Mainstream media
sources are saying that the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad could be
toppled by rebel forces within days, three officials in his inner circle having
been killed in a recent explosion. Last year, Webster Tarpley reported that the
events in Syria do not resemble a civil war, and that he had spoken to people
who claim that “death squads” are sniping at civilians only for the purpose of
destabilizing the country.
Tarpley claims
that these squads are backed by American, British, French, and Israeli
intelligence agencies; funded by the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates, and
Qatar; and managed by former Syrian foreign minister Abdul Halim Khaddam.
Tarpley described Khaddam as “groomed by N.A.T.O. as a new dictator”. Khaddam
has been described as having been a loyalist of Bashar al-Assad’s father Hafez.
Tarpley says
Syria is “the most tolerant society in the Middle East”, and calls Assad “a
humanitarian”. Israeli newspaper Haaretz describes Assad as “an outspoken
critic of Israel”, reporting that he attributes his regime’s strength to its
opposition to that country. Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. recently said, “We
do see a possible ouster of Mr. Assad as affording an opportunity to us”.
Fox News has
reported that the U.S. is secretly funding the opposition in Syria in order to
topple the Assad regime. Webster Tarpley claims that the C.I.A. has extended an
“open invitation” to criminals and terrorists in the region to come to Turkey
to be trained to fight the Syrian army.
According to YouTube
reporter Rys2sense, last year there was a $10 billion deal for an Iran-Syria
oil pipeline, rival pipelines cannot be built if there are ongoing conflicts in
Syria, the goal is a complete cessation of the flow of oil between Syria and
Iran, and Turkish mercenaries are also helping to destabilize Syria.
This month,
Syria, Iran, China, and Russia are coordinating a military exercise in Syria.
Comprised of 90,000 troops, 900 tanks, 400 planes, and 12 naval ships – and
taking place “at sea, air and land on Syrian soil” – it is the largest joint
exercise in Middle East history. In September, U.S. naval forces will be
conducting mine-sweeping activities in the Persian Gulf. Some media figures
have conjectured that the U.S. may send a decommissioned aircraft carrier to
the Gulf to be destroyed in a false-flag attack to be blamed on Iran.
Russia has
warned the N.A.T.O. countries not to attack Iran, and accused the Western
powers of stirring up trouble in Syria; China and Russia have shown support of
Syria in the U.N.; and China and Pakistan have said that they would consider an
attack on Iran as an attack on themselves, and have suggested that they would
retaliate as such. China and Russia have nearly twice as many nukes combined as
the U.S. does.
Iran recently
confirmed that its plan to close the Strait of Hormuz is ready to be put into
action. This could triple – or even quadruple – crude oil and gas prices. Some
reports claim that Obama and / or Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu want to
attack Iran's nuclear facilities in early October, around the beginning of the
U.S. presidential debates.
The King of
Jordan has called for Assad to step down, and today the United Nations voted on
a new resolution threatening non-military sanctions against Syria, which Russia
and China vetoed. Additionally, yesterday, at least seven Israeli tourists were
killed in a bus explosion in Bulgaria, for which Israel blamed Iran, and vowed
revenge. Hezbollah was also blamed for the attack, but denied that tourists
would be worthwhile targets.
What may play
out – in a worst-case scenario – over the next three to twelve months is the
following:
1) Israel retaliates against Lebanon and / or Iran over yesterday’s
Bulgarian bus bombing; and / or the U.S. stages an attack on one of its
warships, and blames it on Iran; and / or Israel
stages an attack by Iran.
2) the
N.A.T.O.-Israeli alliance increases meddling and destabilization efforts in
Lebanon, Syria, and / or Iran, and / or simply goes ahead and bombs Iran’s
nuclear facilities.
3) Either of the aforementioned actions will provoke a
response from Iran, Syria, and / or Lebanon, but the former action would be
enough to provoke such a response, which would easily excuse Western destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
4) Being that an
attack on Iran will be construed by Pakistan and China as an attack on
themselves, those countries’ forces would be deployed against whichever Western
powers are perceived to have led the attack. Additionally – given the signals
it has made so far – it wouldn’t take much for Russia to become even more vociferous and threatening in asserting
its support of Iran.
Being
that Iran is nearly three times as populous as Iraq, occupation seems
impossible, even in a concerted effort by all major Western powers. However,
considering that Iran is virtually surrounded by U.S. military bases – most
notably in Iraq and Afghanistan – as well as a recent call by retired U.S.
General Stanley McChrystal to reinstate the draft, there remains the
possibility that the U.S. could declare an emergency, and invoke various
PATRIOT Act and continuity-of-government authorities to enact martial law,
putting the country in a state of all-out total war of occupation against Iran
and its would-be allies. Even if such an occupation never occurs, the
difficulty of invasion – and the fact that the nation’s capital of Tehran is
home to over a sixth of its population – suggests that nuclear or other heavy
weaponry could be used against Tehran and other major cities.
All in all, the
divide between N.A.T.O. and Israel; and Syria, Iran, Pakistan, China, and
Russia; is sharpening at a frightening pace. In my opinion, the world is closer
to intercontinental nuclear exchange and / or full-scale multinational military
conflagration than any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I expect
this threat to ratchet-up exponentially over the next 3 ½ months, leading to a
cataclysm in the month of October which could very well be virtually
irreversible.
