PHOTOS: Russian President Vladimir Putin – creating new realities for Canadian leaders to talk about … or not. Below: The three Canadian debating amigos, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.
As the three principal contenders for the job of running the country were sparring entertainingly over the mostly insignificant differences among their platforms and trading slogans designed to obfuscate rather than illuminate – “the threat we face today is not CSIS, it’s ISIS” – other actors on the geopolitical stage are creating new realities.
In fact, it would tell us voters a lot about how much of a threat the so-called Islamic State phenomenon is likely to actually present to Canadians if we had some idea of how Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau propose to respond to the efforts of the nations with troops on the ground in Syria, beyond the RCAF’s occasional and apparently ineffective bombing raids in the neighbourhood, but the topic barely came up amid the posturing.
That’s probably because the only people seemingly prepared to take on ISIS in a meaningful way are the Iranians – who make the leaders of any country as closely allied with Israel as is Canada extremely nervous – and the Russians, about whom all three Canadian prime ministerial candidates apparently share an identical harshly negative view.
Yet it is the Russians who have rolled up their sleeves and sent ground troops and fighter-bombers to the region with the intention of actually taking on ISIS – causing a great deal of nervousness for some reason in the capitals of the West.
I say “for some reason” rhetorically, of course, since in part the objective of both the Russians and the Iranians is to prop up the shaky regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which, it’s pretty obvious the leaders of all the Western coalition members along with Turkey and Israel would very much like to topple.
I may be the only Canadian it strikes this way, but it seems weirdly ironic to me that in order to effectively fight ISIS – which we Canadians and our Western allies are not doing with very much evident success – the Russians had to sneak their ground-attack fighter-bombers past the U.S.-led coalition in the region into Syria.
You’d almost think the Western Powers – their domestic rhetoric about the dangers of ISIS notwithstanding – were more intent on getting rid of the Assad Regime than getting rid of ISIS, given the nervous outrage with which they responded to the successful Russian effort to land a force in Syria, including, we’re told, some of the same “polite green men” who secured Crimea and its strategic naval assets for Russia last year.
Who knew Russian President Vladimir Putin was a student of Karl Rove, or whichever unnamed advisor to President George W. Bush it was who made the famous remark about creating new realities – “when we act, we create our own reality … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
So while the West’s leaders have been talking up a storm, supposedly about ISIS, as Canada’s were last night, Mr. Putin has been creating a new reality in Syria.
That, presumably, would be why U.S. President Barack Obama told the United Nations yesterday he is now willing to work with Russia and Iran to destroy ISIS. If Mr. Obama is anything, he is a realist, so he might as well salvage the best thing he can from the West’s ambitions in Syria, to eliminate ISIS.
With a small investment, the Russians seem to have gone a long way toward eliminating the Western threat to Syria, at least in the immediate term.
So are our leaders willing to work with Russia and Iran toward this goal? We couldn’t know from anything that was said last night. If they’re not, though, it would certainly suggest they view ISIS, as horrible as it is, as less of a threat than they want us mere citizens to do.
Is that possible? If it were so, it would tend to support the narrative – widely believed in Russia – that ISIS is a Western creation, which if it is not stopped in the Levant will menace Russia next along its predominantly Muslim southern flank.
As for how much of threat CSIS turns out to be to Canadian citizens, that remains to be seen. It is certain to be less bloodthirsty than ISIS, but, enabled by Bill C-51 and encouraged by another Conservative government it could still turn out to present a significant threat to our liberties.
This post also appears on Rabble.ca.
As with Saddam, the Taliban and Gaddafi, there is no plan for what to do after the “cakewalk” “mission accomplished”.
The ISIS Islamic Terrorists are Supported by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia
Who’s Really Pulling the Strings?
The Times of Israel reported Wednesday:
A Free Syrian Army commander, arrested last month by the Islamist militia Al-Nusra Front, told his captors he collaborated with Israel in return for medical and military support, in a video released this week.Read more: Syrian rebel commander says he collaborated with Israel.
In a video uploaded to YouTube Monday … Sharif As-Safouri, the commander of the Free Syrian Army’s Al-Haramein Battalion, admitted to having entered Israel five times to meet with Israeli officers who later provided him with Soviet anti-tank weapons and light arms. Safouri was abducted by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front in the Quneitra area, near the Israeli border, on July 22.
“The [opposition] factions would receive support and send the injured in [to Israel] on condition that the Israeli fence area is secured. No person was allowed to come near the fence without prior coordination with Israel authorities,” Safouri said in the video.
***
In the edited confession video, in which Safouri seems physically unharmed, he says that at first he met with an Israeli officer named Ashraf at the border and was given an Israeli cellular phone. He later met with another officer named Younis and with the two men’s commander, Abu Daoud. In total, Safouri said he entered Israel five times for meetings that took place in Tiberias.
Following the meetings, Israel began providing Safouri and his men with “basic medical support and clothes” as well as weapons, which included 30 Russian [rifles], 10 RPG launchers with 47 rockets, and 48,000 5.56 millimeter bullets.
Also on Wednesday, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency – a 97-year old Jewish wire service – reported:
A senior employee of the Dutch Justice Ministry said the jihadist group ISIS was created by Zionists seeking to give Islam a bad reputation.
Yasmina Haifi, a project leader at the ministry’s National Cyber Security Center, made the assertion Wednesday on Twitter, the De Telegraaf daily reported.
“ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of a plan by Zionists who are deliberately trying to blacken Islam’s name,” wrote Haifi ….
In March, Haaretz reported:
The Syrian opposition is willing to give up claims to the Golan Heights in return for cash and Israeli military aid against President Bashar Assad, a top opposition official told Al Arab newspaper, according to a report in Al Alam.
***
The Western-backed militant groups want Israel to enforce a no-fly zone over parts of southern Syria to protect rebel bases from air strikes by Assad’s forces, according to the report.
World Net Daily reports that the U.S. trained Islamic jihadis – who would later join ISIS – in Jordan.
The Jerusalem Post reports that an ISIS fighter says that Turkey funds the terrorist group. Turkey is a member of NATO and – at least until very recently – a close U.S. ally.
Wealthy donors in U.S. allies Kuwait and Qatar back ISIS, and Western intelligence officials say that those governments must be approving the support.
A former high-level Al Qaeda commander has repeatedly alleged that ISIS works for the CIA.
In June, investment adviser Jim Willie alleged:
The [Isis] troops that are working there [in Syria and Iraq] are Langley [i.e. CIA] troops. They’re trained, funded, and armed by Langley.
What I’m hearing… the U.S. military (Pentagon regulars), and you have to be careful when you refer to U.S. military anymore. What kind of U.S. military? Is it the Pentagon U.S. Army, or is it the Langley military, which has unmarked uniforms and 10′s of thousands of mercenaries?
They’re about to encounter each other in Iraq. The U.S. military Pentagon regulars evacuated Iraq, and what filled the vacuum was the Langley mercenaries, trained for Syria, that migrated South and announced their new agenda.
If and when the Pentagon regulars encounter the Langley mercenaries in Iraq, Obama’s going to get a house call, because U.S. military will be fighting U.S. military. Pentagon vs. Langley.
While we don’t know which of the above-described allegations are true, two things are certain:
◾The U.S. armed Islamic jihadis in Syria, and their weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS; and
◾Close allies of the U.S. have supported and trained the ISIS terrorists
Why would the U.S. and its allies back ISIS, when they are barbarian Islamic terrorists? Well – assuming it’s true – oil and gas could be the explanation.
After all, there is evidence that the U.S. and her allies have wanted to break up the nations of Iraq and Syria for decades. And ISIS has done so.
In any event – whether or not it’s true of ISIS – it’s well-documented that the U.S., Saudis and Israelis have been backing the world’s most dangerous and radical Muslim terrorists for decades. And see this.
And anyone who looks at the battle against ISIS as a religious war is being played.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-isis-islamic-terrorists-are-supported-by-the-us-israel-and-saudi-arabia/5396171
“the threat we face today is not CSIS….”.
I know Steve was just trying to be cute, but many Canadians would disagree with his statement.
Western corporations caused Western governments to create turmoil that in the Middle East. Initially they armed the terrorists to topple Assad. Once they supplied the terrorists with weapons the West changed tactics to attack the terrorists. Because Assad refused to cooperate with the Western corporations he was a “bad” guy who had to be removed and replaced with a person who would cooperate with the Western corporations. Is Assad any worse a dictator than the rulers in Saudi Arabia which Harper equipped with equipment to attack any opponents to its rule? The Western corporations caused the respective governments to create turmoil in the Middle East
Don’t be surprised what happens if you let a bull loose in a china shop – everything gets broken and it becomes a big unrepairable mess. This is exactly what has happened in Iraq, Libya and now Syria. Yes, the leaders of these countries were (or in Syria’s case still are) very bad people who treat/treated their citizens horribly. However the bad news for us is that those who would replace them are no better and perhaps even worse for us. The US got rid of Saddam Hussein and now it has ISIS to deal with. It is hubris for western countries to think we can drop a few bombs, get rid of the evil dictator, send in a few troops and in months these countries will magically turn into stable well functioning democracies that love us and embody western values.
When this doesn’t work, what do we do – talk about dropping more bombs, sending in more troops? At some point, we need to figure out this is just not working. There is a reason countries generally do not meddle in other countries affairs and those that do often come to regret it.
I suppose these seemingly never ending conflicts in the Middle East serve some politicians as a useful distraction from our own real social and economic problems. Unfortunately these problems which are not made any better by wasting billions and billions fighting in countries half way across the world. Hopefully Canada will eventually figure this out, the sooner the better.
I’m off to give Brad Lavigne a swift kick in the nads! Who’s with me?
Putin is going to continue to prop up the odious, vicious, bloodthirsty Assad regime that has killed far more non-combatants than ISIS. Sadly, there appears to be little we can do about it, since there is no appetite for a direct confrontation with the Russians. Our best option would be to simply get out of there altogether, and perhaps find a way to help some of the neighbouring states cope with the huge influx of refugees. Who knows? Maybe Syria will end up being completely depopulated, leaving the regime & ISIS with nobody left to kill except each other.
Counterintelpro: Syria is a democracy who voted for Assad. The USA is beserk because Russia is bombing Al Qaeda as well as ISIS? Tell the American troops that and you will get a revolution and the truth is coming out. The so called leaders in the Election are traitors to Canada for not bringing this out. The opposition is treasonous for not bringing this out and using it to defeat Harper. The phony War on Terror is as phony as the War on Drugs and the people waging it are bigger criminals that the victims of there policies are. Tell the Canadian people is you do not arm an opposition unless of course maybe the people who oppose them should be armed and get outside support from other government’s who want your resources.