Meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich Feb. 11, 70-year-old Secretary of State John Kerry announced a “cessation of hostilities” March 1 in Syria, for the purposes to getting humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged area. Since Russia joined the fight to defend Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Sept. 30, 2015, the war tilted back to Damascus, routing Saudi-backed Wahhabi opposition groups. President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State and Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton rubber-stamped the five-year-old Saudi proxy war. With key members of the Saudi-backed opposition, like 43-year-old Zahran Alloush, killed and the opposition facing defeat near Aleppo, Kerry called for a ceasefire. White House officials have no one to blame but themselves for backing the Sauid proxy war killing over 250,000 Syrians, displacing 3 million civilians.
Kerry’s urgent call for a ceasefire comes at the request of the Saudis now fearing their partners in the proxy war against al-Assad were close to defeat. Filtering into last night’s PBS Democratic debate at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Hillary insisted again that Iran was the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism. Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lacks the foreign policy savvy to challenge Hillary’s failed Syria policy. Sanders at least pointed out that Hillary backed the Iraq War and coup toppling Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi, both opened the floodgates of Mideast and North African Islamic terrorism. Giving rise to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], Libya is also overrun with Islamic terrorists. Sanders couldn’t draw the connection to Hillary’s position of committing the exact same mistake in Syria, toppling al-Assad.
No one’s leveled with the public, certainly not Sanders or the press, about how Saudi petrodollars influence Hillary’s foreign policy choices. After receiving at least $20 million from Saudi Arabia to fund the Clinton Global Initiative and Clinton Presidential library, it’s reasonable to question a link between Saudi cash and Hillary’s foreign policy views. Hillary has no explanation for why she supports toppling al-Assad other than rumors about his alleged use of chemical weapons on terrorist groups trying to takeover Damascus. Bernie didn’t mention in last night’s debate that ISIS and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra front also seek to topple al-Assad and establish a Wahhabi Sunni government in Damascus. Kerry’s urgent request to Lavrov for a ceasefire recognizes that that what’s left of the Saudi-backed opposition was about to be wiped out by Iranian-and-Russian backed Syrian forces retaking Aleppo.
With the help of Russian air strikes and Special Forces, Syria has beat back the five-year old Saudi-backed proxy war. Called a “civil war” by Saudi and Western officials, it’s only recently that 54-year-old Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir expressed deep regret over the Dec. 25, 2015 death of Saudi-backed Jaysh al-Islam’s Zahran Alloush. White House officials or former officials like Hillary won’t admit that Saudi Arabia, not Iran, has sponsored the five-year-long proxy war that has killed 250,000 and displaced another three million Syrians. When U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura convened Syrian peace talks in Geneva Feb. 1, it ended in failure Feb. 4. De Mistura couldn’t reconcile Saudi demands to oust al-Assad with Russian and Iranian demands to leave him in power. Close to ridding Syria of Saudi-backed opposition groups, Syria, Russia and Iran show no sign of giving up.
Allowing Putin to call the shots in Syria has embarrassed the U.S. Rubber-stamping the Saudi proxy war has proved a failure for the White House, now scrambling to save face. After spending two years sweating it out to achieve the July 24 Iranian Nuke Deal, it makes zero sense that Hillary—or other U.S. officials—rip Iran as the chief sponsor of Mideast terrorism. Hillary’s views, expressed in last night’s debate, mirror those of 83-year-old Iraq War architect former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Sanders isn’t up to speed enough on Syria policy to point that out to voters. Echoing the same views as Rumsfeld would give Democratic voters reason to take a look at Hillary’s foreign policy views. Kerry’s recent attempt to save face—and what’s left of the Saudi backed opposition—won’t change al-Assad’s view one iota that he, as a Sovereign power, has a right to defend his country.
Calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Syria, Kerry hasn’t admitted that the Saudi-backed proxy war to topple al-Assad has failed. Bernie’s campaign asks voters to think how money influences politicians on key foreign and domestic policy issues. Receiving at least $10 million to build the Clinton Presidential Library and another $10 million from Saudi Arabia to the Clinton Global Initiative, Hillary insists no one can buy her influence. While backing the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad, Hillary has other reasons for her policy. No journalist at any debate so far has asked her why she backs the Saudi proxy war in Syria to topple al-Assad’s Shiite regime. Al-Assad has asked Europe to stop “giving cover to terrorists.” “It makes no sense for us to say that we will give up any part” of Syria, signaling to future U.N. peace talks that al-Assad has no intention of sacrificing Syria’s sovereignty or territorial integrity.
