Syrian Gambit: US at Pains to Create ‘Another Afghanistan’ for Russia
Syrian Gambit: US at Pains to Create ‘Another Afghanistan’ for Russia
20:36 18.10.2015 (updated 20:37 18.10.2015)
Source: Syrian Gambit: US at Pains to Create ‘Another Afghanistan’ for Russia
There are clear signs that the Pentagon will try to create “another Afghanistan” for Russia in Syria, US political analyst Phil Butler told Sputnik.
The Syrian chess game has evidently entered into its critical phase: Vladimir Putin has thwarted the West’s plan to overthrow Assad at every turn, prompting a fierce outcry from Washington’s war hawks.In September 2014, Kenneth M. Pollack, a former CIA intelligence analyst, proposed a plan entitled “An Army to Defeat Assad.” The CIA analyst envisaged the creation of a US Syrian proxy army that would take over the Syrian government forces (and deal a blow to Islamic State). However, the toppling of Bashar al-Assad was marked by Pollack as the overriding priority.
“Once the new army gained ground, the opposition’s leaders could formally declare themselves to represent a new provisional government. The United States and its allies could then extend diplomatic recognition to the movement, allowing the US Department of Defense to take over the tasks of training and advising the new force – which would now be the official military arm of Syria’s legitimate new rulers,” Pollack elaborated.
In January 2015, the Pentagon announced that it kicked off a plan aimed at training Assad’s opposition fighters, strikingly similar to that offered by Pollack in September 2014.So, nothing hinted at any trouble until September 30, when Russia suddenly threw a wrench in Washington’s ingenious plan.
“To get to the root of the current crisis in Syria and the Middle East overall, we must look at US policy overall,” Germany-based American political analyst Phil Butler explained in an exclusive interview to Sputnik.
“The current divisions within Syria and Northern Iraq are to a degree fabricated. Secular, religious, and even tribal differences in this region have been leveraged for centuries to divide Syria, as well as other nations in the region. You’ve mentioned Ken Pollack, and appropriately, I might add. Pollack, who’s held many official positions within the Washington policy making establishment, is actually one of the authors of chaos in this region. Discussing such “bred” academics is a deep well, but suffice it to say the division of Yugoslavia, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring overall, the Georgia war, and the current Ukraine mess are all facets of the same flawed gem of US hegemony,” the analyst told Sputnik.
According to Butler, the current mission in Syria is not intended to be a splintering as we saw with Kosovo, in the Balkans.
“As for the ‘plan’ in Syria, I believe there were ‘contingencies’ mapped out. As amoral as these schemes may be, they are not concocted by idiots. Contingency 1, in my view, was the literal overthrow of Assad. Vladimir Putin’s moves, Russia’s, have thwarted this potential at every turn. Contingency number two obviously involves another Yugoslavia in the making. And finally, overall tribalism and chaos in the region helps the US, and particularly Israel gain strength in the region by weakening neighbors,” the political analyst stressed.
Meanwhile, Western reputable media sources have reported of an upcoming offensive on Raqqa, ISIL’s “capital,” the Pentagon is preparing to launch along with its Arab and Kurdish military allies.However, Middle East Eye reported on October 14 that there is no sign of such preparations on the ground: “The US-led anti-IS coalition dropped 50 tons of weapons to the newly created Syrian Arab Coalition on Monday in the Hasakah province, in order to avoid angering Turkey. But so far, no US weapons can be seen on the frontlines close to Raqqa, nor any sign of rebel troop preparations.”
“The reason we have not seen these latest weapons shipments being used, is the complexity of strategy on the ground has changed. No standing force, Al-Nusra, ISIL, or other jihadists put together, could withstand Russian air power. I believe we are about to see Assad’s opposition morph their strategy to full guerrilla warfare as was the case in Afghanistan. We will see fewer conventional “offensives” in the future, and far more localized attacks, the Pentagon will try and create another Afghanistan,” Butler explained commenting on the issue.
However, in contrast to the US’ covert war against the USSR in Afghanistan, there were no US jet fighters in the region and thus far, no threat of a direct confrontation between the two global powers.
Today, there are many military “actors” in the skies of Syria and Iraq. Does it mean the Pentagon’s Afghani strategy may unexpectedly transform into a direct confrontation between US/NATO and Russia?
“As for the threat of direct confrontation between the US and Russia in Syria, the possibility does exist. In this case however, I believe such a confrontation is actually another contingency for Washington,” the American political analyst underscored.
“While US military doctrine these days is set to avoid direct confrontation, on the other hand America and citizens in the “West” have been primed for it. Consider that most Americans, have been brainwashed substantially to believe Vladimir Putin has already invaded half a dozen countries. As crazy as this sounds, pretend you live in small American town and you listen to CNN or Fox before bed every night. This potential, to be dragged into a wide conflagration set up by Washington, is why you see Vladimir Putin making very conservative and precise moves on the stage,” he told Sputnik.
“Having said this, given all we have seen since 9/11, it would take a fairly major incident to excuse such a confrontation,” Phil Butler concluded.
Tags: Another Afghanistan for Russia, CIA intelligence, Iran, Islam, Islamic Jihad, Islamic slaughter, Islamic State, Israel, Middle East, Middle East War, Obama, Russia, Syrian Gambit, Terrorism, The United States, USA, Vladimir Putin
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WarSclerotic 
October 19, 2015 at 3:13 AM
It should be emphasized that the greater aim of American policy is not just victory in Syria and removal of Assad but the conquest of Russia. American control of the oil pipeline routes through Syria would deprive Russia of a lot of its oil income and help to collapse Russia itself. This has been the objective of American policy for decades. The conflict in Syria is just a skirmish in America’s war on Russia. It’s just the most recent in a long list of attempts to surround and defeat it. The American policy is the same as that of a high end car thief. Car thieves don’t steal cars to drive them, or even to sell them. They steal them and send them to the chop shop where the vehicle is broken up into its parts which are worth far more sold off piece by piece than the vehicle is worth as a whole.
For example, the situation in Ukraine, the American inspired civil war in Ukraine, goes all the way back (at least) to the anti-Russian Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “strategy of weak spots”. Zbigniew Brzezinski was national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981. The American plan at that time was to chop up the Soviet Union to gain control of its natural resources. The Soviet Union is gone but the American war on Russia goes on.
Thoroughly researching this American policy, war on Russia, The Great Game 2.0, would require a huge effort. Suffice it to say, things are not what they appear on the surface, like an iceberg, ninety percent is of what’s important is out of sight, below the surface.
Here’s just a snippet, a hint…
From this article October 2014
“US dusted off old USSR-break-up strategy for use in Ukraine – former FSB chief”
http://rt.com/politics/196456-russia-fsb-patrushev-global/
QUOTE
The current turmoil in Ukraine and the military conflicts in Georgia and the Caucasus are a direct result of the anti-Russian policy of the US administration, claims the former head of Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Nikolai Patrushev who headed the FSB from 1999 until 2008 said in an interview with the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta that intelligence analysts established a current anti-Russian program being executed by American special services dates back to the 1970s, and is based on Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “strategy of weak spots”, the policy of turning the opponent’s potential problems into full scale crises.
“The CIA decided that the most vulnerable spot in our country was its economy. After making a detailed model US specialists established that the Soviet economy suffered from excessive dependency from energy exports. Then, they developed a strategy to provoke the financial and economic insolvency of the Soviet state through both a sharp fall in budget income and significant hike in expenditures due to problems organized from outside,” Patrushev told reporters.
The result was the fall in oil prices together with the arms race, the war in Afghanistan, and anti-government movements in Poland, all of which eventually led to the breakup of the Soviet Union, said the former Russian security chief. He stressed that each of these factors bore hallmarks of US influence.
The hostile policy exercised by the US against the Soviet Union continued into modern times, but this time the target was the Russian Federation as the only country in the world that possessed enough nuclear weapons to effectively oppose the United States.
“American strategists saw the solution of this situation in the final destruction of the state administration in our country with the subsequent breakup of its territory,” Patrushev revealed.
END QUOTE
The US is playing a dangerous and immoral game, even edging right up to the nuclear precipice, and the prize is the same as it’s always been, since the days of Alexander the Great, world conquest, and power, and the riches that go with power.
October 21, 2015 at 2:07 PM
Why is Russia in Syria? – Saudi Arabia !
One of the ultimate targets of Russia in Syria is Saudi Arabia.
From Strategy Page:
From Strategy Page:
“Meanwhile Saudi Arabia is rumored to have offered Russia $300 billion to withdraw its forces from Syria. Russia allegedly refused. Russia and Iran are interested in putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to pump less oil so the world oil price will rise. The Saudis want the Assad government gone and so far Iran and Russia have prevented that from happening.”
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20151021.aspx