The Road to Damascus: How the Syria War was Won

October 18, 2019, Consortium News (USA) https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/18/pepe-escobar-the-road-to-damascus-how-the-syria-war-was-won/

By Pepe Escobar*

Special to Consortium News

Following the Damascus-Kurdish alliance, Syria may become the biggest defeat for the Central Intelligence Agency since Vietnam, says Pepe Escobar.

What is happening in Syria, following yet another Russia-brokered deal, is a massive geopolitical game-changer. I’ve tried to summarize it in a single paragraph this way: 

“It’s a quadruple win. The U.S. performs a face saving withdrawal, which Trump can sell as avoiding a conflict with NATO ally Turkey. Turkey has the guarantee – by the Russians – that the Syrian Army will be in control of the Turkish-Syrian border. Russia prevents a war escalation and keeps the Russia-Iran-Turkey peace process alive.  And Syria will eventually regain control of the entire northeast.”

Syria may be the biggest defeat for the CIA since Vietnam.

Yet that hardly begins to tell the whole story.

Allow me to briefly sketch in broad historical strokes how we got here.

It began with an intuition I felt last month at the tri-border point of Lebanon, Syria and Occupied Palestine; followed by a subsequent series of conversations in Beirut with first-class Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian, Russian, French and Italian analysts; all resting on

BRICS, Russia/The Russian Masterpiece in Syria: Everyone Wins

October 16, 2019, Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia) https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/10/16/the-russian-masterpiece-in-syria-everyone-wins/

Federico PIERACCINI*

“Moscow and Damascus have always maintained they are against any form of partition or illegal foreign presence in Syria.”

Moscow has managed to maintain contacts with all parties in the conflict, even in spite of its stance against partition and illegal foreign presence. Trilateral talks between Iran, Turkey and Russia occurred in Astana at Moscow’s urging. Putin managed to bring together in Sochi the Syrian government and opposition groups to discuss the future of Syria. In Geneva, Moscow mediated between Damascus and the international community, shielding Syria from the diplomatic skulduggery of the US and other enemies of Syria.

Turkey, solely as a result of its defeat in Syria, now finds itself in active dialogue with Moscow and Tehran. As Ankara experiences worsening relations with Washington and other European capitals, Moscow saw a great opportunity to bring Turkey closer to Damascus.

Russia’s operation was complicated and required a lot of patience; but thanks to negotiations supervised by Russia, together with the bravery and courage of Syrian soldiers, almost all

BRICS, China/West will shed no tears for Hong Kong

Published: 2019/8/26 21:33:40, EDITORIAL Global Times (China) http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1162749.shtml 

What on earth happened in Hong Kong over the past weekend? Violence has not only returned to the city, but also escalated.

However, the opposition forces in Hong Kong have been making high-profile accusations against the police for using water cannons. Several Hong Kong police drew their guns and one fired a warning shot on Sunday. Yet all that was portrayed as so-called higher violence from the police. Western media continued to cater to the opposition's claims, describing the warning shot as a sign of escalating street conflicts there, downplaying the fact that rioters' attacks against Hong Kong police are becoming fiercer.

Looking carefully at the videos, one can see a definite clue: A large swath of thugs smashed police cars while several police were inside the vehicles. The police officers who alighted from them were besieged and chased by the rioters. It was during this time that the police raised their guns and one of them fired a warning shot.

When police faces violent mobs, is firing warning shots out of self defense a restraint move or a "violent" one? If the same situation happens in New York or London, how would local police react?

So far, the clashes in Hong Kong have not led to any deaths, because police

DONBASS December 4, 5, 2016/News

DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

1- DPR Head about Donetsk music flash mob: "Good job, we should be proud of such youths!"

2- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 5.12.2016

3- When Truth-Telling Becomes Russian Propaganda - US analyst

4- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 4.12.2016

And more

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1- DPR Head about Donetsk music flash mob: "Good job, we should be proud of such youths!" (Video)

Monday, December 5, 2016 - 12:28, DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

A video from Donetsk music flash mob appeared in weekend to the official website and YouTube channel, gathering over 300,000 views in just two days. Channel belongs to the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexandander Zakharchenko.

  

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Zakharchenko, how did the flash mob video appear at your official website? Have you participated in the event preparations?

"Of course not. After the meeting with students the guys told me that they wanted to respond to that song flash mobs at the railway stations in Ukraine and Russia. I have to say that

DONBASS October 11, 12, 13, 2016/News: 1- Operation “Boeing №2″…, 2- More than 15 foreign AFU mercenaries…, 3- Hospitals prepare for…, 4- DPR Security Ministry disclose…, 5- Donetsk Defense: Situation…

DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

1- Operation “Boeing №2″ - The Ukrainian passengers are to be ready

2- More than 15 foreign AFU mercenaries killed, 25 got wounded trying to break through frontline in DPR

3- Hospitals prepare for reception of wounded on Kiev-controlled territory

4- DPR Security Ministry disclose data on Aydar fighter recruiting minors

5- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 12.10.16 (Video)

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1- Operation “Boeing №2″ - The Ukrainian passengers are to be ready

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - 18:19, EDITORIAL DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

The information that Kiev-Amman flight deviated from the route and was in the sky above Syria more than it was supposed is disturbing...

Reclamation of a lost status-quo by collective West in general and by the US in particular is possible only in case of Assad resignation. But the support provided by Russia to the leadership of Syria and the governmental troops reduce a coalition chances to minimum. Neither sanctions nor threats helped in making Putin to go back on his words and actions.

But also no one is ready to start waging a war against

August 10, 2016/News: 1- Moscow alarmed by Ukraine’s…, 2- Situation aggravates…, 3- Russian, German Foreign Ministers…, 4- Donetsk Defense…

DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

1- Moscow alarmed by Ukraine’s growing military activities in Donbass

2- Situation aggravates along whole frontline, LDPR army ready for battle

3- Russian, German Foreign Ministers discuss Ukraine, Syria Crises in phone call

4- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 10.08.16

----------

1- Moscow alarmed by Ukraine’s growing military activities in Donbass

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - 12:21, DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

Moscow is alarmed by Ukraine’s growing military activities in Donbass, which run counter to the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Minister

News conference following talks with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan

August 9, 2016, President of Russia http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts (Russia) 

18:00, St Petersburg

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen.

We have just completed the main part of the talks with President Erdogan. Naturally, this meeting is very important for the future of Russia-Turkey relations.

We had a matter-of-fact and, I would like to emphasise, constructive conversation on the entire range of bilateral issues and the international agenda.

The history of our relations includes different periods, sometimes very uneasy and even dramatic ones, but the logic of mutual respect inevitably wins out.

First of all, I would like to note that despite the complicated domestic situation in Turkey, Mr Erdogan found the time to come to St Petersburg, and this step certainly shows the interest of our Turkish partners in restoring cooperation with Russia.

Today we met

25/27.07.2016: 1- Donetsk Defense (VIDEO), 2- Lugansk Defense, 3- EDITORIAL: Do as I say and (VIDEO)…

Wednesday, July 27, 2016, DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

1- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 27.07.2016 (VIDEO)

2- Lugansk Defense: Situation Report, 27.07.2016

3- EDITORIAL: Do as I say and above all as I do – Importance of Minsk-2 agreements and of Russian behaviour to rehabilitate international law, July 25, 2016 (VIDEO)

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1- Donetsk Defense: Situation Report, 27.07.2016 (VIDEO)

Wednesday, July 27, 2016, DONi Donbass International News Agency https://dninews.com (Donbass)

The situation in the Donetsk People' Republic remains tense.

Over the past day the number of bombardments reached three hundred and five.

The enemy launched twenty-two 152 and 122mm artillery shells and a hundred twenty-five 82 and 120mm mortar shells. In addition, the enemy used in shelling infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms.

The war criminals continued shelling the localities of

BRICS, БРИКС// KALIBRar o inimigo: Implicações estratégicas do lançamento de mísseis cruzadores russos/ KALIBRating the foe: strategic implications of the Russian cruise missiles’ launch

17 outubro 2015, Правда.Ру, Pravda.ru http://www.pravda.ru (Россия, Rússia)

Oriental Review http://orientalreview.org (Russia)

A diplomacia, apesar de todas as convenções,

só reconhece eventos reais.

Charles de Gaulle

Semana passada, aconteceu na Síria um evento de máxima importância, como parte da Operation Hmeymim: a Flotilha do Cáspio da Marinha Russa disparou 26 mísseis cruzadores de ataque em terra (land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs)que acertaram 11 alvos militares, dos grupos terroristas Jabhat al-Nusra dentro da Síria, localizados a cerca de 1.500km de distância do ponto de onde os mísseis foram disparados (vídeo).

Um disparo massivo, usando LACMs Kalibr-NK, foi feito do sudoeste no Mar Cáspio. Os objetos do ataque eram fábricas que produzem explosivos; postos de comando, depósitos de munição, de armas e de combustível; e campos de treinamento de terroristas nos governorados sírios de Raqqa, Aleppo e Idlib. Os mísseis cruzadores, com margem de erro de cerca de 3m de raio em torno do alvo, acertaram precisamente os respectivos alvos definidos dois dias antes.

A fragata Dagestan, armada com mísseis e capacidade para deslocar cerca de 2.000 toneladas, atuou como nave madrinha da força naval russa de assalto, acompanhada pela pequena patrulha de mísseis formada pelas naves Veliky Ustyug, Grad Sviyazhsk e Uglich (com capacidade de deslocamento de cerca de 1.000 toneladas).

Os mísseis Kalibr-NK são extremamente difíceis de detectar: quando manobra, um LACM voa em alta velocidade, em modo stealth - o que significa que não emite qualquer sinal que possa ser rastreado por radares.

A Rússia informou aos líderes do Iraque e do Irã sobre a trajetória desses mísseis. Para prover máxima segurança às populações civis, a rota dos LACMsfoi traçada sobre área não habitada.

Quais as implicações militares e políticas do uso desses mísseis?

BRICS, БРИКС/Russian Operation in Syria: International Law/Российская операция в Сирии и международное право

04.10.2015, Strategic Culture Foundation http://www.strategic-culture.org (Russia), Фонд стратегической культуры http://www.fondsk.ru (Россия)

Alexander Mezyaev

On Sept. 30 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the commencement of Russian military operations in Syria. One of the most important premises of the president’s speech was found in his statement that Russia is taking part in this anti-terror operation with strict regard for international law. Let us take a closer look at the legal aspects of Russia’s actions.

First of all, we should say a few words about the legitimacy of the actions taken by Russia’s leaders in terms of Russian domestic law.

In accordance with Article 10 of the Federal law «On Defense» (1996), the armed forces of the Russian Federation may be utilized to carry out tasks in accordance with the Russian Federation’s international treaties. They may be deployed under the conditions and in the manner stipulated in those treaties and established by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The involvement of Russia in military operations in Syria stems from the need to combat terrorism. This kid of operations are regulated by Article 4 of the Federal Law«On Countering Terrorism» (2006), and the Russian Federation is working in accordance with that law to counter terrorism, along with foreign states and their law-enforcement agencies and security services, as well as with international organizations. Article 5 of that law gives the President of Russia the right to make decisions in the prescribed manner to deploy units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, as well as special

BRICS, БРИКС/SYRIA MILITARY REVIEW: STUDYING THE RUSSIAN MILITARY OPERATION. Video Report

October 02, 2015, Global Research http://www.globalresearch.ca (Canada)

By South Front

Complete Transcript below

VIDEO

On Wednesday morning, the Federation Council upper house of parliament granted permission to the Russian president to use the country’s troops in Syria. Kremlin chief of staff Sergey Ivanov said that Russia will use only its Air Force in Syria and it does this on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s request.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Russian Air Force began to conduct air raids against the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra inside the Latakia and Hama Governorates in the western part of Syria.

These provinces would reportedly be the primary target for the Russian Air Force and the Syrian Arab Army. According to scrappy reports, the Russian Air Force targeted that areas of Al-Lataminah, Kafr Zita, the Jabal Al-Zaweed, Kassab, and Deir Hanna. At the moment airstrikes are aimed on the Syrian brench of Al-Qaeda. However, it’s clear that

Syria – Ukraine: sinister connection/Сирия – Украина: зловещаясвязь

11.08.2015, Strategic Culture Foundation http://www.strategic-culture.org (Russia), Фонд стратегической культуры http://www.fondsk.ru (Россия)

Vladislav GULEVICH

Shaun Walker, a British journalist, visited Ukraine in July to highlight the situation in the east of the country. He shared his impression in his article published by The Guardian.

Actually, Walker did not say anything new about Muslim battalions fighting alongside the forces of Ukraine’s regime; he just confirmed again the fact that there is a close link between Ukrainian nationalists and Islamists united in the fight against their common enemy – Russia. The DzhokharDudayev and Sheikh Mansour battalions came to Ukraine last spring. The units are manned by foreign citizens mainly coming from the member-states of the European Union.

According to the Ukraine’s laws still in force, the «Muslim battalions» are illegal armed formations. Their fighters are felons «who act in collusion as a criminal group to commit two or more premeditated murders».

After lawlessness prevailed over the rule of law in Ukraine (that’s what was the main reason to make people rise against the regime in Donbass, the eastern part of Ukraine, where armed groups going on a rampage has become a daily routine. It is not perceived as something unusual anymore. The gang of armed Islamists is formally called the Dzhokhar Dudayev International Peacekeeping Battalion.

Denmark was the first country where the formation of «Muslim Battalion» was announced. It was stationed on the territory of Ukraine to wage a terrorist war against Russia. The announcement was made in early March 2014, a week after the coup in Kiev. The creation of the unit was initiated by the organization called Free Caucasus, which on March 3, 2014 made public its full support of Euromaidan and the new government of Ukraine. It called upon

BRICS, БРИКС/MAIS UMA VITÓRIA DE PUTIN GASODUTO 'RAMO SUL' SERÁ CONSTRUÍDO COM A ÁUSTRIA

30 junho 2014, Правда.Ру, Pravda.ru http://www.pravda.ru (Россия, Rússia)

Nunca foi segredo que o prêmio para quem controle a Ucrânia é a posse da vasta infraestrutura do gasoduto que parte da Rússia e chega à Europa. Mas, dado que todo o gás pertence, em primeiro lugar, à [empresa russa] Gazprom, realmente não importa se Kiev tinha posse do gás que enchiam os dutos que levavam o gás para a Europa; nem se, como é hoje o caso, a Ucrânia seria apenas um duto de transferência do gás totalmente russo, entregue a países europeus, sem que gás algum permanecesse na Ucrânia, hoje destroçada pela guerra civil. 

Afinal de contas, a Ucrânia absolutamente não consegue mais comprar gás russo, porque não tem crédito nem dinheiro para pagar adiantado; mas, se roubar gás destinado à Alemanha e outros países, a Ucrânia estará simplesmente antagonizando seus novos 'melhores amigos' na OTAN, os quais são, todos, clientes da [russa] Gazprom.

Não, o gasoduto que emergiu no papel de estrela principal no conflito na Ucrânia nada tem a ver com a Ucrânia, mas é gasoduto que percorre várias centenas de quilômetros do sul da Ucrânia - o chamado Projeto Ramo Sul [orig.South Stream Project[1]] - que deixa o litoral sul da Crimeia no Mar Negro russo, cruza o Mar Negro e atravessa Bulgária, Sérvia, Hungria, e termina na central de distribuição de gás em Baumgarten, Áustria,[2] de onde partem gasodutos de distribuição para toda a Europa Central, principalmente para a Alemanha.

O projeto, de 2007, foi concebido para não passar pela Ucrânia e servir como alternativa para o agora congelado gasoduto Nabucco apoiado por EUA e Europa; e recolheria o gás do

SUPPRESSING THE TRUTH ON SYRIA: MOTHER AGNES MARIAM AND BRITAIN’S SELF PROCLAIMED “ANTIWAR MOVEMENT”

Global Research, November 27, 2013

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/suppressing-the-truth-on-syria-mother-agnes-mariam-and-britains-self-proclaimed-antiwar-movement/5359556

By William Boardman

Here’s what it looks like when a respected reporter tweets about his blackmail note to an established anti-war organization regarding the organization’s upcoming conference in a tweet on November 15:

I’ve informed organizers of @STWuk that I will not participate in their conference if Mother Agnes is on the platform.

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) 15 Novembre 2013

The reporter is Jeremy Scahill, who was booked as the keynote speaker and to show his film “Dirty Wars” (based on his book “Dirty Wars”) at the November 30 International Anti-War Conference in London, put on by Stop the War Coalition (STWuk), which was first organized in 2001 in opposition to an American attack on Iraq. More than 12 years later, the coalition notes dryly on its webpage for the conference, “We need more effective anti war resistance internationally. This conference is a chance to analyse, build links and lay plans.”

Scahill’s threat to boycott the conference soon became moot the following day, when the dreaded Mother Agnes withdrew from participation. Her letter read, in part:

“It has come to my attention that my participation in your conference has become a matter of serious contention, even prompting some other speakers to consider withdrawing. This is apparently due to a campaign of cruel and unsubstantiated accusations which seek to work against my efforts and those of the Musalaha (Reconciliation) Initiative in Syria.

“The basis of our work toward peace is reconciliation and forgiveness. This means extending an olive branch to

Síria: AS ARMAS QUÍMICAS FORAM FORNECIDAS PELOS SAUDITAS

2 setembro 2013, Resistir.info http://www.resistir.info (Portugal)

– "Rebeldes" e residentes locais em Ghouta acusam o príncipe saudita Bandar bin Sultan de fornecer armas químicas a um grupo ligado à al-Qaida

por Dale Gavlak e Yahya Ababneh*

Ghouta, Síria – Quando a maquinaria para uma intervenção militar dos EUA na Síria ganha ritmo após o ataque de armas químicas da semana passada, os EUA e seus aliados podem estar a visar o culpado errado.

Entrevistas com pessoas em Damasco e Ghouta, um subúrbio da capital síria, onde a agência humanitária Médicos Sem Fronteiras disseram que pelo menos 355 pessoas morreram na semana passada devido ao que acreditaram ser um agente neurotóxico, parecem indicar isso.

Os EUA, Grã-Bretanha e França bem como a Liga Árabe acusaram o regime sírio do presidente Bashar al-Assad de executar o ataque com armas químicas, o qual atingiu principalmente civis. Navios de guerra dos EUA estão estacionados no Mediterrâneo para lançar ataques militares contra a Síria como punição por executar um ataque maciço com armas químicas. Os EUA e outros não estão interessados em examinar qualquer prova em contrário, com o secretário de Estado John Kerry a dizer que a culpa de Assad era "um julgamento ... já claro para o mundo".

Contudo, das numerosas entrevistas com médicos, residentes em Ghouta, combatentes rebeldes e suas famílias, emerge um quadro diferente.

15 SIGNS OBAMA WILL GO TO WAR WITH SYRIA

August 26, 2013, PressTV http://www.presstv.ir (Iran)

Michael Snyder, Economic Collapse

The Obama administration is actually considering an attack on Syria even though the American people are overwhelmingly against it, Obama does not have Congressional approval to start a war, and he will never get approval for military action from the UN because it will be blocked by Russia. This is setting up to become a colossal foreign policy disaster for the United States.

A potential war with Syria has been brought to the forefront because of a chemical weapons attack near Damascus last week that killed as many as 1,400 people. The Obama administration and several other western nations are blaming this attack on the Assad regime.

But others are pointing out that it would make absolutely no sense for the Assad regime to do such a thing. They appear to be winning the civil war,

Syria, Venezuela/Allaw: Venezuelan oil tanker loaded with 35000 tons of diesel arrived in Syria

23 may 2012/Cham Press http://www.champress.net (Syria)

DAMASCUS– Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Sufian Allaw, stressed on Wednesday that a Venezuelan oil tanker loaded with 35000 tons of diesel arrived on Monday, adding that Venezuela is preparing another tanker bound to Syria.

Concerning the domestic gas, Allaw said during a press conference that Syria's gas production covers 50% of its demand, pointing out to negotiations with Iran and Algeria to provide Syria with domestic gas.

Al-Allaw revealed that the Syrian oil sector has lost USD 4 billion because of the oppressive EU and US sanctions.