Wednesday, February 15, 2012

If you want to believe the Syria conflict is winding down, read Thierry Meyssan


According to Thierry Meyssan, after Russia and China's veto of the UNSC resolution, the US dropped its support for a civil war in Syria and though it has not been announced publicly, the supplies for Syria's armed opposition are now drying up.

If this is true, then Syria is avoiding the fate of Iraq and tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands more Syrians will be alive two years from now than would be alive if the Barack Obama administration of the US had felt able to go through with its plans.

I hope it is true, but I don't see much evidence either inside or outside Meyssan's article that it is. Anyway, I'll excerpt the Meyssan's article about a possible resolution to the Syrian conflict and encourage everyone to read it in full.
On 7 February, a large Russian delegation, including the highest ranking foreign intelligence officials, arrived in Damascus where it was greeted by cheering crowds, aware that Russia’s return to the international scene marked the end of their nightmare. The capital, but also Aleppo, the second largest city, were decked out in white, blue, red, and people marched behind banners written in Cyrillic. At the presidential palace, the Russian delegation joined those of other states, including Turkey, Iran and Lebanon. A series of agreements were reached to re-establish peace. Syria has returned 49 military instructors captured by the Syrian army. Turkey intervened to obtain the release of the abducted Iranian engineers and pilgrims, including those held by the French (incidentally, Lieutenant Tlass who sequestered them on behalf of the DGSE was liquidated). Turkey has ceased all support for the "Free Syrian Army", closed down its facilities (except the one on the NATO base at Incirlik), and turned over its commander, Colonel Riad el-Assad. Russia, which is the guarantor of the agreements, has been allowed to reactivate the former Soviet listening base on Mount Qassioum.

The next day, the US State Department informed the Syrian opposition in exile that it could no longer count on its military aid. Realizing that they have betrayed their country to no avail, the Syrian National Council members went in search of new sponsors. One of them even went so far as to write to Benjamin Netanyahu asking him to invade Syria.
Armed foreign-supported opposition forces establishing "liberated territory" by which I mean territory outside of the control of the formal central government is a recipe for one thing: civil war that leads to at least an order of magnitude more death than would have happened otherwise. If Russia does enable Syria to avoid that fate, then Russia and China by their UNSC vetoes, are the heroes of 2012.

13 comments:

Lidia said...

TM sure means well and he was vocal against rape of Libya. But I agree that his article seems to be too optimistic. We'll wait and see. 

Dermot Moloney said...

"According to Thierry Meyssan"
Arnold i mean this as constrictive criticism... you're a fool.

Before you accuse me of being too rude recognize you have just used a 911 conspiracy theorist as a source, a source which according to available sources claimed that gaddafi forces was driving anti gaddafi forces from triploi last august ( how did that go for him).

The fact that you use him as a source further shows that you do not know what you are on about when it comes to the middle east, this was most apparent when you claimed

"I haven't seen any verified fact that is inconsistent with Syria dealing with peaceful protests mostly reasonably. 

Dermot Moloney said...

Lol! Really lidia? Do you like arnold consider him a reliable source?

Arnold Evans said...

I have no problem with commenters who disagree with me, but I wish you were a little smarter.  I wish you were a little better at reading.

I hope it is true, but I don't see much evidence either inside or outside Meyssan's article that it is.

What that means is that I'm not vouching for this article as a source. As does the title of this post.

If there are any lurkers who generally agree with Dermot, please join him and help him out.

Dermot Moloney said...

Arnold i stand by my position, you did indeed use him as a source, out of all the sources available you have used a 911 conspiracy theorist, one who foolishly made those claims about libya.

It is bad enough that you made this claim "I haven't seen any verified fact that is inconsistent with Syria dealing with peaceful protests mostly reasonably. "

But wasting time with this person, i knew you were poorly informed about the situation..but seriously..this guy..

Sineva said...

Actually Dermot the title of the piece makes it pretty clear that Arnold himself does not take it as gospel if he did the title would have been:War in Syria over cuz`
Thierry Meyssan says so,instead Arnold wrote:if YOU WANT to BELIEVE,it seems pretty clear to me.As for using this guy as a source I would think that his credibility was no better or worse than most of the sources and/or right wing think tank analysts trotted out by the western msm,you know the ones: exiles say Syria on brink of civil war,assad done for,thousands being butchered,assad guilty of war crimes russia,china helping etc..etc..Personally I hope that Meyssans article is true but until I see some other proofs to back it up I,like Arnold,will reserve judgement and so should you

bernhard said...

"Turkey has ceased all support for the "Free Syrian Army","

That may even be true:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2106648-3,00.html

"I have three ships full of Libyan weapons,
but I can't get even a Kalashnikov to you," the doctor says, "because
[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan won't let them in. We've
talked to [other Arab leaders TIME was asked not to identify], but it's
hard."

Dermot Moloney said...

"As for using this guy as a source I would think that his credibility was no better or worse than most of the sources "
The person is a 911 conspiracy theorist, the fact that Arnold encouraged people to read his views is honestly pathetic and further shows that arnolds analysis of the situation is abysmal as previously shown by his comments on syria.

Dermot Moloney said...

"
territory outside of the control of the formal central government is a recipe for one thing: civil war that leads to at least an order of magnitude more death than would have happened otherwise."

Actually what is causing the civil war is the fact that assad will not step down and allow free elections to take place, if he did the violence has a terrific chance of ending. However both russia and china are trying their best to prevent this and this in turn has caused great number of deaths and brutal oppression.

Again arnold claims that he is against dictatorships and the support they receive, yet arnolds posts about syria show that this isnt true.

Syrias government is highly oppressive and is committing mass human rights abuses, it is receiving significant aid from russia whilst russia also prevents actions which could help end the conflict for it doesnt want to lose an ally.

Arnold had a chance to side with those syrians who want more rights and to side against a dictator who oppresses his people, he has decided not to.

Whats more it isnt really surprising, as i said before certain people put ideology above human welfare, arnold is one of these individuals.

Lidia said...

I have strong suspicions that DM' rudeness means begging to be banned, because sure his performance here was less than brilliant :) On the other hand, maybe DM is just boorish, esp. when he is desperate.



One more time, DM is not too good in understanding what he reads - Arnold SURE was doubting the article by TM, and I clear supported Arnold's opinion. So, DM comments were not to posts, not that they were worse for it - DM just had to be try really hard to make them worser than usual :(

Lidia said...

Now, it is not odd that DM pet curse name is "conspiracy theorist". DM prefers to believe in what USA propaganda says, and reality be damned. Not even the experience with J.Miller in NYT paving the way to USA colonial aggression against Iraq could teach DM.

But there is a really good article on the topic which I rec to others



http://www.newdemocracyworld.org/old/conspiracy.htm

Dermot Moloney said...

"
Now, it is not odd that DM pet curse name is "conspiracy theorist"."

It isnt a pet curse name, it is an accurate description of him.

Do you believe it is not? Do you believe that his version of 911 is correct?

"DM prefers to believe in what USA propaganda says, and reality be damned."

I believe in looking at the facts and in weighing the available evidence. This is the best way to find out about the reality of the situation. However they are ideologues such as yourself and also those who primarily read things like frontpagemag who believe in what they want to believe, for them and yourself reality can indeed be damned.  

"Not even the experience with J.Miller in NYT paving the way to USA colonial aggression against Iraq could teach DM."

I actually didnt read her pieces, nor did i actually read the nyt back then.

Dermot Moloney said...

 "because sure his performance here was less than brilliant :)"
I know you want to be defensive towards your friend lidia, but arnold really has embarrassed himself big time by the piece above and it is not my fault pointing this out.

" DM is not too good in understanding what he reads"

I recall you claiming this before and then it turned out i read what you wrote perfectly well and that it was you who made the error, just as you were wrong then you are wrong now.

"Arnold SURE was doubting the article by TM, and I clear supported Arnold's opinion. "

Lidia please point out where i claimed that arnold did not doubt the piece.

My issue is that he encouraging us to read the work of an individual who is clearly unbalanced. It really is a very foolish move on arnolds part, probably just as bad as what he said about syria earlier.

"So, DM comments were not to posts, not that they were worse for it - DM just had to be try really hard to make them worser than usual :("

Lidia please try to construct your sentences a bit better in the future, ok.