.
“Every single Syrian death in this [9 year] conflict is, legally, the fault of the aggressors: the United States and its allies, who spent billions [of US taxpayer dollars] to deploy as many as 100,000 jihadists to wage war against a sovereign nation –– a crime against peace, the highest crime under international law, for which Obama, Clinton and other ranking U.S. civilian and military officials deserve the most extreme punishment. Donald Trump is now guilty of the same crime–the one that ten Nazis were hanged for at Nuremburg.”…9/6/2018, “Trump Protects Al Qaeda, “The Resistance” Applauds, Cursing “Russians”,” Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford
........
Above, 2/27/20, “[US Senator Lindsey] Graham calling for Pentagon to establish a no-fly zone
in Russian-controlled airspace in Idlib likely a difficult sell for the
Trump admin. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thurs that US has not
had “discussion about reengaging in the civil war",” Jack Detsch twitter
..............
.
UN Security Council Resolution 2254 regarding Syria calls on all UN members “to eradicate the safe haven they [terrorist groups] have established over significant parts of Syria.” The #1 terrorist “safe haven“ in Syria is Idlib, per US official Brett McGurk, 2017: “Idlib province is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 911.” Among those vowing to fight to the death to protect their safe haven are 10,000 of the most violent terrorists in Idlib, the Uyghurs, The UN notes that the aforementioned ceasefire will not apply to offensive or defensive actions against these [Islamic terrorist] individuals, groups, undertakings and entities. The same UN ignores its rule, backs US imperialists: “It is incumbent to mention the odious role of the United Nations here. UN chiefs have indulged the Western powers by talking up the charade of humanitarian concern.” UN wants Idlib to remain “effectively the Al Qaeda caliphate.”…Did you know anti-humanitarian US refuses to give one penny of humanitarian aid to suffering Syrian children unless they live in terrorist-controlled areas? “The U.S. State Department, USAID, and other government agencies have refused to provide humanitarian aid to government-held areas in Syria and have instead expressly used the funding to bankroll the political, civil, and health infrastructure of [Islamic terrorist] rebel-held territory, including areas that are governed by Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. The Guardian exposed how similar aid initiatives by the British government financed
the activities of al-Nusra and other extremist Salafi-jihadist
militias. [Former Obama Ambassador] Ford acknowledged in his [2018]
testimony that U.S. humanitarian aid to Syria was heavily politicized, explaining: “The U.S. also has deployed a small civilian team into Syria charged with initial reconstruction and building new local governance or improving on existing local governance. If it sounds like nation-building, it is but on a smaller scale. [US taxpayers via] USAID and other civilian agencies have provided $875 million in non-lethal and stabilization aid to opposition-controlled [Islamic terrorist controlled] areas in Syria since FY 2012. Last year [2017] alone the US provided about $200 million.” This politicized humanitarian funding has been part of a concerted effort to undermine the Syrian government’s control over Syrian territory by creating independent political administrations, civil society organizations, health institutions, and infrastructure that are outside of its control, effectively establishing de facto autonomous governments that survive on U.S. [taxpayer] funding.”……2/9/2018, “US Ambassador Confirms Billions Spent on Regime Change in Syria, Debunking ‘Obama Did Nothing’ Myth,” The Gray Zone, Ben Norton]. US wants to speed up erasing Syria from Middle East maps. US recently “warned” countries that anyone who tries to help the government of Syria rebuild from years of US bombings will be subject to punishment by US sanctions. This must be “US values” they talk about. Did you know US thinks it’s “ruthless” to try and remove terrorists from your own country? 2/4/2020, “Pompeo further said that the US considers Syria’s attempt to take towns from al-Qaeda “unjustifiable, and ruthless assaults.” This is in keeping with US policy throughout the Syrian War to support Islamist groups enough that they don’t lose outright.”…““The United States once again condemns the continued, unjustifiable, and ruthless assaults on the people of Idlib,” Pompeo said in a statement." US wants to move along in erasing Syria, be more open about its indispensable Islamic terrorist partners:
…………………….
2/24/20, “Russia Warns Against Any U.S. Talks With [Terrorist] Militant Group It’s Bombing in Syria,” Newsweek, Tom O’ Connor
“Russia’s top diplomat has warned against any U.S. effort to hold talks with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, a jihadi coalition
on the frontlines of a violent struggle for Syria’s [to reclaim]
northwestern Idlib province [and rescue innocent Syrians held hostage
there by terrorists].
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press
conference alongside his Tajik counterpart Monday that he was “concerned
about the attitude of some Western states” toward Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its various associated groups, which include the latest incarnation of Syria’s former Al-Qaeda branch, Jabhat al-Nusra. He pointed out that these groups “are officially on terrorist organizations’ lists compiled by the U.N. Security Council, they are also on the U.S.’ national list of terrorist organizations.”
The remarks come after James Jeffrey, the U.S. special representative on Syria,”…
[Ed. note: James Jeffrey and his pretend boss Trump love terrorists. In March 2019 Jeffrey announced Trump was lavishing $5 million more US tax dollars on jihadist group White Helmets. Trump statement read at meeting praised Islamic terror group White Helmets in a State Dept. proclamation: “These heroic first responders have the most dangerous job in the world.” “The United States Government strongly supports the work of the White Helmets.”]
(continuing): “and special envoy to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), [Jeffrey] told a press briefing earlier this month [Feb. 2020] he had not seen Hayat Tahrir al-Sham “planning or carrying out international terrorism attacks.” He made similar comments days earlier.”…
[Ed. note:
James Jeffrey’s job is to sell rube US taxpayers that HTS jihadists
aren’t that bad, can be trusted since, in his opinion, they’re only focused on local terrorism in Syria
and haven’t informed him of “plans for international terrorism
attacks.” This assumes you’d take a terrorist’s word for anything, would
view a local terrorist as a better person than an international
terrorist, or would believe that a local terrorist wouldn’t change his
mind next week and become an international terrorist. In any case, HTS leader Jolani on 12/24/2019 references “the whole Islamic Ummah” which is defined as “The worldwide community of Muslims.” Jolani: “Having said that, we are in front of a great battle, on behalf of the whole Islamic Ummah, and on behalf of a hypocrite world that once wanted to destroy the Soviet Union & to confront the Iranian ambitions.“ James Jeffrey and Trump are merely errand boys carrying out well known US plans to redraw Middle East borders. The
so-called “war” in Syria would end today if the US immediately withdrew
100% of its personnel, funding, and equipment. Newsweek could stop the
genocide by publicizing it, but won’t].
[Image HTS leader via syriahr.com.…More on HTS chief Al-Jolani]
Even US imperialist PR group ICG isn’t as quick as James Jeffrey is to view Jolani as just a “local” terrorist : 2/20/20: “While Jolani’s rhetoric attempts to create the impression that the group has had a genuine change of heart about its objectives and behaviour, HTS would need to take far more concrete steps to demonstrate the sincerity of this reorientation, particularly to external actors…. Western
states, should determine whether HTS is demonstrating good-faith
efforts to contain foreign and transnationally oriented jihadists beyond just ISIS; yielding more control of sectors of civilian governance inside Idlib and allowing for a degree of political pluralism, among other clear governance and political concessions; and refraining from interfering in the work of humanitarian organisations ready to help close to a million desperate people hunkered down in miserable conditions next to the Turkish border.” 2/20/20, “The Jihadist Factor in Syria’s Idlib: A Conversation with Abu Muhammad al-Jolani,” crisisgroup.org]
(continuing): “Lavrov said Monday that Jeffrey and other Washington officials have “repeatedly made statements that mean that they consider Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to not be a terrorist organization as such and that it would be possible under certain circumstances to enter into a dialogue with it.” He added, “this is not the first time we hear such transparent hints, and we consider them completely unacceptable.”
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization since March 2017, is
among the most powerful forces still battling against Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad’s rule. In a campaign backed by Iran and Russia, the
Syrian leader and his allies have managed to retake most of the country
from a [terrorist] rebel and jihadi uprising that erupted in 2011 and received support from the U.S. and a number of its European and Middle Eastern allies, including Turkey….
The Pentagon teamed up with the mostly [US created and financed so-called] Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that now [illegally] administer up to a third of the country, in some parts, alongside Syrian troops. [No link provided to substantiate claim of “alongside Syrian troops.” US in Syria has stated it will treat as hostile any opposition that approaches the boundaries of the one third of Syrian land that it now “administers.”]
(continuing): “In Idlib, U.S. officials have joined NATO ally Turkey in [being a massive human shield for jihadists, demanding jihadists be allowed to remain in charge of Idlib enclave] accusing Syria and Russia of killing civilians and have expressed concerns of a possible humanitarian disaster resulting from their latest offensive. “Hundreds
of thousands of tents on our border and possible migration to Europe
are consequences of the brutal Assad regime and its supporters,” the
Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted Monday.”…
[Ed. note: Former UK Ambassador to Syria 2003-2006, Peter Ford, “even offers a pragmatic solution in Idlib never presented or even examined by the Western press:
“[6/4/19] The only way realistically to limit the fighting is for Turkey to withdraw its support for the jihadis and let them melt back into the Turkish border zone where they could affiliate with the Turkish-controlled militias there. This would still leave a problem for later but Idlib could breathe.””]
(continuing): “”In Idlib, hundreds of thousands of innocent people
are subject to suffering/persecution under the regime oppression and
attacks,” it added.
Pentagon officials have also acknowledged the presence of militant forces in Idlib.”…
[Ed. note: Gee, they’ve “acknowledged” this? Brett McGurk, 2017: “Idlib province is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 911"]
“Idlib province seems to be a magnet for terrorist groups, especially because it is an ungoverned space in many ways,” [not so, it’s “governed” by US-protected terrorists] U.S.-led coalition spokesperson Army Colonel Myles B. Caggins III told Sky News on Thursday.
“There are a variety of groups there, all of them are a nuisance, a menace and a threat to the civilians, the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who are just trying to make it through the winter and are searching for hope and a will to survive,” he added.
Ankara also has [terrorist] soldiers deployed to Syria, where they back other [terrorist] rebel factions fighting both pro-Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed [so-called] Kurdish fighters. These Turkish [terrorist] troops have increasingly become part of the conflict themselves, however,
as Damascus’ lightning gains in Idlib and Aleppo resulted in a series
of direct, deadly exchanges between the two neighboring countries
earlier this month
[Turkey failed to fulfill] its obligation to a ceasefire brokered by the two countries’ [Turkey and Russia’s] presidents in September 2018, namely by failing to facilitate the withdrawal of jihadi groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from Idlib and its outskirts.
The [Salafist terrorist] group’s [HTS] leader,…Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, continues to elude his foes and offered an unprecedented interview published last week by the Belgium-based International Crisis Group think tank.”…
[Ed. note: The so-called “Belgium-based“ ICG “think tank” is just another US imperialist warmonger profiteer group founded and maintained with Soros funding that claims to be about “preventing war and shaping peace.” As such, its primary focus is on influencing US taxpayers to contribute to their own genocide, ie, clear the world of various nationalist feelings so that jihadists can more easily take over. Its “Board of Trustees” includes the usual suspects. Government and foundation donors include OECD of which US is a member]
(continuing: "In it [the interview], he called for the downfall of the Syrian government [Gee! That’s the same thing the US wants!], the departure of Russian and Iranian forces and identified his [Salafist terrorist headslicer] group’s eventual plan to “stabilize the area under our control and administer it through
an alliance of local [US backed] Syrian revolutionary forces that are
committed to [preventing Idlib from normal functioning] protecting
Idlib.”
Syrian troops and partnered forces have continued to [legitimately reclaim] seize towns and villages in southern and eastern Idlib [and free innocent Syrians held hostage there], recently winning back areas near the strategic M4 highway. Assad has [legitimately] vowed to retake the entirety of his country though several obstacles remain outside of Idlib.
Syrian and Russian forces have had occasionally violent run-ins with their U.S. counterparts”…
[Ed. note: How is US a “counterpart” of Syria within Syria
when its genocidal presence there for 9 years is illegal and entirely
unprovoked? US doesn’t become a “counterpart” just because it has been
allowed to massively fund terrorists there, to illegally annex one third of Syrian land, and to maintain an illegal military presence there to guard the borders it has seized as if they were US land. Syria
owns its entire country, it isn’t a “counterpart” of it. Nor is Russia a
“counterpart” since it’s there strictly at Syria’s invitation.]
(continuing): “tasked with controlling oil and gas fields in the country’s northeast.”
[Ed. note: US is “tasked?” Who “tasked” the US to criminally seize Syrian resources “in the country’s northeast” comprising one third of Syria’s total land area?]
(continuing): “Elsewhere, Syrian government positions have been semi-regularly hit by Israeli raids against positions said to be associated with Iran, such as a strike Sunday [allegedly] targeting Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures near Damascus.”
………………………………
Added: “Every single Syrian death in this [9 year] conflict is, legally, the fault of the aggressors: the United States.”
9/6/2018, “Trump Protects Al Qaeda, “The Resistance” Applauds, Cursing “Russians”,” Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford
“Every single Syrian death in this [9 year] conflict is, legally, the fault of the aggressors: the United States and its allies, who spent billions [of US taxpayer dollars] to deploy as many as 100,000 jihadists to wage war against a sovereign nation –– a crime against peace, the highest crime under international law, for which Obama, Clinton and other ranking U.S. civilian and military officials deserve the most extreme punishment. Donald Trump is now guilty of the same crime–the one that ten Nazis were hanged for at Nuremburg.”…
……………………………
Added: In 2016, for the first time in 5 years, a Christmas tree appeared in Aleppo city’s central square:
12/23/2016, Peter Ford, UK Ambassador to Syria 2003-2006, “said there was now a Christmas tree in the [Aleppo] city’s central square, [for the first time in 5 years] which there would not have been “if the other side [terrorists] had won”.”
......
Image: 12/25/2016, A Christmas Tree is lit in Aleppo for the first time in 5 years. You Tube
…………………………………………
Added: US strategy is to weaken regional identities:
“The goal is not to achieve a “regime change”...but weaken the regional identity as much as possible....until there is no real local political power left in the whole of that region.…
The case of Syria with Burham Galioun (the equivalent of [Venezuela’s] Juan Guaido), who had long collaborated with the US NED [regime change group], was replaced by another “president”, who was also replaced by another, then by another and by others, so many times that nobody remembers his name anymore.…Guaidó, or his successors, will ask for help from Brazil, Guyana and Colombia (who have always sought to expand their borders), who will deploy “peace” forces with support from Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. Recall that these countries for almost a century have wanted to divide the Venezuelan territory….
Knowing that the Pentagon will no longer be able to use its army of jihadists to weaken the Syrian state, the USA transfers the Syrian problem to the treasury department, which will do everything possible to prevent the reconstruction of the country and the state.
………………………………
Added: ICG in one sentence:
“While the International Crisis Group (ICG) claims to be “committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict,” the reality is that they are committed to offering solutions crafted well in advance to problems they themselves have created in order to perpetuate their own corporate agenda.”
............
.
If Trump weren’t part of the Deep State that lies, coddles terrorists, and loves beating weak countries to a pulp for no reason, he'd cancel all charges against Assange.
2/24/20, “Trump’s Betrayal of Julian Assange,” Ron Paul, via Zero Hedge
Image: June 3, 2019, Trump and the Queen during dinner at Buckingham Palace, getty
“The real tragedy of the Trump presidency is nowhere better demonstrated than in Trump’s 180 degree turn away from Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. “I know nothing about Wikileaks,” he said as president. “It’s really not my thing.”…
Donald Trump upset the Washington apple cart as presidential candidate and in so doing he set elements of the deep state in motion against him.
One of the things candidate Donald Trump did to paint a deep state target on his back was his repeated praise of Wikileaks, the pro-transparency media organization headed up by Australian journalist Julian Assange. More than 100 times candidate Trump said “I love Wikileaks” on the campaign trail.
Trump loved it when Wikileaks exposed the criminality of Hillary
Clinton and the Democratic Party, as it cheated to deprive Bernie
Sanders of the Democratic Party nomination. Wikileaks’ release of the DNC emails exposed the deep corruption at the heart of US politics, and as a candidate Trump loved the transparency.
Then Trump got elected.
US pressure and bribes to the Ecuadorian government ended Assange’s asylum and his seven years in a room at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. After his dramatic arrest by London’s Metropolitan Police last April, he has been effectively tortured in British jails at the behest of the US deep state…
The Trump Administration – led by a man who praised Assange’s work – seeks a show trial of Assange worthy of the worst of the Soviet era. The US is seeking a 175 year prison sentence.
The Trump Administration argues that the Australian Assange should be tried and convicted of espionage against a country of which he is not a citizen. At
the same time the Trump Administration argues that the First Amendment
does not apply to Assange because he is not an American citizen! So Assange is subject to US law when it comes to publishing information embarrassing to the US deep state but he is not subject to the law of the land – the US Constitution – which protects all journalists and is the backbone of our system of government.
It is ironic that a President Trump who has been victim of so much deep state meddling has done the deep state’s bidding when it comes to Assange and Wikileaks. President Trump should preempt the inevitable US show trial of Assange by granting the journalist blanket pardon under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The deep state Trump is serving by persecuting Assange is the
same deep state that continues to plot Trump’s own ouster. Free
Assange!”
............
.
Image: 1996, Fidel Castro at luncheon in his honor in Board Room of Wall St. Journal
……………………
8/7/2006, “Mort Zuckerman on Fidel Castro,”
Havana Journal, Originally published by USnews.com, 8/6/2006, By
Mortimer B. Zuckerman. Link for original US News article, “Letter from Havana: My Dinners with Fidel Castro,” seems to be inactive.
“Several years and many requests went by before I was finally granted my first one-on-one interview with Fidel Castro. But it was well worth waiting for. When we first sat down, we began talking at about 8 p.m. and didn’t finish till 5 the next morning,
with Fidel’s translator, Juanita, providing brilliant support
throughout. For the first four to five hours, Fidel pumped me for all
kinds of information about America, from the role of the news media to
race relations, from politics to the economy. Once he had exhausted his
curiosity about the United States, he began answering my questions about
Cuba, all of them.
The [first] interview took place about 15 years ago [1989],
and we focused intently on two subjects. One was the Cuban missile
crisis; the other was Fidel’s experience with the Russians and their
military advisers, whom he utterly disdained.
Balls and strikes. To my surprise, as I was touring a medical research center after we finished talking, Fidel showed up and offered to serve as tour guide. We spent the rest of the day together, and the next two days after that. Each night, we sat down for dinner at about 8 or 9 p.m. and talked for seven or eight hours.
At one point, I asked Fidel what was the biggest mistake he had ever
made. He answered immediately: aligning himself too closely with Moscow.
[Khrushchev stopped Castro from bombing the US: “Castro and Che planned their Manhattan holocaust just weeks after Nikita Khrushchev foiled their plans for an even bigger massacre during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“If the missiles had remained,” Che Guevara confided to The London
Daily Worker the following month, “we would have used them against the very heart of the U.S., including New York City.””]
To this day, I have one regret from that first visit. On my last day in Havana, Fidel invited me to join him at the Cuban World Series, which was to start the next day. In our younger days, both of us had been pitchers,
and we both still keenly enjoyed the game. I had pressing business back
home, however, and decided to leave. Terrible call. What a gas it would
have been to sit next to Fidel in the Havana sunshine, talking balls and strikes.
We met many times after that, each time talking deep into the night about what was going on with our respective countries and about the prospect of improved Cuban-American relations. During my last visit, just a few months back, Fidel brought up the Cuban missile crisis again and mused sadly about how it had had such an awful effect on relations between our countries.
Fidel is one of the most intellectually curious men I have ever met, and, despite his advancing age, he showed no sign of flagging when I saw him last. In fact, he was consumed by two issues. Cuba’s energy grid had failed in three provinces during last year’s hurricane season,
and Fidel had ordered a top-to-bottom review of the system and its
reliance on old Soviet-bloc generators. He decided the old generators
had to go, replaced them with smaller ones, and allocated funds to begin
providing Cuban families with new energy-efficient appliances—all purchased from China. As he was explaining all this, he escorted me to a room next to his office filled with the new Chinese gadgets and
began citing from memory Cuba’s hour-by-hour consumption of energy, the
energy efficiencies of the new generators, and the cost savings from
reduced energy imports. Without pausing for breath, he then segued into a
description of another new program, to reward Cubans who use less
energy rather than assessing everyone the same consumption cost. I told
Fidel he was becoming a capitalist, but he disagreed. He was no
capitalist, he said; he was just approaching the subject rationally. But
Fidel, I replied, that’s what capitalists do. Our conversation was
filled with moments like that. Indeed, as I reflect on the 150 to 200 hours of conversations with him, I am impressed that a man who maintained such iron-fisted control over such an authoritarian regime could be possessed of such a roving, inquisitive mind.
One of the things that amused me about Fidel was that he gauged his
political strength not by the number of votes he won but by his
opposition—the number of ballots destroyed, left blank, or marked with a
“No.” From the limited view I had as I strolled around Havana, I had
little sense that Fidel’s opposition has increased; if anything, Cuba’s
improved economy, thanks to its surge in tourism, has led to a relative degree of contentment in the country.
It has been my experience in all walks of life, and in all the
activities I have been involved in, that you meet people in the most
unusual of circumstances, and either you do or don’t strike a bond with
them. Fidel Castro was somebody with whom, despite our deep political
differences, I was able to establish an extraordinary bond, with a remarkable ease of conversation. I look forward to talking with him again soon.”
———————————————
Added: Fidel Castro was adored by the elites–media, Wall St., and Beltway. Their hearts were aflutter when he came to town in 1996:
Image: 1996, Fidel Castro at luncheon in his honor in Board Room of Wall St. Journal
After lunch at the Council on Foreign Relations, “Castro flashed over to Mort Zuckerman’s Fifth Avenue pad, where a throng of Beltway glitterati, including Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings, Tina Brown, Bernard Shaw, and Barbara Walters" awaited him.…Castro was also “honored in the board room of the Wall Street Journal with a VIP luncheon.”
““The Toast of Manhattan!” crowed Time magazine in January of 1996. “The Hottest Ticket in Manhattan!” also read a Newsweek story
that week. Both articles referred to the social swirl and acclaim that
engulfed Fidel Castro upon his visit to New York by the very
Manhattan
media and business luminaries who barely escaped incineration at his
hand. The occasion was UN’s fiftieth anniversary celebration….
First on the Stalinist dictator’s itinerary was a luncheon at the Council on Foreign Relations. After holding court there for a rapt David Rockefeller, along with Robert McNamara, Dwayne Andreas, and Random House’s Harold Evans, Castro flashed over to Mort Zuckerman’s Fifth Avenue pad, where a throng of Beltway glitterati, including Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings, Tina Brown, Bernard Shaw, and Barbara Walters, all jostled for photo-ops and stood in line for the warmongering mass-murderer’s autograph.
Diane Sawyer was so overcome in the mass-murderer’s presence that she rushed up, broke into a toothy smile, wrapped her arms around Fidel Castro, and smooched him warmly on the cheek.
........
………………………………………………………………….
Added: Mortimer Zuckerman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1937. He was an associate professor at Harvard Business School for 9 years.
“Mortimer B. Zuckerman is the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report, the [former] Chairman and Publisher of the New York Daily News, the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Boston Properties Inc.…
Mr. Zuckerman is a graduate
of McGill University in Montreal where he received an undergraduate
degree in 1957 with first class honors, a degree in law in 1961 and an
honorary LLD in 2011. He received an MBA with distinction from the Wharton Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1961 and an LLM from Harvard University in 1962.”…Zuckerman was an associate professor at Harvard Business School for 9 years.
........
He is a trustee of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a member
of the Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management
Committee, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, and the Vice Chair and Treasurer of the International Peace Institute. He is a sponsor of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University,
a former Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning at the
Harvard Graduate School of Design, a former lecturer of City and
Regional Planning at Yale University, a past president of the Board of
Trustees of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the former Chairman of the Principal’s International Advisory Board of McGill University.
He is a former trustee of New York University and the Institute for
Advanced Studies at Princeton. He is a former Chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and served as
President of the America-Israel Friendship League….
He has received honorary degrees from Colby College, Southampton
College, Hebrew College, Berkeley College, the Icahn School of Medicine
at Mount Sinai, Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University and an
honorary Doctorate of Laws from McGill University and Columbia
University. Mr. Zuckerman was awarded the Commandeur De L’Ordre des Arts
et des Lettres by the government of France, the Lifetime Achievement
Award from Guild Hall, the Gold Medal from the American Institute of
Architecture in New York, the Sy Syms Humanitarian award from Yeshiva
University and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Canadian government.”
...............
.
“Recent history is absolutely clear: 100% of all Islamic terrorist incidents in the US since they began in the 1990s were perpetrated or inspired by Sunni jihadists, not Iran or its Shiite allies and proxies in the region.”
1/7/20, “The Donald’s Assassination of General Soleimani-As Stupid As It Gets,” David Stockman, UNZ Review
“In this day and age of urban and irregular warfare and drone-based annihilation delivered by remote joy-stick, generals tend to kill more civilians than combatants. The dead civilian victims in their millions of U.S. generals reaching back to the 1960s surely attest to that.
Then again, even the outright belligerents Soleimani did battle with over the decades were not exactly alms-bearing devotees of Mother Theresa, either. In sequential order, they were the lethally armed combatants mustered by Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush, the Sunni jihadists of ISIS and the Israeli and Saudi air forces, which at this very moment are raining high tech bombs and missiles on Iranian allies and proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
The only reason these years of combat are described in the mainstream media as evidence of Iranian terrorism propagated by its Quds forces is that the neocons have declared it so. That is, by Washington’s lights Iran is not allowed to have a foreign policy and its alliances with mainly Shiite co-religionists in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are alleged per se to be schemes of aggression and terror, warranting any and all retaliations including assassination of its highest officials.
But that’s just colossal nonsense and imperialistic arrogance. The Assad government in Syria, the largest political party in Lebanon (Hezbollah), the dominant population of northern Yemen (Houthis) and a significant portion of the Iraqi armed forces represented by the Shiite militias (the PMF or Popular Mobilization Forces) are no less civilized and no more prone to sectarian violence than anybody else in this woebegone region. And the real head-choppers of ISIS and its imitators and rivals have all been Sunni jihadist insurrectionists, not Shiite-based governments and political parties.
The truth is, America has no dog in the Shiite versus Sunni hunt, which has been going on for 1300 years in the region. And when it comes to spillover of those benighted forces into Europe or America, recent
history is absolutely clear: 100% of all Islamic terrorist incidents in
the US since they began in the 1990s were perpetrated or inspired by
Sunni jihadists, not Iran or its Shiite allies and proxies in the region….
The aggression in the Persian Gulf region during the last three decades has originated in the Washington DC nest of neocon vipers and among Bibi Netanyahu’s proxies, collaborators and assigns who rule the roost in the Imperial City and among both political parties. And the motivating force has all along been the malicious quest for regime change—first in Iraq and then in Syria and Iran.
Needless
to say, Washington instigated “regime change” tends to provoke a
determined self-defense and a usually violent counter-reaction among the
changees. So the truth is, the so-called Shiite crescent is not an alliance of terrorists inflicting wanton violence on the region; it’s a league of regime-change resisters and armed combatants who have elected to say “no” to Washington’s imperial schemes for remaking the middle eastern maps.
So in taking out
Soleimani, the usually befuddled and increasingly belligerent occupant
of the Oval Office was not striking a blow against “terrorism”. He was
just dramatically escalating Washington’s long-standing regime-change aggression in the region,
thereby risking an outbreak of even greater violence and possibly a
catastrophic conflagration in the Persian Gulf where one-fifth of the
world’s oil traverses daily.
And most certainly, the Donald has now crushed his own oft-repeated intent to withdraw American forces from the middle east and get out of the regime change business—the very platform upon which he campaigned in 2016. There are now upwards of 50,000 US military personnel in the immediate Persian Gulf region and tens of thousands of more contractors, proxies and mercenaries. After Friday’s reckless maneuver, that number can now only go up—and possibly dramatically.
“Iranian
mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of slain top
general Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in his hometown
Kerman.” Photo: AFP
The larger point here is that Imperial Washington and its mainstream media megaphones have so egregiously and relentlessly vilified Iran and falsified the middle east narrative that the Iranian side of the story has been completely lost—literally airbrushed right off the pages of contemporary history in Stalineseque fashion.
Not that the benighted, mullah-controlled Iranian regime is comprised of anything which resembles white hats. One of the great misfortunes of the last four decades is that the long-suffering people of Iran have not been able to throw-off the cultural and religious shackles imposed by this theocratic regime or escape the economic backwardness and incompetence of what is essentially rule by authoritarian clerics.
But that’s exactly the crime of Washington’s neocon-inspired hostility and threats to the Iranian regime. It merely rekindles Iranian nationalism and causes the public to rally to the support of the regime, as is so evident at the current moment.
Worse still, the underlying patriotic foundation of this pro-regime sentiment is completely lost on Imperial Washington
owing to its false narrative about post-1979 history. Yet the fact is,
in the eyes of the Iranian people the Quds forces and Soleimani have
plausible claims to having been valiant defenders of the nation.
In the original
instance, of course, Soleimani earned his chops on the battlefield
contending with the chemical weapons-dropping air force of Saddam
Hussein during the 1980s. And Saddam was the invader whose chemical bombs achieved especially deadly accuracy against often barely armed teenage Iranian soldiers owing to spotting and targeting assistance rendered by the U.S. air force—a Washington assisted depredation that a whole generation of Iranians know all about, even if present day Washington feints ignorance….
We have long believed that there is nothing stupider in Washington than the neocon policy mafia that has wrecked such unspeakable havoc on the middle east as well as upon American servicemen and taxpayers who have been marched time and again into the jaws of their folly.
But, now, the Donald has single-handedly given even neocon stupidity a run for the money."
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