Threatening more sanctions against Syria and Russia, 64-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin knows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson are bluffing. Neither country has the stomach to protect Syrian civilians caught in the crossfire of Syria’s bloody six-year-proxy war. Of all the myths about the Syrian War, the U.S. and U.K. have promoted the idea that on March 15, 2011 a Syrian revolt started. White House officials mention nothing about the Saudi-funded “Arab Spring,” where the Kingdom funded coups in several Mideast countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. Nowhere in discussion about the Syria War in Washington or Brussels do you hear about the nearly six-year Saudi-funded proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. All Washington and London talk about is that al-Assad won’t accept “political transition.”
Political transition means al-Assad should surrender his Shiite government to a Saudi-funded Wahhabi state. How and why Washington and London bought into the Saudi Arab Spring leads to only one answer: Saudi cash. Paid off in cheap petrodollars, U.S. and European Union officials won’t deal with the real issues in Syria. Russian President Vladimr Putin saw the light Aug. 28, 2015 when he told the U.S. General Assembly that toppling al-Assad would repeat the same mistakes in Iraq, spreading more death, destruction and terrorism to the region. Meeting in London over the weekend, 11-governments opposing al-Assad said all options were on the table, despite showing no stomach for military action. All the talk of the U.S. or EU enforcing a no-fly zone, with all its risks, the U.S. under President Barack Obama or U.S. under Prime Minister Theresa May have no interest.
U.S. and EU officials complain about the carnage in Aleppo, Syria’s once bustling economic hub in the North, near the Turkish border. U.S. and EU officials don’t admit that, whether they like or despise al-Assad, Syria is a sovereign U.N. state, with all the rights to defend its territorial integrity against foreign invaders. Funding and arming Syrian rebels in Aleppo since 2012, neither Kerry nor Johnson acknowledge Syria’s right to defend its sovereignty. Putin chose to intervene militarily to stop the Saudi-U.S.-Turkey funded rebels from toppling al-Assad’s Shiite government. Russia has a vested interest in Syria, home to its Tartus Mediterranean naval base. All the Putin-bashing in the U.S. and EU refuses to tell the truth about Syria: Saudi-U.S.-Turkey-backed armed rebels occupy Eastern Aleppo. Syrian forces and Russian air strikes target the area occupied by rebels.
Johnson said over the weekend all options were on the table, including the U.K. enforcing, at some point, a no-fly zone. “Be in no doubt that these so-called military options are extremely difficult and there is, to put it mildly, a lack of political appetite in most European capitals and certainly in the West for that kind of solution at present,” said Johnson, confirming, what Putin knows that neither the U.S. nor the EU want a confrontation with Russia. U.S. and EU officials know there is zero national security interest in Syria. All the collateral damage in Aleppo doesn’t erase the fact that Saudi-U.S.-Turkey-armed rebels occupy Syria’s sovereign territory. With all the Geneva and Lausanne-based peace talks, you’d think they’d figure out its time for rebels to leave Aleppo. Al-Assad, and his Russian and Iranian allies, have no intent to turning Damascus over to Saudi Arabia.
All the Geneva and Lausanne-based peace talks have been based on the Saudi demand to see al-Assad leave Damasus. If there’s any recalcitrance in the peace talks, it comes from the Saudi’s demand for regime change. Putin has made clear he supports Syria’s sovereign U.N.-backed government. “Let me make it clear,” said Kerry, meeting with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. “President Obama has not taken any options off the table at this point in time. So we’ll see where we stand in the next few days in the context of discussions were having,” said Kerry. Kerry knows Obama isn’t going to escalate U.S. military action before leaving office Jan. 20, 2017. U.S. and EU Syrian policy has rubber-stamped the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad’s Shiite government. With Russia and Iran defending al-Assad, there’s no point to continuing the war.
If the U.S. and EU really care about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, they’d rein-in the Saudi proxy war. As long as the U.S. and EU do Riyadh’s bidding, there’s no home for the tens-of-thousands of civilians facing death and displacement. Instead of sanctioning Russia, the U.S. and EU should admit defeat and tell the Saudis that the war must end. Kerry says the U.S. and its allies are “discussing using every mechanism available to us,” yet ignores telling the Saudis that the war must stop. “But I haven’t seen a big appetite in Europe of people to go to war,” said Kerry, stating the obvious that Obama’s Syria policy has failed. Kerry can’t convince U.S. or EU citizens that there’s a compelling national security threat in Syria. Other than Saudi Arabia’s plan to set up a Wahhabi state in Damascus, why should anyone sacrifice more blood-and-treasure in Syria?
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