President Trump is so pissed
off by the Stormy affair that he is likely to prefer a good old war to another
humiliation. This suits his enemies and friends (though not his voters) to a
tee. He has a choice of doing a difficult manly act that needs all his courage,
but which one? Should he put the well-being of his country at stake and brave
Russian missiles, or risk the displeasure of the elites and sack Mueller? He is
tempted to do the easy thing. Thus he has been maneuvered into deep waters by a
powerful coalition of Brits and Jews, the same people who delivered you the
last two world wars.
His attempt to make sense and
drop the Syrian hot potato (“I strongly wish for the withdrawal of our forces
from Syria”, he tweeted) has been rebuffed by the indomitable Mr Netanyahu.
Don’t even think of doing it, the big man from Tel Aviv said to Donny in the
tense telephone conversation. Don’t leave Syria, you still have to fight the
Iranians and Russians. And don’t forget the Syrian kiddies, added the man still
covered with the gore of 2,500 Palestinians shot on his orders last week. The
Pentagon and US intelligence agencies take their orders directly from Tel Aviv,
or via AIPAC; they are already preparing for an extended stay in Syria, despite
Donny’s declarations.
The Jews went ballistic when
they heard of Trump’s intention to leave Syria. The scribes of WaPo and NY
Times condemned the step as playing into Russian hands. “Washington
Post columnist and CNN commentator Catherine Rampell said that “Putin must be
ecstatic” with Trump’s instructions to begin planning for withdrawal from the
region. Forget the fact that it’d be odd for a president to base all of his
foreign policy decisions on what would bother Russia — why isn’t Rampell
focusing on how delightful it must be for American soldiers to finally reunite
with their families, or how the resources this country has spent overseas can
now be used domestically?”, – noted a media reporter. This was the
cue for Mueller’s raid of Cohen’s office. The old fool has to be pushed, if he
does not want to go by his own will, they decided.
America with its Puritan
background is the only country where sexual mores are so strict that they lead
to war. Clinton went to war in Yugoslavia because of a blow job, while Trump
will possibly destroy the world because of a one-night stand.
An attack on Syria is likely to
bring a Russian response. At the least, it will be a local conflagration, a joust,
a trial of forces and wills. Who knows how it will end? This was been postponed
in 2013, when the US armada sailed to Syria’s shores to avenge some other
alleged chemical attack. I wrote about that fateful encounter, perhaps
over-optimistically, in a piece called The Cape of Good Hope.
“It was touch and go, just as
risky as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The chances for total war were high,
as the steely wills of America and Eurasia had crossed in the Eastern
Mediterranean. The most dramatic event of September 2013 was the high-noon
stand-off near the Levantine shore, with five US destroyers pointing their
Tomahawks towards Damascus and facing them – the Russian flotilla of eleven
ships led by the carrier-killer Missile Cruiser Moskva and
supported by Chinese warships. Apparently, two missiles were launched towards
the Syrian coast, and both failed to reach their destination. (We shall return
to these two missiles later).
After this strange incident,
the pending shoot-out did not commence, as President Obama stood down and
holstered his guns. This was preceded by an unexpected vote in the British
Parliament. This venerable body declined the honour of joining the attack
proposed by the US. This was the first time in two hundred years that the
British parliament voted down a sensible proposition to start a war; usually
the Brits can’t resist the temptation. This misadventure put paid to American
hegemony , supremacy and exceptionalism. Manifest Destiny was over.”
As we see now, the high noon
was been postponed by five years, and now it is being re-run. The British Prime
Minister Theresa May decided she does not need parliament’s approval, President
Trump decided he does not need an approval of Congress. So these brakes had
been removed.
And now back to those two
missiles of 2013. They were sent by the Israelis, whether they were trying to
jump-start the shoot-out or just observed the clouds, as they claim. The
missiles never reached its destination, shot down by the Russian ship-based
sea-to-air defence system, or perhaps rendered useless by Russian GPS jammers.
Fast forward to 2018. On the
night of April 10, in the small hours, the Syrian air field T-4 had been
attacked by eight air-to-ground missiles; five were downed by the Syrian
defence, three (or two) reached their goal and killed a few personnel. For a
while, it was thought this was the American attack, but rather quickly, “Russia
outed Israel”, as Haaretz reported. Israel tried to dissimulate, at
first claiming they warned Putin and got his okay. When Putin’s spokesman
denied that, they said they did it by the US request. Most probably they again
tried to bring the confrontation to the fore.
Now, with the US Navy in place,
with the support of England and France, the countdown to a confrontation has
apparently started. The Russians are grimly preparing for the battle, whether a
local one or the global one, and they expect it to begin any moment.
The road to this High Noon had
led through the Scripal Affair, the diplomats’ expulsion and the Syrian battle
for Eastern Ghouta, with an important side show provided by Israeli
shenanigans.
The diplomats’ expulsion flabbergasted
the Russians. For days they went around scratching their heads and looking for
an answer: what do they want from us? What is the bottom line? Too many events
that make little sense separately. Why did the US administration expel 60
Russian diplomats? Do they want to cut off diplomatic relations, or is it a
first step to an attempt to remove Russia from the Security Council, or to
cancel its veto rights? Does it mean the US has given up on diplomacy? (The
answer “it’s war” didn’t come to their minds at that time).
The astonished Russians
responded all right. They also expelled 60 diplomats, and they made it painful:
all US diplomats engaged in the political department of the Moscow Embassy were
on the non-grata list. The Political department consisted of three sections,
dealing with foreign policy, internal Russian politics and military analysis;
the most important centre of data collection, of liaison with Russian
politicians, of military consequences, of Syria and Ukraine, of North Korea and
China, experienced first-class intelligence officers and field hands – all
gone, including their Political Officer Christopher Robinson (POL). The
Russians expelled Maria Olson, the Embassy’s well-known spokesperson, and the
Ambassador’s interpreter. They closed down St Petersburg Consulate, an
important centre for connecting, influencing and interacting with the
opposition in this ‘second capital’ of Russia. The US has lost many of its
Moscow hands, people who knew Russia and had developed personal relations with
important Russians. It will take a lot of time and effort for the US State
Department and intelligence agencies to get back to the positions they had
lost. The Brits who initiated the deportations also lost about fifty of their Moscow Embassy staff.
Surprisingly, the mass
deportation of so many Russian diplomats had little effect on the Russian
people, as this strike had been neutralised by another painful event, by the
Kemerovo Mall blaze killing 64 cinema-goers including over 40 children. The
blaze, even if it weren’t arson (it has not been proven yet) had triggered a
massive onslaught of fake news and internet trolls on the people of Russia. A
million underfed Ukrainians were deployed by the Western psywar on the web to
tell the Russians that hundreds of their children had been incinerated, and
that their authorities lie to them. This operation revealed the level of
influence and integration the Western spy agencies have in Russia.
Kemerovo was a good choice for
the operation: it is the only ethnic-Russian region ruled by an old-style local
hero who had outlived his wits, the only region that reported indecently (and
unrealistically) high support for Putin in the recent elections, a depressive
region of mines and miners with a big potential for trouble.
Putin managed it rather well by
coming personally and dealing with the situation hands on. He learned the ropes
since 2000, when, at the dawn of his first presidential term, the Kursk submarine
went down with all hands. Putin stayed away from the sailors’ families, and
acted callous, people said. “It had sunk”, Putin replied to the question “What
happened to Kursk?” (It is said USS Memphis had fired
a torpedo at the submarine, causing the disaster, while the new president had
been reluctant to aggravate relations with Clinton Administration). Now, in
2018, he was very good, full of empathy and consideration, conveying strength
and decisiveness.
Whatever American agency
carried out the psyop around Kemerovo, it was very successful, but its success
undermined another operation, that of the Russian diplomats’ expulsion. The
Russians did not pay it sufficient attention.
The alleged reason for the expulsion,
the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, made very little sense. Even
if the old spy were bumped off by his erstwhile employers, such a reaction
would be excessive by all means. He was not a Napoleon (poisoned by the Brits
200 years ago), not a prince of blood, not a great inventor nor a successful
spy. He was a retired ex-spy, a wash-out. Anyway he didn’t die, he was just
sick for a while. Perhaps he ate something in the pub that didn’t agree with
him. This is the opinion of his niece, Victoria, who is the only person alive
who had been in contact with the Skripals since their alleged hospitalisation.
This affair is so obscure that
it beats Rashomon anytime. Russian reporters went around Salisbury and noticed
many incongruences. It is not certain whether Skripals were poisoned at all,
and where they are. Their pets survived the deadly poison, and they had to be
destroyed. This piece of black Russian humour had been forwarded a lot around
the net:
Skripal had been poisoned by a
most powerful poison, 2 grams will kill half a country instantly! The Russians
- poisoned him in the
restaurant
- no, on the bench
- no, in the car
- No, the door handle was
smeared
- No, the suitcase was poisoned
- No, everything in the house
was poisoned.
- Oh, and buckwheat was
poisoned,
- but they did not die
instantly, but walked around somewhere for four hours,
- but the policeman that
discovered them almost died on the spot,
- but the poison was instantly
identified,
- an antidote was instantly
introduced, and Skripals and the policeman were saved;
- The policeman had been
discharged next day!
- But they were in coma, and
they will never recover!
- but no, the daughter had
recovered fast!
- Oh, and dad is revived … a
miracle!
- and they both are quickly
recovering, your strongest poison is useless.
- the restaurant had been
surrounded by police in spacesuits
- the park had been surrounded
by police in spacesuits
- the house had surrounded by
police in spacesuits
- they are in spacesuits, since
the poison is deadly dangerous, but next to them are policemen without
protection …
- The bench was cut down and
removed: it’s such a terrible poison that the bench retained its toxic quality
for two weeks;
- but the cat had survived in
the poisoned house … the policeman had touched Skripal and nearly died, and the
cat survived … and the guinea pigs would survive, but they were all forgotten,
and died of hunger in the house;
- and their remains were
immediately burned, as they are poisoned by the strongest poison;
- For two weeks they were
poisoned by the strongest poison and survived, and now they had to be urgently
cremated;
- Only guinea pigs died, the
cat survived all this poison. It was stressful and hungry, so they killed it
and cremated to make it certain nobody will find the secret etc etc.
The true hero of Skripal saga
is the British ex-Ambassador Craig Murray, who followed the
developments and unveiled many of its inconsistencies and outright lies. You
may read his articles and twits to learn the details.
Julia Skripal took a daring
step: she called her cousin Viktoria in Moscow. Their conversation is an amazing document.
Julia says that she and her father are in good health; she doubts Viktoria will
be allowed to visit her. Indeed, the British government refused to grant her
visa. The feeling is that Julia is imprisoned.
I spoke with a retired Russian
counter-intelligence officer who is familiar with the subject. He told me
Russia never had a Novichok toxic substance: this name was given by
counter-intelligence to A-232 in order to trace the leaks. It worked: a man
called Vil Mirzayanov, an administrator in the chemical labs, leaked the
Novichok story, and thus he was apprehended and arrested. A-232 had been
produced in small amounts in 1990s, and some of it could be stolen and sold in
these horrible years, when a full colonel of Russian intelligence had to
moonlight as a taxi driver to supplement his measly $46 monthly salary. In
those years, the poison could be indeed made available, and in one case it was
used by criminals. Theoretically it is not impossible that some of this poison
could have been saved and stored by some criminals; alternatively, it was
available to the Americans who dismantled the labs in 1992. Anyway we have no
independent proof that Skripals were poisoned by anything at all. If they
survive, if the British and the American intelligence services don’t kill them,
perhaps we shall know more. We can definitely exclude the possibility that
Russian state agents would go to Britain to poison an old spy who had been
pardoned by Russian president years ago. Even if he was active in producing
Christopher Steele’s Trump (“Golden Rain”) file, the Russians would have no
compelling reason to kill him at all, and in such an odd way in particular. “If
we would kill him, he would stay killed”, concluded my interlocutor.
The details of Skripal case are
very entertaining, but not necessary for our understanding. The case was used
to install in minds the connection between chemical poisoning and Russia. It is
unfair, for Russians destroyed all their chemical poisons under the eyes of
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors, but
life is often unfair.
The connection between chemical
poisoning and Russia had been prepared for the forthcoming event. Eastern
Ghouta was an important and well entrenched location of the Syrian rebels.
Being within easy reach from Central Damascus, it provided the rebels with a
chance to seize power in the Syrian capital. As the Syrian army with Iranian
and Russian support advanced into Eastern Ghouta, they learned of the rebel
plans to stage a false flag chemical weapon attack, as they already had done a
few times in past. President Putin warned of such a possibility at his joint
(with President Erdogan and President Rouhani) press conference in Ankara last
week, a few days before the alleged attack.
The attack had never occurred
at all, but it was duly reported by the pro-Western media. Thus the game came
to a close. Skripal Affair established the connection of Russia and chemical
weapons, Eastern Ghouta allowed to use this connection in order to attack
Russia.
We should not overestimate
importance of these media events. The leading Western powers and their media
refused to consider different explanations, refused an open inquiry, they went
for jugular. Russia has been demonised in 2018, like Germany was demonised in
1940. It was a long and cautious labour. Have a look at this site theday.co.uk – it is a site for
school children and their teachers. You’ll be amazed to discover its fervent
hatred of Russia and Putin being pumped into hearts and heads of young
generation. Such a long planning can’t be dependent on an event like poisoning
of an ex-spy or even on the fall of a Syrian underground fortress.
The planners of a war on Russia
have utilised fear of anti-Semitism for their purposes. I called this
method Anti-semitism Weaponised. Jeremy Corbyn,
the Labour leader, has been blocked and contained by accusations of
anti-Semitism. He was the only leader able to stop Britain’s descent into war
with Russia. Other Labour MPs and activists have been attacked over alleged
anti-Semitism issue, and – what a coincidence! – practically all of them were
against demonising Russia; while Friends of Israel – whether Conservative or
Labour – were viciously anti-Russian.
This is a correlation that will
be discussed at another time, but it is far from obvious one. Russia has no
anti-Semitism; the Russian president is friendly to Israel and to the powerful Jewish Chabad movement. Russia has no white
nationalism, and little of the alt-right. However, this correlation exists.
Shall we explain it by Jewish hatred of the Orthodox Church, as this Church
(active in Russia, Greece, Palestine and Syria) hasn’t been Jewified. Or should
we prefer a more simple explanation: Jews are well integrated into Western
elites, and they promote and support the goals of these elites.
However, people who can withstand
accusations of anti-Semitism are the strongest enemies of the ruling power;
they stand against the war with Russia and against attack on Syria, as the
Haaretz newspaper explained in an article called White Supremacists Defend Assad, Warn Trump: Don’t Let
Israel Force You Into War With Syria . The article
continues: “Alt-right calls Saturday’s chemical attack in Damascus suburb a
false flag operation, claiming it’s an effort by Israel and ‘globalists’ to
keep U.S. troops in Middle East” It quotes David Duke and other untouchables as
the only people who reject Israeli narrative.
Not being a white supremacist
(probably I do not qualify) I still applaud these brave men when they say and
do the right thing. Sensitivity to anti-Semitism accusation is a strong
vulnerability of character. Though people like Corbyn have their heart in the
right place, they are weak on this point, and the enemy uses this weakness to
neutralize them. There are people in the left that are not afraid of any
accusation, but there aren’t many who are resistant to metum Judaeorum.
Let us hope and pray we shall
survive the forthcoming cataclysm.
Israel Shamir can be reached
at adam@israelshamir.net
This article was first
published at The Unz Review.