David Ray Griffin, Gilad Atzmon take the United Nations!

Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 5:54PM Gilad Atzmon

By Kevin Barrett

When Israeli propagandist Sayan Hillel Neuer stood up on the floor of the United Nations and started waving around David Ray Griffin’s The New Pearl Harbor and Gilad Atzmon’s The Wandering Who?, he probably didn’t realize that he was giving priceless PR to two of the most important books of our time.

David Ray Griffin – 911 Commission Report: Ommissions and Distortions

Gilad Atzmon — The Wandering Who Endorsements

And yes, “priceless” is the word. Get a load of Neuer hawking Griffin’s and Atzmon’s books:

Neuer’s unintentional  book-promotion stunt was meant to be part of his witch-hunt against  Special UN Human Rights Rapporteur Richard Falk, who has warmly reviewed  both books. (Listen to my recent interview with Richard Falk here.)   But what Neuer apparently doesn’t grasp is that the vast majority of  people at the UN, especially the delegates from countries other than the  US and Europe, absolutely loathe hysterical Zionist idiots such  as himself. You can bet that after Neuer’s little stunt, many of those  who witnessed it made a note to head for the bookstore or library to  pick up a copy of Griffin’s and Atzmon’s books.

Most UN delegates are favorably disposed toward 9/11 truth and anti-Zionism. On the several occasions when Iran’s soon-to-be ex-president  Ahmadinejad has stood before the UN and called 9/11 an inside job, the  US and Israeli delegates, and a handful of US-Israeli puppet delegates,  stood up and walked out. But the representatives of the vast majority of  the world’s delegates not only refused to join the walkout, but stayed  to give Ahmadinejad standing ovations! Obviously most of the world’s  people, including their UN delegates, hold views closer to those of  Griffin and Atzmon than to those of Neuer and his neocon uber-Zionist  colleagues.

I was so impressed by Neuer’s genius as a book promoter that I decided to send him a proposal:

Dear Sayan Hilllel Neuer,

I saw you hawking David Ray Griffin’s The New Pearl Harbor and Gilad Atzmon’s The Wandering Who? on the floor of the United Nations, and wondered whether you might consider doing the same thing with my books Questioning the War on Terror and Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie. I believe that Richard Falk has made favorable remarks about one or both of my books, including this endorsement:

“I am grateful to you for your  clarity and perseverance on the most significant unresolved issues  confronting the nation!”–Richard Falk, Professor of International Law,  Princeton University; United Nations Special Human Rights Rapporteur

Since you apparently agree with me that  Richard Falk has excellent taste in books, perhaps that blurb will be  enough to convince you to stage a public relations event at the UN on my  behalf.

I admit that my books do not break new ground in the way that The New Pearl Harbor and The Wandering Who? do. Griffin and Atzmon are geniuses; I merely stand on the shoulders of  such giants. But I hope you will agree with me, and with Richard Falk,  that my humble efforts are not entirely without merit, and deserve to be  vaunted on the floor of the United Nations.

Sincerely,

Dr. Kevin Barrett

The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics  Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk

Obama makes a strategic mistake in Syria and now its “GAME OVER” for the US stragegy for the Middle-East.

Source

In a recent post I wrote the following:

And so once the “shock and awe” phase has failed to produce any signs of shock or of awe – what happens next? (…) an Anglo invasion of Syria might well trigger an influx of Shia volunteers from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon; that would also offer Iran the perfect opportunity to “send in volunteers” (remember that the students who took over the US embassy in Tehran were also ‘volunteer civilian students’ and that the revolutionary government denied having any control over them) (…) consider the following: the fact that the US or NATO cannot send troops hardly means that the Iranians, the Iraqis or Hezbollah could not do that.  In fact, what could the US do if, say, Moqtada al-Sadr decided to send some of his followers to fight the Takfiris in Syria?  Protest and threaten, but there is really nothing much else they could do (…) This is the huge weakness in the US/NATO posture: while the US/NATO/CENTCOM capabilities to engage in a massive bombing and cruise missile strikes are truly formidable, they have nothing else to follow up with.   Everybody in the Middle-East knows that the Americans do not have what it takes to go tow-to-toe against an insurgency.  These are the folks who used B-2 stealth bombers over Afghanistan but who a full decade later failed to even control most of Kabul in daytime.

As is so often the case, the events on the ground actually developed even much faster than I thought. 

I can confirm on the basis of information received from three different sources that the Iranians have begun moving a large military force into Syria.  One of these sources I can quote: Robert Fisk who wrote the article “Iran to Send 4,000 Troops to Aid President Assad Forces in Syria” for the Independent.  There is also evidence of volunteers from Lebanon.

I think that we can safely make the assumption that the 4000 Iranians sent to Syria are just a beginning and that Tehran can send as many

soldiers as needed.  I can also add here that we are not talking about well-meaning civilians here, but highly trained Pasdars – you can think of them as “the people who trained Hezbollah”.  One of my best sources tells me that this entire operations is closely coordinated with Russian specialists while another source even mentions Russians on the ground with the Iranians.

It therefore appears that Tehran has decided to preempt a US/NATO attack on Syria by moving in forces even before the shooting start.  I have to sincerely say that this is nothing short of a brilliant move as there is nothing at all the Anglo Empire can do to stop this at this point in time and once the full force is in place it will be impossible to target it separately.

I can add here that the idea of sending in “international brigades” has been discussed in specific Russian and Ukrainian military circles, but that it is likely that the Russian authorities want to keep the visible presence of ethnic Russian to a minimum.  What they can do is send it Russian ethnic groups which do not externally appear as Slavs.  I am thinking, believe it or not, of anti-Wahabi Chechens who are fully integrated into the Russian military intelligence service GRU (the Russians already did something similar once in Lebanon).

Both Russian and Iranian sources confirm that the two government are very closely cooperating on this entire operation and that uninterrupted close consultations are taking place.

In the meantime, most Hezbollah units are withdrawn from Syria and repositioned to defend Lebanon from a possible Israeli attack.

Bottom line: it is already becoming clear that Barak Obama made a huge – strategic – mistake with his “crossing the red line” nonsense about a “limited use of chemical weapons” by the government forces.  Obama probably wanted to give the insurgency a better bargaining position for the Geneva II negotiations, but all he succeeded in doing is fundamentally changing the strategic balance on the ground.  It is one thing to fight the Syrian military, it is a qualitatively other one to fight the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.  By committing these forces already now, the Iranians are sending a chilling message to Washington: “we do not fear you, and our commitment to Syria is open ended”.

As a military analyst specializing in strategic analysis I have to marvel at the superb elegance of the Iranian move because it essentially checkmates the USA’s entire strategic plan for the Middle-East.  When I wrote that there is no way the US would put any boots on the ground, I assumed that they would not dare to do that against the Syrians.  But, at least, some really naive Americans could have hoped that with enough bombing of Syrian civilians (a la Kosovo) the regime would eventually have to give in.  With thousands of Iranian Pasdars on the ground this is categorically not an option.

This development, apparently only noticed by Robert Fisk, is really a game changer.  What this means for the USA/NATO/CENTCOM/Israel/al-Qaeda is this: “GAME OVER!”.

The Russian/Iranian alliance has done what it does best: it has responded asymmetrically to the US moves.  While the entire world was focusing on S-300s deliveries and Russian Navy moves, it essentially negated the entire US strategy by qualitatively changing the facts on the ground before the US could even react.

US options at this point are extremely limited.  Yes, it can still engage in an orgy of civilian killings just to punish the Syrians and prevent elections.  It can also denounce the Iranian intervention, but since the entire planet by now knows that the insurgency is largely foreign and supported by the USA’s own admission (!), this would be rather hollow.  It can also do the wise thing and strenuously look away from the Iranian presence on the ground and pretend like nothing happened.  If it decided to do that, it could even try to get some kind of face saving deal at Geneva II.  Attacking Iran is not an option (even less so after the beautiful elections the Iranians just had).  Blaming Russia is not an option either as there is exactly zero proof of Russian involvement.

The war itself is, of course, not quite over yet.  This will all take time to play itself out.  But yes, this is most definitely the beginning of the end.  To the disgraceful defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq the US can now add a no less disgraceful defeat in Syria.  Good.

The Saker

Posted by VINEYARDSAKER: at 08:06         

They really *HATE* each other!

Source

I have been following US-Soviet and US-Russian relations since at least age 5, and professionally most of my adult life, and I have never seen two leaders so obviously hating each other as Putin and Obama.  I just watched their joint press conference at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland and I am truly left speechless: the mood was clearly so ice cold that one could almost visualize frost building around (and even on) the two leaders.  Just look at this screenshot:

Some facial expression and body language, no? Putin actually went as far as thanking Obama for a “frank exchange of views” which, in diplomatic language, is tantamount to an admission of a verbal fist fight. I am not surprised by that.  Putin probably despises Obama for being the spineless prostitute that he is, whereas Obama probably hates and fears Putin for daring to say “no” to the Anglo Empire.  But the fact that both of these men made only a modicum of efforts to conceal their intense dislike for each other really amazes me.  We are far from the skillfully orchestrated love fest between Kerry and Lavrov.   I know, one should not judge on appearance.  But I will do that anyway.  I feel that 4 decades of careful observation of such meetings grant me that right.  And here is what I read into this: Putin comprehensively rejected everything Obama wanted from him.  The pretense is now over – Russia and the USA are on a clear collision course. The Saker

Posted by VINEYARDSAKER: at22:37

Obama, Putin Still at Odds over Syria

Local Editor

Also differences over the Syrian crisis between the US and the Russian leaders remain deep, Barack Obama and Vladidmir Putin said the two men agreed that violence might be stopped in the conflict-hit country. The US and Russian presidents faced off on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, days after the White House signaled it would begin arming foreign-backed militants fighting the Syrian government. Putin and Obama did not try to disguise the fact they are estranged on Syria and cannot agree on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fate, but appeared keen to keep flagrant differences on the vicious crisis from sinking wider US-Russia relations. They announced Obama would go to Moscow on September 3-4 for a full-scale summit, expanding a previously announced trip that includes the G20 summit in St Petersburg. “Of course our opinions do not converge, but all of us have the intention to stop the violence in Syria and stop the growth in the number of victims,” said Putin. He said he and Obama agreed that the vicious civil war that has killed at least 90,000 people according to the United Nations must end “peacefully” and through talks. “We agreed to push the parties to the negotiating table.” Obama acknowledged that they had “different perspectives”. But the session ended with a firm handshake, after the US president made a gentle joke about the Russian leader’s prowess in judo and his own declining basketball skills. Washington and Moscow have agreed in principle to host a conference in Geneva on ending the violence in Syria, but the timetable for the meeting has continually slipped over disagreements on who should attend.

Source: Agencies 18-06-2013 – 09:37 Last updated 18-06-2013 – 10:12

“Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have no shame…”

Via FLC

“… Egypt’s April 6 Movement (the Democratic Front) issued a statement Saturday accusing President Mohamed Morsi of capitalising on Syrian blood and promoting a US agenda with his decision to cut ties with Bashar Al-Assad’s Syria.
“We are surprised about Morsi’s condemnation of foreign intervention in Syria, being that he also demands a no-fly zone over Syria, which would allow for foreign intervention,” read the statement, referring to the president’s comments Saturday during a conference organised by Islamists in support of the Syrian uprising.
The implementation of no-fly zone would require the destruction of Syria’s Russian-built air defences.
“Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have no shame in trading on anything, even the blood of martyrs in Syria, in order to win the sympathy of Egyptians,” added the statement, pointing out that Morsi’s call to support the opposition coincides with Washington’s decision on Thursday to supply Syria’s rebels with weapons. ..”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 10:30 AM

‘Morsi’s top aides advised him against the move on Syria’

Ahram Online - “… The announcement that Egypt will sever all ties with Syria, made by President Mohamed Morsi while addressing thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members at Cairo Stadium Saturday night, reflects a decision made by the president against the advice of top bureaucratic aides,… The decision was pronounced in the course of an otherwise fiery speech where the president in a high pitch insisted that “Hezbollah should leave Syria.”While some government sources said they were briefly notified …  others said they only knew of the decision when it was announced at the Muslim Brotherhood event on Saturday night.According to the informed sources, who spoke to Ahram Online on condition of anonymity, Morsi was advised against the move by some of his top bureaucratic aides who insisted that the move would antagonise the Syrian regime against any mediation forums that have been proposed…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 3:50 PM

French FM Dumas: ‘British officials told me of the planned destruction of the Syrian regime 2 years BEFORE the Arab spring!’

FLC

“The reason? Syria held some strong anti-Israeli positions & it was necessary to destroy it”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 12:21 PM

US Inflames Sectarian Tensions to Escalate War in Syria

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-inflames-sectarian-tensions-to-escalate-war-in-syria/5339446

 

   

In the run-up to today’s G8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, which is expected to focus on the Syrian war, US and European officials are calling for an escalation of the imperialist drive for regime-change. With US-backed Sunni Islamist opposition forces facing defeat within the country, Washington is seeking to inflame Sunni-Shiite tensions throughout the region.

British Prime Minister David Cameron met yesterday in London with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the main international backer, together with Iran, of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He made clear that Washington and its allies would move to attack Syria with or without Russian support—doing an end run around the United Nations to launch a war in open violation of international law.

Cameron admitted that the Syrian opposition included elements “that are deeply unsavory, that are very dangerous, very extremist,” but said Moscow did not have a “veto” against moves to further arm them.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough pledged yesterday that the “scope and scale” of US involvement would expand. US lawmakers also called for intensified military action, including the imposition of a no-fly-zone, which would entail a massive bombing campaign aimed at destroying Syria’s air defenses.

“We need to create a no-fly-zone. We cannot take air power out of the equation,” said Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina). He also called for arming opposition fighters in Syria with heavy weapons. “The whole region is about to blow up,” he said. “If we don’t do more than add AK-47s into the mix, [Assad] will continue to win. And the King of Jordan will be toast.”

The rapid move towards a full-scale war in Syria is shattering the pretenses that the war is a humanitarian exercise to install a democratic government. Instead, Washington is moving to stoke up a sectarian civil war throughout the Middle East.

It aims to rally right-wing Sunni Islamist regimes throughout the region for a war aimed firstly at the Alawite-led Syrian regime, but aimed ultimately at the destruction of all of Assad’s allies in the region—including the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Shiite regime in Iran.

The US-backed Islamist regime in Egypt announced that it would break off all diplomatic relations with Syria on Saturday. Addressing a “Support for Syria” meeting called by Sunni Islamist clerics in Cairo, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi also stated that he would back a no-fly zone against Syria. Denouncing Hezbollah, he said Egypt would “materially and morally” support the Syrian opposition, adding that “the Egyptian nation, its leadership and its army will not abandon the Syrian people until it achieves its rights and dignity.”

This week, Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) echoed calls from Sunni Islamist organizations to join “jihad” in Syria. A Mursi aide stated that the Egyptian government would not stop Egyptians who seek to join the fighting in Syria.

An official Syrian source replied that “Mohammad Morsi, by cutting off all ties with Syria yesterday, had joined the Israel-US-led band of conspirators. It called Egypt’s decisions “irresponsible,” accusing Mursi of fueling sectarian conflict in Syria and throughout the region.

Since Mursi became Egypt’s new president last summer, he has served as a reliable US stooge, working in close consultation with Washington. After supporting the Israeli onslaught against Gaza last autumn, Mursi now seeks to strengthen his ties to Washington by supporting another imperialist war in the Middle East.

On Thursday, a conference of 70 Sunni religious organizations in Cairo issued a statement calling for “jihad with mind, money, weapons—all forms of jihad.” Muslim Brotherhood-linked preacher Youssef al-Qaradawi had already issued appeals for Sunni fighters to travel to fight in Syria.

Over the weekend, US troops were engaged in Eager Lion military exercises in Jordan, near the Syrian border, and left behind F-16 jets and Patriot missiles that will be permanently stationed in Jordan. That country has already been proposed as a base from which Washington could launch ground attacks into Syria. (See: US deploys troops to Jordan, prepares to invade Syria ). Besides the US and its NATO allies, Sunni Islamist regimes including Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon and Egypt participated in the exercises.

Yesterday, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported that France is helping Saudi Arabia provide portable “Mistral” anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian opposition fighters.

In a recent piece entitled “Syria: The Need for Decisive US Action,” Anthony Cordesman, the leading strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, laid out the imperialist interests driving Washington’s policy of stoking up sectarian conflict in the Middle East.

He began by noting that “the ‘discovery’ that Syria used chemical weapons may well be a political ploy.” He thereby all but acknowledged that US allegations of Syrian chemical weapons use, which are being used as a pretext to escalate the war, are fabrications.

Cordesman nonetheless defended the war as critical to Washington’s strategic interests and necessary to prevent a dramatic erosion of US influence in the Middle East. He wrote: “Our friends in the Arab world—and many in Israel and outside the Middle East—see the United States as having been defeated in Iraq and having to ‘retrograde’ from Afghanistan.”

He continued: “The grim reality is that the Syrian civil war is part of a far broader power struggle that now ties the Levant and the [Persian] Gulf together, can greatly aid Iran, can further divide Islam between Sunnis and minorities like Shiites and Alawites, and affects every US friend and ally in the region. This does not in any way eliminate the risks in supporting and arming the Syrian rebels or guarantee that Assad’s fall will end every aspect of the broader humanitarian crisis in Syria. But this set of worst cases is now far more acceptable than an Assad victory.”

This comment reflects the ruthlessness and consummate cynicism with which US strategists pursue Washington’s imperialist interests in the region. Among themselves, they place no importance on allegations of Syrian chemical weapons use, or the risk of causing hundreds of thousands of Syrian casualties—which they see as a perfectly acceptable method to pursue their policies.

They are also well aware of the bloody consequences of supporting Al Qaeda-linked groups that dominate the Syrian opposition’s armed forces, including the fact that Syria would likely dissolve into sectarian civil war if these forces toppled Assad. Such bloodshed is “far more acceptable” to US imperialism than the blow to its prestige which the Assad regime’s survival would entail.

Elements of the European bourgeoisie are also pressing for an aggressive US policy. On Saturday, Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that Obama’s current policy “leaves a dramatic impression of weakness. Governments around the world, America’s friends as well as its enemies, will register these weaknesses—with either joy or horror.”

 

“We Destroyed Arab Villages To Create Our State”, Retired Israel General Pondak

 

A retired Israeli military general told the Israeli Army Radio on his 100 birthday that the Israeli army destroyed and depopulated hundreds of Arab villages in order to establishment the state of Israel in 1948, and added that “he feels good about it.”

                  

“I can sleep with clear mind”, Yitzhak Pondak, told the Israeli Army Radio [Galei Tzahal] last week, “otherwise the number of Arabs in Israel would have been a million more than their number now”.
Pondak headed Platoon #53 of the Givati Brigade, and served as Israel’s ambassador in Tanzania.
“Under my command, soldiers destroyed Arab villages”, he said, “We did what we needed to do, otherwise the number of Arabs now would have been a million more”.
Responding to a question regarding lectures he gives to Israeli soldiers, Pondak said that “the Israel is still facing the same dangers it faced when it was created in 1948”, and added “Should the Jews fail to fight the same way they fought back then, our state will be in real danger”.
He also claimed that should a war break out now, “the Jews will be able to sacrifice the same way they did in 1948”, according to the retired general.
“Wars unite the ranks of the Jewish people”, he added, “after wars, Jews form parties and become divided”.
He also said that he is sorry for the death of 145 Israeli soldiers under his command throughout his years of service, and added that “should those soldiers miraculously come back to life now, and witness the current divisions in the Israeli Jewish society, they would run back to their graves”.
Pondak also served as the Israeli Military Commander of the Gaza Strip in the early seventies of last century. He said that the credit former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, got for “stopping Arab terrorism in 1971 is overrated”.
“Sharon was harsh without a reason”, he said, “Sharon once told senior military generals that he will give a bottle of Champaign to every soldier who kills an enemy fighter, and will give a soda to every soldier who captures a wounded enemy”.