Vladimir Putin recently made comments on the seriousness of global conflicts that can lead to nuclear conflict. Patriots worldwide should pay close attention as the globalists build their dangerous nuclear arsenal.
In stark contrast to attempts in numerous western countries to stifle free speech online, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Internet freedom during a conference...
A prominent Swedish lawmaker asserts that Hungarian billionaire George Soros's influence on European politics and policies make him "one of the most dangerous men,"
Iran's representative to the United Nations slams the United States for
its illegal military presence in Syria, describing it as an act of
aggression.
Gholam-Ali Khoshrou who was speaking at the Security Council’s special
session on Syria said Iran is on the ground in that country on an
invitation by Damascus. He added that Tehran is playing a constructive
role in bringing peace and prosperity to Syria and supports all efforts
toward a political solution. During the meeting held on Russia’s
request, US ambassador Nikky Haley accused Russia and Iran of failing to
protect civilians in Idlib province. She also threatened the use of
force if the Syrian army uses chemical weapons. In reaction, the Russian
ambassador accused the extremist groups of planning to launch a false
flag chemical attack in Idlib.
The law of unintended consequences has forced China’s hand in Syria.
As the battle for Idlib draws near, China is set to fight Al Qaeda
trained Uyghur jihadists in Syria in order to help the Syrian government
retake their territory, preventing those very jihadist terrorists from
returning to Xinjiang province and sewing the seeds of partition in
China.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and International Affairs and Security
Analyst, from Moscow, Mark Sleboda discuss how the American plan to
partition Syria has pressured China to take part in an already crowded
and complicated conflict.
The US policy of permanently balkanizing Syria appears to be a foregone conclusion, even as the Syrian Arab Army and Russian forces proceed with their last major counter-terrorism operation in Idlib.
According to Wolfgang Mühlberger, senior fellow for EU-Mideast
relations at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, “Idlib is
the very Arab Kandahar with potentially more than 100,000 experienced, battle-hardened Sunni jihadi fighters hiding between the civilians.”
This high number is due to the amalgamation of
all the militants from de-confliction zones or reconquered battle zones
(e.g., Aleppo, Ghouta, Deraa, etc.) throughout Syria that have been
shipped to Idlib over the past couple of years, as well as remnants of
the Free Syrian Army.
However, despite Washington acknowledging that the governorate is an Al Qaeda safe haven for militants from over 100 countries, the tripartite powers of the UK, US and France are now asking Germany to
join planned airstrikes against Syria – as soon as President Bashar
al-Assad gives them the green light by using chemical weapons.
It is not entirely clear why the US believes the
Syrian president would deliberately provoke western airstrikes on
Syrian forces when they are on a winning streak in their war with the
terrorists, but it does seem apparent that Washington intends to prevent
Syria from regaining sovereignty over Idlib.
As discussed in a previous Asia Times article,
RAND Corporation drew up a Syria partition plan wherein the US would
occupy the northeast, Turkey the northwest, Russia and Iran the coastal
area and large parts of the Syrian desert, and Israel and Jordan the
southwest.
The US zone would contain oil fields where 90% of Syria’s pre-war oil production took place, while Israel would control the newly discovered oil reserves in
the Golan Heights. Turkey’s control of Idlib as a safe haven for
militants would put continued pressure on the Syrian government, and a
balkanized Syria would be weak and less likely to provide a viable base
for Iran and Hezbollah to attack Israel.
However, the partition of Idlib as a jihadi sanctuary has important
implications for another actor – China. Back in August, there were reports that Beijing would participate in the Battle for Idlib due to the presence of Chinese Uyghur jihadi colonies. If Turkey controls Idlib, China fears Ankara and the West would exploit Uyghur militants as proxies to destabilize Xinjiang.
Idlib proxies to destabilize Xinjiang?
There are historical reasons for this concern, given that the CIA tried to destabilize Xinjiang and supported separatists in Tibet during the Cold War. As Israeli sinologist Yizhak Shichor pointed
out, in the 1950s Washington tried to exploit Muslim grievances against
China and the Soviet Union, by attempting to form a Middle Eastern
Islamic pact to organize fifth columns in these countries.
Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism expert at the New America Foundation, also noted that in the 1990s Osama Bin Laden accused
the US and CIA of inciting conflict between Chinese and Muslims. After a
series of 1997 bombings in Xinjiang that Beijing ascribes to Uyghur
separatists, bin Laden blamed the CIA in an interview, saying,
“The United States wants to incite conflict between China and the
Muslims. The Muslims of Xinjiang are blamed for the bomb blasts in
Beijing. But I think these explosions were sponsored by the American
CIA.”
Interestingly at the time, Al Qaeda had its eyes on the West and
largely ignored Uyghur separatism as a Chinese domestic issue. But as
Fishman assessed, over time the transnational problem of al Qaeda and
its allies, and the increasing prominence of Uyghurs in jihadi
propaganda, meant that China could no longer avoid them.
Indeed, given that the 2016 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan was a joint operation between Al Nusra and its Uyghur affiliate Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP);
the continual supply of advanced weaponry and tacit Western support for
TIP due to its intermingling with the “rebel” opposition; professional
military training by the private security company Malhama Tactical to improve TIP’s warfighting capabilities; and TIPs ultimate goal to attack China, James Dorsey at
the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore argued
that Beijing mulling military intervention in Idlib underscores the
gravity of this threat to China’s core interests.
Currently, China seems to be steering clear of direct military
involvement and instead relies on Syria and Russia, but it would be
concerned should Western powers block Damascus and Moscow’s campaign to
reclaim Idlib and continue to partition a safe zone for Uyghur militants.
Moreover, as Jacob Zenn from
the Jamestown Foundation pointed out, China is also concerned by “the
prospect of re-shaping the borders in the Middle East that could lead to
new conceptions of sovereignty and statehood – not only in the region but elsewhere throughout the Islamic world, including Central Asia and Xinjiang.’
Xinjiang at heart of Belt and Road Initiative
Now it appears that a Western united front is emerging to confront China on human rights issues, using various tools of media coverage, economic sanctions, political activism by NGOs and think tanks to internationalize the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang.
Similar to Israel’s dilemma over the internationalization of
the Palestinian issue, China is bracing itself for a destabilization
campaign and possible call for secession and partition of the province
from Chinese sovereignty.
This perception is due to US backing of the Munich-based World Uyghur
Congress, which aspires to revert Xinjiang to an independent East
Turkistan. The first president of the Congress was Erkin Alptekin, son
of Isa Alptekin, who headed the short-lived First East Turkestan
Republic in Kashgar (November 12, 1933 to February 6, 1934), and also
served as an advisor to the CIA while working at Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty in Munich.
The Alptekin family and Xinjiang secession enjoy strong support from
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who while being mayor of
Istanbul in 1995, named a section of the Blue Mosque park after Isa
Alptekin and built a memorial to commemorate Eastern Turkistani martyrs
who lost their lives in the “struggle for independence.”
Given resource-rich Xinjiang is at the heart of
the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), destabilizing the province would
not only spoil the plan for Eurasian integration and development, but
also weaken China’s economy by cutting off its overland energy supply
from Central Asia and the Middle East, hamper its market access, and
keep Beijing bogged down in an ethnoreligious conflict.
While this may augment current Washington’s trade war against the
Middle Kingdom and weaken the Pentagon’s “peer competitor,” by
deliberately stoking Chinese fears about Xinjiang destabilization and
increasing radicalization, thereby egging Beijing to clamp down on
Uyghurs, is in effect exploiting the ethnic Uyghur’s plight for narrow
geopolitical agenda.
And as Yizhack Shichor perceived,
“Vocal criticism of China related to its Uyghur persecution comes
primarily, in fact almost entirely from outside the Middle East, from
Western non-Muslim countries…[which] may have little do to with loving
the Uyghurs, and much more to do with opposing China.”
Nobody
has heard from cybersecurity expert and occasional Wikileaks
collaborator Arjen Kamphuis since he checked out of his hotel in Bodo,
Norway one month ago.
In the intervening weeks, items purportedly belonging to Kamphuis,
including his ID and a recently purchased kayak, were discovered by a
local fisherman 50 kilometers from his hotel. While this would at first
seem to suggest some type of fatal accident, in a strange twist,
authorities say that both Kamphuis' work and mobile phones were briefly
switched on more than 1,700 km from Bodo 10 days after Kamphuis - who is Dutch and was purportedly traveling back to Amsterdam when he disappeared - was seen leaving his hotel.
But despite authorities best efforts, there are still more questions than answers, as the Guardian
makes clear in a story about Kamphuis' disappearance. Though police
have suspiciously insisted that Kamphuis' disappearance had nothing to
do with the fact that Bodo houses a Norwegian military airbase, or that the country's secret cyber defense operations were situated not far from where Kamphuis was staying.
Police have denied any connection between Kamphuis’s disappearance
and the fact that Bodø houses a Norwegian military airbase, and that
buried deep inside a nearby mountain is a major part of the Scandinavian
country’s secret cyber defence operations.
With an internet campaign using the hashtag #FindArjen to locate him,
unconfirmed sightings of Kamphuis have also been reported in Sweden,
Denmark, Germany and several parts of Norway.
To the consternation of Kamphuis' friends and family, who are
apparently hoping that he merely decided to take a break from society
for a little while, Wikileaks has ratcheted up suspicion by floating
several theories and highlighted several suspicious developments,
including the fact that the Norwegian military have reportedly joined
the search.
The grassroots campaign to find him has been spread with the help of the hashtag #FindArjen.
As rumors and speculation about his disappearance intensify,
Kamphuis' loved ones have pushed back against so-called conspiracy
theories that he may have been on a secret mission on behalf of
Wikileaks, or that he may have been targeted by Russian or Western
intelligence. Meanwhile, unconfirmed sightings have been reported in Germany, Denmark and Norway.
Officially, Norwegian police believe his disappearance could be linked to one of three possibilities.
Police said on Thursday they were "holding all possibilities open in respect to what might have happened"
to Kamphuis and pursuing three distinct lines of inquiry: a "voluntary
disappearance" including a possible suicide; an accident; or foul play.
Some of Kamphuis' friends told the Guardian that he has gone "off the grid" before, and that they remain hopeful that he will surface when he feels ready.
Carlo said Kamphuis had "gone off grid before. It can be good for the soul. I
was worried before, and it is worrying now. But I have strong faith he
will come back into the welcoming arms of his friends when he is ready,
in his own time." Van der Leest told Dutch radio that while Kamphuis
"certainly didn’t come across as someone who was planning to be away for
a long time. He had lots of appointments."
Though reports that he purchased a kayak and told a salesperson that
he was heading to the Norwegian fjords have left many concerned that he
may have encountered some trouble while he was out.
Dutch police have said Kamphuis bought a foldable kayak before
leaving the Netherlands, telling the salesman who sold it to him that he
was planning on going canoeing in the fjords.
Other friends said Kamphuis was no daredevil. "If he’s heading into
dangerous territory, he always seeks out company," Helma de Boer told
NRC Handelsblad. "And he always has good equipment. His motto is:
'better safe than sorry.'"
Still, it's worth considering that Kamphuis has helped Wikileaks and
many other organizations - some controversial, some not - thwart
intelligence agencies and other prying organizations. That type
of work could help a man make enemies who are both motivated and
resourceful (doubly so if he was caught doing some unauthorized
snooping). Then again, there's also the possibility that he may
have tried to fake his own death - leaving his possessions in the water
on purpose to convince authorities that he drowned. But one would think
that such a talented cybersecurity engineer would understand the risks
of using his phone.
On the other hand, if he was engaged in some type of clandestine
errand, why draw more attention to himself by continuing to make daily
headlines?
Syrians are electing their local councils during first municipal
elections since the start of the lingering seven-year war. Polls have
opened on Sunday shortly after an overnight airstrike hit Damascus
airport.
As many as 6,551 polling
stations opened on Sunday morning with Syrians invited to vote for their
representatives in local councils, state news agency SANA
reported. It said over 40,000 candidates are contesting 18,478 seats.
Polls will be closed at 7.00pm local time, and authorities have said
they took all necessary precautions to keep the ballot boxes safe and
secure.
Today’s local elections, the first to be held since the
conflict broke out in 2011, comes amid continued violence in various
parts of the war-ravaged country. On Saturday night, an airstrike –
purportedly carried out by Israeli jets – hit Damascus international
airport causing several explosions.
Worrying news also come from
Idlib, where the Syrian army braces for its major offensive on the
militants-held stronghold. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed
chlorine-filled canisters were delivered by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated
fighters to stage a false flag attack that would be used to accuse the
Syrian government of using chemical weapons against its people.
Nevertheless,
efforts to bring lasting peace to Syria still carry on. Recently,
Russia, Turkey and Iran have called on all armed groups in Idlib and
beyond to lay down arms and seek a peaceful transition in the country.
Leaders of the three nations had previously met in Astana in May, where
they agreed to push for negotiations between its government and
opposition groups, which agree to cease hostilities.
The format
brought together representatives of the Syrian government and armed
opposition groups at the negotiating table – something previous efforts
by the international community had failed to do.
Aside from the
diplomatic efforts, Russia it actively engaged in humanitarian
activities in Syria. Russian military personnel have defused thousands
of explosive devices left by terrorists and brought tons of much-needed
aid to Syrian provinces liberated from terrorists.
In a rare and unprecedented speech delivered on the House floor just
two days after the nation memorialized 9/11, Democratic Hawaiian
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday slammed Washington's longtime
support to anti-Assad jihadists in Syria, while also sounding the alarm
over the current build-up of tensions between the US and Russia over the
Syria crisis.
She called on Congress to condemn what she called the Trump
Administration’s protection of al-Qaeda in
Idlib and slammed Washington's policies in Syria as "a betrayal of the American people"— especially the victims and families that perished on 9/11.
Considering that Congresswoman Gabbard herself is an Iraq war veteran and current Army reserve officer who served in the aftermath of 9/11,
it's all the more power and rare that a sitting Congress member would
make such forceful comments exposing the hypocrisy and contradictions of
US policy.
She called out President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence by name on the House floor in her speech:
“Two days ago, President Trump and Vice President Pence delivered solemn speeches about the attacks on 9/11, talking about how much they care about the victims of al-Qaeda’s attack on our country. But, they are now standing up to protect the 20,000 to 40,000 al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria, and threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran, with military force if they dare attack these terrorists."
And in perhaps a completely unprecedented moment, the Congresswoman
accused America's Commander-in-Chief during her floor speech for acting
as "the protective big brother of al-Qaeda and other jihadists".
Interestingly she has elsewhere previously leveled the same blistering criticism of the Obama administration during media interviews for its "regime change policies" in Syria.
Gabbard continued:
“This is a betrayal of the American people,
especially the victims of al-Qaeda’s attack on 9/11 and their families,
first responders, and my brothers and sisters in uniform who have been
killed or wounded in action and their families. For the
President, who is Commander in Chief, to act as the protective big
brother of al-Qaeda and other jihadists must be condemned by every
Member of Congress.”
Gabbard has for especially the last couple of years been an outspoken
critic of US policies in Syria, and drew controversy in early 2017 when
she traveled to Damascus to meet privately with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. The move met with an icy reception among fellow Congressional
Democrats and raised questions over possible violation of the Logan Act.
But interestingly though Thursday's floor speech evoked President
Trump and his latest threats to intervene militarily against Assad and
Russia should chemical weapons be used in Idib, Gabbard is actually echoing the very stance that Trump took on the campaign trail and prior on Syria,
where he also described the Syrian rebel insurgency as being led and
filled by terrorists and jihadists in multiple informal statements.
Trump 2013 vs Trump 2018 on Syria...
Trump and Gabbard had even once met to discuss Syria policy
at a private meeting at Trump Tower in November of 2016 just ahead of
then president-elect Trump being sworn into office. At the time the two appeared to be in complete agreement over Syria policy, after which Gabbard said of the meeting, "I
felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the
President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been
beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian
government—a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives
and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety
for themselves and their families."
The following summer President Trump allegedly shut down the CIA's clandestine efforts for
overthrowing the Damascus government, a covert program called 'Timber
Sycamore', after reports said he was increasingly disturbed by the
brutal and jihadist nature of the armed opposition.
All the way up until April 2018, he had appeared to be pushing toward
withdrawing the over 2,000 US troops from Syria, against which advisers
and neocon hawkish policy wonks vehemently pushed back. Trump had proposed, “Let
the other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon, we’re
coming out. We’re going to get back to our country, where we belong,
where we want to be.”
However just days after that statement video emerged from Idlib
purporting to show an Assad sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib
province, to which Trump responded with a brief Tomahawk missile strike
on a largely abandoned Syrian military airport in the center of the
country.
The pro-regime change interventionists in the administration had perhaps won out,
as Trump the following April launched an even bigger attack on Damascus
following more unverified opposition claims of another gas attack.
And now Congresswoman Gabbard appears to be calling Trump out and
back to that original policy path of military withdrawal and
non-intervention in Syria.
Liberteon