Saturday, August 20, 2016

‘Western Propaganda is Paid for in Syrian Blood’ – Dr Bouthaina Shaaban Talks to Vanessa Beeley


Impassioned plea for understanding and compassion from the "liberal" West rather than bombs and guns to impose an alien way of life on traditional peoples.

Liberal interventionism is illiberal.

8 comments:

MRW said...

Vanessa Beeley's reporting is exemplary. So much so that no western media outlet is picking her up.

Peter Pan said...

What is the significance of President Assad? He is credible, people believe in him, Arab people believe in him. They do not want anybody like that to have influence. I feel there is a huge plan against all of us.

On the contrary, he is less than credible, he is not a moderate, and there are plenty of "Arab people" who will stop at nothing to destroy him and his supporters. In reality, the Arab people are divided by religion and ruled by dictators, whose only loyalty are to the borders that define their fiefdom.

If the "superior" west found themselves in that position, there'd be similar unrest and bloodshed. Just look at European history.

Europe has the EU to unite and foster peace, Syria has Baathism. Neither will work.

Tom Hickey said...

There are four choices in the area, 1) Baathism (secular), 2) Wahhabism (fundamentalist) 3) "democracy" (recipe for chaos unless the US imposes a dictatorial puppet government) and 4) chaos.

Afghanistan and Iraq have #4. Why expect anything different in Syria from US (neo)liberal intervention, the agenda of which is to make these countries liberal democracies like the US while the (not so) hidden agenda is to turn them back into colonies and vassals of the empire.

From the US elites' POV this is about 1) control of the region, 2) pipelines, and 3) denial of access to adversaries (Russia and China). From the British, French and German POV is is about neocolonialism and revanchism.

Peter Pan said...

Iraq has #3 and #4. Afghanistan has a puppet government garrisoned in the larger cities.
Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states appear to have the least amount of internal unrest - and they're not secular. However, they share a common methodology: power based upon ruthless repression of any opposition.

Washington is content with chaos. In order for the locals to wage war they need money. That means they need to sell oil, usually at a discount. Another win win for the jackals.

Peter Pan said...

Not to neglect the POV of ISIS, which has a biblical reference to it. What irony if a nuclear apocalypse were to be triggered by events in the Levant. But not to true believers, whether Salafist or Christian. From their POV they are doing us a favor by bringing the world to an end. Only then will there be paradise on Earth.

Tom Hickey said...

I would put Afghanistan and Iraq in category 4 - chaos. There are ongoing insurgencies there, and the outcome is still in play in both cases. The Taliban just took control of a province in Afghanistan, for instance. Moreover he US coalition has troops fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq, in addition to covert ops.

Tom Hickey said...

This is also the POV of ISIS. According to one understanding of the sayings of Muhammad, the final battle will occur in Syria and many of the fighter believe this to be the end times.

Peter Pan said...

But Iraq does have a nominal democracy. In theory they could work towards reconciliation within a federal type of arrangement. In practice, the majority voting bloc (Shia) will dominate.