In tense world situations like this it is easy to get caught up in wave after wave of headlines as we are hourly updated on what is supposedly happening in a region that we really can’t rely on for ‘accurate’ timely reporting.
In addition, there is the very problematic issue of a constant and very conscious intent to misinform the public as to what is going on and even resort to fallacious, fabricated, information in order to escalate tension rather than de-escalate.
Notorious examples of this include the accused chemical attacks claimed to have been done by President Assad on the Syrian people, accusations that were caught in a web of lies committed by the Western press and the Obama administration.
There have also been continual lies on the source of funding and training of the terrorist groups in these areas which is also largely dependant on the West for its function and existence, not to mention the cases of Libya and Iraq and all the lying that is ongoing on those subjects.
The first question I would ask myself then is why is the Western press so concerned over the lives of the Kurdish people, when they have never cared about all the murder and terror going on against the Syrian people, the Yemeni people, the Libyan people and the Iraqi people that has led to a horrific level of death and an enormous refugee crisis which has largely been ignored by the West.
In fact, the only time Western governments and media show some level of human concern is when there is an intention to intervene militarily in these areas.
The topic of the Kurdish peoples’ welfare is the number one topic in the news and even the US Democrat presidential candidate debates. The same Democrats who, with the exception of Tulsi Gabbard, would rather go to war with Russia than work with Russia to attain peace in the Middle East.
The reason for this extreme level of passion and concern for the Kurdish people is said to be because they helped the US fight the terrorists in Syria…the same terrorists that the US was largely implicated in training and transferring into Syria, the so-called ‘moderate rebels’.
This was a rather unsustainable circular pattern, which if carried out for long enough would have resulted in the erasure of the Kurdish fighters in that region due to the US’ direct support for the very terrorists they were fighting, something the Democrats don’t want to bring attention to.
But now there is massive uproar that the Kurdish people are being slaughtered in North-East Syria by the Turkish military.
ABC News was at the forefront in the exposure of this terrible genocide showing footage that was claimed to be of the Kurdish massacre. It turned out to be a video from April 2017 of a Kentucky gun-range show. ABC News has apologised for their ‘mistake’ and ho hum let’s go on as if there isn’t something deeply concerning going on.
The desperation to rile up Western outcry over this issue should raise suspicion.
When in Doubt Look Toward Putin
President Putin is without a doubt the most competent person in the world to know how best to handle this ‘situation’, which is much more complicated than a simple condemnation of Erdogan or Trump’s seemingly blasé abandonment of the Kurdish people.
In the October 17th weekly briefing by the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova was asked in the Q&A section what Russia’s thoughts were on the EU meeting that occurred on Oct 14th discussing the North-East Syrian situation.
Zakharova’s response to this question of the EU’s role in the conflict resolution in Syria was basically…that it was non-existent and thus a non-issue from the standpoint of a constructive agenda.
She went on to say that she could have provided a more diplomatic response to this question but if it were not for the millions of people who are indeed suffering who do not even have the opportunity to hear the statement given by the EU High Representative about her involvement in their destinies and in their fate.
Zakharova ended by stating that “the years of which this conflict has evolved and the consequences of this conflict as well as the evident results of certain countries involvement in the conflict, allow us [Russia] today to forget about superficial tolerance and call things what they are.”
The strong message sent was therefore that the West has no place in the resolution of the Syrian – Turkey conflict, but rather, that this will be resolved by an agreement between Erdogan and Assad with Russia as the mediator.
Interestingly, Putin’s meeting with Erdogan that occurred on Tuesday Oct 22 resulted in an agreement that the Kurdish fighters would have to move 30 km away from the border area in northeast Syria within 150 hours, and that this 150 hour time period would begin at noon on Wednesday.
It was also agreed that both Russian and Syrian troops would control the rest of the border with joint patrols with the Turkish military occurring on the northeast Syrian border area.
There is an obvious long-term plan here, and the US military is not physically sticking its nose in it. So why is everyone so upset again over the US military leaving this region?
The Real Reason for the West’s Emotional Fervour
It should not be news for anyone at this point that Syria is part of the Western geopolitical regime-change warfare that is leading to an eventual direct confrontation with Russia, if successful.
This has always been the plan, and started with the toppling of the Iraqi government, followed by the Libyan government and the attempt to overthrow the government of Syria, which has been saved purely due to the intervention of Russia.
The plan was to cause an increasing level of chaos that would reach a peak level of mayhem along the Russian border, and like a swarm of wasps one would not be able to identify who stung who and amongst the confusion could easily lead to full scale war.
However, the orchestrators of this plan have seriously under-estimated the Russians, in not only their intelligence gathering capabilities, their military strength but also in their very wise diplomatic resolutions and patience for long-term peace plans.
This Western confrontation against Russia would also be backed by NATO’s setting up of ‘defense systems’ in their members’ territories. Turkey is among the absolutely vital strategic regions for the placement of these weapons systems.
Therefore, it is no surprise that NATO and the American military industrial complex are very concerned over Erdogan’s succumbing to the strategic advising of Putin.
With the recent purchase by Turkey of the S-400 Russian missile system this past summer, which went ahead despite threats by NATO that they would no longer consider Turkey an ally, the balance in the Middle East is increasingly abandoning the West in favour of the Russia-China alliance.
At this point, I think it highly unlikely that Erdogan is under any illusion of how his Western counterparts truly regard the role of Turkey in this fiasco, which is the same poisoned honey they having been dripping into the ears of anyone in the Middle East who has held the grand delusion of becoming a super power as the favourite pet of Britain and the US, and that the reality is that these wannabe demi-gods of the Middle East are completely dispensable and in fact the plan by their Western ‘allies’ is to dispense of them at some point, the uncertainty is just exactly when.
When Erdogan announced an apology to Russia for shooting down the Russian fighter jet in Syrian air in June 2016, there was an attempted coup d’état against Erdogan by a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces orchestrated by US asset Fethullah Gülen only days later.
This was no coincidence in timing and Erdogan to the surprise of everyone…survived (it is said only due to receiving intelligence from the Russians merely hours before the actual coup).
The West has been a little insecure about where Turkey stands ever since, after all, what can be said when you find yourself in the awkward situation of having to continue relations with someone you tried to dispose of, “Hey I am really sorry about that time I lost my temper and tried to have you brutally killed…But we’re good now right?”.
Erdogan is fully aware that Russia is Turkey’s only solution to getting out of its hostage situation under NATO.
So why is there so much uproar against Trump’s decision to remove the US military from Syria?
Because, the presence of the US military was the last controlled hold-out to furthering instability in that area.
I think we can all agree that it is not in the interest of Turkey, Syria, the Kurdish fighters nor Russia to have these terrorist cells in the northeast region of Syria activated, it would only be in the interest of the US military, which has been its function there from the get go.
The Russian military is fully capable of managing what remains of this clean-up job, nobody needs the US’ continued presence there. And the US military should further remove its presence in any country that does not welcome it.
As some journalists on Strategic Culture have already acknowledged, there is a situation going on within the US that is pretty much equivalent to that of a second civil war.
In addition, there is a clear intention from one side to go to war with Russia, and there is another side that does not.
Trump despite his distasteful choosing of words and concerning personal beliefs on certain subjects, clearly does not want to go to war with Russia and that is the number one issue in the world because no one will be unaffected by such a catastrophic outcome if there is war.
Any drama that is cooked up by the Western press has at this point a near 100% certainty that they are trying to rile up a sentiment to go to war, most notably with the ongoing Russia Gate hoax, the British orchestrated alternate dimension of the Skripal case and the present Ukraine-Gate absurdity.
President Putin is leading one of the most challenging diplomatic situations in history.
We should be confident when the Russians say that they don’t need anyone else’s nose in this and we should rather be weary that the largest threat to stability in this region is if the West, notably the US, succeeds in revving up a fervour for another foreign military occupation.
Cynthia Chung is a lecturer, writer and co-founder and editor of the Rising Tide Foundation (Montreal, Canada).
First published by SCF
The 21st Century