Konashenkov: Militants Preparing Provocation in Syria to Initiate US Attack

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On Monday, Minoborony source Major-General Igor Konashenkov said:

According to information confirmed through three independent channels in Syria, the command of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” aided by US special ops units are preparing a serious provocation involving chemical weapons in Deir ez-Zor Governorate. FSA militants delivered chlorine cylinders to Deir ez-Zor Governorate to simulate another chemical attack against civilians. After publication in western media, a staged video is set to initiate a missile strike on Syrian state facilities by the US-led coalition to justify an offensive operation by militants against Syrian government forces on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. We warn that the use of such provocations to destabilise the environment on Syrian territory is unacceptable.

11 June 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/defense/1009105

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Singapore Summit: A Momentous Event Pregnant With Risk and Hope

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The Oxford dictionary definition of the adjective “momentous”’ is as follows:

Of great importance or significance, especially in having a bearing on future events.

Therefore, we could’ve invented that word with the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in mind. Peace is desirable anytime and for all time. If I may have a brief attempt at ascending Shakespearean heights, in the affairs of men, peace is one of the last frontiers humanity is yet to conquer. Moreover, these tumultuous and tempestuous times, the lack of peace… which means to say not merely an absence of conflict but instead an absence of the threat of conflict… hangs over all of us like an incubus. Personally, I don’t recall having ever experienced the sense of dread I experienced over the Douma crisis in April. It really did seem that we perched on the precipice of World War III. I like to believe and sincerely hope that having emerged from that crisis the world did so awakened to the folly of relegating diplomacy to the back of the queue when it comes to international affairs and disagreements and pushing the military option to the front.

This brings us to the presidency of Donald J Trump. In Trump, the world has a US president more worthy of serious character study by behavioural scientists, even perhaps psychiatrists, than any other… which I realise is a bold statement considering the previous incumbents of that office. Capricious, unpredictable, unstable, narcissistic, temperamental, mercurial… Trump has been justifiably described as all of the above since entering the Oval Office as the leader of the world’s most powerful country with no prior political experience. yet and yet… isn’t it he rather than Obama or Clinton or Bush who succeeded, while in office, in pulling off such a momentous event as the first sit-down face-to-face meeting with the leader of the DPRK since the state was established in 1948? Therefore, does his success in doing so suggest evidence of method in his apparent madness?

Certainly, more and more are beginning to come round to this assessment. In addition, considering the abrupt shifts in tone and tenor that he continually engages in… threatening conflict and war one day, talking peace and stability the next… why wouldn’t they? Nevertheless here’s the thing… while unpredictability and caprice may be an attribute in the world of business when it comes to negotiating and clinching deals, in the world of geopolitics involving matters of war and peace it carries with it the potential for catastrophic consequences. In answering our earlier question regarding Trump’s success in pulling off a face-to-face meeting with the DPRK’s Kim Jong-un, let us be clear… credit for success in establishing this peace process belongs entirely to Kim Jong-un and ROK President Moon Jae-in. In fact, the only reason Trump is in Singapore, basking in the credit, is down to the fact he really had no choice in response to the Koreans taking the initiative in embarking on positive and constructive dialogue. Thus, the Trump Administration is tailing this process, not spearheading it.

The million dollar question is, “Will it attempt to sabotage it?” The DPRK’s survival as an independent state, given what it’s been through… the asphyxiating isolation in which it’s been forced to exist over decades… is remarkable. This isolation came at a heavy price despite the brave face the country’s leadership maintained for the consumption of its enemies, particularly Washington. In December 2017, UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein outlined the grim reality of life in the DPRK for millions of its people under the most brutal sanctions ever imposed on a state by the UN since those imposed on Iraq between 1991 and 2003. Mr Zeid went so far as to recommend that the UN Security Council conduct an urgent investigation into the impact of the sanctions on the people of the DPRK and find ways to minimize their “adverse humanitarian consequences”.

No matter the obfuscation and attempts to beguile people into believing otherwise, those adverse humanitarian consequences were precisely the effect intended by those responsible for imposing sanctions, turning them into a grotesque experiment in human despair. Moreover, let’s not mince words… the only reason they hit the DPRK with such punitive and cruel sanctions was that it refused to give up its independence and submit to the writ of Washington. As for those who declaim against anything which smacks of an attempt to let the DPRK leadership and government off the hook when it comes to the desperate plight of its people, this conforms to an exercise in treating symptoms as causes and thus defending the indefensible when it comes to the brutal and unremitting role of the Empire in sowing misery and mayhem.

The economic, social, and political development of any given state is inextricably linked to the external pressure arrayed against it. As such, berating a given state over its lack of development in these areas while it exists in the crosshairs of imperialism is like grabbing someone by the throat and berating them for not breathing properly. In sitting down to discuss peace with an adversary that was responsible for the biblical suffering of its people throughout his country’s existence, Kim Jong-un does so in response to the suffering of his people. He more than anyone is aware that there’s a marked difference between a Carthaginian peace, a Pax Americana, and a peace agreed between equals in a spirit of reconciliation and good faith. Pessimism dictates that some wish to impose the former on the DPRK. Optimism hopes that the ROK leadership in Seoul possesses the requisite determination and will to refuse to accept anything less than the latter.

Whatever the outcome… here, let’s hope that this summit and continuing peace process ends in peace with security for the DPRK… the obstacle to normalisation on the Korean peninsula has never been Pyongyang… it’s always been Washington.

12 June 2018

John Wight

Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201806121065340625-singapore-summit-risk-hope/

12 June 2018. Why Poverty?

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Poverty exists because of greed. Most of those responsible call themselves “conservatives”… when you read hokum written by amoral Mammon-worshipping filth like Rod Dreher, Pat Buchanan, or James Jatras, understand that they champion a society where the rich run roughshod over all the rest of us and their Upper Middle running dogs (like them) snatch a disproportionate share of the pie.

There’s enough for everyone to have a moderate sufficiency. The fact that they don’t is due to the greed of the ruling class and their grasping Upper Middle minions. By the way…. “liberals” such as the Clintons, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi are no better than “conservatives” are. They’re just as fervent in their worship of money and power. However, they try to hide it under a smarmy exterior, which makes them worse than Dreher and Jatras are (and those two are rather deep in their espousal of a ruthless and cruel Mammon-ruled society). At least the “conservatives” are openly feral and honestly anti-religious (while mouthing pietistic religiosity, no less), they’re not liars like the “liberals” are.

Sad, ain’t it? The Republicans are godless worshippers at Mammon’s Altar, and the Dems aren’t far behind them in fervour for Filthy Lucre and the Almighty Dollar. I voted for Dr Jill and Brother Ajamu… I didn’t vote for evil…

BMD

 

Konashenkov: IS Emerged Because of US Invasion of Iraq

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On Saturday, Minoborony source Major-General Igor Konashenkov told reporters that the Islamic State terror group emerged because of the US invasion of Iraq and that most of the weapons that the USA provided to the Syrian opposition fell into the hands of IS and Jabhat al-Nusra militants. In comments on US Defence Sectary James Mattis’ statement that Bashar al-Assad, supported by Iran and Russia, led the Syrian people to a catastrophe, while the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces was the only organisation that succeeded in defeating terrorists in Syria, Konashenkov said:

We’re surprised at Pentagon chief Mattis’s verbal manipulations in regard to developments in Syria. We’d like to remind Mattis that the emergence and development of the ISIL in Iraq was a direct and undisputed result of the US invasion of the country under the false pretext of Saddam Hussein possessing chemical weapons. ISIL’s further expansion to Syria was possible because of the culpable inaction of the USA and the so-called US-led coalition, which made it possible for ISIL militants to take control of major oil-fields in eastern Syria and ensured a steady revenue from illegal trade in petroleum products. All this time, Washington focused on providing financial support and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons to the imaginary “Syrian opposition”. However, most of the weapons and ammunition provided by the USA fell into the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated with al-Qaeda, and ISIL, whose objective to topple the legitimate Syrian government coincided with Washington’s goals.

9 June 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/defense/1008903