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West Directed Killer’s Hand in
Assassination of Russian Ambassador
By Finian Cunningham
December 21, 2016
"Information
Clearing House"
- "SCF"
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The brutal slaying of Russian ambassador
Andrey Karlov in Ankara sent shockwaves around the
world. Condemnations were issued by Washington and
European states of the act of terrorism by a gunman who
shot Karlov in the back while he was speaking at a photo
gallery in the Turkish capital.
The White House condemned what
it called a «heinous attack», while the European Union’s
foreign policy chief Federica Morgherini vowed
solidarity with Russia in the aftermath of the killing.
One headline read:
‘EU, US Shocked by killing of Russian ambassador in
Turkey’.
Given the months of relentless and
unwarranted vilification of Russia by the US and EU over
the Syrian conflict, the phrase «crocodile tears» comes
to mind on hearing their condemnations in regard to the
murdered ambassador.
Within hours on the same day of this
atrocity, Monday, a second apparent terrorist attack
took place in the German capital, Berlin, when a
Pakistani asylum plowed a lorry into a crowded Christmas
market, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly
50 others. Taken together, both events ramped up state
security measures across Europe. Again, another
cruel irony, given the culpability of European states in
sowing seeds of violence.
Karlov (62) had been a career diplomat
for four decades, taking up his post in Turkey in 2013.
He worked deftly behind the scenes to facilitate the
recent political dialogue between Russia, Iran and
Turkey aimed at finding an evacuation arrangement for
civilians and militants out of the battleground Syrian
city of Aleppo.
Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and
his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that
Karlov’s assassination was a «provocation» to derail the
ongoing sensitive negotiations on finding a political
settlement in Syria’s conflict. Those talks went ahead
the day after the killing when foreign ministers from
the two countries, plus Iran, met in Moscow as planned
on Tuesday.
Pointedly, the US and its European allies
have been left out of the talks between Russia, Iran and
Turkey. Even though the Western states are a party to
the nearly six-year war in Syria, having bankrolled and
armed various anti-government militant factions.
Putin, in a televised address from the
Kremlin, said that investigations into the murder of
ambassador Karlov needed to find «who was behind the
hand of the gunman».
The shooter, who was quickly killed by
Turkish special forces when they stormed the photo
gallery, was named as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a
22-year-old off-duty member of the Ankara’s anti-riot
police squad. Video footage taken by surviving members
of the public attending the fatal event showed the
killer declaring support for the people of Aleppo and shouting «Allahu
Akbar» («God is Great»)… «This is payback for Aleppo»,
as Karlov lay dying on the floor.
Turkish authorities later claimed that
the shooter was affiliated with the Gulenist movement,
which they have already blamed for inciting the failed
coup back in July. That move may be a diversion by the
Turkish government to conceal what would otherwise be an
embarrassing affiliation between its police force
personnel and Islamist terrorists in Syria.
Some Russian lawmakers went as far as alleging that
the slaying of Karlov may have been orchestrated by the
US-led NATO military alliance. The Syrian army’s
liberation of Aleppo last week, with the help of
Russian, Iranian and Lebanese military allies, has come
as a strategic defeat for NATO powers who have been
waging a covert war for regime change in Syria.
Over the weekend, reports also
emerged of several special forces from NATO members
having been captured by Syrian troops in Aleppo. The
covert presence of NATO personnel in Aleppo, presumably
training and directing jihadist terrorists, would be
proof positive of the Western criminal conspiracy
prosecuting the war in Syria.
It remains to be seen if the killer cop
who shot ambassador Karlov was acting under direction
from NATO intelligence.
However, even if he acted alone, it can
still be said that the Western governments and their
news media have an onerous responsibility for «directing
his hand».
Among the condemnations pouring forth
from UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, the US, UK, France and
Germany were those articulated by American Secretary of
State John Kerry and Samantha Power, the US ambassador
to the UN. Only days before the murder of Andrey Karlov,
the Western states and senior UN officials were waging
an intense media campaign alleging that Russia was
committing war crimes during the Syrian offensive to
retake Aleppo.
John Kerry denounced what he called was a
«massacre» in Aleppo. Samantha Power was almost
hysterical at the UN Security Council berating Russia
for being «incapable of shame» and bandying reckless,
unsubstantiated claims of women and children being
executed in Aleppo.
A months-long crescendo of condemnation
by Western governments and media reached a climax last
week when Aleppo finally was finally recaptured by the
Syrian army and its allies. Citing dubious sources
linked to terror groups holding east Aleppo under siege,
the West has demonized Russia as an oppressor of
civilians, committing crimes against humanity.
American, British and French diplomats
have grossly distorted historical analogies by comparing
Russia and its Syrian ally to the depredations of Nazi
Germany and Spain’s fascist Franco.
Recall too that when Russian consular
offices in Syria have been targeted by militant rockets,
the Western states declined to condemn these gross
violations. Recall too how British foreign secretary
Boris Johnson urged public
protests outside the Russian embassy in London. Recall
too when two Russian nurses were murdered in a terror
rocket attack on a mobile hospital in Aleppo, Western
states kept a muted silence rather than condemn. In
countless subtle and not-so subtle ways, Western
governments and media have set Russia up as a villain
deserving attack.
The climax of condemnation reached
unconscionable heights last week when Washington, its
Western allies and the UN – all amplified
unquestioningly by the Western news media – vilified
Russia for allegedly slaughtering civilians in east
Aleppo. American ambassador Samantha Power specifically
cited unverified reports of children being killed in a
basement by Syria and Russian forces.
Belying Western hysteria, a calm
evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians in Aleppo
was actually underway. There was no evidence of any
massacres or crimes against humanity that the West and
UN officials were screaming about. Droves of civilians
have instead expressed relief and gratitude for having
been liberated by Syrian and Russian forces from a reign
of terror imposed on them for four years by
Western-backed militants.
Virtually everything that Western
official sources have been saying about Aleppo, and the
Syrian war more generally, is seen to be a grotesque
lie.
Russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov, of the
Duma’s foreign affairs committee, is correct when he
said following the death of Andrey Karlov that the West
bore responsibility because its hysteria and
fabrications about events in Aleppo have fostered a
climate of deranged hatred towards Russia.
When the Turkish assassin raised his
pointed gun at Karlov, he declared that he was acting in
memory of «civilians killed in Aleppo». But who gave him
the image of Russia being a legitimate target for
«payback»? Who filled his head with (false) images of
carnage and horror against civilians in Aleppo?
In answering those questions honestly,
the conclusion is that Western governments, diplomats
and media directed the gun that murdered ambassador
Andrey Karlov.
The views
expressed in this article are the author's own and do
not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House
editorial policy. |
