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Friday 12 April 2013

NATO & Al Qaeda join hands in Syria (PO)

M D Nalapat

Friday, April 12, 2013 - When President Bashar Assad warned that developments in Syria had the potential to destablize the entire region, he was being serious. The fall of two anti-monarchist Heads of State, Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and Muammar Kaddafy in Tripoli combined with the downfall of a republican, Hosni Mubarak, to make the ruling group in Qatar believe that now was the chance to go even further. Doha,in partnership with Riyadh and Ankara, are determined to ensure that the Sunni majority assume full power in Syria, the way the Shia majority has become the dominant player within Iraq. Apart from the fact that he too subscribes to the anti-monarchist ideology of the Baath movement, Bashar Assad is Shia, coming from the Alwaite branch of that great variant of the noble faith of Islam. At its base,the opposition of the anti-Syria regional troika (Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) to the Assad-led government in Damascus is because of his faith. What the three forget is that success in Syria - in terms of the fall of the Assads - would prove to be a Pyrrhic victory, bringing immense damage in its wake.

By their action in giving money and weapons to any individual willing to militarily challenge the Assad regime, the anti-Syria troika are creating the grounds for Shia-Sunni tensions within the entire region that could last for generations. It would be Lebanon all over again, only deeper and broader in scope and virulence, and would tear apart society in a way that would destabilize the entire region, most especially the GCC, which has allowed itself to become the spearhead of the anti-Shia crusade despite protests from Iraq and Lebanon.

Also, those active in Syria would seek out new theatres once the conflict there ends in a victory for the anti-Assad forces in the manner in which the anti-Kaddafy forced ( with crucial help from NATO) prevailed in Libya. Even in the case of Syria, the French secret service in particular is known to be deeply embedded with the fanatic fighters in Syria, guiding them in their numerous actionsagainst the regime, despite the huge increase in civilian casualties which this entails. France is a country that thrives on denial. Because of the indulgence of Winston Churchill, a close friend of Coco ChanelParis was gifted a permanent seat in the UN Security Council despite the fact that it surrendered to Germany in 1940s and thereafter tool almost zero part in the war, barring bombastic broadcasts from London by Charles De Gaulle.

In the 21st century, France has been reduced to the status of a minor player, lagging behind Germany in hard power and behind the UK in soft power. However, successive regimes in Parishave sought to cover up this insignificance by embarking on adventures in which it relies on its stronger partners - especially the US – to achieve success It was Nicholas Sarkozy who led NATO’s charge against Libya, and the reason for that has now become clear. The considerable assets of the Libyan government have disappeared. Few are asking where the $160 billion in Libyan financial assets have gone to. The new so-called government in Tripoli, which controls nothing, will never ask NATO to give back the money that the alliance has confiscated, being as it is a dependency of Brussels.

Even the UK, a country that ought to have had better standards in such matters than the French, has entered the game of loot. For example, the immense properties of Colonel Kaddafy and his children have been taken away without any compunction, and handed over to new owners. This is whoesale confiscation. First, NATO declares a set of individuals as “human rights violaters”, and subsequently takes away their property.

This must be a source of concern, for example to corrupt officials in China, most of whom have placed millions of dollars (in some cases, billions) in NATO-bloc banks and other financial institutions. Should they ever fall from grace, the chsnces are high that NATO will declare them as “war criminals” and “human rights violaters” and take away their billions of dollars and euros,the way they have Iraqi wealth after 2003 and Libyan money after 2011

Just as in the 1990s,when Bill Clinton ensured the success of the Taliban while claiming that it was Islamabad that was the lead player, in Syria Brussels has joined hands with extremists in order to assist the regional troika to depose Assad. It does not seem to bother the alliance that Ayman Al Zawahiri and they are on the same side, or that almost all the actual fighting in Syria against the regime is being conducted by Al Qaeda.

However, just as 9/11 was a wake-up call (that seems to have been forgotten, given the way Secretary of State Kerry is backing the Clinton line of obedience to the wishes of the

Ankara-Riyadh-Doha troika), NATO will understand its folly once the Al Qaeda elements energized by them turn their attention to the very countries now nourishing them, Saudi Arabia, Qatar andTurkey. Those who forget history, as they say, are condemned to repeat it. The first time (9/11) was a disaster. The second time around will be a catastrophe.

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