ISIS Leader Admits to Being Funded by the US. In early 2015, Yousaf al Salafi, a man believed to be the Pakistani commander of the Islamic State, confessed during investigations that he has been receiving money through the United States. A few months after al Salafi revealed the funding he was receiving was routed through the United States, Michael Flynn, former director of Obama’s Defence Intelligence Agency, said he warned the Obama administration three years ago that the groups they were funding in Syria were actually Islamic jihadists.
Now, a group of 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military’s Central Command have complained that their reports on Islamic State and the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda were being incorrectly changed by senior officials. On January 22, law enforcing agencies in Pakistan claimed they arrested not only al Salafi, but also two other people during a raid in the city of Lahore. Daily Express cited sources as saying that John Kerry, the U.S. Bombing is immoral, stupid and never wins wars. Syria is the latest victim | Simon Jenkins. The British government will shortly ask parliament to approve its sixth war of overseas intervention in just two decades. The victim will be Syria. Such a war is incoherent. The “enemy” appears to be both sides in a civil war – Islamic State and the Syrian regime.
Worse, the war will be limited to the cruellest, most destructive and strategically most useless of weapons, the airborne bomb. Since its invention a century ago the bomb has maintained a mesmeric hold on politicians and soldiers alike. It is now the all-purpose totemic answer to “something must be done”. In each of the wars of intervention – against Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq again and Libya – cities as well as armies were bombed, overtly to terrorise regimes into surrender. Thus three months of bombing of Belgrade in 1999 was supposed to force the Serb leader, Slobodan Milošević, to withdraw his forces from Kosovo. The war on Afghanistan in 2001 began with what was called the “psychological bombing” of Kabul. Russia is not the enemy. Real enemies are a threat to any country, but imagined enemies can be even more dangerous. They sap resources, provoke needless conflicts, and divert attention from true challenges.
The United States has constructed such a fantasy by turning Russia into an enemy. Our current campaign against Russia was set off by what some in Washington call its “aggression” against neighboring Ukraine. Russia’s decision to aid the Assad regime in Syria has also angered us. Continue reading below Most leading figures in the American political and security establishments grew up during the Cold War. For a brief period in the 1990s, it appeared that Russia had lost control over its own security.
That was highly unrealistic. Having Russia as an enemy is strangely comforting to Americans. This summer’s most extreme exaggeration of Russia’s power came not from an inveterate Cold Warrior like John McCain or Hillary Clinton, but from the new chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. Is the U.S. Secretly Welcoming Increased Russian Syria Involvement? Col. Lawrence Wilkerson tells Paul Jay that cooperation with Russia and Iran is the only way to resolve the situation, but U.S. policy is catering to Saudi Arabian, Turkish and Israeli ambitions - Bio Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled "National Security Decision Making. " Transcript PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. End DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. Comments Our automatic spam filter blocks comments with multiple links and multiple users using the same IP address. “The Russians are Coming“ : Information Clearing House - ICH. “The Russians are Coming“ By Eric Margolis September 18, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "Lew Rockwell" - The Russians are coming!
The Russians are coming!” So echoed the cry this week from the Pentagon, the US media and Republican candidates for president. How silly. It seems the Russians have sent six tanks to Syria, some medium artillery and a bunch of military technicians to two bases on Syria’s coast near Latakia. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The exception is in Syria where Russia has had a small naval supply/repair facility in Tartus and an electronic listening post for almost 50 years. While the US ruled almost the entire Mideast – what I call the American Raj – Syria was regarded as a limited Soviet/Russian sphere of influence. Washington ignited Syria’s civil war by infiltrating anti-government forces from Lebanon and Jordan. The West’s objective in Syria was to overthrow its government, because it is closely allied to Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Russia.
“The Russians are Coming“ : Information Clearing House - ICH. Russia and the Changing World : Information Clearing House - ICH. Russia and the Changing World By Vladimir Putin This article was first published 27 Feb, 2012 September 18, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - In my articles I have already mentioned the key challenges that Russia is facing internationally today. Yet this subject deserves a more detailed discussion and not only because foreign policy is an integral part of any national strategy. External challenges and the changing world around us affect our economic, cultural, fiscal and investment policies. Russia is a part of the big world, economically, culturally and in terms of information flow.
We cannot be isolated, and we do not want to be isolated. At the same time, everything we do will be based on our own interests and goals, not on decisions other countries impose on us. The goals of our foreign policy are strategic rather than short-term. We will also seek to avoid unnecessary shocks as a new world order emerges based on the new geopolitical reality. Who undermines trust? And one more point. Obama’s Fateful Syrian Choice : Information Clearing House - ICH. Obama’s Fateful Syrian Choice President Obama faces a choice that could define his legacy and the future of the American Republic: He can either work with Russia’s President Putin to stabilize Syria or he can opt for a confrontation that could lead to an open-ended war with grave risks of escalation, writes Robert Parry. By Robert Parry September 18, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "Consortiumnews" - There is an obvious course that President Barack Obama could follow if he wants to lessen the crises stemming from the Syrian war and other U.S.
“regime change” strategies of the past several decades, but it would require him to admit that recent interventions (including his own) have represented a strategic disaster. “Stratcom” also serves to manage the perceptions of the American people, an assault on the fundamental democratic precept of an informed electorate. Instead of honestly informing the citizenry, the government systematically manipulates us. Putin’s Clarity Obama’s Misjudgment.