War with Russia on the Verge of Breaking Out

[Lauren Johnson]

The games of international chicken have been going on for decades. But this is feeling worse than the Cuban missile crisis 1962.

President Trump is so pissed off by the Stormy affair that he is likely to prefer a good old war to another humiliation. This suits his enemies and friends (though not his voters) to a tee. He has a choice of doing a difficult manly act that needs all his courage, but which one? Should he put the well-being of his country at stake and brave Russian missiles, or risk the displeasure of the elites and sack Mueller? He is tempted to do the easy thing. Thus he has been maneuvered into deep waters by a powerful coalition of Brits and Jews, the same people who delivered you the last two world wars.

His attempt to make sense and drop the Syrian hot potato ("I strongly wish for the withdrawal of our forces from Syria", he tweeted) has been rebuffed by the indomitable Mr Netanyahu. Don't even think of doing it, the big man from Tel Aviv said to Donny in the tense telephone conversation. Don't leave Syria, you still have to fight the Iranians and Russians. And don't forget the Syrian kiddies, added the man still covered with the gore of 2,500 Palestinians shot on his orders last week. The Pentagon and US intelligence agencies take their orders directly from Tel Aviv, or via AIPAC; they are already preparing for an extended stay in Syria, despite Donny's declarations.

The Jews went ballistic when they heard of Trump's intention to leave Syria. The scribes of WaPo and NY Times condemned the step as playing into Russian hands. "Washington Post columnist and CNN commentator Catherine Rampell said that "Putin must be ecstatic" with Trump's instructions to begin planning for withdrawal from the region. Forget the fact that it'd be odd for a president to base all of his foreign policy decisions on what would bother Russia why isn't Rampell focusing on how delightful it must be for American soldiers to finally reunite with their families, or how the resources this country has spent overseas can now be used domestically?", noted a media reporter. This was the cue for Mueller's raid of Cohen's office. The old fool has to be pushed, if he does not want to go by his own will, they decided.

America with its Puritan background is the only country where sexual mores are so strict that they lead to war. Clinton went to war in Yugoslavia because of a blow job, while Trump will possibly destroy the world because of a one-night stand.

An attack on Syria is likely to bring a Russian response. At the least, it will be a local conflagration, a joust, a trial of forces and wills. Who knows how it will end? This was been postponed in 2013, when the US armada sailed to Syria's shores to avenge some other alleged chemical attack. I wrote about that fateful encounter, perhaps over-optimistically, in a piece called The Cape of Good Hope.

"It was touch and go, just as risky as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The chances for total war were high, as the steely wills of America and Eurasia had crossed in the Eastern Mediterranean. The most dramatic event of September 2013 was the high-noon stand-off near the Levantine shore, with five US destroyers pointing their Tomahawks towards Damascus and facing them the Russian flotilla of eleven ships led by the carrier-killer Missile Cruiser Moskva and supported by Chinese warships. Apparently, two missiles were launched towards the Syrian coast, and both failed to reach their destination. (We shall return to these two missiles later).

After this strange incident, the pending shoot-out did not commence, as President Obama stood down and holstered his guns. This was preceded by an unexpected vote in the British Parliament. This venerable body declined the honour of joining the attack proposed by the US. This was the first time in two hundred years that the British parliament voted down a sensible proposition to start a war; usually the Brits can't resist the temptation. This misadventure put paid to American hegemony , supremacy and exceptionalism. Manifest Destiny was over."

As we see now, the high noon was been postponed by five years, and now it is being re-run. The British Prime Minister Theresa May decided she does not need parliament's approval, President Trump decided he does not need an approval of Congress. So these brakes had been removed.

And now back to those two missiles of 2013. They were sent by the Israelis, whether they were trying to jump-start the shoot-out or just observed the clouds, as they claim. The missiles never reached its destination, shot down by the Russian ship-based sea-to-air defence system, or perhaps rendered useless by Russian GPS jammers.

Fast forward to 2018. On the night of April 10, in the small hours, the Syrian air field T-4 had been attacked by eight air-to-ground missiles; five were downed by the Syrian defence, three (or two) reached their goal and killed a few personnel. For a while, it was thought this was the American attack, but rather quickly, "Russia outed Israel", as Haaretz reported. Israel tried to dissimulate, at first claiming they warned Putin and got his okay. When Putin's spokesman denied that, they said they did it by the US request. Most probably they again tried to bring the confrontation to the fore.

Now, with the US Navy in place, with the support of England and France, the countdown to a confrontation has apparently started. The Russians are grimly preparing for the battle, whether a local one or the global one, and they expect it to begin any moment.

The road to this High Noon had led through the Scripal Affair, the diplomats' expulsion and the Syrian battle for Eastern Ghouta, with an important side show provided by Israeli shenanigans.
The diplomats' expulsion flabbergasted the Russians. For days they went around scratching their heads and looking for an answer: what do they want from us? What is the bottom line? Too many events that make little sense separately. Why did the US administration expel 60 Russian diplomats? Do they want to cut off diplomatic relations, or is it a first step to an attempt to remove Russia from the Security Council, or to cancel its veto rights? Does it mean the US has given up on diplomacy? (The answer "it's war" didn't come to their minds at that time).

The astonished Russians responded all right. They also expelled 60 diplomats, and they made it painful: all US diplomats engaged in the political department of the Moscow Embassy were on the non-grata list. The Political department consisted of three sections, dealing with foreign policy, internal Russian politics and military analysis; the most important centre of data collection, of liaison with Russian politicians, of military consequences, of Syria and Ukraine, of North Korea and China, experienced first-class intelligence officers and field hands all gone, including their Political Officer Christopher Robinson (POL). The Russians expelled Maria Olson, the Embassy's well-known spokesperson, and the Ambassador's interpreter. They closed down St Petersburg Consulate, an important centre for connecting, influencing and interacting with the opposition in this second capital' of Russia. The US has lost many of its Moscow hands, people who knew Russia and had developed personal relations with important Russians. It will take a lot of time and effort for the US State Department and intelligence agencies to get back to the positions they had lost. The Brits who initiated the deportations also lost about fifty of their Moscow Embassy staff.
Surprisingly, the mass deportation of so many Russian diplomats had little effect on the Russian people, as this strike had been neutralised by another painful event, by the Kemerovo Mall blaze killing 64 cinema-goers including over 40 children. The blaze, even if it weren't arson (it has not been proven yet) had triggered a massive onslaught of fake news and internet trolls on the people of Russia. A million underfed Ukrainians were deployed by the Western psywar on the web to tell the Russians that hundreds of their children had been incinerated, and that their authorities lie to them. This operation revealed the level of influence and integration the Western spy agencies have in Russia.

Kemerovo was a good choice for the operation: it is the only ethnic-Russian region ruled by an old-style local hero who had outlived his wits, the only region that reported indecently (and unrealistically) high support for Putin in the recent elections, a depressive region of mines and miners with a big potential for trouble.

Putin managed it rather well by coming personally and dealing with the situation hands on. He learned the ropes since 2000, when, at the dawn of his first presidential term, the Kursk submarine went down with all hands. Putin stayed away from the sailors' families, and acted callous, people said. "It had sunk", Putin replied to the question "What happened to Kursk?" (It is said USS Memphis had fired a torpedo at the submarine, causing the disaster, while the new president had been reluctant to aggravate relations with Clinton Administration). Now, in 2018, he was very good, full of empathy and consideration, conveying strength and decisiveness.
Whatever American agency carried out the psyop around Kemerovo, it was very successful, but its success undermined another operation, that of the Russian diplomats' expulsion. The Russians did not pay it sufficient attention.

The alleged reason for the expulsion, the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, made very little sense. Even if the old spy were bumped off by his erstwhile employers, such a reaction would be excessive by all means. He was not a Napoleon (poisoned by the Brits 200 years ago), not a prince of blood, not a great inventor nor a successful spy. He was a retired ex-spy, a wash-out. Anyway he didn't die, he was just sick for a while. Perhaps he ate something in the pub that didn't agree with him. This is the opinion of his niece, Victoria, who is the only person alive who had been in contact with the Skripals since their alleged hospitalisation.

This affair is so obscure that it beats Rashomon anytime. Russian reporters went around Salisbury and noticed many incongruences. It is not certain whether Skripals were poisoned at all, and where they are. Their pets survived the deadly poison, and they had to be destroyed. This piece of black Russian humour had been forwarded a lot around the net:

Skripal had been poisoned by a most powerful poison, 2 grams will kill half a country instantly! The Russians
- poisoned him in the restaurant
- no, on the bench
- no, in the car
- No, the door handle was smeared
- No, the suitcase was poisoned
- No, everything in the house was poisoned.
- Oh, and buckwheat was poisoned,
- but they did not die instantly, but walked around somewhere for four hours,
- but the policeman that discovered them almost died on the spot,
- but the poison was instantly identified,
- an antidote was instantly introduced, and Skripals and the policeman were saved;
- The policeman had been discharged next day!
- But they were in coma, and they will never recover!
- but no, the daughter had recovered fast!
- Oh, and dad is revived … a miracle!
- and they both are quickly recovering, your strongest poison is useless.
- the restaurant had been surrounded by police in spacesuits
- the park had been surrounded by police in spacesuits
- the house had surrounded by police in spacesuits
- they are in spacesuits, since the poison is deadly dangerous, but next to them are policemen without protection …
- The bench was cut down and removed: it's such a terrible poison that the bench retained its toxic quality for two weeks;
- but the cat had survived in the poisoned house … the policeman had touched Skripal and nearly died, and the cat survived … and the guinea pigs would survive, but they were all forgotten, and died of hunger in the house;
- and their remains were immediately burned, as they are poisoned by the strongest poison;
- For two weeks they were poisoned by the strongest poison and survived, and now they had to be urgently cremated;
- Only guinea pigs died, the cat survived all this poison. It was stressful and hungry, so they killed it and cremated to make it certain nobody will find the secret etc etc.

The true hero of Skripal saga is the British ex-Ambassador Craig Murray, who followed the developments and unveiled many of its inconsistencies and outright lies. You may read his articles and twits to learn the details.

Julia Skripal took a daring step: she called her cousin Viktoria in Moscow. Their conversation is an amazing document. Julia says that she and her father are in good health; she doubts Viktoria will be allowed to visit her. Indeed, the British government refused to grant her visa. The feeling is that Julia is imprisoned.

I spoke with a retired Russian counter-intelligence officer who is familiar with the subject. He told me Russia never had a Novichok toxic substance: this name was given by counter-intelligence to A-232 in order to trace the leaks. It worked: a man called Vil Mirzayanov, an administrator in the chemical labs, leaked the Novichok story, and thus he was apprehended and arrested. A-232 had been produced in small amounts in 1990s, and some of it could be stolen and sold in these horrible years, when a full colonel of Russian intelligence had to moonlight as a taxi driver to supplement his measly $46 monthly salary. In those years, the poison could be indeed made available, and in one case it was used by criminals. Theoretically it is not impossible that some of this poison could have been saved and stored by some criminals; alternatively, it was available to the Americans who dismantled the labs in 1992. Anyway we have no independent proof that Skripals were poisoned by anything at all. If they survive, if the British and the American intelligence services don't kill them, perhaps we shall know more. We can definitely exclude the possibility that Russian state agents would go to Britain to poison an old spy who had been pardoned by Russian president years ago. Even if he was active in producing Christopher Steele's Trump ("Golden Rain") file, the Russians would have no compelling reason to kill him at all, and in such an odd way in particular. "If we would kill him, he would stay killed", concluded my interlocutor.

The details of Skripal case are very entertaining, but not necessary for our understanding. The case was used to install in minds the connection between chemical poisoning and Russia. It is unfair, for Russians destroyed all their chemical poisons under the eyes of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors, but life is often unfair.

The connection between chemical poisoning and Russia had been prepared for the forthcoming event. Eastern Ghouta was an important and well entrenched location of the Syrian rebels. Being within easy reach from Central Damascus, it provided the rebels with a chance to seize power in the Syrian capital. As the Syrian army with Iranian and Russian support advanced into Eastern Ghouta, they learned of the rebel plans to stage a false flag chemical weapon attack, as they already had done a few times in past. President Putin warned of such a possibility at his joint (with President Erdogan and President Rouhani) press conference in Ankara last week, a few days before the alleged attack.

The attack had never occurred at all, but it was duly reported by the pro-Western media. Thus the game came to a close. Skripal Affair established the connection of Russia and chemical weapons, Eastern Ghouta allowed to use this connection in order to attack Russia.

We should not overestimate importance of these media events. The leading Western powers and their media refused to consider different explanations, refused an open inquiry, they went for jugular. Russia has been demonised in 2018, like Germany was demonised in 1940. It was a long and cautious labour. Have a look at this site theday.co.uk it is a site for school children and their teachers. You'll be amazed to discover its fervent hatred of Russia and Putin being pumped into hearts and heads of young generation. Such a long planning can't be dependent on an event like poisoning of an ex-spy or even on the fall of a Syrian underground fortress.

The planners of a war on Russia have utilised fear of anti-Semitism for their purposes. I called this method Anti-semitism Weaponised. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has been blocked and contained by accusations of anti-Semitism. He was the only leader able to stop Britain's descent into war with Russia. Other Labour MPs and activists have been attacked over alleged anti-Semitism issue, and what a coincidence! practically all of them were against demonising Russia; while Friends of Israel whether Conservative or Labour were viciously anti-Russian.

This is a correlation that will be discussed at another time, but it is far from obvious one. Russia has no anti-Semitism; the Russian president is friendly to Israel and to the powerful Jewish Chabad movement. Russia has no white nationalism, and little of the alt-right. However, this correlation exists. Shall we explain it by Jewish hatred of the Orthodox Church, as this Church (active in Russia, Greece, Palestine and Syria) hasn't been Jewified. Or should we prefer a more simple explanation: Jews are well integrated into Western elites, and they promote and support the goals of these elites.

However, people who can withstand accusations of anti-Semitism are the strongest enemies of the ruling power; they stand against the war with Russia and against attack on Syria, as the Haaretz newspaper explained in an article called White Supremacists Defend Assad, Warn Trump: Don't Let Israel Force You Into War With Syria . The article continues: "Alt-right calls Saturday's chemical attack in Damascus suburb a false flag operation, claiming it's an effort by Israel and globalists' to keep U.S. troops in Middle East" It quotes David Duke and other untouchables as the only people who reject Israeli narrative.

Not being a white supremacist (probably I do not qualify) I still applaud these brave men when they say and do the right thing. Sensitivity to anti-Semitism accusation is a strong vulnerability of character. Though people like Corbyn have their heart in the right place, they are weak on this point, and the enemy uses this weakness to neutralize them. There are people in the left that are not afraid of any accusation, but there aren't many who are resistant to metum Judaeorum.

Let us hope and pray we shall survive the forthcoming cataclysm.

Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net

This article was first published at The Unz Review.

[Lauren Johnson]

A shooting war between the US and Russia appears imminent.

[Lauren Johnson]

For the first time since he is in office, the US President Donald Trump has launched a clear threat in the direction of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin saying "he will pay a price". This menace is related to the claim that the Syrian army had launched a chemical attack against the city of Duma, in eastern Ghouta, the last stronghold of Saudi Arabia's proxies close to Damascus.

Trump is maybe thinking of bombing the Syrian Army positions spread throughout the Syrian geography, or perhaps even the Al-Muhajereen President's palace in Damascus- of course, without necessarily saying when and where his army will strike.


On the other side, Russia is saying it won't stand still and will respond to any threat against its soldiers. Indeed, Russian officers are deployed in every single Syrian unit on the ground and in command and control headquarters in the Levant, coordinating and participating in attacks against jihadists since September 2015. Therefore, it is almost certain that any direct hit against the Syrian Army will cause Russian casualties.

Such an act of war may trigger a Russian response by President Putin who will certainly not want to look weak in front of Russian politicians, the Russian military and in front of his own people. Russia has just returned to the international arena, not only as a country in possession of nuclear weapons, but also as a country trying to create a world balance and put an end to the US unilateral dominance that Washington enjoyed since the Perestroika in 1991.

But how could the US benefit from military action in Syria?

The mainstream media, the think tank generously financed and nourished by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrein, Trump's team and the intelligence community- are all asking the US President to go to war in Syria to change the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and replace it with "freedom fighters" that the same Donald Trump is very familiar with and has specifically criticised.

These rely on a video by activists close to the jihadists, claiming civilians were killed by a chemical attack on the city of Duma, which has gone viral on social media.

The world chooses to believe mainstream media reporting the content of this video without proof or reference to any verified sources or neutral investigation by any reliable and international investigation committee. The lies of mainstream media during the war in Syria are too numerous to count, amplified by a journalism motivated by the "regime change" agenda, rather than by accurately reporting verifiable events.

It was perfectly possible for the world to send an international investigation team, since the jihadists of "Jaish al-Islam" have been talking for a long time with the Russians, who are coordinating the exit of these to the north of Syria.

Nonetheless, this option seems unavailable and remains unused. The US thirst for waging war and seeing blood flow may not be realisable if the jihadists' version of the "incident" were seen to be untrue.

What is more plausible is the fact that the US is not after Assad's head to cut off, but after Putin's hands, to cut him off from his new dominance over the Levant.Moreover, what the US would like to see ending is Russia offering the possibility of rejecting US supremacy to Middle Eastern countries (and others in far continents to reject US supremacy).

The other problem the US finds difficult to digest is the fact that both Assad and Putin have won the war with the help of Iran, and that the US failed to change the regime, and did not protect its Kurdish allies in Afrin. It was unable to stop its NATO partner, Turkey, from striking alliances with Russia and Iran.

Moreover, the Jihadists (al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State" ISIS) card failed to achieve their objective to replacing a secular Syrian regime with a bloody radical Islamic regime. These Takferee were willing to eliminate the presence of all minorities (Christian, Shia, Allawite and others) and cover the Middle East with black banners. Transforming the Middle East into a sectarian arena and creating failed states like in Libya was not possible to reproduce in the Levant, thanks to the strategies pursued by Russia and Iran.

So as a winner, it would be foolish for Assad to use chemical attacks and turn the entire world against him when he is about to celebrate his total victory over Ghouta. The city of Duma was not only surrounded but thousands of Jihadists had already left.

Negotiations failed last week only because these Jihadists in Duma were buying time and were asked to hold on until the world intervened in their favour. They have presented many excuses to their Russian interlocutor asking that:

• 1000 of these would remain in the city and take up the police role.
  
• The $900 million they have accumulated throughout the years from taxes and donations should be transported outside Ghouta by those exiting to the north of Syria.
  
• No Syrian intelligence services be allowed to be in Duma.
  

All these demands were rejected by the Russian and the Syrian government, who finally understood that the jihadists were waiting for something, a hope: a chemical attack! This is why Russia and Damascus ordered the military to resume the pressure. Today over 165,000 jihadists and civilians left eastern Ghouta and the remaining twenty to thirty thousands are expected to leave in the coming days.

So Damascus will be totally cleared and no force on the ground as the US four star general Joseph Votel said can make a change on the ground in Syria or defeat /change the regime. Therefore, there will be no one who could take advantage of the consequences of a possible US attack on Syria in the coming days.

Furthermore, a possible US war in the Middle East would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to Trump, he who is digging into the Saudi and Emirates' pockets to take every single penny, for any excuse.

It is not a matter of cost or a question of human principle because Saudi Arabia, with US, France and UK support, has been killing tens of thousands of Yemenites for 3 years without blinking an eyelid, under the gaze of the world.
It is absolutely not a matter of "chemical attack", because Russia warned the world about this staged excuse Jihadists were preparing, weeks before it was announced to the world in Duma. When it comes to human casualties, the US, responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths as a result of the embargo on Iraq (and indeed in many other US "adventures"), clearly has almost zero sensitivity, considering these casualties as collateral damage.

So what can hundreds of tomahawks do against the empty Presidential Palace? Are these going to create a difference on the ground? Will bombing Syrian Army airports and military bases defeat Assad? No, it will only increase the number of those killed. The Syrian war casualties are close to 400,000 men, women and children. If the number becomes 401 or 405 or 410,000 to achieve……. There is no answer here but one: to slap the face of Putin and make him look weak, a head of state incapable of defending his friends and allies.




So the aim is to create a balance in the existing equation to embarrass Russia. The US has no friends, only "common interests", whereas rising Russia' is striking alliances yet feels impotent to react faced with an American decision to strike Moscow's ally.

Yes, all these possibilities exist. But these other possibilities are much more dangerous:

• What if Syria decides to react by bombing Israel with dozens of missiles? Damascus already has an excuse to retaliate against the Israeli violation of its air space this week and the bombing of a military air base at the T4 in rural Homs, killing 8 Syrian and 7 Iranian officers. Iran, at the Syrian government's request, supports the Syrian Army in its fight against jihadists.
  
• What if US destroys the Syrian air force? Not a huge change because Russia overwhelms the sky above Syria and is running the show against the Jihadists. It would be an opportunity for the Syrian Air Force to get more modern jets.
  
• What if Russia decides to react and hit back at all sources firing against Syria? What if Russia executes its menace and stands against the US? Are the American people ready to die for a country only few would manage to find on the world map? Are Americans ready to receive their children in plastic bags just because Moscow's influence in the Levant is increasing and therefore bothering Washington?
  

This is a very dangerous game Trump is venturing into with his head hidden in the sand, without weighing all the possible consequences.

The two superpower countries are walking on the edge of the abyss.

Will both the US and Russia fall into it or will Trump stand down, pull out of this game with his tail between his legs, accept his defeat and try to find another less dangerous arena than the Levant to face Russia? Could it be that Trump is gathering larger coalition, to make sure Russia can't respond against several nations, and therefore avoid a wider war? The coming days will carry the answer for the world.

[Lauren Johnson]

POTUS Trump knows that the chemical attack in Syria is a hoax and false flag.
The mainstream media knows that the chemical attack in Syria is a hoax and false flag.
All of Congress knows that the chemical attack in Syria is a hoax and false flag.

The entire world knows that Assad is not that stupid (he is a doctor and ophthalmologist) so as to gas women and children at the very moment he is winning the war in Syria…launching a chemical weapons strike for shits and giggle, moments after Trump announced a US pullout from Syria.

Here are six very simple reasons why Trump will go to war in Syria, all of which have nothing to do with a trumped up "heinous" chemical attack from an "animal" dictator, or spreading democracy to the Middle East…

---

1. The Petrodollar (via comment on The Gateway Pundit):

"The Chinese have recently issued the gold backed Yuan, which they, and others, have vowed to use to sell/purchase oil (amongst other things).
The last two nations that tried to introduce a currency to compete against the petrodollar were Libya and Iraq. The US needs that pipeline through Syria even more than ever now, especially if they are to compete for European gas/oil markets (presently controlled by Russia and their pipeline) and the Chinese Yuan.
But i'm sure none of that has anything to do with it…"

2. John McCain and the MIC:
McCain is the Deep State president, and the number one war salesman for the military industrial complex.
Where ever John McCain goes, war follows.
Libya, Ukraine, Syria…McCain is the angel of death, and the MIC sends him around the world to arm neo-nazis in Ukraine, Al Qaeda terrorists, ISIS head choppers, and any other group that is willing to start fake "civil wars" or illegal "coups", all for the profit of the military industrial complex.

[URL="https://twitter.com/Ian56789"]Ian56@Ian56789
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#FlashbackFriday John McCain - spreading misery, poverty, violence and death wherever he goes http://ian56.blogspot.ch/2014/04/john-mccain-spreading-misery-poverty.html …
Libya
Syria
Ukraine
9:38 AM - Dec 23, 2016

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3. Saudi Arabia and MbS:
Saudis crown prince just wrapped up a US PR tour and is now in France.
Western leaders and mainstream media "liberals" are creaming in their pants over the Saudi leader, hailing him as a visionary, renaissance man.
They fail to report on how MbS is slaughtering Yemeni citizens by the thousands, or how his Saudi dictatorship is one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Also forgotten is that Saudi Arabia supported Al Qaeda during the 9/11 terrorist attack, and are admittedly funding and training Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists in Syria…terrorists that make their way to Europe, and eventually run over innocent people with cars and trucks.
No matter…MbS (and his billions in cash) has the ear of Trump and Macron…now both the US and France are giddy about attacking Syria.

4. Israel:
Israel has been itching to destroy Syria for decades.

April 9th, 2018 two Israeli F-15 fighters launched guided missiles from Lebanese airspace.
They struck Syria's T-4 airbase in Homs province, without warning or just cause. Five out of eight missiles found themselves neutralized.
Three, however, found their mark the western part of the airbase, as The Duran reported.
According to NBC news, Israel informed the United States prior to their strike on the Syrian base, but did not warn Russia.
Russian military could have been present at the Syrian base during the attack, yet Israel did not warn Moscow.
In its actions, Israel is trying to create the trip wire necessary to propel the world towards a hot war between the United States and Russia.
Israel's goal…take over Syria, or at the very least install a government in Damascus that will report directly to Israel.
5. Cover up past and present American, Deep State false flags in Syria:
Russia's control of Douma, and its ability to now conduct a full investigation is a big reason why the Deep State is so eager to bomb Syria as soon as possible.
The Duran reports…

As a result of the total surrender of the Jihadis previously in control of Douma on Sunday, it is the Russian military who this time are in control of the alleged crime scene.
This has put the Russians in a position where for the first time they are able both to invite the OPCW inspectors to attend the crime scene and to provide them with protection if they are there, whilst at the same time monitoring and supervising their work.
If the chemical attack on Douma really is fictitious as the Russians insist it is then for the first time their control of the crime scene puts the Russians in a strong position to prove it.
The point was made forcefully by Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council session today, and it also received indirect backing from the UN Secretariat, who admitted that they could not confirm that a chemical weapons attack had happened, and who called upon all sides to show restraint until a proper investigation of the incident had taken place.
Nebenzia followed this up by inviting OPCW inspectors to the scene as early as tomorrow Tuesday.
By now it should surprise no-one that the fact that the Russians are in control of the crime scene and may on this occasion be able to prove conclusively that no chemical weapons attack happened in Douma, instead of deterring a US attack, is actually making it more likely.
This is because the credibility of the various witnesses' to the Douma attack who are of course the same witnesses who were previously witnesses' to the 2013 East Ghouta and the 2017 Khan Sheikhoun attacks is now on the line, as is the credibility of those Western governments first and foremost the US government who believed or who pretended to believe them.
I would add that not only is the credibility of the US government and of other Western governments on the line. So is the credibility of Western journalists who also believed or pretended to believe the witnesses'.

6. Distract from Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels:
Bill Clinton did it when he attacked Serbia, so as to distract from Monica's BJ in the oval office, and now Trump has the opportunity to bomb Syria so as to distract from Cohen, Mueller and porn star Stormy Daniels.
What better distraction from sexual scandal then to start a hot war.

[Lauren Johnson]

Trump Asks Russia To Roll Over - It Won't

Donald Trump may perceive these bad cop/good cop tweets as a serious way to negotiate with Russia. They ain't.

Donald J. Trump - @realDonaldTrump - 10:57 AM UTC - 11 Apr 2018
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and "smart!" You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

Donald J. Trump - @realDonaldTrump - 11:37 AM UTC - 11 Apr 2018
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?

Russia said it would destroy the platforms that launch the missiles, not only the missiles themselves. Did nobody explain the difference to Trump?

There is reason that U.S. relations with Russia are now worse than they have been for some time and Russia is not responsible for these. The GW Bush administration killed the Anti-Ballistic-Missile treaty which guaranteed Mutually Assured Destruction and thus strategic stability. The Obama administration launched a trillion dollar program to ramp up U.S. nuclear capabilities and ballistic missile defense with the aim of achieving superiority in a nuclear conflict.

It is cynical to say that "Russia needs us to help with their economy". The U.S. under Trump is waging economic war on Russia by implementing more and more economic sanctions. The last round on Friday targeted Russian industrialists, many of whom are not even aligned with Putin. Aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, disliked in the Kremlin, lost 15% of his fortune. The Rubel plummeted against the dollar for two days in a row. U.S. Treasury stooges are now traveling in Europe to press European banks to shut down all services for Russian companies.



bigger(Ironically both economic attack vectors will help Putin's program. Since 2014 Russia has been pressing its oligarchs to repatriate the billions the stashed in 'western' offshore banks. They will now do so out of fear of confiscations. The lower Rubel will increase local production and allow for cheaper exports.)

The U.S. incited Georgia to attack Russia. It 'regime changed' the Ukraine. It attacks Syria, an old Russian ally. Then there are the hoaxes that get attributed to Russia without any evidence. Russia did not influence the U.S. election. It did not poison the Skripals. There was no 'chemical attack' in Douma.

Russia has all kinds of reasons to be hostile to the U.S. but always stays calm and well mannered. It is stupid to mistake that for fear or inferiority. Taunting Russia like Trump now does will only increase its resistance to U.S. moves.

Is Trump trying to make an offer to really help Russia's economy and to stop the arms race?

If Russia would roll over and give up on Syria would Trump really lift the sanctions? Would he really stop the U.S. race for nuclear supremacy? Could he even promise to do such? And why would anyone believe Trump anyway?

Unlike western European countries, Russia is no led by yapping poodles. The Russian government and its people will not roll over. They have historically never done so. President Putin will start his period of governance on May 7 with a war cabinet structured and manned for conflict. He expects a long fight.

Russia will have to respond to any U.S. strike on Syria. It needs to do so to keep face and the faith of its allies. But it also needs to so in a way that avoids further escalation. Something that is very strong, in a different theater and not attributable? Or something that is openly targeting U.S. interests, but not U.S. soldiers, in the Middle East?

It is Israel which is behind the war on Syria and which is pressing for further conflict. There are one million Russians in Israel, many of whom are not even Jewish. Could Russia ask them for help to change the strategic picture? Or should it increase support for those who directly fight the Zionist state?

Posted by b at 09:23 AM | Comments (209)

[Lauren Johnson]

Ultimately, the generals really do not want a massive war in the ME. It could ruin the scam. Even now the threat of war has dropped down. Good.

• Elijah J. Magnier‏ @ejmalrai 1h1 hour agoMore
  
  #BreakingNews#Russian sources told me:possibility of war on #Syria has gone down from 9 to 5/10. Diplomatic contacts with #USA never stopped. It was acknowledged that the possible war on #Syria serves no purposes but to create a war situation where worse case scenario can happen.
  
  
  
  
  
• Elijah J. Magnier‏ @ejmalrai 1h1 hour agoMore
  
  
• #SaudiArabia has lost the last Jihadists proxies and has no longer any control in #Syria but on #USA forces through monies and financed injected in #Trump's establishment.There is no longer any interest for #Saudi, like #Qatar, to invest in #USA war in #Syria.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Elijah J. Magnier‏ @ejmalrai 1h1 hour agoMore
  
  #USA can no longer make any difference in #Syria: no rebels, Jihadists , #AQ or #ISIS can change the regime. Therefore there are no forces potentially able to benefit from #USA war on #Damascus.#Trump's potential war can only create damage and casualties. No strategy ahead.
  
  

[Lauren Johnson]

On the other hand, there is this from Pat Lang's blog which portrays Russia as preparing for imminent war.

Has the Russian Government moved their C&C and important figures to their safe havens in the Urals? There is a lot of military activity afoot in Russia since Trump opened his mouth and inserted his foot with his latest Syria threats and promises of missile strikes on Syria.Has President Putin invoked Articles 87 and 88 of the Russian Constitution that deals with declaration of a national emergency in the event of direct threats of aggression to the Russian Federation? Given the situation this is most probably so.

Recent military activity (they're calling it training) that stretches from Siberia to the Urals
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-h...ntry-61100
Putin's annual address to the Federal Assembly on March 1st included a simulated launch of the Sarmat, and the claim the latest edition of the Sarmat has almost no distance limitations. One could conclude that these are Putin's final warning to the West.

Even Turkey has warned that a potential Russia - U.S. conflict in Syria will set the Mideast on fire.

More: http://tass.com/world/999026

Russia's ambassador to Lebanon said yesterday that any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted, a step that could trigger a major escalation in the Syrian war.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea...SKBN1HI0PU
J

[Lauren Johnson]

[FONT=&amp]I have the following comment today from a retired Russian officer.
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"This is where it gets very interesting and dangerous. Russia has drawn its own redline. Putin and his Generals know for a fact that there was no chemical weapon of any kind used in Syria. They recently warned the world that this kind of staged event was in the offing. They know what they have and have not done on the ground and know the lies spilling from Washington, London and Paris are vicious calumny. They are not a punching bag and are not going to sit back and do nothing.

A lot will depend on the "structure" and the "weight" of a possible salvo and how respective militaries will communicate with each-other. It was indicated strongly by Pentagon that they are trying to do their utmost in avoiding hitting of Russian regulars in Syria. I am sure that if within the range of namely Russia's (not Syria's) AD assets any TLAM will be shot down--this is so to speak "not that big of a deal" scenario.

Washington draft-dodgers, however, push for attack on specifically Russian assets, including Damascus and recently including Douma where alleged attack took place. The reason being bombing the place of staging of this false flag into oblivion and then saying that no we can not prove that attack didn't happen. Obviously, it is not the case anymore, since Douma in under control of SAA and Russian MPs.

Most people in Pentagon and, obviously, some in the so called IC understand consequences of attacking Russians directly--they know the score, they have calculated probabilities for a number of contingencies and none of them, obviously, looks good for CENTCOM assets in the area. But for the BORG there is no way back--and the reasons for that are way larger than Syria. We are talking about global realignment and major shift in power balance. This is not an easy thing to take to self-proclaimed "exceptional" people in Washington plus add here their utter lack of grasp of scales and proportions involved in a purely military aspect--it is difficult to those who never spent a day in uniform and whose military "expertise" is limited to few seminars on strategy and weapons and on, not always first class, work by Congressional Research Service. Thus, on American side we have today not rational players." Pen Name - Smoothiex12

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In my opinion Smoothiex12 speaks truth. The Russians have decided that they will fight us if there is more than a symbolic punitive strike in Syria, a strike in retaliation for an event that even the US MSM now speaks of as "suspected," "alleged" and "reported." The US went to war against Spain over a suspected attack on the armored cruiser USS Maine. The ship was at anchor in Havana harbor. It exploded and sank and although the US Navy could not at the time determine the cause, the Hearst newspaper chain insisted that the Spanish government had destroyed the ship. The same newspapers had been propagandizing the American people for months with wild tales of the "monstrous" deeds of the Spaniards toward the Cuban revolutionaries who were trying to end Spanish rule of the island. This sensationalist grab for circulation triggered war with Spain. Many years later the US Navy determined that a smoldering fire in a coal bunker heated a metal wall and that this had detonated the magazine of the ship on the other side of that bulkhead.

Today we have 24/7 TV news vying for ratings. Nothing else matters for them. They neither understand Syria, nor do they understand what the outcome would be of a US-Russian war that escalates from a regional response to use of nuclear weapons against the two homelands.

Mike Pompeo smugly told the US Senate yesterday that American air strikes had killed "a couple hundred" Russians recently. He obviously likes that idea. At the same time the Russian government has sent its key political, societal, and scientific cadres to deep underground shelters built during the Brezhnev era and Russian state media have told the citizenry to prepare itself for World War III.

As PT stated, it is unlikely that DJT's ego could accept the sinking of a US Navy ship or a demonstration of the ineffectiveness of some of our missiles. The temptation for him to raise the stakes in escalation would be overwhelming. Remember, the neocons would be whispering in his ear that if we push the Russians just a little more they will submit to "The Greatest President."

If an all out nuclear exchange occurred between the US and Russia both countries would be wrecked. Do we really want to risk that? pl

Pat Lang

[Cliff Varnell]

a symbolic punitive strike in Syria

And that's what they got. Trump and Bolton wanted a more intense "ruinous" response but the generals over-ruled or out-maneuvered them.

As much as Trump wants to go to war, the military doesn't trust him and won't follow his impulsive urges.

The myth is that Trump is a man of peace pushed by war-hawks -- the truth is he's blood-thirsty, ignorant, arrogant and so impulsive the National Security State tries to keep him under thumb.

[James Lateer]

Another defense of the National Security State. IMHO the National Security State is good for absolutely nothing. Nothing. any restraint necessary on Trump should be the job of the Congress. If the Congress doesn't do anything, then nothing needs to be done, in my opinion. But if that doesn't work, then there should be street protests like in the 1960's.

The National Security State is 100% bad. They brought us George Bush, 9-11 and the Iraq War (not to mention Vietnam). If it were possible, we should revert to the perfectly good form of the US Government that existed before 1946-1947 and the National Security State.

It's scary how many people (maybe a majority) have left the Democrat and Republican Parties and have joined the National Security State Party. It's easy for me (at this point) to see how the Gestapo, the SS, the Nazi General Staff all started up.

James Lateer