“War is the health of a
totalitarian state and peace is its disease”
-Norman Mailer (US
Novelist and Anti-Vietnam war activist)
The preparations of the war are already in
full swing. American B-52 Bombers loaded with cruise missiles, stealth fighters
and low flying B1S fighter jets are being readied in the US bases. Moreover the
British media have reported the supply of sophisticated arms to Syrian rebels
under close supervision by CIA to overthrow the government in Syria. These
developments have shaped after American President Barak Obama stated on 31st
August 2013 to take a Military action against the Syrian regime.
"After careful deliberation I have decided that the United States
should take military action against Syrian military targets"
[i]
-Mr Obama said from the Rose Garden.
The
conditions have worsened after a chemical_attack[ii] occurred in Khal al-Asal,
Aleppo, Syria on 19th March 2013. The US Secretary of State, Mr.
John Kerry has been putting his continuous efforts to muster support from
European nations against the Syrian-Assad government for its alleged use of chemical
weapon on unhuman grounds. However the Syrian government has been blaming the rebel
groups and Saudi Arabia for the attack ever since it took place. The question
of what and how much of it is truth lays very far. It is important to
understand the premise and a bit of history before we proceed.
The
involvement of US in overthrowing regimes and governments in Central and West
Asia can be traced back to the cold war era.
Blood for Oil
IRAN
Recent declassified CIA documents have revealed the
SYRIA
The US had played a role in ensuring Syria’s
Independence in 1946, however their relations started to deteriorate after US’s
prompt recognition of the state of Israel. America had wanted the Arabian American Oil Company pipeline be
laid through Syria. However their relations got worsened when the Syrian
parliament vetoed the passage rights for oil pipeline through its territory. This
instigated the then American President Harry
Truman to order the CIA to stage the very first military coup in the
region. In March 1949, the Syrian PM Shukri
al-Quwaiti was overthrown. Many years’ later plans were yet again made by CIA
and the English M16 to destabilize and overthrow governments in Syria such as “Operation Straggle”.
THE BLOOD FOR OIL WARS
STAGED TO SECURE KUWAIT IN 1990S AND IRAQ IN 2003 ARE FURTHER SUCH
ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND AGGRETION SHOWN BY THE UNITED STATES TIME AND
AGAIN.
CURRENT STATUS QUO
John
Kerry has come under
widespread ridicule by downplaying the role of Al Qaeda and assorted jihadi
groups in the Syrian conflict by claiming that “moderate democrats” (including the government) were in control of
the rebels. This is pretty much clear and visible that the Gulf Monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel
are igniting the mayhem in Syria. The Syrian government is thence beholding
Saudi-Arabia supported fighters responsible for the chemical attack. US, Saudi
Arabia and Israel have also refused to support Geneva_II (Peace conference)[iv] without which will lead
to a proxy war being perpetrated for oil, resources and control.
ISRAEL’S SHARE
Israel considers Iran as their key enemy and they believe US’s military action in
Syria will weaken the Persian presence in West Asia. In fact a high level
Israeli military delegation was send to Washington to convince the US political
establishment that military action against Syria was an essential step to
prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear
weapons capability.
AMERICA’S STAND
While Obama has indeed asked for the congressional vote on Syria, he anyways states that he still holds the option of attacking Syria regardless of the vote. Recently in a press conference he reclaimed that US has the prerogative to attack a third country even if the military action is not sanctioned by the UN. While Russia and China (permanent members of UN Security Council) have already vetoed their decision regarding Syria, such a release by the American President yet again puts a question on their hypocritical display of people’s government and clearly marks the violation of international laws.
Britain’s
PM David Cameron’s intention to
support US has been blocked by the British parliament and French President Francois Hollande is already facing
barrage at home for his decision to support US. America is finally standing
alone against the grandmaster Russia.
THE RUSSIAN GRANDMASTER
Pertaining to the chemical attacks in Syria, the Russian authorities probed the entire scene and based on the samples collected they reported that the shells fired while when the attack took place were not Syrian. They proved that the attack was not sanctioned by Assad. Russia retaliated back in the September 2013 Russian G-20 Summit[v]. Moscow firmed its stand on Syria by declaring that “Russia defends not Assad and his regime but international law and the supremacy of the UN. Forceful removal of the Syrian leader will destabilize the entire West Asia and pose a threat of terrorist slipover to Russia’s North Caucasus.”[vi]
Vladimir Putin arranged a closed-door three hour debate on
Syrian crisis on official dinner of G-20 summit, where the leaders of India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Argentina, South Africa, and Italy joined Russia against US’s military action. In fact he was
particularly impressed by the “unexpectedly” strong stand of Manmohan Singh against US’s unilateral
strike.
OUTPLAYED BY PUTIN
Putin has made a game changing proposal for Obama: Moscow would persuade Damascus to place its stock of chemical weapons under international council and the US would drop the plans of a military strike. This has left Obama with very little room to maneuver:
IF HE WENT FOR A UNILATERAL STRIKE, HE WOULD
SHATTER HIS INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION; IF HE BACKED AWAY, HE WOULD LOOSE FACE AT
HOME.
The BBC
quoted the ending of Putin’s 2013 G-20 summit as “The turning point, which showed that the rest of the world no longer
wants the United States to step in as the world’s policemen…”
-Yognik Baghel
The author is a civil service aspirant. All the views
expressed are based on media coverage and news references duly addressed
hereof.
References:
[i] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/31/obama-syria-military-action_n_3849406.html
[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_al-Assal_chemical_attack
[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh
[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_II_Middle_East_peace_conference
[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_G-20_Saint_Petersburg_summit
[vi] http://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/putin-military-intervention-will-destabilize-syria-middle-east/
News Agencies
abc.go.com
in.reuters.com
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
