coalition" is to get more lethal weapons. And they
love al-Nusrah, even if Washington doesn't. <br>
<br>
Qatar unloaded tons of weapons "like candy" (according to a US arms
dealer) in "liberated" Libya. Only after the Benghazi blowback did the
Pentagon and the State Department wake up to the fact that weaponizing
the Syrian rebels may be, well, the road to more blowback. Translation:
Qatar will keep unloading tons of weapons in Syria. The US will keep
"leading from behind". <br>
<br>
Expect more horrible sectarian massacres as the one in Aqrab. <a
href="http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/happened-syrian-town-aqrab/3426">Here</a>
is the most authoritative version of what may have really happened.
This proves once again that what the NATOGCC "rebels" are actually
winning is the YouTube war. So expect more massive, relentless waves of
spin and propaganda - with Western corporate media cheerleading of the
Syrian "freedom fighters" putting to shame the 1980s jihad in
Afghanistan. <br>
<br>
Expect more major distortions of context, as when Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, "The fighting will become even
more intense, and [Syria] will lose tens of thousands and, perhaps,
hundreds of thousands of civilians... If such a price for the removal
of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of
course, consider it absolutely unacceptable." <br>
<br>
Ergo, Russia is trying to do everything to prevent this from happening.
And if NATOGCC "rebels" carry out their threats to attack the Russian
and Ukrainian embassies in Damascus, they had better trim their beards
and run for cover from the no-nonsense Spetnatz - Russian Special
Forces. <br>
<br>
Expect more sectarian hatred, as in Sunni Sheikh and al-Jazeera star
Yusuf al-Qaradawi casually issuing a <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgVF0t2mfsE&feature=player_embedded">fatwa</a>
legitimizing the killing of millions of Syrians, be they military or
civilian, as long as they are Alawites or Shi'ites. <br>
<br>
Sectarian hatred will rule, with Qatar in the lead, followed by Saudis
with large pocketbooks and assorted hardcore Islamists. Agenda; war
against Shi'ites, against Alawites, against secularists, even against
moderates, not only in Syria but all across the Middle East. <br>
<br>
<b>A Patriot vs Iskander face-off</b><br>
The new Syrian Army strategy boils down to a major pull back from
countryside backwaters and bases, concentrating their troops in cities
and towns. <br>
<br>
Expect the overall strategy of the NATOGCC club to remain more or less
the same; bog down the Syrian Army in as many areas as possible;
demoralize them; and keep oiling the terrain for a possible North
Atlantic Treaty Organization intervention (the chemical weapons hype
and the relentless carping over a "humanitarian catastrophe" are part
of the extensive psy ops package). <br>
<br>
The Syrian Army may have the heavy weapons; but when confronting a
tsunami of mercenaries and Salafi-jihadists fully trained and
weaponized by the NATOGCC club, the whole thing may take years, Lebanon
civil war-style. That leads us to the next "best" option - which is in
fact a spin-off; the death of the Syrian state by a thousand, make it a
million, cuts. <br>
<br>
What's certain is that the "coalition of the willing" against Syria
will have no trouble unraveling once the endgame is reached. Washington
bets on a post-Assad regime run by the MB. No wonder King Playstation
in Jordan is freaking out; he knows the MB will also take over Jordan
and expel him to permanently shop at Harrods. <br>
<br>
Those paragons of democracy - the medieval petro-monarchies in the
Persian Gulf - are also freaking out; they fear the popular appeal of
the MB like the plague. Syrian Kurdistan - now definitely on its way to
total autonomy and eventually freedom - already keeps Ankara freaking
out. Not to mention the future prospect of a tsunami of unemployed
Salafi-jihadis merrily ensconced in the Syria-Turkish border and ready
to run amok. <br>
<br>
And then there's the complex Turkey-Iran relationship. Tehran has
already warned Ankara in no uncertain <a
href="http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=301277">terms
</a>about the just-to-be-deployed NATO missile defense system. <br>
<br>
That's got to be the newspeak masterpiece of late 2012. Pentagon
spokesman George Little has been adamant that "the United States has
been supporting Turkey in its efforts to defend itself... [against
Syria]." <br>
<br>
Thus the deployment of 400 US troops to Turkey to run two Patriot
missile batteries, to "defend" Turkey from "potential threats emanating
from Syria". <br>
<br>
Translation; this has nothing to do with Turkey, it's all about the
Russian military in Syria. Moscow has given Damascus not only very
effective, hypersonic Iskander surface-to-surface missiles (virtually
immune to missile defense systems) but the ground-to-air, multiple
target defense system Pechora 2M, a nightmare to the Pentagon if ever a
no-fly zone is imposed over Syria. <br>
<br>
Welcome to the Patriot vs Iskander face-off. And right in the line of
fire, we find Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - an outsized
egomaniac harboring a deep inferiority complex in relation to the
Europeans - left in the cold under NATO's master plan. <br>
<br>
Turkey's Achilles heel (apart from the Kurds) is its self-promoted role
of being a crossroads of energy between East and West. The problem is
Turkey depends on energy supplies from both Iran and Russia; unwisely,
it is antagonizing both, at the same time, with its muddled Syrian
policy. <br>
<br>
All I hear is doom and gloom <br>
<br>
How to solve this tragedy? No one seems to be listening to Syrian Vice
President Farouk Al-Sharaa. In this <a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/exclusive-interview-syrian-vp-farouk-al-sharaa-proposes-alternative-war">interview</a>
with Lebanon's Al-Akhbar, he stresses "the threat of the current
campaign to destroy Syria, its history, civilization, and people...
With every passing day, the solution gets further away, militarily and
politically. We must be in the position of defending Syria's
existence." <br>
<br>
He does not have "a clear answer to what the solution may be". But he
has a road map:
<blockquote>Any settlement, whether starting with talks or agreements
between Arab, regional, or foreign capitals, cannot exist without a
solid Syrian foundation. The solution has to be Syrian, but through a
historic settlement, which would include the main regional countries,
and the members of UN Security Council. This settlement must include
stopping all shapes of violence, and the creation of a national unity
government with wide powers. This should be accompanied by the
resolution of sensitive dossiers related to the lives of people and
their legitimate demands.</blockquote>
This is not what the NATOGCC compound wants - even as the US, Britain,
France, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are all engaged in their own
divergent agendas. What the NATOGCC war has already accomplished is one
objective - very similar, by the way, to Iraq in 2003; it has
completely torn the fragile Syrian social fabric to shreds. <br>
<br>
That is disaster capitalism in action, phase I; the terrain is already
prepared for a profitable "reconstruction" of Syria once a pliable,
pro-Western turbo-capitalism government is installed. <br>
<br>
Yet in parallel, blowback also works its mysterious ways; millions of
Syrians who initially supported the idea of a pro-democracy movement -
from the business classes in Damascus to traders in Aleppo - now have
swelled the government support base as a counterpunch against the
gruesome ethnic-religious cleansing promoted by the "rebels" of the
al-Nusrah kind. <br>
<br>
Yet with NATOGCC on one side and Iran-Russia on the other side,
ordinary Syrians caught in the crossfire have nowhere to go. NATOGCC
will stop at nothing to carve - in blood - any dubious entity ranging
from a pro-US emirate to a pro-US "democracy" run by the MB. It's not
hard to see for whom the bell tolls in Syria; it tolls not for thee, as
in John Donne, but for doom, gloom, death and destruction. <br>
<br>
<i><b>Pepe Escobar</b> is the author of</i> <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim">Globalistan:
How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War</a> (Nimble
Books, 2007) and <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898">Red
Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge</a>. His most recent
book is <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1">Obama
does Globalistan</a> (Nimble Books, 2009). <i>He may be reached at</i>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pepeasia@yahoo.com">pepeasia@yahoo.com</a>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>