Source: Prison PlanetPaul Joseph Watson
Russian warships have entered Syrian territorial waters in an aggressive
move designed to prevent any NATO-led attack on the country under the
guise of a “humanitarian intervention”.
“Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a
Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move
represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any
foreign intervention in the country’s civil unrest,” reports Haaretz.
Russia has stepped up efforts to defend Syria
in recent days, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov keen to frame the
violence in the country as a civil war in defiance of claims by western
powers that President Bashar al-Assad has overseen a bloody crackdown on
innocent protesters.
As we saw prior to the attack on Libya, which was also
framed as a “humanitarian intervention,” NATO powers are keen to
demonize Assad’s government by characterizing attacks by his forces as
atrocities while largely ignoring similar attacks by opposition forces,
such as this week’s raid on a Syrian air force intelligence complex that
killed or wounded 20 security police.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner rejects
Russia’s claim that Syria is in a civil war, stating, “We believe it’s
very much the Assad regime carrying out a campaign of violence,
intimidation, and repression against innocent protesters.”
Of course, we heard similar rhetoric even as NATO-backed
Al-Qaeda rebels were commandeering fighter jets and firing
rocket-propelled grenades in Libya, actions also undertaken by “innocent
protesters,” we were told at the time.
As we have previously reported,
despite overwhelming speculation that Iran will be the next target of a
military assault, Syria is the likeliest target for the next salvo of
NATO-backed regime change.
US President Barack Obama got the ball rolling back in
August when he called on President al-Assad to step down. The UN has
already withdrawn all non-essential staff from the country.
Without Russia’s help, Syria would be largely
defenseless against a NATO attack. “I don’t see any purely military
problems. Syria has no defense against Western systems … [But] it would
be more risky than Libya. It would be a heavy military operation,”
former French air force chief Jean Rannou commented.
Given that the western press has proven adept at
manufacturing lies to justify military interventions, whether the
actions of Assad’s regime represent genuine atrocities or legitimate
conduct in the midst of a civil war remains unclear. Some have claimed the abuses are being embellished,
while both former CIA agent Robert Baer and ex-MI6 officer Alastair
Crooke point out that the Syrian people definitely want change, but not
in the form of a NATO “humanitarian” assault.
