U.S. Foreign Policy Hijacked for Regional Conflict
Source: Fars News Agency
Massive Buildup Shows US War on Syria Is Getting Bigger – But There Will Be No Breakthrough
May 7, 2018
TEHRAN (FNA)- The issue of America's war of choice and grandiose thinking in the Middle East is putting the entire world in danger all over again.
As is now under the Trump regime, the US military is dramatically expanding its operations in Syria, constructing new illegal bases in the war-torn country and doing whatever it can to sell as many weapons as possible to vassals. The new mission creep base marks the latest example of America's growing and controversial war for regime change in Damascus. The new expansion is one part of what appears to be a massive US military infrastructure development project in other parts of the region as well, including Yemen, that will see new US outposts built this year on the pretext of fighting terror and protecting America's illicit interests.
The buildup coincides with an aggressive escalation by the Trump White House in their propaganda warfare against Iran as well, including a possible withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
While Trump claims the US is leaving Syria, the Pentagon regime continues to seek massive amounts of funding for its military operations in the country as well. This includes a request for $300 million in weapons to give to "partner forces" in Syria i.e., Qaeda-allied militants. This amounts to enough arms for 65,000 fighters. This is expected to center on the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, which is to say, almost entirely the Kurdish YPG. The US has been arming the YPG for years now as part of its regime change campaign.
The $300 million in arms also comes with $250 million in so-called "border security" funding for Syria. Both are going into the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), which Pentagon officials can easily shuffle around to spend on virtually anything – including arming America's favorite terrorists. While couched as "Counter-ISIS" funding, the funding looks more likely to be backing the YPG in fighting Turkey. While the US is unlikely to fund fighting against another NATO ally, it may also be this is just another excuse to grow the OCO for the ultimate push for Damascus.
It gets interesting when we hear that Saudi Arabia confirmed that they are considering joining an "Arab force" to invade Syria as well! They say this possibility has been discussed with officials from a number of different countries. This "Arab Force" would be from countries favoring regime change in Syria. The idea was proposed last month by the Trump White House, which sees the Arab force as a replacement for the US ground troops currently in Syria.
Clearly, such a deployment would not be endorsed by the Syrian government, and would eventually lead to direct military clashes with Syrian forces and their allies. While the nations involved in the Arab force aren't all named, the Saudis involvement suggests it will mirror the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen. But that US-backed, Saudi-led invasion of Yemen has been calamitous, killing large numbers of civilians, and failing to achieve its military goals. There is no reason to think in Syria the outcome will be any different, specially considering that Syria is incomparably stronger that Yemen and already has a vehement army of allies in the sky and on the ground.
Which brings us to the conclusion that it is indeed silly to believe, given how bad Yemen has gone, that the Saudis and their friends have what it takes to consider throwing together another force to invade Syria. US officials see this as a way to affect regime change in Damascus, though it’s clear it will be wishful thinking all over again.
It is exceptionally important for war-party Washington to accept that the reason they lost the war on Syria is because they were wrong, and because they chose a coalition of allies who are corrupt, who are regrettably weak, who are allied with terror groups, who are extremely disliked by the nations they rule or invaded, and who symbolize all of the worst failings of the United Nations and humanity. If they inflate the importance of the purported Iran meddling in their affairs it is to excuse their painful defeat. They see Iran bashing as a way to undermine efforts to end America’s endless war and support for terrorist groups in Syria.
The problem with this new mission creep is that the desperate souls have lost the war and they will not return to the good old days when their terror proxies were roaming free across Iraq and Syria. But America’s new escalation of the war of choice tells us that a notably authoritarian Trump White House is likely to continue to intervene in the post-ISIL country on behalf of vassals who share its illicit interests, and it's especially important for the world community to take this massive buildup by the War Party seriously.
The evidence is overwhelming that America is playing a very harmful role, an unacceptable role in the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and that playing at war with Iran is Trump's way of helping the failing terrorist groups, appeasing disappointed allies, and also an effort to try to undermine in a significant way the anti-terror alliance of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and Russia. The alliance is not, as they claim, a self-interest group relying only on its members. They are drawing support from the world community - unlike the War Party which relies on terror groups and despicable vassals.
Source: Russia Insider
The War on Iran Has Already Begun — and Russia Must End It
The destruction of states such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Iran will isolate Russia when its own turn comes
by Dan Glazebrook • Sunday, May 6, 2018 • 489
Things are escalating again in one of Syria's many wars. On 29 April, two massive strikes – presumed to be Israeli – reportedly hit the Syrian Arab Army's 47th Brigade military base and arms depots near Hama, as well as Nayrab Military Airport in Aleppo.
The strikes reportedly targeted Iranian surface-to-surface missiles intended for deployment in Syria, and killed between 26 and 38 people, including 11 Iranians.
Red Lines Updated
The attack appears to have been coordinated with the US, coming just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Jerusalem – where, according to Haaretz, he had "thrilled Netanyahu with hawkish talk on Iran". That same day, noted the Times of Israel, "news also broke of a phone call between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump", while Israel's defence minister, Avigdor Liberman, was meeting his US counterpart James Mattis in Washington.
This feverish activity came less than a week after General Joseph Votel, the head of the US army’s Central Command, or Centcom, whose sphere of responsibility includes Syria and Iran, made "a largely unpublicised visit to Israel."
The Times of Israel article concluded: "All this is beginning to look rather like a coordinated Israeli-American operation to limit Iran's military activities in Syria – simultaneously conveying the message to Moscow that Russia's green light for Iran to establish itself militarily in Syria is not acceptable in Jerusalem and Washington."
The war on Iran, in other words, has begun. It has been brewing for some time.
In January 2018, with the battle against Islamic State (IS) almost won, former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson announced new goals for US troops in Syria, vowing that they would remain until "Iranian influence in Syria is diminished, and Syria's neighbours are secure from all threats emanating from Syria."
In February the International Crisis Group warned that Israel had "updated its red lines – signalling it would take matters into its own hands if necessary to keep Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria".
Since then, Israel has been directly targeting Iranian personnel and facilities. Its shooting down of an Iranian drone on 9 February led to one of its own F-16s being downed by the Syrian army after it bombed the drone's command centre, the first time an Israeli warplane had been shot down since the 1980s. Yet, in a very rare admission of responsibility, Israel still called the mission a success, claiming that between one third and one half of Syria's air defences had been destroyed in the strikes.
Russia's Response
Two months later, on 9 April, Israeli missiles again struck the same "T4" military base they hit in February. The target was specifically Iranian installations and equipment, and 14 Iranian soldiers were killed. According to one Israeli official, this was the first time Israel had attacked "live Iranian targets".
Please go to Russia Insider to read the entire article.
Source: The Unz Review
The Warmakers
THE SAKER • MAY 5, 2018 • 130 COMMENTS • REPLY
Between the US strikes on Syria in April and the recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, we are in somewhat of a lull in the Empire’s search for a new war to start. The always helpful Israelis, in the person of the ineffable Bibi Netanyahu, are now beating the drums for, well, if not a war, then at least some kind of false flag or pretext to make the US strike at Iran. And then there is the always bleeding Donbass (which I won't address in today's analysis). So let’s see where we stand and try to guesstimate where we might be heading. To be honest, trying to guess what ignorant warmongering psychopaths might do next is by definition a futile exercise, but since there are some not negligible signs that there are at least a few rational people still left in the US White House and/or Pentagon (as shown by the mostly "pretend strikes" on Syria last month), we can assume (hope) that some residual degree of sanity is still present. At the very least Americans in uniform have to ask themselves a very basic and yet fundamental question:
Do I want to die for Israel? Do I want to lose my job for Israel? How about my pension? Maybe just my stock options? Is it worth risking a major regional war for such a "wonderful" state?
A lot depends on whether the US military leaders (and people!) will have the courage to ask themselves this question and, if they do, what their reply will be.
But, first, let's begin with the good news:
The DPRK and ROK are in direct talks with each other.
This is indeed a truly great development for at least two reasons. First, of course, the main and objective one: anything which lowers the risks of war on the Korean Peninsula is good. But there is a second reason which we should not discount: Trump can now take all the credit for this and claim that his (empty) threats are what brought the North Koreans to the negotiating table. I say – let him. In fact, I hope that they organize a parade for Trump somewhere in the US, with confetti and millions of flags. Like for an astronaut. Let him feel triumphant, vindicated and very, very manly. MAGA, you know?!
Yeah, that will be sickening to the thinking (not to mention counter-factual), but if a little bit of intellectual nausea is the price to pay for peace, I say let's do it. If Trump, Bolton, Haley and the rest of them can feel that they "kicked ass" and that their "invincible military" is what brought "Rocket Man" to "give up his nukes" (he never said any such thing, but never mind that) then I sincerely wish them a joyful and highly ego-pleasing celebration. Anything to stop them from looking for another war to start, at least for a now.
Now the bad news.
The Israelis are at it again
Amazing, isn’t it? The Israelis have been whining about "imminent" Iranian nukes for years, and they are still at it. Not only that, but these guys have the nerve to say "Iran lied". Seriously, even by the already unique Israeli standards, that is chutzpah elevated to a truly stratospheric level. If it were just Bibi Netanyahu, then this would be comical. But the problem is that Israel has now fully subjugated all the branches of the US government to its agents (the Neocons) and that they now run everything: from the two branches of the Uniparty to Congress, to the media and, now that Trump has abjectly caved in to all their demands, they also run the White House. They apparently also run the CIA, but there still might be some resistance to their lunacy in the Pentagon. The US is now quite literally run by a Zionist Occupation Government, no doubt about it whatsoever.
Please go to The Unz Review to read the entire article.
Is Israel setting Iran up for a war using the pretext "Iran is preparing for an attack on Israel?"
Israel on Edge Over Possible Missile Attack by Iran After April Strike - Reports
Israel equates the country of Lebanon as being "Hezbollah" as the entire region moves closer to a major conflict.
'Lebanon Equals Hezbollah': Israeli Security Cabinet Minister on Lebanese Vote
The "Iranian nuclear deal" seems to be clever and dangerous political warfare to lure Iran into a possible war. With the involvement of the British this cannot be denied. Like in business it's a "deal", and if a deal is broken for whatever reason then that would signify a major escalation of tensions. Does Iran really think they are going to get a "fair deal" in doing business with the Anglo-Americans and Israel when the entire region is on the verge of a regional conflict?
Fate of Iran nuclear deal at stake as UK foreign secretary heads to Washington
Related reading:
US War with Iran on Multiple Fronts
Israel Vows to 'Eliminate' Assad if He Keeps Letting Iran Operate From Syria
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.abeldanger.org/u-s-foreign-policy-hijacked-for-regional-conflict/