Lies, Terror and the Drive to War

US General Wesley Clarke declared that, back in 2001 he was informed that the Washington war hawks were planning to attack ("take out" was the expression) seven countries in the Middle East and Africa. The purpose being to replace the local governments with pliant puppet regimes. Targeted were Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and finally Iran. General Clarke added that the idea was to do it all within five years. It turns out the project is taking considerably more time than planned. Admittedly, it is not easy to make war plans in Washington, which is an environment impregnated with deep contempt for the "Rest of the World".

Apart from Iran, where the "Green Revolution" of 2009 failed to produce the desired result, Syria is proving the hardest nut to crack. Apparently the neocon war mongers did not count on the tenacity of the Assad government, nor on the vital support it has been receiving from Russia and Iran. After Libya had been "taken out" in 2011, the US moved its "islamist" mercenaries to the Syrian desert so as to start a civil war with the aim of unseating President Assad. The turning point was 2013, when Russia prevented a US missile attack on the country. From that moment on, a massive worldwide propaganda campaign was staged to instill fear of "ISIS" (or ISIL, IS, Daesh, or whatever name this mercenary band goes by). The central message was that ISIS were absolutely ruthless killers with no mercy for Muslims refusing to follow Islamic rules to the letter. Ruthless barbarians that would happily destroy age old cultural treasures. Still, Assad was not dislodged. Thus in 2014 President Obama ordered direct intervention in Syria. Allegedly bombing ISIS but in reality destroying Syrian infrastructure so as to increase chaos and confusion. Than after a year of fake US bombing of ISIS, and with ISIS closing in on Damascus, Russia stepped in. That was at the end of September 2015.

Now the heat was finally on for ISIS. And for their secret and open supporters, a broad alliance made up of the US, NATO, Turkey, the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia and...Israel. In essence, the US together with its European and Middle Eastern vassals. Russian successes in bombing ISIS positions have become a source of daily embarrassment to this alliance of terror, ignominy and deceit. And just at the moment doubts about the relationship of the "West" and ISIS and about the true identity and purpose of ISIS were growing, bingo: the November 13 terror show in Paris. One has to admit it was a great performance, and very convincing. At first sight. Therefore, suddenly, belief in the evil of ISIS was restored.

Then the Turks shot down a Russian fighter-bomber that was giving ISIS a hard time. Surely the Turks would never do such a thing without first checking with their bosses in Washington. Hence one has to ask why Washington would permit such a premeditated act of international terror by a client state? There seems only one likely answer: to provoke Russia. However-and here the arrogant ignorance of US policymakers again becomes apparent-President Putin has proved to be the only leader of a major power who truly has a sense of responsibility. As in 2013, the calculations of the Obama regime turned out to be completely erroneous.

Why would that be? Why can't the Washington regime figure out a straightforward diplomacy? Since the fall of the Berlin Wall it only seems capable of mendacity and duplicity. Where does it all lead to?

Since the Fall of the Wall, Washington has succumbed to absolute hubris. The arrogance of all the Washington regimes over the past three decades has been so enormous as to make them believe in "the end of history" and the inevitability of a US-dominated world. For people who subscribe to this idea, it does not matter what people outside the US may think or believe. So sure of themselves did the Washington regimes feel that they began to base their diplomacy on lies. And as any pathological liar knows, once you start lying you have to continue lying, because the moment you stop lying, you are done for. Consistency is the name of the game and in the end it only works on the basis of truth.

It is all about "narratives", the buzz word coined by US propaganda. The point 0f a narrative is, however, that it needs to be consistent, whether it is a fairy tale or a spinned story. Many official narratives have become unraveled to the point where few people out there still believe them. This is the case with the official narratives on 9/11 and Sandy Hook. The ISIS is now in for the same fate. It has become so fraught with contradictions that cannot be maintained any longer. Just think of it, ISIS is supposed to be everything it is not: based on Islam, popular, independent, and Syrian. Yet it has no Islamic principles, just those of neoliberal predatory capitalism; it is not popular, but relies on terror, blackmail and intimidation; it is not independent because it is an instrument of the US, and it is largely composed of foreign mercenaries, not of Syrian nationals. ISIS receives its weapons from the US (directly and indirectly), gets its money from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, sells its stolen oil to and through Turkey, gets is logistical support from Turkey, its intelligence from the US and its wounded are treated in Israeli hospitals.

The 11/13 events in Paris were immediately ascribed to ISIS and French President Hollande wasted no time in announcing he would bomb ISIS in Syria. Ten days later the ISIS ally Turkey shoots down a Russian airplane that was bombing ISIS.

The situation is getting confused. Is ISIS good or bad? It most certainly is the enemy of the Syrian government, Russia, China and Iran, but is it also the enemy of the "West"? The narrative has become so complicated that even the state-controlled media in the "West" are beginning to lose track. In other words, the official narrative is falling apart and the lies are becoming apparent. In their arrogance, the neocon war hawks in Washington certainly had not foreseen this development.

That's because for over thirty years, the only language Washington has known is the language of power. The only logic that of intimidation, terror, blackmail, power and sheer violence. That sort of logic has nothing to do with formal logic based on language and reason. The current US and "Western" kind of logic is no logic and therefore in the end untenable, because it is built on fallacies and lies. We are now witnessing what it leads to: death and disaster.

What the Russian government has been doing lately is to allow the inherent contradictions and lies of the "Western" narrative to become ever more glaring. With the result that the "West" is becoming ever more caught up in its own lies. President Putin can sit back and reflect, without having to lie and cheat, while the "West" no longer has a choice but to continue lying and cheating.

Let us hope President Obama, his handlers and vassals, will come to their senses and find the same sense of responsibility as the Russian government.