The White House:
PreEmptive Military Action Is The New Protocol For War
I want to focus on the aftermath of Potus' executive prerogative action to use preemptive military force in Syria earlier this week.
The Russian government's television networks have repeatedly said political support by leaders in Christendom and in the United States of Trump's preemptive use of military force against Syria is indicative of everyone being 'lackeys' of U.S. militarism.
No doubt Trump does have his eye on political ratings. That is a downside of conventional democratic politics worldwide. Only in totalitarian countries can you dismiss 'popular' opinion.
A lot is being made of Iraq and earlier intervention on the basis of 'false' evidence presented by General Colin Powell at the U.N. Security Council on behalf of President George Bush (Jnr.)
Dissenting Voices
What the public do not generally appreciate is that there were genuine disagreements (behind closed doors) about whether intervention in Iraq was legitimate – and under what circumstances – intervention might well be illegal.1
It is important to remember these facts because the decision to invade Iraq has caused a profound change in the balance of power in the entire region.
People with knowledge and intelligence had warned that this was likely to happen – that Iran would eventually come to play a dominant role in Iraq, that to do this could result in a Shia (majority population) dominated government which would seek to disenfranchise the ruling (minority) Sunni population and that this would have other unforeseen profound effects on the entire region.
All such warnings and cautions were brushed aside and, to quote my last article, the train 'left the station' - without the doubters on board.
So, as in any open society in Christendom, there were genuine disagreements about how to deal with President Saddam Hussein and none of these were related to support for or against Russia and the Kremlin but all about how the national interest of the transatlantic alliance (Britain and the United States) and the European Union were best served.
To repeat, disagreement with the decision to invade Iraq was based on genuine internal departmental disagreements and not about, as Russian media continue to assert, being warmongers and lackeys of 'the deep state'.
The Train Has Left The Station
Once a decision was taken that was the end of the matter. Individuals who could not go along with it in the United Kingdom, on grounds of conscience (as 'conscientious' objectors) resigned from government or senior departmental posts since they felt unable to continue to implement policies they fundamentally disagreed with. This is how the internal political system works in some democratic countries of Christendom.
I supported intervention in Iraq because, like many, I believed the intelligence reports about Saddam Hussein's stockpiling of chemical weapons.
Many politicians and media in Christendom were prepared to give their politicians the 'benefit of the doubt'. We also know from the historical record that so too did General Colin Powell.
There is a saying (and George Bush (Jnr.) has used it himself when in office:
'Fool me once shame on you.......fool me twice........'
Syria: Fool Me Twice..............Shame On Me!
My support for President Bashar Al-Assad is based on what will happen should he be removed from power not just to Syria but to the entire region. This has absolutely nothing to do with support for Russia nor antipathy to Donald Trump but the fact that there is no excuse for not being able to 'see' what will happen when millions of Syrians (including especially but not exclusively Syrian Christians) are slaughtered by Al Nusra and ISIL if our Christian governments succeed in their bid to overthrow President Assad.
There is no excuse for wishing such evil upon any people – let alone the Syrian population, Muslim, Christian or otherwise.
Unintended Consequences
Also, never forget that until Saddam Hussein was overthrown and the Sunni population disenfranchised (politically) in Iraq, there was no ISIS/ISIL nor Islamic Caliphate in Iraq nor in Syria.
The return of the Caliphate2 could never have happened while a 'strongman' like President Hussein ruled Iraq – he would have crushed ISIL mercilessly – as did Gadhafi both ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya before he too was overthrown by NATO.
We consciously permitted the chaos and anarchy to grow and we supported and encouraged it.
Such theocratic Islamist governments in the Levant have traditionally been opposed to Russian (Soviet) expansionism so securing the oil pipelines of the future (20-40 years from now) from a Russian 'stranglehold' was always a priority of yesterday and of today.
(see my Caspian Sea blog of several years ago.)
What The Wars In Chechnya and Dagestan Were Really All About
The wars in Chechnya and Dagestan (North Caucasus) were about the future of oil and gas pipelines (who controlled them) and a rich future infrastructural (20-50 years from now) minerals resource trail (roads, rail networks, air corridors, military alliances etc.) from the Caucasus through Syria and Turkey onward to Europe and not what you were reading about in the mainstream press – freedom and democracy. [You really must be better informed that what your mainstream media is hiding from you.]
Russia to NATO: Not In Our Backyard!
Because this was literally in Russia's backyard, Medvedev and Putin were not going to accept NATO's 'encirclement' in this manner.
Again my comments have nothing to do with support for Russia but are an honest appraisal of the situation then and now. Your mainstream media is forever lying to you. See how it ignores the biggest 'elephant in the room' resulting from Trump's preemptive military action in Syria. That elephant is of course, North Korea and how it will now perceive a highly unpredictable (and unstable) President of the United States who will take executive decisions preemptively and report back (to Congress and to the world) later.
North Korea: A Disaster For Trump Waiting To Unfold
So when I said in my previous blog that China will not accept NATO and coalition allies on it's border in the event of a preemptive conventional or nuclear strike by President Trump on North Korea this same 'Chechnya syndrome', I had in mind as a template. Which is why China will not standby and see its ally North Korea be obliterated by the United States and South Korea.
It will react. If the incumbent President and leadership in China are seen as incapable of supporting a critical ally, then they will be removed in a Coup and a much more 'hard line' leadership will result.
So if the media has got you all worked up and angry ready to go and sign up to 'fight the evil Russians' and 'evil' Bashar al-Assad just remember how many lives have already been needlessly wasted in Libya, Iraq, the Yemen, Afghanistan and now gearing up for a war in Syria.
Don't Die Of Ignorance
Are you really ready to 'sign up' to their (politicians) new 'agenda' for Syria?
Having an Islamic Caliphate State in Syria will destabilize the entire Mediterranean.
But President Trump does not care about the European Union nor its political future.
Europe is now seen more as an economic rival than an ally. At least he and Vladimir Putin 'are on the same page' in that regard.
Is there a single Muslim country where Christian military intervention in recent years has brought stability and democracy and a better life for all the ordinary people - Muslim and Christian?
Our interventions have brought misery and suffering on a scale unimaginable to so many peoples that it is almost enigmatic that the mainstream media would be salivating for yet more war.
And there is not a 'dissenter' amongst them.
At least before you do join up for wars abroad, have some little knowledge as to why (for what purpose) you (or your children) are being asked to (perhaps) make the ultimate sacrifice and, perhaps also, who will really benefit from your presence in Syria or in Libya or in North Korea as part of an 'invading' [the word is now 'humanitarian'] force.
If you are joining to 'fight the good fight', then fine.
But please, at least for your family's sake, do not die out of ignorance.
©Patrick Emek, April 2017
