Guest Post by Jim Kunstler
There are times in the course of events when a society cannot tell what the fuck is going on, or what to do about it, and this is one of those moments in history here in the USA. The quandaries of life on the home front — how to make a living, how to care for ourselves and loved ones — get shoved aside by misadventures in foreign lands with their own quandaries. One delusion leads to another until you enter a zero gravity of the mind. Case in point du jour: Syria.
The persistent hyperRussomania of the US Dem-Prog alliance and its sob-sisters in the media seek to make a bad situation worse in Syria and probably for the worst reasons. How many Americans have even the dimmest idea what’s going on in Syria, who the cast of characters there represent, and where the USA fits into all of it?
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There is the head of government, one Bashar al Assad (son of the previous president, Hafez al Assad). The Assads had run Syria as a mostly secular Arab state until the civil war within Islam, Sunni against Shia, spilled out of Iraq. The Assads belonged to the tiny Alawite sect of the Shia. They comprise only 13 percent of the Syrian population, which has a Sunni majority. Under the Assads, Syria has tilted toward Iran, the Shia home state, and away from the Sunni Arabs elsewhere in the neighborhood. Russia has cultivated Iran and support its “friends,” the Assads.
A mash-up of Sunni jihad armies fights the Assad government in Syria’s civil war. These are Isis, al Qaeda, and Jabhat al Nusra. The US government had made official noise about supporting the more “moderate rebels” in the Syrian conflict. Who are they exactly? Do you have a clue? Which army among those three rebel groups are “moderates?” And what is their moderate goal under jihad? To topple Assad. And then what? To set up a new theocratic government perhaps? How is it in America’s interests to promote Islamic jihadi theocracy?
One hypothesis is that the struggle is over who gets to run gas and oil pipelines through Syria to get easier access to the Mediterranean Sea and the European energy market. Iran would very badly like to do that. But they are in competition with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the little giant emirate of natural gas. So, you have the Iran/Shia gang on one side and the KSA/Qatar/Sunni on the other side. Anybody who had scanned the news since 1979 can probably tell whose side the US is on. By the way, this hypothesis has had no airing among the mainstream media triumvirate: The New York Times, CNN, and The WashPo. These news orgs won’t even entertain that angle of the story… but as I said, it’s only a hypothesis.
It was not so many weeks ago that President Trump met with the crown prince of KSA at the White House to give assurances of American friendship and support. KSA is supposedly America’s chief ally against Isis in Syria. Yet, KSA and the USA are dedicated to getting rid of the Assad government as well as Isis. That is, we are against both sides in the Syrian civil war. Still wondering why the American public is confused by all this? Do you know who our choice is to replace Assad? Can you name an opposition figure? Of course you can’t. There is nobody. What the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the NSA seem to have in mind is the familiar failed state policy that has worked so well in the past (not).
Which brings us to the curious case of Bashar Assad’s recent supposed poison gas bombing of civilians in Khan Sheikhoun. The media triumvirate was avid to play along with the story. I don’t know about you, but I have to ask myself: what would Assad’s strategic goal be in gas bombing women and children? To gin up worldwide positive PR? To get the Syrian people on his side against Isis and other jihadis? What advantage could Assad possibly gain? In warfare generally, the tacticians strike against military targets. There’s a hypothesis that Assad’s air force sought to strike a rebel arms depot in Idlib province — a military target. The hypothesis goes further, saying that the depot contained phosgene and chlorine gas, but not Sarin. The wind carried these released gases among civilian homes and streets in Khan Sheikhoun. People suffered and died. Evidence for the absence of Sarin gas is that the gassing victims were handled manually by doctors and aid workers in street clothes. Sarin can kill on skin contact and doctors have to treat it in protective gear. So, maybe the gas wasn’t Sarin and maybe it wasn’t dropped in bombs from Assad’s planes. But, like the pipeline angle of the story, this hypothesis is missing in the media triumvirate’s pages.
President Trump was lauded mostly for the missile strike against the Syrian air force base that followed. The Dem/Progs and The New York Times gave him brownie points, if only for it being a swipe against Russia. It seemed so clever, what with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago dinner table where, presumably, the subject of the maniac in North Korea came up. Days later, a US aircraft carrier group steamed to the waters off Kim Jong Un’s fortress state. Which brings forth another hypothesis: that the Syria missile strike was solely a demonstration of US military will vis-a-vis the more ominous threat over in Asia — an attempt to get Xi to do something about the Kim Jong Un before we do.
It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. The big fear is that in the event of a rumble, Kim will turn Seoul into an ashtray. The South Korean capital is only a few miles from the DMZ between the two states. The US couldn’t find a jucier enemy than Kim Jong Un, a character so improbable he might have been dreamed up in a Batman comic. Hence, he’s comprehensible to an American public that more and more looks like the ever-present crowd of perplexed bystanders in a Batman movie.
Russia will fight if Trump attacks Syria again. The Neo-Cons and globalists want to bring Russia to its knees by cutting of the income it receives from oil and, especially, natural gas sales to Europe. Russia under Putin is a huge threat to globalist plans. His restoration of the Christian Orthodox Church in Russia alone is enough to make these (largely Jewish) creatures pull their hair out. The globalists want to exchange Russian gas for Qatar gas, but to do this they need free passage across Syria. Russia can’t let this happen. There will be no so-called “regime change”. if we push it there will be direct conflict with the Russians. Trump has clearly been blackmailed or threatened. He has collapsed and it is frightening to watch. The snot-nosed Kushner and his bubblehead wife Ivanka are merely the errand people for those calling the shots, such maniacs as McMasters, McCain, Kristol, et al. It is now absolutely clear that only an armed revolution will stop our march towards the grave. I was a fool to think that our votes counted. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I offer no apology for supporting Trump, only bare-faced shame.
I am glad to see you come to your senses about Trump. Better late than never. The people who still think he’s even trying to do anything he promised will see him performing his new role as assistant FLOTUS while the newly installed president Kushner carries out HRC’s agenda and will shift their allegiance as if nothing has happened.
There’s no hope for such a bunch of ninnies.
So far he’s cut spending for several departments, with more being announced, reduced regulations all across the board that inhibit business and gotten rid of Obama’s anti coal regulations, seriously reduced illegal immigration (down 67% lately), is trying his best to stop unvetted immigration from terrorist rich countries and may succeed with Gorsuch now in, gotten Gorsuch in, stopped funding for international organizations promoting abortion, is rebuilding the military (which Obama has left with large parts of it undeployable), reduced the national debt by 68 billion, is bringing all kinds of manufacturing back to the United States and has manufacturing reaching its stronges in something like 30 years on the Philly Index, seen the largest increases in manufacturing employment in a very long time with manufacturing job growth now outpacing government jobs, gotten approval for both the Dakota and Keystone pipelines, gotten rid of a Federal mandate requiring Transgenders access to girls bathrooms and locker rooms restoring States Right to do or not do that, frozen Federal hiring outside of the Military, ordered Federal agencies to cut two regulations for every new one further reducing the number of regulations, KILLED the TPP, killed the purchase mandate of Obamacare, ordered construction of the border wall and is taking bids on it, taken action against sanctuary cities and planning more, started re instituting sanctions on Iran for their violation of missile treaties made under Obama, banned lobbying for foreign governments and restricted some other lobbying by Executive appointees and quite a bit of other stuff that doesn’t immediately come to mind.
You just plain hate that, don’t you?
But I’m quite happy about it and glad I voted for him, especially since it was only the Supreme Court that was the core reason for me.
Cut Spending – On needed things in exchange for more defense spending
Reduced Regulations (coal) – Nice, the dirtiest hydrocarbon of all
Reduced Illegal immigration – I’ll buy that
Stopped funding for abortion – Nice, that’s what we need, more poor people having more babies
Reduced National Debt – Bullshit
Bringing all sorts of manufacturing back to US – More Bullshit
Manufacturing job growth – Complete Bullshit
Pipelines – Bring that dirty tar sand oil on down to US for export to other countries – Completely insane
Transgender – Whatever
Whatever whatever whatever …
What a douche bag! Watch FOX much?
Everything there is easily confirmable by an internet search, most sources of confirmation having nothing to do with fox.
At least try to research it before denouncing it, it’s all over the internet in all sorts of places including strictly statistical ones, outside of the news sources, for many of the statistical ones.
who’s the evil empire now?
The U.S. has been the evil empire for the last 50 years.
Yes, the world would be much better off without us wouldn’t it.
That’s why we have so many refugees and migrants trying to leave here to get there instead of trying to leave there to get here.
I think JHK does a good job of describing the big picture in Syria. The obvious (to me) conclusion is the USA has no business interfering there.
If Trump can’t see this, is he really playing 3d chess?
Washington’s Deception Is Aimed at Russia
Paul Craig Roberts
According to a report on RT, Secretary of State Tillerson has on CBS backed away from his previously reported aggressive rhetoric reported by the presstitutes against Russia and Syria. https://www.rt.com/usa/384142-tillerson-syria-regime-change-isis/
According to the RT report, Tillerson said that Washington’s plan is to defeat ISIS, not to bring regime change to Syria. It is up to the Syrian people, Tillerson reportedly said, to choose their own president. Tillerson said on CBS that “We’ve seen what violent regime change looks like in Libya and the kind of chaos that can be unleashed and indeed the kind of misery that it enacts on its own people,” he said on CBS. “I think we have to learn the lessons of the past,” he emphasized on ABC, adding, “Any time you go on and have a violent change at the top, it is very difficult to create the conditions for stability longer term.”
If the report is correct, it could either be good news or another Washington deception in advance of Tillerson’s visit to Moscow, the purpose of which will be to bring the Russian government into Washington’s orbit and an agreement to replace Assad with an American vassal.
Perhaps the Russian government will keep in mind Tillerson’s revealing statement that the message the US sent with its illegal, war crime, unprovoked attack on Syria “is that the violation of international norms . . . will no longer be tolerated.”
Of course, who is the violator of “international norms.” No one but Washington (and Israel). Washington is the greatest violator of “international norms” in modern history. Washington has invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, organized the destruction of Libya, Somalia, and conducted attacks on Pakistan and Yemen, and organized a coup against the democratically elected government in Ukraine.
Only Washington has a list of crimes this long. And we can add to it Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, and in the works, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.
If Russia falls into Washington’s trap of deception, Russia will be destroyed.
The Middle East is so involved with intrigue and plotting within intrigue and plotting that is is really hard for anyone not in the strict inner sanctums of the players to understand what is happening and why.
Sort of like observing a game between master chess players in progress and trying to guess their intentions with each move when you’re nothing but a rank amateur.
But maybe Chess is a bad example, the Middle East knows nothing about that, but it the best one that comes to mind.
Trump will push the austerity measures that Goldman Sachs and the central banking elite desire for the U.S. What better stooge to devalue the U.S. dollar, escalate wars of aggression (to line the defense industry’s pockets) and depopulate the world of “useless eaters”…after all in the future technocratic global oligarchy, the elite won’t need as many of us with the breakthroughs in robotics, nano technology, the singularity and transhuman bullshit being promoted through Hollywood, social media, and the boob tube!
“Trump will push the austerity measures that Goldman Sachs and the central banking elite desire for the U.S.”
Could you give an example of the austerity measures your referring to, I’m not understanding this and can’t follow the rest of your post as a result of it.
(i.e. devaluing is generally done by inflation which is not compatible with austerity)
Austerity like in the form of a 20% tax on all imports into the U.S. from the 3rd largest importer to the U.S., Mexico.
Deregulate certain industries so the big boys can destroy what is left of their competition (aka repealing a bunch of the environmental bullshit that has been passed over the years that has cut into the Big Businesses’ profit margins!) THINK BUSH, ENRON AND CALIFORNIA!
By rallying around the beliefs of many of his supporters that we should have limited government and that the bloated federal bureaucracy should be trimmed, it provides the perfect “cover” to hide the austerity measures (agreed upon in private at G8 conferences or Davos) and get millions of supporters to back you in doing it! This is not to say that we don’t need to do some cost cutting! But where we are looking to do it is up for debate! By hiding the austerity within the framework of the “conservative” narrative most unsuspecting Trump supporters believe his motives are genuine!
He will Continue to sell U.S. assets by brokering deals after this next stock market correction to the elite of other countries as has happened under Bush and Obama!
Get us into more “conflicts”
He has his marching orders from Davos and will continue the global race to the bottom as a means to bolster the GDP (aka, the supposed health of an economy) by devaluing FRNs to expand exports! This will not benefit the average American, only those few who happen to work in the U.S. for the MegaBusinesses who still have a workforce here! Everyone else will get to deal with a continued devaluing of what FRNs they have left over after states and the FED continue to raise taxes like California just did to anyone who drives a car or owns a car!
That’s not what is usually considered austerity.
Austerity generally means making serious cuts in spending on anything not essential to survival, IOW doing without, a tariff on imported goods to make ours more competitive doesn’t do this, it just shifts spending from there to here and makes domestic production of the taxed goods more viable.
And it would aid a great deal in stemming the dollar bleeding from here to there making more money circulate in out economy instead of someone else’s as we spent it domestically and employ more people here as a result, either through collected tariffs or domestic buying of our own products instead of theirs.
Taken within the context of the “Race to the Bottom” as I mentioned then yes it is austerity when we are considering the overall purchasing power of the typical American who buys widgets with FRNs
Whoooee, anonymous is on his game today!!! I needed that.
No one seems to be talking about Sunni’s and Shia’s at all.
Did you mention unfunding Un climate thingy.
How many consider the alternative. Little “h” would have war already started, and gun control enacted, starting civil war. IMHO if they would have shown the true election results “h” would have gotten the rope. Jill Stein’s recount found fraud and tampering, but not against Trump.
BC you might like to see that you tube video called dead harvest. I don’t buy into this dirty coal business. Do you think they can’t clean up coal emissions by now? How many years have they been raising that bar?? Carbon, climate change, global warming. Go back about about and look at UN goals to the present. It was 82-84 or 92-94 that their agenda states promote climate change to further depopulation agenda. The arrogance is sickening! It has been in the last month that the woman that was in charge of UN climate stated that “Climate change was for destroying capitalism”. Go watch DEAD HARVEST, I dare you. Remember these people want 250mil. Of us dead by 2024 deagle.com.
I watched Evan Bayh give a speech, after 8 years of him IN businesses vanished by about half. His speech sounded just like a republican.
Look up weather warfare on start page and see what shows up. The weather has been manipulated for years. Tense geoengineeringwatch, and bariumblues are interesting, to say the least.
Trump’s actually done so much I can’t keep up with it, and it’s almost mind boggling compared to any other President I recall.
Could you be more of a shill?
You suddenly show up on the site yesterday as a Trumpbot spouting nothing but effusive praise for good old Donald.
55 comments in 2 days, despite never being on TBP before.
It’s almost as if you are a paid troll.
Interesting.
I’ve posted here before, off and on for around a year, and have been a Trump supporter from the start of his campaign before it was popular here to do it, and will continue to support what he is doing even not that it is unpopular to support him here.
I’m not a “schill” or paid by anyone, and I really don’t care much whether someone agrees with me or not as long as they actually read what I said and respond to it thoughtfully either way.
That doesn’t mean I support everything he’s done, just that I support him in his efforts to do the things he has and withhold judgment on the ones I’m not sure about till I see the long term results of them.
Are you disliking all those things he has accomplished so far and intends to accomplish during the rest of his term, opposed to it?
Rense.com. good article!!
I like Kunstler’s writing, and heck, a lot of his world view too. He is terrible at predictions but summarizing the Syria situation he’s pretty spot on. Seems he’s finally giving up on his political party, if you believe that. Makes me want to give him a second chance at current event writing, even if he still has disdain for the south. Still would prefer he stick to more stories about a post-oil world in some backwater of upstate NY.