The last striking example of the consequences of
‘alliance’ with the United States is undoubtedly the plight of the Syrian Kurds. Much ink has been shed about the American betrayal in the entire world’s mass media. Why does the US destroy the self-confidence of its allies giving rise to serious doubts? Nothing is strange: Washington pursues the policy considered appropriate in each case and moment in time. In this regard, Washington has increasingly abandoned its allies as soon as its goals are achieved. This is the spirit of US policy.

Take for example the treatment afforded by the United States to Japan, its main Asian ally. Washington has persistently been engaged in Tokyo’s arms twisting, projecting the threat from China and North Korea. Thus forcing Japan to follow Washington’s quest for supremacy in East Asia. In this case, the US refer to the bilateral treaty on mutual cooperation and the 1960 security guarantees, according to which they have the right to station armed forces and establish military bases on Japanese territory. However, as Bloomberg recently reported, the White House is seriously considering withdrawing from the Treaty, leaving Tokyo alone to worry about Japan’s security.

Is the Treaty signed by the United States and Greece during Pompeo’s recent visit to Athens, not of a similar nature? The transfer of American troops to Greek territory continues in full swing.

The White House employs the same scenario in the development of relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf: the looming ‘threat’ in the Gulf scenario is Iran. Furthermore, in the case of the Baltic and Eastern European states, Russia is the projected ‘threat’. It is not a far-fetched scenario the leadership of these countries wakes up one day and find themselves in the position the Syrian Kurds are today: that is to say a bargaining chip in American foreign and domestic policy.

The US ‘friendship’ with Armenia, one of Cyprus’ main partners, is also indicative. The government of Armenia, which has made a bet on the development of relations with the West, is likely to be abandoned by its American patrons by direct analogy to the Kurdish case. It is possible that the Armenian friends of George Soros, who consistently put the fate of Armenia in the hands of the OSCE Minsk Group and NATO officials, will face a very sad fate. If the Armenians are led to believe that the United States are the guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence, they are seriously mistaken.

Oil Interests Guide US Foreign Policy

Last week Washington threw off its mask openly stating the true purpose of stationing US troops in Syria: oil! The war on terrorism on the territory of this unfortunate country was only
a smokescreen. Washington cares only about Syrian oil. The United States in order to maintain control over the oil fields in northeastern Syria, will apparently, stop at nothing.

The US administration estimates revenues from Syrian oil smuggling to the tune of $45 million per month. At the same time, the Syrians will not have any profit at all from the production of their own oil by the Americans. What else than an outright robbery of Syria by the United States? Part of the money from oil is returned to Syria exclusively in the form of new armed terrorists, while, in fact, all this oil belongs to the Syrian people and no one else.

Moreover, the White House recently expressed interest in a deal with oil giant ExxonMobil to ‘use’ Syrian oil assets. Yes, it is ExxonMobil, on which so many hopes are pinned by the Cypriot government. We wonder how our government and public will react to the potential participation of this company in the plunder of the natural resources of a sovereign state. Silence and indifference have always been the easiest way out of difficult situations. But then all our reproaches of Ankara with illegal activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus would pale.

It is not easy to choose allies and partners. Even worse when “chosen” as ally, the US pursue their narrowly defined national interest. We can continue to pretend that nothing is happening, to entertain illusions and hopes about a happy future in the American embrace. However, common sense suggests that now it is necessary to wake up and seriously think about whether we are on the right path. A range of countries, including seemingly powerful blocs such as the European Union, are increasingly realizing how they have been used by the Americans and hastily trying to get rid of this dependence. Doing so whilst the neck is in the loop is not so easy. It is much easier not to get to this point at all …

Navel gazers and insular islanders as we mostly are, we tend to forget that neighbours civilians – citizens of Syria – including a baby were killed. Many cynically noticed that the Syrian authorities needed to be more careful when using their anti-aircraft missile systems. Is this is possible when we speak about the lives of innocent people? Apparently, the crew of the Syrian Air Defense systems defended their own people from the missile attacks of the Israeli Air Force. Had they not reacted, there could probably be more civilian casualties. Shouldn’t those who use lethal weapons causing inadvertently collateral damage of unnecessary human suffering, be more humane and considerate? As the Israeli authorities offered no comments, the international community apparently followed suit.

It is noteworthy that the air raid of the Israeli Air Force was carried out from the airspace of Cyprus and Lebanon. It is rather odd in this respect that the Israeli Air Force should use the Cyprus airspace to launch an attack on the soil of a third friendly country and not the national airspace of Israel. The Cypriot leadership considers Israel a friendly country, the main regional partner and protector of Cyprus interests. But let us stop for a moment and ponder: in the worst case scenario of a further Turkish advance, will Israel really come to our rescue? We are of the humble opinion that the strategic alliance with Israel, however expedient it may be at the current juncture, has to be more balanced in order to avoid unpleasant consequences which potentially damage Cyprus’ friendly relations with other immediate neighbours to the east.

Faisal Al-Mikdad, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister declared his country’s readiness to change its response to Israeli aggression. In other words, it looks like that the era of Syrian restraint in the face of Israeli Air Force raids on Syrian territory is coming to an end. In the light of the new Syrian assertiveness, no one can guarantee that in the course of repelling the next attacks of the Israeli Air Force, another load of lethal ammunition will not land on our island. Nobody, in his right mind, wants chance to become a regularity.

Like any other unilateral actions, such Israeli air attacks carry the danger of regional destabilisation. In such conditions, the national security interests of none of the Eastern Mediterranean states can be reliably ensured. We are in dire need of a truly comprehensive and multilateral approach to be adopted by all parties in order to achieve stability and security in the region.

http://www.lifo.gr/articles/greece_articles/189834/giorgos-leventis-to-islamofasistiko-kathestos-erntogan-epivalletai-stadiaka-kai-stin-toyrkokypriaki-koinonia

Millions of Syrian citizens have become the victims of the civil war in this country: hundreds of thousands of refugees were forced to seek shelter in other countries. Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, Greece … The list is by no means complete; scores of countries took responsibility for saving the lives of Syrians who fled from the war zone.

How many innocent people lost their lives to this day? It is impossible to count. Most of them found their life’s abrupt end under the fire of the warring sides. For those perished it does not really matter whose shell or bomb or mortar hit their home, the last shelter and hope for salvation. Many of the dead wanted to escape the war zones, alas no humanitarian corridors were available.

Much criticism has been directed on the government of Syria and on the contingent of the Russian Armed Forces during the operation against terrorists in Aleppo and its suburbs. Practically every day, Syrians have been subjected to unthinkable accusations claiming the use of chemical weapons, cluster ammunitions, shells and aerial white phosphorus bombs … White Helmets, who now are known for their provocative prefabricated activities, “demonstrated” horrific photos of victims of the Syrian Army and Russian air strikes. They launched a powerful propaganda campaign against Syria and Russia around the world not least in the UN. Only after the liberation of Aleppo, where documentary evidence about their provocative work was found, their anti-Russian hysteria practically ceased.

It is also indicative that practically from the beginning of the internal political conflict in Syria, the London based so-called Syrian Human Rights Observatory has started operating on the international information field. It is headed by Rami Abderrahman, who was unknown in journalist circles at that time. However, for the past ten years the British Foreign Office has hired Mr. Abderrahman. He has ever since been vehemently exhuming his hate of President Bashar Al Assad.

This dissident has been levelling accusations of crimes against the Syrian government and the leadership of Russia. In true fact both the Assad government and Moscow have been liquidating international terrorist mercenaries in his homeland. If one bothers to calculate Rami Abderrahman’s prefabricated data about dead civilians as a result of the Syrian government’s and Russia’s air strikes, the total figure may exceed one million.

But what happened recently is difficult to understand. All of a sudden, Abderrahman began to shed light on civilian population losses as a result of “friendly” strikes of the Western coalition and, in particular, the consequences of the US Air Force bombings.

Abderrahman estimated that during the entire six-year period of the war in Syria, 1954 civilians were killed by the coalition strikes, of which 456 were children. Only from May 23 to June 23, 2017, 472 civilian casualties were victims of air strikes of the US Air Force, of which 137 were children. At the same time, the main losses fell on Rakka and Deir ez-Zor. For the period from April 23 to May 23, 2017, 225 people were killed by American air strikes.

In the latest reports on the Syrian conflict he published, Abderrahman not only restrains himself with regard to the results of the bombings of the Russian air squadrons, but on several occasions furthermore, he stresses the precision and accuracy of the destruction of the terrorists’ land-based targets. Therefore the terrorists are most afraid of the actions of Russian strike aircraft and, according to testimonies of the captured terrorists, they are losing heart at the sight of Russian fighter planes flying over their positions.

However, an American representative of the Western Coalition Command told a French news agency correspondent at a recent briefing in Baghdad: “Our forces are acting with precision. Our targets are permanent and there are no victims among civilians.” Well, maybe someday some researcher will be able to ascertain how many civilians became victims of direct attacks by the US Artillery and Air Force in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen … It is unlikely that the results will appease the international community. And it is also unlikely that these results will be published.

The accusations against Damascus and Moscow about alleged regular air strikes by Syrian government forces and/or the Russian Air Forces on civilian targets continue, although corroborating proof of such claims seems to be lacking. Against this background, calls voiced in Washington as well as several Western capitals to end the counter-terrorist operation in Eastern Aleppo, resemble more to a last and desperate attempt to shield and rescue the defeated terrorists and extremists on Syrian soil.

Why the current US administration due to step down in three weeks’ time is so sensitive to the evolving situation in Syria? Let us tackle this pertinent question.

First, it is imperative for the ruling in the US elite Democratic Party to save its political reputation: to justify the failure of the military-diplomatic efforts to overthrow the legitimate government in Syria and to eliminate the political influence of Russia in the Middle East, depriving the latter of the possibility of a permanent military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. In other words, at this juncture, we witness an uncompromising clash of the global interests of the United States and of Russia now in Syria.

Second, the new American President Donald Trump in his campaign speeches promised to stay away from previous interventionist courses pursued by past US administrations which saw numerous interference in the internal affairs of other countries aimed at the overthrow of unwanted to the US regimes. Moreover, Trump named “moderate” Syrian armed opposition terrorists and called for international efforts, including Russia, for the destruction of international terrorism on the planet.

Third, before leaving the White House, Barack Obama faces the challenging task of concealing the direct or indirect US involvement in creating and nurturing terrorist and other equally odious extremist Muslim organizations that left behind rivers of blood in Syria, Iraq, Libya and other countries. Obama needs do everything to evacuate from the war zone in Syria advisers and military trainers from the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and several other countries of Western Europe. One can imagine what an international scandal may break out in case of seizure or capture of American and/or other foreign nationals who fought on the side of terrorists.

Last but not least, the ruling elite of the outgoing President is frantically in a hurry to create for Donald Trump new challenges and external blockages by pushing in the US Senate legislation that will hinder the fulfillment of his campaign promise to correct political mistakes of the previous administration. Sadly, decrees providing for the possibility of extending sanctions against Iran, start of deliveries of lethal weapons worth $350 million to Ukraine and transfer of portable anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the armed Syrian opposition have already been adopted.

Such a peculiar situation with the transfer of power in the White House occurs, perhaps, for the first time in American history.

Moscow still considers the different possibilities of its joining the international coalition against militants of the ISIS, but it has not decided on its participation in a military operation yet. For the time being Russia has been more active on the diplomatic front, incessantly holding consultations with the Syrian government as well as other concerned governments of countries in the region. The Russian government recently hosted Adel al-Jubeir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Saudi King is expected in Moscow within October. Considering that the Syrian government is the only credible force fighting jihadists, Russia continues to support Damascus, supplying equipment and weapons, as well as assisting in the training of Syrian soldiers.

It is becoming obvious that Moscow stands firm on its principled position. Such a position envisages that Syrians themselves must determine the political future of their country, and that Bashar Al Assad is the legitimate President. Let us ponder for a moment. What will be the immediate result of Assad’s forced removal from power in Damascus? Which forces will fill in the power vacuum? Negative developments of this summer show that odds are that, following Assad’s departure, Syria will be sadly dismembered, while the best part of the country will inevitably fall under ISIS iron rule.

Washington seems to be stoking tensions. Recently, the Obama administration has shown increasing readiness in using the US Air Force – or the Turkish Air Force for that matter – in an effort to impose a no-fly zone in Northern Syria. Such action may lead to exacerbation of the situation. By making the overthrow of Assad its primary task the US risks an uncontrollable escalation of the Syrian conflict.

On the other hand, Russia is taking additional measures in order to forestall the out-break of armed conflict in Syria with the participation of foreign troops. The US government sought to ban the overfly of Russian planes through Bulgarian and Greek national airspace. But if Athens had the courage to say “no” to the US whim, Sofia, succumbed to US pressure. Bulgaria, now demands the landing of Russian planes loaded with humanitarian aid bound for Syria in Sofia for inspection. Apparently, Washington manipulates weak Sofia into stopping Russia’s help to the Syrians. Moscow answers back by opening another air corridor through Iran and Iraq.

This development shows Russia’s determination to prevent the Syrian armed conflict’s escalation. Western press abounds in reports on hundreds of Western jihadist fighters that made it to Syria through Turkey hell bound to overthrow Assad. Moscow has showed firmness, in abiding by the framework of international law. The UN has clearly stated its intention not to allow unilateral US military action aimed at the forced removal of the legitimate government in Damascus.

In contrast to Washington, Moscow exhibits moderation and reason. The US foments contradictions between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries, resulting in the continuation of the war in Syria. Moreover, it transpires that the Obama administration put forward a request to Egypt to return Muslim Brothers in power structures. However, much depends not on the US and Turkey, but on the positions taken by the Arab countries. All of them, including Egypt, have publicly declared their commitment to a political solution in Syria. Cairo has an open line consulting with Moscow on coordination of political decisions which will influence the position of the whole Arab world.