The Syria
Gambit – Geneva ‘Peace Talks’ and Russia’s “Pullout”
By Peter
Koenig
“The Russian
Air Force tracked and targeted a long column of
terrorists crossing Turkish border to join their
comrades in Northern and Northwestern battlefields
in Syria.”
“The
terrorists, that were mainly Turkmen, were caught by
the Russian Air Force’s reconnaissance planes
attempting to enter the Lattakia province from one
of the Turkish border-crossings near Yayladagi.”
“Upon the
entry of Jeish al-Turkmen and al-Nusra Front into
Syria, the Russian air fleet struck their convoy of
vehicles in the Furniluk Forests, ending in the
rebel fighters scattering around the border in order
to evade the powerful aerial assault.”
“When the
Russian warplanes backed off, the Syrian Air Force
launched their own airstrikes over the Furniluk
Forests, keeping up the pressure on the trapped
rebel fighters.”
FARS seems to
be the only news agency, reporting on this western
organized aggression. – The reasons may be obvious.
As Russia is ‘pulling out’, a huge regiment of
Islamic terrorists, whatever they are called (names
are unimportant; they are just used to confuse)
found it opportune to advance from Turkey over the
Syrian border, camouflaged by a dense forest, or so
they thought.
Does anybody
think that this would be allowed to happen without
Erdogan having a clear go-ahead from his US Masters?
– Turkey being a NATO protected US stooge, who got
her marching orders from Washington. This is the
prescription and scheme for the “Syrian Peace Talks”
– taking otherwise place in an ambiance and
environment of extreme hostility, Geneva,
Switzerland, where the Swiss news blast day in,
day-out lies and negative propaganda against Russia
and Syria. – What hope? These Peace Talks (sic) are
a farce if there has ever been one.
On Monday, 14
March, at a Kremlin meeting with Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey
Shoigu, President Putin announced to the surprise of
many, especially the western media, partial
withdrawal of Russian military presence from Syria,
effectively declaring the end to the
five-and-a-half-month Russian air campaign.
Mr.
Putin said:
“With
participation by Russian troops and Russian
military grouping, the Syrian troops and Syrian
patriotic forces, we were able to radically
change the situation in fighting international
terrorism and take initiative in nearly all
areas to create the conditions for the start of
a peace process, as I said.”
“I feel
that the objective set before the Defense
Ministry and the Armed Forces is generally
fulfilled, so I order the Defense Ministry to
begin withdrawing the main part of our military
group from the Syrian Arab Republic beginning
tomorrow. I ask the Foreign Ministry to
intensify the Russian Federation’s participation
in organizing the peace process to resolve
Syria’s problems.”
“At the
same time, our base points – our maritime base
in Tartus and our aviation base at the Hmeymim
airbase – will function as before. They must be
protected securely from land, sea and air.”
“I hope
that today’s decision will be a good signal for
all conflicting sides. I hope that this will
significantly lift the level of trust between
all participants in the Syrian peace process and
promote resolving the Syrian issue via peaceful
means.”
Before the
announcement, Mr. Putin reassured the Syrian leader
in a phone conversation that Russian presence in
Syria will continue with a defense force at the two
bases and in particular with the cutting edge S-400
defense system in place to guard against air
intrusion particularly from Turkey.
According to
Al-Jazeera, Mr. Assad’s office confirmed the gist of
the conversation, referring to the Russian
‘pull-out’ rather as a ‘scaling back’ of Russian
forces. The statement clearly rejected speculations
that the withdrawal decision reflected a rift
between the allies, Syria and Russia. Mr. Assad said
the Russian decision stressed the “successes” the
two armies have achieved during fighting in Syria
and restoring peace to key areas of the country.
The Russian
air campaign combined with the Syrian army on the
ground and troops from Hezbollah and Iran have
allowed Damascus to retake control over some 10,000
km2. A position that strengthens President Bashar
al-Assad’s regime before the talks in Geneva. Of
course, western media are propagating the decimation
of ISIS and related terror groups as an US
achievement.
Given the
continued presence of Russian troops in Syria,
‘scaling back’ is perhaps more appropriate than
‘withdrawal’. It was never clear how many Russian
troops were actually in Syria. Some estimates put
them between 3,000 and 6,000. Some of them will
certainly stay to observe and monitor the fragile
‘cease fire’ that has been officially in place since
26 February.
The timing of
the Russian ‘withdrawal’ was strategically perfect,
as the so-called Peace Talks in Geneva were to start
on Monday, 14 March, but so far didn’t really get
off the ground. Why would they? Warrying factions
sitting around the same table for the first time –
and with the scenario as mentioned before – large
numbers of terrorists attempting to cross the
Turkish-Syrian border at the time the talks were to
begin, and the western media’s non-stop Putin-Assad
bashing – the signals are not positive.
But most
importantly, Washington and its NATO allies do not
want peace. They want, as they wanted from day one
of the US / NATO instigated 2011 ‘civil war’, a ‘regime
change’ – meaning Mr. Assad must go. This has
not changed in the minds of the hawks of Washington,
including Obama, who are under strong pressure from
Israel – which together with the Zionist led Israeli
lobby group, AIPAC, controls the US Congress and
White House.
‘Regime Change’ is
Washington’s target. As we know from experience
around the world – they, the exceptional country and
super power, will not let go. Washington’s tenacity
on Syria to fall is part of their Plan for a New
American Century (PNAC). The US may make believe
they are ready for negotiations, but they have no
intentions whatsoever, never do, to adhere to any
negotiated settlement. Eventually, there are always
lies and pretexts, supported by the western
presstitute media to break an agreement.
The planned
decimation and partition of Syria is a mere
continuation of what Clinton started in Yugoslavia
in the 1990, as was and is the destruction and
partition of Iraq and Libya. So far the US / NATO
evil forces have relented on Iran which is also
conditioned to fall under the PNACs objectives, but
the war games haven’t ended yet. As I said many
times before, the US and her western vassals will
not surrender or agree to a peaceful settlement
until their last breath – which we can only hope,
will come soon – for the sake of humanity.
To remind
readers, this western initiated 5-year active war –
was in fact planned since 2007 with the CIA
identifying terror groups in the region that could
be trained and supported as ‘opposition’ to the
Bashar al-Assad regime once the trigger for war was
pulled at the opportune moment. The opportune moment
was the so-called Arab Spring, also planned and
instigated years ahead by Washington. It engulfed
the Middle East, starting in late 2010 in Tunisia,
and continued in 2011 with Syria among many other
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries –
and is ongoing.
In the
meantime, the 5-year Syria war has claimed close to
half a million lives, and according to UNHCR, out of
a population of 22.1 million, 6.5 million are
internally displaced, half of whom are children, and
over 3 million (some estimates say 4 million) have
fled Syria for neighboring countries, mainly Turkey,
Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
At the end of
2015 almost 2 million Syrian refugees lived in
Turkish refugee camps. They were part of some 4
million refugees lodged in relatively well organized
camps. They started fleeing to Europe, when Turkey
opened its floodgates in the fall of 2015, on orders
of Washington. The refugees were to be used as a
destabilizing weapon in Europe. About a million were
absorbed in 2015 by Germany.
Did Obama and
Putin communicate before the Geneva talks? – Yes
they did. Was there a bargain behind closed doors? –
Perhaps so. But Vladimir Putin, the geopolitical
chess player par excellence and Man of the Year, to
whom humanity can be thankful that WWIII has so far
been avoided – he is aware that Obama may not be
trusted. The warlord number One, instigator of seven
wars throughout the world and personal approver of
every atrocious, illegal drone killing around the
globe can certainly not be trusted ever, but must
rather be despised.
How must it
feel in Obamas skin, knowing that he is one of the
most hated men in the world, that he is a criminal,
a spineless stooge of the western oligarchs, that he
deserves to be judged by a Nuremberg-type tribunal,
that once he leaves office he must be afraid to
leave the country for fear of being arrested as a
war criminal anywhere in the world? – Has his brain
become so callous and insensitive that he can still
sleep at night? – I often wonder, what does a man of
this caliber do with the rest of his sorry life? The
man who lied to the world proclaiming change from
the Bush horrors, propagating “Yes we can!”, evoking
tears in millions of his admirers during his
inauguration ceremony in January 2009 – how can he
live if he has just a grain of consciousness left?
Given the
‘ceasefire’ the Geneva talks which require friendly
faces by the Washington handlers, did Washington
make some obfuscated agreements with Turkey, or even
blackmailed sultan Recep Erdogan and the Saudis into
‘collaborating’, while the US military and NATO stay
quiet for a while? – A make-believe propaganda stunt
for the Geneva “Peace Negotiations”?
Turkey being a
NATO country must follow the Master’s orders, or
else. Turkey has spent billions in arming and
supporting ISIS and Co. and in fighting the Syrian
army, in setting up military bases in Syria’s
Turkmenistan. They have also made billions by
stealing Iraq’s and Syria’s petrol, selling it to
Israel and other rogue states.
Ironically,
this ‘official’ Russian pull-out also coincides with
Ankara’s ‘unofficial’ invasion of Northern Syria;
and this just on the eve of the Geneva peace talks
in which both Russia and Turkey are participating
in. This looks and sounds like a “Theater of the
Absurd”. However, Moscow’s withdrawal at the time
Turkey invades Syria, might be a smart move to avoid
a confrontation. Under NATO’s collective security
rule (Article 5) an ‘attack’ on one NATO country
equals an attack on all NATO members. And Turkey
might have just been in Russia’s way, had Putin not
pulled out at the right time his diplomatic joker,
possible sidelining another US / NATO WWIII
provocation.
The Saudis are
in a similar position. They spent billions in
support for the ‘terrorists’, called ‘rebels’ by the
western propaganda liars. While the US’s
make-believe display of good-will in Geneva, their
semi-clandestine Plan B envisages after a short
regrouping of the terror forces – that Ankara’s and
Riyadh’s army will play proxy for US – NATO,
attacking Syria’s army in an attempt to retake the
lost territory – and always, always in an attempt to
topple the Bashar al-Assad regime.
This would be
a new provocation for Russia to intervene – Putin
has not ruled out a come-back – with the US / NATO
watching, just ready to launch an attack on Russia –
meaning an attack on the world – WWIII. No worries,
such a move to the detriment of humanity would be
well supported and sold as justified by the western
presstitute media, to the point that the western
populace would want even more US / NATO aggression
on Russia and by then even on China to defend their
western comfort and ‘freedom’ from the eastern
monsters. They cannot imagine that their paradise
will eventually go up in flames – and they with it.
This all
demonstrates that the Geneva gambit is yet another
expensive farce funded by the citizens of the world
to boost the good image of the Master and its puppet
allies in Europe – NATO and the lackluster European
nations behind it. Never mind that “the two
presidents expressed the hope that the full-format
talks between Syrian Government officials
and opposition representatives under UN aegis
in Geneva will produce concrete results.”
And again,
peace will not happen, because peace is unaffordable
by the Masters of the Universe whose economies
depend on wars fueled by their horrendous and
horrendously lucrative weapons industry.
Peter Koenig
is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also
a former World Bank staff and worked extensively
around the world in the fields of environment and
water resources. He writes regularly for Global
Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik, PressTV, CounterPunch,
TeleSur, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other
internet sites. He is the author of
Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War,
Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed
– fiction based on facts and on 30 years of
World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a
co-author of
The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from
the Resistance.
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