An interesting info about unrest in Syria, roadmap for the region,etc..
Chossudovsky: What Is Happening in Syria Is an Armed Insurrection Supported Secretly by Foreign Powers Headed by U.S. and Israel
OTTAWA, (SANA) – Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization Michel Chossudovsky said that what is happening in Syria is an armed insurrection supported secretly by foreign forces including the United States.
In an article published on the Centre's website, Chossudovsky said that armed insurgents belonging to Islamist organizations have crossed the border into Syria and that the US State Department has confirmed that it is supporting them.
He pointed out that the U.S is expanding its contact with Syrian opposition figures who are counting on a regime change in the country, noting that U.S. State Department official Victoria Nuland stated that her country "started to expand contacts with the Syrians, those who are calling for change, both inside and outside the country."
Chossudovsky said that the destabilization of Syria and Lebanon as sovereign countries has been on the agenda of the military alliance between the U.S., the NATO and Israel for at least ten years, noting that former NATO Commander General Wesley Clark said that the action against Syria is part of a military roadmap and that the Pentagon had clearly identified Iraq, Libya, Syria and Lebanon as targets of an intervention by the U.S. and NATO.
He pointed out that in page 130 of his book, Winning Modern Wars, Clark quoted a senior U.S. army officer as saying in November 2001 that the U.S. was still on track for going to war against Iraq and that there was more to discuss as part of a five-year campaign plan targeting a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan, and that the goal is to destabilize Syria and implement a "regime change" through the secret support of armed insurgency in cooperation with Islamist militias.
Regarding the misdirection carried out by Arab and western media, Chossudovsky said that these sources continue to report profusely allegations of the involvement of the armed forces and the police in the indiscriminate killing of civilian protesters, but in actuality there was an exchange of gunfire between armed insurgents and the police from the beginning of the protest movement, with casualties reported on both sides.
He pointed out that with the beginning of the protest movement in Daraa on March 18th 2011 there were signs of secret support to Islamic terrorists by Mossad or western intelligence, with government sources pointing to the role of radical Salafi groups supported by Israel, while other reports indicated to the role of Arab countries in financing the protest movement.
Chossudovsky said that what took place in Daraa in the weeks following the initial violent clashes on 17-18 March was a confrontation between the police and the armed forces on the one hand and armed units of terrorists and snipers which have infiltrated the protest movement on the other hand.
He went on to say that what is clear from these initial reports is that many of the protestors were actually terrorists involved in premeditated acts of murder and arson.
Chossudovsky said that the center of the insurrection then shifted to the small border town of Jisr al-Shughour, 10 km from the Turkish border, noting that members of the Muslim Brotherhood confessed to taking up arms in northwest Syria, adding that what took place in Jisr al-Shughour wasn't a civilian protest movement, while the fighting between armed groups and government forces caused a refugee crisis that became center of media attention.
He also noted that on the other hand, the capital Damascus witnessed mass rallies in support to President al-Assad rather than in opposition to the government, which proves that President al-Assad is a popular figure and has widespread support from the Syrians.
Chossudovsky noted that mass media purposefully ignored in its reports the mass gatherings of tens of thousands of President al-Assad's supporters in Damascus on March 29th, and in an unusual twist, the western media used images and video footage of pro-government gatherings to convince international public opinion that President al-Assad was facing anti-government rallies.
He went on to explain that objective of the U.S.-NATO-Israeli alliance against Syria isn't supporting democracy, but rather establishing a political regime that is subservient to Washington, and that media misdirection aims at defaming President al-Assad and more broadly destabilizing Syria as a secular state through secret support of extremist Islamist organizations.
Chossudovsky said that the riots in Syria are complex and cannot be viewed as a straightforward quest for freedom and democracy, and that there have been attempts by the U.S. and the European Union to use the riots in Syria to pressure and intimidate the Syrian leadership, adding that Israel played a role in supporting the armed insurrection.
He pointed out that the violence in Syria has been supported from the outside with the goal of taking advantage of internal tensions, adding that media lies and fake footage have been used and that money and weapons have also been smuggled to the Syrian opposition by the U.S and the EU, and that funding has been given to "ominous and unpopular foreign-based Syrian opposition figures," while weapons were smuggled into Syria.
Chossudovsky explained that Israel and the NATO signed a long-term military cooperation agreement in 2005, and that if a military operation were to be launched against Syria, then Israel would probably be involved in it alongside NATO forces under the bilateral agreement between NATO and Israel.
He pointed that a military attack against Syria on fake humanitarian grounds would lead to an escalation of the was led by the U.S. and NATO over a large area from North Africa and the Middle East to Central Asia and from the Eastern Mediterranean to China's western borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Chossudovsky concluded by stressing that such an attack would contribute to political destabilization in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, in addition to setting the stage for a conflict with Iran.