Mick Hall writing @ Organized Rage argues that:

The type of humanitarian intervention which Jon Snow, Alison McGovern and Hillary Benn advocate has been an unmitigated disaster.

   
People flee rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo into the Sheikh Maqsud area, controlled by Kurdish fighters.

Writing in the Independent Mary Dejevsky posed this question:
Given that Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airpower, are currently advancing into rebel-held eastern Aleppo (and it is not clear who these rebels actually are), which is the more humane response? Is it for the US, the EU, the UK – or whoever – to call for a new ceasefire, to promise more weapons, even to dispatch (more) special forces to help those we still like to call “moderate” opposition forces on the ground? Or is it – brutal and heartless though this undoubtedly is – to leave well alone and let the inevitable happen sooner rather than later? Which response is more likely to curtail the death and destruction? Which is the more likely to save what remains of Syria’s second city and its inhabitants? Which has the better chance of ending Syria’s civil war? The answer should be obvious. Any or all elements of the first option will only prolong Aleppo’s agony.
Which has the better chance of ending Syria’s civil war? Is more western military intervention of the type Benn, McGovern, and Jon Snow advocate likely to stem the bloodbath, or even reverse the flow of refugees? Or should we finally recognise Assad and his allies are going to prevail and trying to impede them will only add to the bloodshed and prolong the war.

For some this will be a bitter pill to swallow but as we have seen from Ireland not all wars end as we might wish them too. In Ireland the leaders of Sinn Féin recognised they couldn't win their demands by continuing with their war and entered into negotiations under the terms of what became the Good Friday agreement. While it's outcome is not perfect it has stopped the blood running in the streets.

Only this week the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (Farc) signed a peace agreement with the government of Juan Manuel Santos. As that old rogue Churchill once said Jaw jaw, is better than War, war.

Sadly the Islamic militias in Syria will not enter talks with the Assad regime in a constructive manner which can end the war. Rather than compromise they would rather go down with a cry of "Allahu Akbar."

Over the last few months their backers in the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have refused to put the necessary pressure on them which would have forced them to the negotiating table.

Yet at the very time when it should be obvious to all the only viable option to end the war is a victory of the Assad forces there has been a crescendo of news stories about the need for the RAF to airdrop supplies into East Aleppo. Much of it being led in the mainstream media by the Channel 4 news anchor Jon Snow. Over last few nights he's had various so called 'humanitarian interventionists' from the neoliberal camp on the programme, including arch Blairite David Miliband on the line from New York.

The one thing many of them have in common was their support for the Iraq war and occupation which set parts of North African and the Middle East ablaze.
Not once have they ever complained about George W Bush and Tony Blair's revolting shock and awe campaign, which rained down upon tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis the most powerful Blitzkrieg since WW2.

The weapons used were not dissimilar to those being used in Syria today, they included so called bunker busters which killed civilians sheltering from air raids, cruise missiles fired from off shore, and warplanes and tanks firing nearly depleted uranium rounds into the heart of Iraqi cities. Yet they had not a word to say about these war crimes.

Yes I have little doubt the Assad regime has committed war crimes but for the likes of Hillary Benn, Alison McGovern and others, some peoples war crimes are less important than others.

It's as if with the Syrian army, Kurdish militia and Hezbollah fighters taking back even more ground in Aleppo, the financiers and weapons providers of the Islamic militias who have controlled the east of the city since 2012, fear what the people might say when they're finally liberated.

Today thousands of east Aleppo residents have now managed to escape the iron gripe of the Islamic extremists who controlled their part of Aleppo, yet rather than rejoicing this fact, these war mongers who masquerade under the term 'humanitarian intervention' still chime on about the Assad regime, when there is a real opportunity to hold the Islamic militias to account before they flee toward Raqqa.
Whether Jon Snow and Labour MP's like Alison McGovern and Hilary Benn are naïve or deceitful you choose, but what is an uncontested fact, the type of humanitarian intervention which David Miliband, and they advocate has been an unmitigated disaster for the peoples of north Africa and the middle east.

We were told Iraq must be invaded and occupied because its leader Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who was a danger, not only to his own people, but also for the rest of us.

Iraq is now in ruins and no longer a secular State.

Colonel Gaddafi we were told in 2011 was on the brink of massacring his own people in Benghazi and Cameron and Sarkozy quickly appeared on their nation's respective TV screens and declared we must save them from Gaddafi's vengeful wraith. Within a week it was tallyho chocks off and the French and British air forces went to war.

In the process of this idiotic campaign they helped to destroy the very fabric of the Libyan state and society to such an extent it's now regarded as a failed state which is controlled by countless self aggrandising Islamic militias on the make. This is the hell-hole these Humanitarian Interventionists helped create just 469 miles from an EU border.

After 5 long years of Civil War in Syria, we have British MP's and the mainstream media using the same deceit and lies to pressure the UK government to become further embroiled in Syria at the very time when it looks like Al-Nusra Front, Isil and the various affiliated groups are on the cusp of defeat..

Perhaps we all need to ask, Why now?

Humanitarian Intervention ... An Unmitigated Disaster

Mick Hall writing @ Organized Rage argues that:

The type of humanitarian intervention which Jon Snow, Alison McGovern and Hillary Benn advocate has been an unmitigated disaster.

   
People flee rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo into the Sheikh Maqsud area, controlled by Kurdish fighters.

Writing in the Independent Mary Dejevsky posed this question:
Given that Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airpower, are currently advancing into rebel-held eastern Aleppo (and it is not clear who these rebels actually are), which is the more humane response? Is it for the US, the EU, the UK – or whoever – to call for a new ceasefire, to promise more weapons, even to dispatch (more) special forces to help those we still like to call “moderate” opposition forces on the ground? Or is it – brutal and heartless though this undoubtedly is – to leave well alone and let the inevitable happen sooner rather than later? Which response is more likely to curtail the death and destruction? Which is the more likely to save what remains of Syria’s second city and its inhabitants? Which has the better chance of ending Syria’s civil war? The answer should be obvious. Any or all elements of the first option will only prolong Aleppo’s agony.
Which has the better chance of ending Syria’s civil war? Is more western military intervention of the type Benn, McGovern, and Jon Snow advocate likely to stem the bloodbath, or even reverse the flow of refugees? Or should we finally recognise Assad and his allies are going to prevail and trying to impede them will only add to the bloodshed and prolong the war.

For some this will be a bitter pill to swallow but as we have seen from Ireland not all wars end as we might wish them too. In Ireland the leaders of Sinn Féin recognised they couldn't win their demands by continuing with their war and entered into negotiations under the terms of what became the Good Friday agreement. While it's outcome is not perfect it has stopped the blood running in the streets.

Only this week the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (Farc) signed a peace agreement with the government of Juan Manuel Santos. As that old rogue Churchill once said Jaw jaw, is better than War, war.

Sadly the Islamic militias in Syria will not enter talks with the Assad regime in a constructive manner which can end the war. Rather than compromise they would rather go down with a cry of "Allahu Akbar."

Over the last few months their backers in the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have refused to put the necessary pressure on them which would have forced them to the negotiating table.

Yet at the very time when it should be obvious to all the only viable option to end the war is a victory of the Assad forces there has been a crescendo of news stories about the need for the RAF to airdrop supplies into East Aleppo. Much of it being led in the mainstream media by the Channel 4 news anchor Jon Snow. Over last few nights he's had various so called 'humanitarian interventionists' from the neoliberal camp on the programme, including arch Blairite David Miliband on the line from New York.

The one thing many of them have in common was their support for the Iraq war and occupation which set parts of North African and the Middle East ablaze.
Not once have they ever complained about George W Bush and Tony Blair's revolting shock and awe campaign, which rained down upon tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis the most powerful Blitzkrieg since WW2.

The weapons used were not dissimilar to those being used in Syria today, they included so called bunker busters which killed civilians sheltering from air raids, cruise missiles fired from off shore, and warplanes and tanks firing nearly depleted uranium rounds into the heart of Iraqi cities. Yet they had not a word to say about these war crimes.

Yes I have little doubt the Assad regime has committed war crimes but for the likes of Hillary Benn, Alison McGovern and others, some peoples war crimes are less important than others.

It's as if with the Syrian army, Kurdish militia and Hezbollah fighters taking back even more ground in Aleppo, the financiers and weapons providers of the Islamic militias who have controlled the east of the city since 2012, fear what the people might say when they're finally liberated.

Today thousands of east Aleppo residents have now managed to escape the iron gripe of the Islamic extremists who controlled their part of Aleppo, yet rather than rejoicing this fact, these war mongers who masquerade under the term 'humanitarian intervention' still chime on about the Assad regime, when there is a real opportunity to hold the Islamic militias to account before they flee toward Raqqa.
Whether Jon Snow and Labour MP's like Alison McGovern and Hilary Benn are naïve or deceitful you choose, but what is an uncontested fact, the type of humanitarian intervention which David Miliband, and they advocate has been an unmitigated disaster for the peoples of north Africa and the middle east.

We were told Iraq must be invaded and occupied because its leader Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who was a danger, not only to his own people, but also for the rest of us.

Iraq is now in ruins and no longer a secular State.

Colonel Gaddafi we were told in 2011 was on the brink of massacring his own people in Benghazi and Cameron and Sarkozy quickly appeared on their nation's respective TV screens and declared we must save them from Gaddafi's vengeful wraith. Within a week it was tallyho chocks off and the French and British air forces went to war.

In the process of this idiotic campaign they helped to destroy the very fabric of the Libyan state and society to such an extent it's now regarded as a failed state which is controlled by countless self aggrandising Islamic militias on the make. This is the hell-hole these Humanitarian Interventionists helped create just 469 miles from an EU border.

After 5 long years of Civil War in Syria, we have British MP's and the mainstream media using the same deceit and lies to pressure the UK government to become further embroiled in Syria at the very time when it looks like Al-Nusra Front, Isil and the various affiliated groups are on the cusp of defeat..

Perhaps we all need to ask, Why now?

29 comments:

  1. I choose 'deceit' but that is not hard enough. Very good piece.

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  2. I choose 'deceit' but that is not hard enough. Very good piece.

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  3. Utter garbage. Nowhere does the author mention that the Syrian War started with the brutal suppression of a peaceful uprising by Assad's national security state (sound familiar?) in March 2011 which led to the local version of the Arab Spring morphing into a sectarian and regional proxy war. He states blithely that the opposition factions were all jihadi but neglects to mention secular forces such as the Free Syrian Army who were prominent at the start of the conflict but who have been swept aside by more extreme Islamist elements as a result of the Syrian Revolution being abandoned by the international "community" (just as the Spanish Republic was abandoned to its fate in the 1930s on the alter of "non-intervention" which helped Stalinists to seize control of the Republic.

    Nowhere does he mention the death toll of 400,000 of which only 7% cannot be attributed to the Assad regime according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Syria 2011- is not Iraq 2003 -09. For one thing Assad used chemical weapons on the civilian population of Gouta and got away with it thanks to the supine attitude of the House of Commons and for another Coalition forces in Iraq did not rain down their wares on hospitals, schools and relief convoys in the manner that the Russians and the Assad regime have done.

    The writings of Mr Hall are yet another example of the hypocrisy of the "anti-war" and anti-imperialist" Left; anti both except when the aggressor and imperialist is Putin.

    Oh and by the way humanitarian intervention worked very well in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991, Kosovo in 1999, Sierra Leone in 2000 and East Timor in 1999-2001.

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  4. Hopefully the moderate opposition are all being bused to Palmyra where they can be carpet bombed into dust with their mates already there.

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  5. Apologies for the rushed editing on this piece which led to a bad lay out and improper spelling in the title

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  6. When was the last unambiguously 'good' intervention? And does it outweigh the distasters of the Middle East wars, the Latin American death squads? I think on balance we do away with outside interventions, and reject the notion of any responsibility to these to people. The Syrians are not entirely innocent of their fate, they allowed their countries to be a transit point for Jihadis attacking western troops occupying Iraq. The structures the Jihadis established in Syria switched their designs to the Assad regime, the picked the wrong side, and now demand help from the very countries they wanted to kill. And the FSA arent secular, they are only cosmetically different to al-Nusra/Jahbat Fateh-al Sham (al-Qaeda's affiliate in the region).

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  7. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/samantha-power-un-us-ambassador-america-syria-aleppo-massacres-srebrenica-rwandan-genocide-bizarre-a7476556.html

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  8. if you watch the Vox Pops taken during the protests against Blair and Bush's "intervention" in Iraq that warned against what would happen if the invasion went ahead. Little old ladies, politicians, trade unionists, teenagers, students, workers and the unemployed said things like "So many millions of innocent people will die". "A worse form of violence will follow". It will unleash a greater war.

    Now forgive me if I am wrong but if Joe Public knew that the government certainly knew as well. If they did they are vile, repugnant scum. If they didn't they are too stupid to govern.

    First they said a greater violent movement wouldn't grow out of control and so many millions wouldn't die. Then it happened. Now they're saying it would have happened anyway. They didn't create ISIS and ISIS were always there. First they said if they intervened it wouldn't spiral out of control. Then it spiralled out of control. And despite Joe Public's prescience. The prescience of two million people in London. They deny culpability.

    I know who I will believe when the arguments on both sides are made.

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  9. Barry,

    "Utter garbage. Nowhere does the author mention that the Syrian War started with the brutal suppression of a peaceful uprising by Assad's national security state (sound familiar?) in March 2011 which led to the local version of the Arab Spring morphing into a sectarian and regional proxy war. He states blithely that the opposition factions were all jihadi but neglects to mention secular forces such as the Free Syrian Army who were prominent at the start of the conflict but who have been swept aside by more extreme Islamist elements as a result of the Syrian Revolution being abandoned by the international "community" (just as the Spanish Republic was abandoned to its fate in the 1930s on the alter of "non-intervention" which helped Stalinists to seize control of the Republic."

    What utter bollocks. That 'Arab Spring' you refer to was nothing more than a CIA inspired coup in various North African countries to destabilize the region, for the advancement of either hydrocarbon exploitation or security for Israel. Think you need to read the wikileaks articles from internal branches of the US themselves. Don't believe the crap on corporate news telling you what to think, FFS they are now trying to suppress other news sources by calling them 'Fake'! Orwellian in extremis!

    "Nowhere does he mention the death toll of 400,000 of which only 7% cannot be attributed to the Assad regime according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights"

    The same 'Syrian Observatory of Human Rights' run by a nutter from his one bedroom apartment in COVENTRY ENGLAND??

    "For one thing Assad used chemical weapons on the civilian population of Gouta and got away with it thanks to the supine attitude of the House of Commons and for another Coalition forces in Iraq did not rain down their wares on hospitals, schools and relief convoys in the manner that the Russians and the Assad regime have done."

    Conveniently misses the tiny fact that Assad himself forbade such use, and punished the area commander for going rogue. Not to mention he offered MANY times for inspection and destruction of his arsenal by the UN!

    " another Coalition forces in Iraq did not rain down their wares on hospitals, schools and relief convoys in the manner that the Russians and the Assad regime have done."

    Oh yes they did , when they took time out of ARMING ISIS THEMSELVES!

    "Oh and by the way humanitarian intervention worked very well in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991, Kosovo in 1999, Sierra Leone in 2000 and East Timor in 1999-2001."

    Oh wait, are you serious or just joking?








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  10. Larry Hughes hopes for the "moderate opposition to be sent to Palmyra where they can be blitzed into dust with their allies" Does Larry have any speck of humanity?

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  11. Steve R

    So the Arab Spring was a CIA plot to guarantee US access to hydrocarbons and the security of Israel? Funny targets they chose then: the pro-Western Mubarak regime in Egypt with its long standing peace treaty with Israel and shared opposition to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The equally kleptocratic and secular pro-Western regime in Tunisia.

    US and allies armed Daesh? Yes they created the conditions for its rise in Camp Buca and messy withdrawal but there no shred of evidence for the conspiracist meme that the West and Israel created Daesh.

    So where did the Wikileaks documents on various branches of the US government come form and whose agenda did it serve? Trump and Putin the very short answers. No, I will not be taken in by the joint strategy of a homophobic, imperialist gangster regime in Moscow and that of an alleged sexual violator with dubious personal hygiene who has not got the courage to face his accusers in open court.

    The successful interventions I mention. How are they failures? A successfully performing economy and democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan and new independent liberated states in Kosovo and East Timor. Sierra Leone free of limb chopping monsters.

    Yes, I will continue to consume "corporate" media outlets such as the Guardian, BBC and weblogs such as www.hurryupharry.org as opposed to the pornography of the Alt-Right which is poisoning the Internet.

    I really pity people with the twisted mindsets that you have; I( worry even more for those who may be taken in by them.

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  12. Barry Gilheany

    Anyone going there are combatants and are the likes of Jihadi John and the rest of the American armed and financed trash that their illegal Iraq war has spawned. No, I don't have any humanity where they are concerned. Get them all corralled into the one location and let the great Russian Bear obliterate them. Shame about what's left of the historical ruins still there after their previous destruction of antiquities, but stones as collateral damage is a lot more acceptable than the usual human USA/UK version of collateral damage. Blast them all to hell.

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  13. Did he just call me 'Alt-Right'? Really? lol

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  14. Larry Hughes

    The moderate opposition has already been carpeted to dust in Aleppo and are being picked off by Iranian and other sectarian Shia militia.

    "American armed and financed" ISIS. Not Trumpian post-truth. Trumpian lies pure was.

    Presumably you were happy with the work of the Great Russian Bear in Grozny and Eastern Ukraine.

    The lies which Assad apologists put out about the Syrian rebels being all Islamist terrorists are so reminiscent of the lies that supporters of General Franco in Ireland that all the Republican side were clergy killing communists. Both sets of apologists choose to be wilfully ignorant of Franco's and Assad's carpet bombing of civilians

    Larry, you default opposition to anything associated with the UK/US reminds me of the unthinking, "he's our son of a bitch" attitudes of Cold War anti-communism (of which the early Provos were one manifestation>

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  15. Barry Gilheany

    Western powers are so devoid of credibility their media simply lie. Try not to get a cramp in your brain seeking to differentiate between the endless list of USA/UK regime change/invasion activities. They are all part of the same global criminality. It is great to see them finally halted in their tracks and even better watching their media try to come to terms with that new reality. Roll on the upcoming obliteration of the terrorists in Syria.

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  16. Barry,

    Since you seem to take place much stock in the MSM I wondered had any of them actually let slip the driving force behind all of the turmoil in the Middle East.

    16 years ago The New York Times laid it all out for us to see, and this a full 7 years before the 'Arab Spring'. I encourage you to read it.

    It shows who benefited the most by ensuring their neighbours had no coherent cohesive political opposition to their plans for expansionism. It even points out why Iraq was doomed.

    Illuminating stuff.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/31/magazine/how-to-talk-about-israel.html

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  17. We had the 'babies thrown out of incubators'; 'we didn't realise a geniocide was happening in Rwanda'; WMD's;Gadaffi handing out viagra and now more yarns from the same sources concerning Syria and yet there are still some who fall for it hook line and sinker. Bottom line is Putin and Russia along with Iran and hezbollah has put the brakes on the west imposing an ISIS like regime in place of Assad. A country just like Libya that were the most secular in that region and idiots who would claim to be secular in their thinking want to replace it with the very opposite. Is it any wonder folk believe ISIS is a western creation? I am just relieved that Clinton isn't in the White House; Lord knows what madness she would have brought to the table.

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  18. Wolfe Tone

    I take it you are relieved that Trump is in the White House with all the madness that is certain to follow.

    It has been the failure of the West to back up words with actions in relation to its support for the Free Syrian Army and on red lines over the use of chemical weapons that helped to create the space for ISIS and Al Nusra etc to push the FSA and other democratic opposition groups aside. Do you not recall the vote in the House of Commons in August 2013 not to proceed with military action against Assad over the Gouta sarin gas atrocity.

    Bottom line is that Assad smashed a peaceful uprising for democracy and freedom which morphed into a sectarian and regional war in which the Assad regime through its barrel bombs, torture chambers and militia forces has been responsible for 90% of the 400,000 plus dead.

    The Assad regime like Saddam Hussein in Iraq, like Mubarak in Egypt and like Gadaffi may have been "secular" but they were brutally repressive and highly corrupt regimes based on tribalism which the UK and US were happy to use as extraordinary rendition sites for torture and which at various used as regional lynchpins against perceived threats such as Shia revolutionary Iran. The maxim of my enemy's enemy being my friend applies as much to the Assad sycophants on this site as it does to past Western policy in the Middle East.

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  19. Barry, could you back it up with proof the stats you have quoted? Btw, the Irish news today claimed 'up to 250,000' have been killed so far. So your figure doesn't tally. Are you seriously telling me these 'rebels' have been so ineffective they've barely damaged the Assad establishment? What were they doing? Throwing rose petals at Assad troops?
    Bottom line is you don't know what you are talking about and sound very much like a NATO terrorist spokesman or BBC reporter(two cheeks of the same ass). And just for the record I couldn't care less about Trump being in the White House, but I am damn sure the madness that Clinton promised to continue may not happen now and we should be all grateful.
    P.s I see a fan of those peaceful rebels has shot down a Russian ambassador in turkey. Dark forces not getting their own way tend to do that. Cheer on ISIS/al Qaeda if you wish but please stop pretending you are some wee gentle flower.

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  20. Barry,

    Can you please let us know where you are getting your figures from?

    Thanks.

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  21. Wolfe Tone

    "Cheer on ISIS/Al Qaeda if you wish" Like people of your ideological ilk did when New York and Washington was attacked on 11th September 2001.

    There is no precise figure for the dead in Syria but the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International has estimated up to 400,000. Is 250,000 deaths not bad enough for you? Are you seriously trying to pretend that there have been no war crimes/human rights violations by the Assad regime. There is the project that has collated photographic evidence of 17,000 people tortured and murdered in Assad's gulag. Of course the Assad family has form when it comes to massacring people e.g. the 30,000 plus killed in the carpeting of Hama in 1982 after a Muslim Brotherhood uprising.

    The murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey was atrocious just as the murder of Christopher Ewart-Biggs in 1976 (wouldn't you agree?) Sunni Muslims world-wide feel very angry about the fall of Aleppo which will feed the victim narrative of ISIS/Al-Qaeda just as Bosnia and Iraq did.

    Nobody's hands are clean in war and I am not going to deny atrocities committed by rebel factions (just as I would not deny atrocities committed by the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War). But the truth is that it was the Assad's regime's violent suppression of a peaceful uprising for civil and human rights (remind you of something and somewhere else?) that led to the Syrian revolutionaries having to resort to arms and in the ensuing conflict Assad deployed systematic brutality in the manner of Franco in Spain; bombing civilians as a deliberate war strategy. Six UN Security Resolutions to try and halt the slaughter were thwarted by Russian (and Chinese) vetoes. ISIS exploits the resulting chaos just as the Khmer Rouge emerged from the US carpet-bombing of Cambodia in the 1970s and Bin Laden grew out of the Cold War playground that was Afghanistan in the 198Os.

    Yes, I do place trust in the accuracy of public service broadcasting outlets such as the
    BBC and value the role of NATO as an association of liberal democracies (excepting Turkey maybe) in keeping the peace and security of Europe since 1945 (apart from the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s). Wolfe Tone, what "alternative" news sources would you like me to read? Breitbart? Fox News? Mail Online?

    Bottom line, Wolfe Tone, is that that you belong in the basket of pro-Assad deplorables as the BNP, UKIP, Trump, Morning Star and the 1916 Societies.

    Happy Christmas.

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  22. One final riposte to the slandering of the Syrian White Knights and the memory of Jo Cox

    http://paulocanning.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/expel-those-who-defame-white-helmets.html

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  23. Barry, lmfao! That drivel you have come out with appears to be straight out of a press release from Whitehall or some other terrorist establishment.
    You mentioned the Syrian Observatiry of Human Rights? That made me laugh. An individual based in England has somehow been given credibility on all reports from Syria? Ffs wise up. Amnesty/human rights watch? Tell me again which one of them 'impartial' ngo's declared Gadaffi had handed out viagra and instructed his troops to rape his people? Ffs wise up.
    You mentioned bin laden,Khmer rouge,ISIS etc and yet ignore the part NATO terrorists played in their creation. That made me laugh too. Then you have the audacity to imply NATO has been keeping the peace since ww2? Seriously, they may have kept the peace amongst European nations but you'll know well they sent many to their grave in other countries. Maybe NATO is inherently racist/sectarian?
    Bottom line is, you have a real serious condition if you think former/present day colonialists UK eg are truly concerned about the wellbeing of people around the world. Watching the BBC won't help you btw.
    Perhaps the Brit M.o.Defence are furious that their money spent on funding the White helmets fraud hasn't worked hence your anger? And btw that surname you have given yourself sounds like stereotypical surname given by some clown who thinks he/she knows the Irish people, if you know what I mean? Lmfao

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  24. Wolfe Tone

    I am writing under the surname that I was born with. You can check with Registrar of Birth, Marriages and Deaths in Belfast if you wish (I am native of Omagh, County Tyrone just show you know).

    When I post material I write under my own name and do not skulk behind monikers the bearer of which in your case would turn in his grave if he could see it being appropriated by someone who has no problem with a modern day imperialist power (Russia) throwing its weight around and the forces of a homicidal theocracy (Iran) killing civilians in another country simply on the basis of their religious affiliation.

    You make liberal use of the word "terrorist"; perhaps you are familiar with the expression "One man's terrorist is another man's ________) I invite you to fill in the missing last two words.

    Regarding NATO, you need to check your history. NATO was not deployed to any out of any out of West European theatre of operations until Kosovo in 1999. On only one occasion has it activated Article 5 of its Charter (attack on one member is an attack on all) - its involvement in Afghanistan after 9/11. There was no NATO collective involvement in Indochina or in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

    Perhaps you might want to give details of how the MOD has funded the White Helmets and of the "fraud". When you mention White Helmets cosying up to jihadist fighters you may like to cite your source.

    I wonder if you have ever listened to the stories of Syrian refugees or interacted with the in any way. Or does your banner read "Syrian Refugees Not Welcome Here"?

    Btw I do believe in rules based international order under the United Nations. They were seriously undermined by the US and UK over Iraq in 2003 and have been torn to shreds in Syria. Not that that would ever worry you.

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  25. Wolfe Tone

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was founded in 2006. It is not linked to or associated with any political body.

    It's founder and observer is Ramil Abdurrahan (Ossama Suleiman).

    It cooperates with Human Rights organisations across Syria, the Arab world and the international community in support of these goals and aspirations: Democracy, Freedom, Justice and Equality.

    On its website, i see no mention of a one man band working from a bedroom in Coventry. Look it up if you wish: www.syriahs.com

    The White Helmets

    An international campaign to support the work of Syrian Defence force in rescuing civilians from the effects of barrel bombs and other ordnance. The White Helmets consist of 2,900 volunteers from all walks of life and 154 of them have been killed in the course of trying to save lives. I do not on its website (www.whitehelmets.org) or associated publicity of it being formed by an ex-RAF officer but so what if it was. What White Helmets fraud or shall I accept that you use this word in a rhetorical or polemical sense?

    Casualties.

    Syrian Centre for Policy Research calculates 470,000 killed between 15 March 2011 - 15th February 2016.

    The UN and Arab League Envoy to Syria calculates 400,000 fatalities between 15 March 2011 - 23 April 2016.

    Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calculates 312,001 - 437,363 deaths between 15 March 2011 - 12th December 2016.

    According to an analysis of civilian deaths by the Syrian Network for Human Rights; six parties are killing civilians. All parties have killed less than 15,000 civilians, except for the Syrian regime who have killed over 180,000 from March 2011 to November 2016. The regime death toll thus amounts to over 92% of the total lives lost in Syria over that time frame.

    Since NATO have only ever been deployed in out of theatre operations on three occasions (Kosovo 1999 and Aghanistan post 9/11 under Article 5 of its Charter and currently as part of the anti-ISIS coalition). It is thus laughable to talk of NATO "terrorists" before those operations e.g. Cambodia in the 1970s or Afghanistan in the 1980s. Btw, Wolfe Tone, you are very liberal with the us of the word "terrorist". You have heard of the maxim "one man's terrorist is another man's _______ " I invite you to fill in the missing words"

    Lastly, Wolfe Tone, my surname is genuine. You can check my birth details under "Michael Finbarr Gilheany" at the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Belfast which will also reveal that I am a native of Omagh, County Tyrone. I could call out your questioning of my ethnicity as racist but I cannot be arsed with that sort of thing. But I always post material under my own name and do not skulk behind monikers which in your case would cause the bearer to turn in his grave of he could see support for the aggression of an imperialist power (Russia) and the murderous sectarianism of militias and soldiers acting on behalf of a homocidal theocracy.

    Happy Christmas

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  26. Barry Gilheany(lol)

    Again you sound like a Whitehall press release. Unfortunately that inevitably leads me to yawn somewhat. Btw, you have offered no proof whatsoever of your claims that Assad forces have carried out most of the killings in Syria other than groups and individuals who have a vested interest in overthrowing Assad; hardly impartial.

    The US peace council have visited Syria along with journalists from North America and uk and have painted a very different picture to the claims you spout. Vanessa Beeley for example(daughter of a former ambassador to that region) has made a point of going to that region to see and hear for herself what is happening. She has exposed the White helmets for the Mi6 front that they are. Eva Bartlett, a Canadian journalist, has done similar work exposing the western generated lies so much so that she has been labelled a Putin journalist. I would rather listen to these groups and individuals who have no vested interest in Syria other than peace.

    Btw, again you are being deliberately deceitful by suggesting NATO terrorists have only taken part in a small number of interventions or whatever. You well know NATO member countries take part in terrorism/interventions, overt and covert with or without the cover of the NATO umbrella when it suits them. If you are suggesting NATO is a force for peace then I would suggest you sir are at the very least naïve or at worst a liar.

    Happy festive greetings to you too. Meanwhile Syrians in Alleppo have celebrated Xmas for the first time in 6 years. Assad has been welcomed and hugged by Christian nuns in Syrian monasteries. But if the 'moderate' killers had got their way there'd be no more Christmases or nuns in Syria full stop. Allthewhile Christians in the west or wailing the 'moderates' didn't triumph? Go figure.

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