Evidence that the West is arming the Syrian rebels
Due to the ongoing situation in Syria, where there is not full knowledge of what is going in Syria, there is much speculation as to what is happening to the Syrian rebels. While there have been calls for the West to arm the Syrian rebels, the fact of the matter is that the United States and its allies are already arming and aiding the Syrian rebels in a bid to overthrow Al Assad.
Libyan intelligence documents show ties to CIA
news.yahoo.comNo surprise.
In fact, this is a bit misleading, because it makes you think that the U.S./C.I.A. was only recently involved in helping Gadhafi’s regime, when in fact we’ve been helping him (using him, actually) since the 90’s.
Just like with Bin Laden, we fund, arm and train monsters when we need them to push people around in ways that benefit us (aka global positioning, mostly for oil). Later, when it becomes more beneficial, we curse the monstrosity and get rid of them, making the U.S. out to be a hero.
It’s a game, my friends. A scam.
Don’t be fooled.
NPR: Inside The United States' Secret Sabotage Of Iran
npr.orgFirst in a three-part series
For years, the United States has been trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program and change what it says is Iran’s bad behavior in the Middle East and beyond.
The United States has used economic sanctions, censure by the United Nations, diplomatic engagement and the threat of military action to accomplish these goals — all with little or no success.
At the same time, other, unacknowledged activities have been under way. They have included cyberattacks, assassinations and defections. As it turns out, these efforts have had some success.
Covert action is meant to stay just that — covert, clandestine, in the shadows.
And in Iran, it did, for quite some time. But in the last year, much has become known about intelligence operations in Iran, says Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official who is now an analyst with the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.
“There’s little doubt that there’s a covert war under way against Iran,” he says. “There are at least two players in it: the United States and Israel.”
And often, it appears, those players work together.
Click here to read more and listen to the NPR segment.
The Americans - Season 1, Episode 11 "Covert War" Review
by Kyle Trembley
Rating: 8.0
While “Covert War” was a fast-paced and intense hour of television with a fascinating final act, it’s also the first episode of ‘The Americans’ that I’ve had some minor issues with.
Things start with a bang, as we pick up the story with the CIA having already dispatched 3 assassins to Russia to take down key KGB leaders, including General Zhukov, whom we previously met and know to be Elizabeth’s mentor. Claudia informs Elizabeth what’s happened, reveals the name of the CIA official who gave the go-ahead, and warns her not to pursue it; but an enraged Elizabeth immediately begins plotting an assassination. Along with Philip’s reluctant help and some questionable wig and facial hair choices (WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOUR DISGUISE GOATEE, PHILIP!), Elizabeth seduces the official and brings him to the warehouse where Amador was killed. She has the full intention of doing the same to this guy, but can’t go through with it when she realizes he’s not really the person responsible.
On paper, it all works. But this felt a little bit ‘Homeland-y’ for me. For any other show that would be a compliment, but one of the most appealing things about ‘The Americans’ is how restrained the storytelling pace has been. The episodes themselves can move lightning-fast, but the overall arc of the season is moving very deliberately, a fact that I greatly appreciate.
So it felt like a tiny bit of a cheat to start this episode with an assassination - taking place in Russia, no less - when the ones we’ve seen on this show to this point were so meticulously set up. The episode worked backwards to explain Elizabeth’s motivations to put herself at such risk just to take out a CIA official, doling out flashbacks that fleshed out her relationship with Zhukov. I appreciate that storytelling technique, but it made Elizabeth’s actions in the beginning of the episode feel a little overheated, and reckless in a way that didn’t feel consistent with her character. In retrospect, the episode does a reasonable job of justifying why she went out on a limb, but at the time it didn’t connect for me.
Still, there was so much good stuff in “Covert War” that it’s not really worth it to get hung up on those relatively minor issues. How about Martha surprising Philip by introducing him to her parents? One of the joys of ‘The Americans’ is how the show really follows through the consequences of our characters’ actions, and while Philip pushing his relationship with Martha to the next level has been a boon professionally, he’s heading down a dangerous path.
Or how about Elizabeth’s breakdown when she realizes she’s out of control? Praising Keri Russell at this point almost feels like an insult - her performance on this show is so consistently spectacular that the reasons to praise it are entirely self-evident and don’t need to be pointed out. Suffice to say she’s damn good in that scene, as Philip breaks her heart again without even knowing it by casually revealing that he’s got an apartment in the city as she’s gearing up to invite him back home.
Finally, the extended discussion at the end of the episode between Elizabeth and Claudia was just terrific, as the two continue their high stakes chess game. Elizabeth realizes that Claudia actually wanted her to kill the CIA official, and sees right through her cover story of an affair with Zhukov. Claudia denies Elizabeth’s accusation that Claudia was trying to get her fired for defying orders again, but Claudia’s motivations remain mysterious. We’re definitely headed towards something big with these two - bigger even than Elizabeth beating Claudia to within an inch of her life.
“I honestly don’t know what’s worse—-legalizing immoral wars or running them covertly. They’re both bad. But liberals who condemned the Bush administration for it’s open defiance of civilized norms and embrace of an Imperial policy should be forgiven if they are equally appalled that President Obama is doing the same thing covertly. On the other hand, perhaps it’s also the case that many people were more concerned about the legalization of these tactics than the tactics themselves. There were plenty of arguments along those lines during the Bush administration. (As I said, I think I fell into that trap from time to time myself, simply by worrying too much about the effects of making torture legal on the society at large.)
In other words, it’s the process they don’t like rather than the substance. I don’t know if that’s the case but the fact that these practices have been so common for so long under both Democrats and Republicans—-and that the only time people get agitated is when the government seeks to do it openly—-argues for the latter. It’s not something Americans should be proud of. Having the government do this dirty work under the cover of night is undemocratic—-even if the people prefer it that way. The people are ultimately responsible, either way.”
“Simply put, the use of drones and the vocabulary by which they are justified, with words like “precision” and “surgical,” center on a tactical and rhetorical contrast to the brute barbarism of terrorist acts—the beheadings and floggings, the unmitigated carnage of suicide bombings. Terror is a problem, and drones are being sold as the neat, sterile solution to all of its bloody ambiguities and sinister secrets.”
—“Drones and the Theatrics of Power,” Rafkia Zakaria, Dissent
Today, the second CIA drone strike since yesterday in Pakistan killed ten civilians.
NATO Versus Syria: NATO Clandestinely Engaged in Syrian Conflict
globalresearch.caNATO Versus Syria: NATO Clandestinely Engaged in Syrian Conflict
GlobalResearch.ca - 2/4/12 5:55 PM
Americans should be concerned about what is happening in Syria, if only because it threatens to become another undeclared war like Libya but much, much worse. Calls for regime change have come from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who several weeks ago predicted a civil war.
That is indeed likely if the largely secular and nationalist regime of Bashar al-Assad falls, pitting Sunni against Shia against Alawite. Indigenous Christians will be caught in the meat grinder. Ironically, many of the Christians in Damascus are Iraqis who experienced the last round of liberation in their own country and had to flee for their lives.
NATO is already clandestinely engaged in the Syrian conflict, with Turkey taking the lead as U.S. proxy. Ankara’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davitoglu, has openly admitted that his country is prepared to invade as soon as there is agreement among the Western allies to do so. The intervention would be based on humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the “responsibility to protect” doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya. Turkish sources suggest that intervention would start with creation of a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border and then be expanded. Aleppo, Syria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, would be the crown jewel targeted by liberation forces.
Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army. Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers.
