A must read article...
Catherine Shakdam is a political analyst, writer and commentator for
the Middle East with a special focus on radical movements and Yemen. Her
writings have been published in world-renowned publications such as
Foreign Policy Journal, Mintpress News, the Guardian, Your Middle East,
Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, Open Democracy, Eurasia Review and
many more. A regular pundit on RT, she has also contributed her
analyses to Etejah TV, IRIB radio, Press TV and NewsMax TV.
Director of Programs at the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern
Studies and consultant for Anderson Consulting, her research and work on
Yemen were used by the UN Security Council in relation to Yemen looted
funds in 2015.
Wrong wars, wrong enemies: Time to follow Russia's lead against ISIS
Catherine Shakdam is a political analyst, writer and commentator for
the Middle East with a special focus on radical movements and Yemen. Her
writings have been published in world-renowned publications such as
Foreign Policy Journal, Mintpress News, the Guardian, Your Middle East,
Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, Open Democracy, Eurasia Review and
many more. A regular pundit on RT, she has also contributed her
analyses to Etejah TV, IRIB radio, Press TV and NewsMax TV.
Director of Programs at the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern
Studies and consultant for Anderson Consulting, her research and work on
Yemen were used by the UN Security Council in relation to Yemen looted
funds in 2015.
 |
| Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 28, 2015 © Carlo Allegri / Reuters |
What happens when those allies you held closest to you turn out
to be working towards your demise? Worse still, what if those truths you
held as certainties were no more than a web of lies weaved by
politicians to sell you on their wars?
We are living in strange
times indeed when politicians and governments can argue supporting
radicals in the name of national security and democracy. And while many
of you might choose to shake your head in disbelief, arguing still that
the Western world is sitting on the right side of history - the
civilized side of history - let me remind you of the company your heads
of states continue to keep, defend and support.
For if the US media war machine has been intent on painting Moscow's intervention against ISIS Wahhabi-inspired radicals in Syria as an attack against Syrians' right to political self-determination, let me be clear about something: the only infringements there have ever been against Syrians' rights have come from the corridors of the White House. If not for Washington and its so-called alliance against terror, the Levant would not have fallen prey to the murderous hordes of ISIS.
Indeed, ISIS might never have come to be in the first place if not for Washington's hunger for Middle Eastern oil and gas!
How many times will whistleblowers, intelligence officials and investigative journalists have to scream deception for the western public to comprehend that those fanatics they were told are determined to squash their freedom, have been engineered by those right-winged, self-righteous governments they hold so dear?
Let us not forget America's most precious ally in the region: Saudi Arabia, THE world's oil superpower. Under the watchful eye of those royal lunatics the West has learned to bow to, it is the rise of a new Assyrian empire we have all witnessed; and yet done nothing about.
Those wars the West is fighting are against the wrong enemies.
When one of America's finest and most prominent investigative journalists, Seymour M. Hersh, exposed in 2014 both US President Barack Obama's lies in Libya and Turkey's collaboration with Al Nusra in Syria, what did the Western media do? Did they call for Washington to sever all ties with Ankara, a NATO ally? Did politicians rise up in their pulpits demanding accountability? No and no - what America and the Western Establishment did do, however, was to slander Hersh for daring expose the truth.
From Julian Assange's WikiLeaks revelations to Edward Snowden's uncovering of America's surveillance secrets, corporate media has been at war with the truth, selling a placid Western public a pre-packaged democratic fantasy.
But what happens when even the biggest lies can no longer suffocate the truth? What happens when western capitals are caught red-handed in the terror cookie jar?
In fact, western capitals and their "allies" are so neck deep in cookie dough that not even a very slick-talking President Obama could offer more than a whimper against Russia's decision to strike ISIS in Syria. What exactly could Washington offer by way of outrage before President Putin's determination to destroy terror?
After all, isn’t that what the United States has professed it is doing in the Middle East for the past decade or so? Wasn't the whole logic behind every American military intervention the defeat of terror to shine Liberty's flame bright? And yet the NATO alliance has systematically aligned itself with those powers most anti-democratic, ideologically extreme and corrupt. It is as if the West is actively willing fascism alive.
From the backing of Kiev fascist coup, a move described in early 2014 "as another flowering of democracy" by the New York Times, to Turkey's colluding with well-known terror militants and Saudi Arabia's genocidal campaign in Yemen, Western capitals have kept close to their hearts and pockets the vilest of them all.
Slander you say? Well, let's take a look at a few interesting facts then.
In July 2015, the Huffington Post ran a piece by the Associated Press which reads, "Casting aside US concerns about aiding extremist groups, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have converged on an aggressive new strategy to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad."
Two of America's most loyal allies in the Middle East have openly admitted to aiding and abetting terror militants for the sake of political gain.
Let's rephrase that: The most violent theocratic regime in the world and its increasingly fascist friend in Ankara have been playing lets-arm-an-ISIS-militant and we are supposed to believe that Russia and Iran, which have both actively worked to rebuff terror, are the real danger?
Are we seriously expected to buy into Washington's propaganda when its "friends" are slashing and maiming democracy at home to the tune of an autocratic soundtrack? When even US officials have let the mask slip a little, admitting indeed that the White House has unsavory connections, if not policies, isn't it time to return to the drawing table and reassess alliances?
Virginia State Senator Dick Black told RT this September that “if the US stopped training jihadists and arming jihadists, the war will end.”
But as Western powers continue to engage in those dangerous liaisons, here is something to ponder over. What happens when those allies you called friends and exploited for their geography and political access outgrow you?
Think fast because this is exactly what is happening with Saudi Arabia. Just this week the kingdom pressured the Netherlands, and other European countries, among them France, a member of the UN Security Council, to abandon calls for a full inquiry into human rights violations in Yemen.
"By failing to set up a serious UN inquiry on war-torn Yemen, the Human Rights Council squandered an important chance to deter further abuses," Philippe Dam, its Geneva deputy director, said in a statement.
Powered with money and new-found political confidence, Saudi Arabia has managed to not just silence but bully both the UN and western powers into compliance.
All things considered, can we back up Russia and destroy terror already?
For if the US media war machine has been intent on painting Moscow's intervention against ISIS Wahhabi-inspired radicals in Syria as an attack against Syrians' right to political self-determination, let me be clear about something: the only infringements there have ever been against Syrians' rights have come from the corridors of the White House. If not for Washington and its so-called alliance against terror, the Levant would not have fallen prey to the murderous hordes of ISIS.
Indeed, ISIS might never have come to be in the first place if not for Washington's hunger for Middle Eastern oil and gas!
How many times will whistleblowers, intelligence officials and investigative journalists have to scream deception for the western public to comprehend that those fanatics they were told are determined to squash their freedom, have been engineered by those right-winged, self-righteous governments they hold so dear?
Let us not forget America's most precious ally in the region: Saudi Arabia, THE world's oil superpower. Under the watchful eye of those royal lunatics the West has learned to bow to, it is the rise of a new Assyrian empire we have all witnessed; and yet done nothing about.
Those wars the West is fighting are against the wrong enemies.
When one of America's finest and most prominent investigative journalists, Seymour M. Hersh, exposed in 2014 both US President Barack Obama's lies in Libya and Turkey's collaboration with Al Nusra in Syria, what did the Western media do? Did they call for Washington to sever all ties with Ankara, a NATO ally? Did politicians rise up in their pulpits demanding accountability? No and no - what America and the Western Establishment did do, however, was to slander Hersh for daring expose the truth.
From Julian Assange's WikiLeaks revelations to Edward Snowden's uncovering of America's surveillance secrets, corporate media has been at war with the truth, selling a placid Western public a pre-packaged democratic fantasy.
But what happens when even the biggest lies can no longer suffocate the truth? What happens when western capitals are caught red-handed in the terror cookie jar?
In fact, western capitals and their "allies" are so neck deep in cookie dough that not even a very slick-talking President Obama could offer more than a whimper against Russia's decision to strike ISIS in Syria. What exactly could Washington offer by way of outrage before President Putin's determination to destroy terror?
After all, isn’t that what the United States has professed it is doing in the Middle East for the past decade or so? Wasn't the whole logic behind every American military intervention the defeat of terror to shine Liberty's flame bright? And yet the NATO alliance has systematically aligned itself with those powers most anti-democratic, ideologically extreme and corrupt. It is as if the West is actively willing fascism alive.
From the backing of Kiev fascist coup, a move described in early 2014 "as another flowering of democracy" by the New York Times, to Turkey's colluding with well-known terror militants and Saudi Arabia's genocidal campaign in Yemen, Western capitals have kept close to their hearts and pockets the vilest of them all.
Slander you say? Well, let's take a look at a few interesting facts then.
In July 2015, the Huffington Post ran a piece by the Associated Press which reads, "Casting aside US concerns about aiding extremist groups, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have converged on an aggressive new strategy to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad."
Two of America's most loyal allies in the Middle East have openly admitted to aiding and abetting terror militants for the sake of political gain.
Let's rephrase that: The most violent theocratic regime in the world and its increasingly fascist friend in Ankara have been playing lets-arm-an-ISIS-militant and we are supposed to believe that Russia and Iran, which have both actively worked to rebuff terror, are the real danger?
Are we seriously expected to buy into Washington's propaganda when its "friends" are slashing and maiming democracy at home to the tune of an autocratic soundtrack? When even US officials have let the mask slip a little, admitting indeed that the White House has unsavory connections, if not policies, isn't it time to return to the drawing table and reassess alliances?
Virginia State Senator Dick Black told RT this September that “if the US stopped training jihadists and arming jihadists, the war will end.”
But as Western powers continue to engage in those dangerous liaisons, here is something to ponder over. What happens when those allies you called friends and exploited for their geography and political access outgrow you?
Think fast because this is exactly what is happening with Saudi Arabia. Just this week the kingdom pressured the Netherlands, and other European countries, among them France, a member of the UN Security Council, to abandon calls for a full inquiry into human rights violations in Yemen.
"By failing to set up a serious UN inquiry on war-torn Yemen, the Human Rights Council squandered an important chance to deter further abuses," Philippe Dam, its Geneva deputy director, said in a statement.
Powered with money and new-found political confidence, Saudi Arabia has managed to not just silence but bully both the UN and western powers into compliance.
All things considered, can we back up Russia and destroy terror already?
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