by Michael Snyder
June 19, 2012
from
EndOfTheAmericanDream Website
Everyone knows that the Obama administration has been steadily gearing up
for a military campaign against Syria.
Everyone also knows that Russia and China do not
want to see this happen. Now Russia and China are sending military forces to
Syria. It is being reported that Russia, China, Iran and Syria will be
conducting the "Middle East's largest ever military exercise" next month.
Apparently tens of thousands of troops will be
involved.
This will be the first time that the Russians
and the Chinese have jointly deployed large numbers of troops in Syria. Will
this show of military power be enough to prevent Barack Obama from bombing
Syria? Or will Obama go ahead anyway and risk ruining relations with the
Russians and the Chinese? Tensions are rising in the Middle East and the
region is a powder keg that could erupt at any time.
If someone makes the wrong move we could end up
with World War III.
A number of sources have reported that the Obama administration has been
contemplating a military campaign in Syria similar to what happened in
Libya. The U.S. would institute a no-fly zone, bomb the Syrian government
and the Syrian military, and provide heavy military hardware for the rebel
forces on the ground.
According to a recent
Debka report, the plans for such a campaign
in Syria are close to being finalized...
As the violence in Syria continued to go
from bad to worse in scope and intensity, US official sources had this
to say Saturday, June 16, about planned US military operations in the
war-torn country:
“The intervention will happen. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’”
A Syrian Free Army rebel delegation is now in Washington to talk about
their requests for heavy weapons from the Obama administration. In their
meetings with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State
Department’s expert on Syria Fred Hof, the rebel leaders handed in two
lists for approval: types of heavy weapons capable of challenging Bashar
Assad’s armed forces and selected targets of attack to destabilize his
regime.
debkafile’s Washington sources disclose that the administration is very
near a decision on the types of weapons to be shipped to the Syrian
rebels and when. Most of the items Washington is ready to send have been
purchased by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and are ready for shipment.
The White House is also close to deciding on the format of its military
operation in Syria. Some sources are defining it as “Libya lite” - that
is, a reduced-scale version of the no-fly zone imposed on Libya two
years ago and the direct air and other strikes which toppled the Qaddafi
regime.
What the Obama administration fails to grasp is
that Syria is not Libya.
Syria has a lot more friends, and any attack on Syria would almost certainly
cause a wider Middle East war to erupt.
For Russia and China, Syria is a red line that must not be crossed.
Now Russia and China are sending substantial military forces to Syria for
"war games". Obviously this is just an excuse to get troops into Syria. The
following description of these upcoming "war games" is from a
recent article
in the Jerusalem Post...
According to ShamLife, China had gained
Egyptian approval to allow 12 Chinese ships carrying military equipment
to pass through the Suez Canal, and that these vessels would reach the
Syrian ports of Tartous and Latakia in two weeks' time.
ShamLife said Syrian air defense missiles and its coastal defense would
be put to the test in the military exercises, and that 90,000 troops
from the four countries would be involved in the war games along with
400 aircraft and 1,000 tanks and "hundreds of rockets."
The exercises would be carried out after Syrian troops had "cleansed"
several cities where "armed groups" - meaning Syrian opposition forces
fighting against government troops loyal to President Bashar Assad -
were gathering.
It is also being reported that the Russians are
sending warships from the Black Sea Fleet to the Syrian coast to protect the
Russian military base at Tartus.
The following is from a recent Los Angeles Times
article...
Russia is preparing to dispatch a pair of
warships carrying a contingent of Black Sea Fleet marines to its
logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, the Russian Interfax news
agency reported Monday, in what appeared to be another sign of the
deteriorating security situation in the strife-ridden nation.
The report quoted an unidentified Russian naval source saying the
amphibious ships Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov, accompanied by
the rescue tug SB-15, were “preparing for a non-routine departure” for
Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean base.
In addition, according to
a recent article in
the Telegraph, a Russian ship that was apparently taking attack helicopters
to Syria has been stopped off the coast of Scotland...
A Russian ship believed to be carrying
helicopters and missiles for Syria has been effectively stopped in its
tracks off the coast of Scotland after its insurance was cancelled at
the behest of the British government.
Obviously the Russians and the Chinese are
trying to stop an attack on Syria.
Things are getting very tense, and that is not going to change any time
soon.
Just check out how a recent
CBS News report described a private meeting
between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in
Mexico...
"The two men barely looked at each other.
You could just feel, sort of, the tension between them. And the body
language really represented how far apart the two leaders remain on the
issue of Syria."
Needless to say, it was not a pleasant
conversation. In fact, Putin reportedly was very direct with Obama...
"Apparently President Obama got a bit of a
lecture from Putin about some other failed transitions that are going on
around the world."
When Barack Obama was elected, many Americans
expected him to keep his campaign promises and greatly reduce U.S. military
action around the globe.
Instead, Obama has actually greatly expanded U.S. military action around the
globe.
It isn't reported on much in the mainstream media, but the U.S. military is
actually at war in Yemen, in Somalia, in Pakistan, and in a whole bunch of
other countries all over the planet.
The following is from a must-read Wired
article that just came out...
The center of the US drone war has shifted
to Yemen, where 23 American strikes have killed an estimated 155 people
so far this year. But you wouldn’t know about it - or about the cruise
missile attacks, or about the US commando teams in Yemen - by reading
the report the White House sent to Congress about US military activities
around the globe.
Instead, there’s only the blandest
acknowledgement of “direct action” in Yemen,
“against a limited number of [al-Qaida]
operatives and senior leaders.”
The report, issued late Friday, is the first
time the United States has publicly, officially acknowledged the
operations in Yemen and in nearby Somalia that anyone with internet
access could’ve told you about years ago.
But the report doesn’t just fail to admit
the extent of the shadow war that America is waging in the region. It’s
borderline legal - at best. The
War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires
the president to inform Congress about any armed conflicts America is
engaged in. Friday’s report isn’t just uninformative about Yemen.
It doesn’t even mention the US campaign in
Pakistan, even though the Defense Secretary says America is “at war”
there.
Obama has shown contempt for Congress on so many
levels. Not only does he not ask them when he starts a new war, he barely
even informs them of what is going on.
In the past, Russia and China kind of stood aside as the U.S. imposed its
will all over the Middle East, but that is no longer the case.
Russia and China are clearly saying "no" to military action against Syria.
Will Obama back down or will he defy the Russians and the Chinese?
It is going to be very interesting to watch.
And this emerging alliance between the Russians and the Chinese is going to
be something to keep a close eye on. We have been seeing increasing
cooperation between the two nations in a bunch of different areas.
If the United States is not very careful, it could find itself in a direct
conflict with both Russia and China in the years ahead.
The Russian military and the Chinese military have been very busy preparing
for such a conflict. The U.S. military has been focused on other things.
Sadly, most Americans know much more about "America's Got Talent" and
"American Idol" than they do about geopolitics these days.
