Obama-Backed Syrian Rebels Assassinate Christian Defence Chief

By Chriss Street

The “Syria War” took a horrific escalation today as Syrian Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, a Christian, and two other senior officials were assassinated in a suicide bombing by the United States backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels; which was immediately followed by a retaliatory Hezbollah bombing of three tour busses in Burgas, Bulgaria that wounded 32 Israelis. The FSA attack appears to have been coordinated to

occur just before today’s United Nations Security Council meeting on imposing sanctions on Syrian leaders, including Rajha. The U.N. subsequently suspended today’s sanction vote as the war went global.

The “Syria War” took a horrific escalation today as Syrian Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, a Christian, and two other senior officials were assassinated in a suicide bombing by the United States backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels; which was immediately followed by a retaliatory Hezbollah bombing of three tour busses in Burgas, Bulgaria that wounded 32 Israelis. The FSA attack appears to have been coordinated to occur just before today’s United Nations Security Council meeting on imposing sanctions on Syrian leaders, including Rajha. The U.N. subsequently suspended today’s sanction vote as the war went global.

Since the middle of 2011, the Obama Administration, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have openly backed a Jihadist Sunni Muslim rebellion in Syria as a vehicle to bring pressure against Syria’s key ally, Shite Muslim Iran. As we reported in Obama Tries to Wag a Dog that Bites Back and other articles, the President had hoped that his Syrian adventure would rally patriotic military support just in time for the November elections, in a similar manner as his surreptitious support of the rebel movement and then aerial bombing led to the ouster Colonel Muammar Gadhafi from Libya. But as the United States has escalated equipping the FSA; Russia, China, Iran and Hezbollah have escalated their aid of Syria. Last month a U.S. made Turkish reconnaissance fighter was shot down over Syrian territorial water by a Russian missile.

Over the last twelve months, as rebels failed to take any cities or hold any territory, the Syrians have been resupplied with the most sophisticated weapons their Russian benefactors have to offer. To compliment $5 billion in purchases of highly competitive Russian armaments over the last ten years, Russia just shipped Pantsyr-S1 and Buk-M2 anti-aircraft missiles that are known to be highly effective against air or sea attacks to Syria. Brig. Gen. Itay Baron, head of the Israeli Military Intelligence, also confirmed that together Syria and Iran now have approximately 3,500 ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah has about 60,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel or any other invader. This figure has increased by 1000% in the last six years.

In April, Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General was appointed to act as a special U.N. envoy. Shortly thereafter, he reported that the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad had agreed to a six-point peace plan, which laid out a framework for a cease-fire that did not involve the president leaving power. Syria agreed to the cease fire and allowed 300 cease-fire observers into Syria as part of the “U.N. Stabilization Mission.” According to Stratfor Global intelligence Report, the FSA used the cease fire to smuggle more weapons and foreign Jihadi fighters into the country. On June 16th Mission Head Gen. Robert Mood told the BBC that because neither the Syrian government nor the FSA was willing to seek peace, U.N. had suspended its observer mission in Syria.

Over the last three months, the United States and Russia have continuously escalated their forces in and around Syria to the largest naval confrontations since the Viet Nam War. The United States has deployed four Carrier Air Wing Strike Groups to the Middle East; including the USS Enterprise, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln and the Harry S. Truman (under way in the Atlantic Ocean). The American armada is supplemented with the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, composed of a battalion sized and heavily reinforced Marine Expedition Unit. The Russians have responded by sending their Admiral Kuznetsov Carrier Strike Force, five naval heavy cruisers, five Amphibious Ready Groups and numerous helicopter gunships to patrol the Syrian Coast as a demonstration of Russia’s willingness to fight for Syria.

In what appears to be a prelude to today’s suicide bombing, the London Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that President Barack Obama had warned America’s western allies and Syria’s opposition groups that the United States “can do nothing to intervene in the country’s crisis until after November’s presidential election.” But since May, the United States CIA officers operating out of Turkey have been actively helping smuggle arms to the Syrian opposition through the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

It is unclear so far if the United States had any direct or indirect involvement in the suicide bombing in the Syrian capital. But the White House told the BBC immediately after the bombing that “Syrian President Bashar al Assad is losing control of Syria, and the international community must help work toward a political transition.” Shortly thereafter, the Obama Administration’s bravado was silenced by the Hezbollah retaliation in Bulgaria. But what is crystal clear, is that the Obama Administration has successfully cranked up a new Middle East war just in time for the November elections.

Chriss Street will be in Studio with Paul Preston on “The Inside Education”; Streaming Live from Monday July 23rd to Friday July 27th. Click Below to listen between 7-10 PM each night: http://www.mysytv.net/kmyclive.html

Hillary Clinton Full Of Moral Outrage Signifying Nothi

By Chriss Street.

	Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a very busy  weekend representing circling the globe to represent America’s interests in the Middle East.  Ms. Clinton was especially effective using every opportunity to offer her moral outrage at those who fail to follow America’s leadership

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On Friday she gave an impassioned speech to a meeting of the “Friends of the Syrian People” to forcefully demand that every nation represented at the meeting call Russia and China to tell them: 

“I don’t think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all – nothing at all – for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime. The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price.” 

The Chinese seem to be so impressed with Ms. Clinton’s demands they pay a price, just 48 hours later China announced they are paying $20 billion to develop Iranian oil fields in Yadavaran and Azadegan.  Initial production is estimated at 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day in the Azadegan field, which is estimated to contain approximately 42 billion barrels of Iran’s total oil reserves of approximately 560 billion barrels.  Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters on Sunday that it took 10-15 years to reach a development agreement and that there will soon be contracts signed with the Chinese for the development of 12 more new oil fields.  

The Russians have not yet announced if they are also “paying any price”.  But the last time the United States tried to intimidate Russia with a strategy of moral outrage regarding their meddling in the pro-western nation of Georgia, Russia responded by invading the country and setting up the puppet states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  The Russians have already made it clear regarding their willingness to provide military support for their Syrian and Iranian allies by deploying an aircraft carrier and armed warships to patrol the Syrian Coast.   

As for the “Friends of the Syrian People”, this weekend had its own set of challenges.  It was reported Saturday that Saudi Arabian security forces in Qatif fired into an unarmed protest march.  Having shot a Shiite cleric named Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, he was arrested for disturbing the peace. 

Ms. Clinton was unavailable to comment on the unpleasantness in Saudi Arabia, because she was busy as Secretary of State making a “powerful plea Sunday for the rights of women in Afghanistan” at a Tokyo global forum held in Tokyo where representatives from more than 80 nations and international organizations gathered to adopt the “Tokyo Declaration”, pledging their support and $16 billion cash for Afghanistan government.  Clinton eloquently stated: “The United States believes strongly that no nation can achieve peace, stability and economic growth if half the population is not empowered.”

Unfortunately, her message of women’s liberation was somewhat under-cut after a “horrific video emerged showing the public execution of a 22-year-old woman accused of adultery”.  It seems that since President Obama ended the use of NATO troops to patrol the countryside, the Taliban has once again taken over the settling of legal affairs regarding women. 

Responding to worldwide revulsion to the video across western world; U.S. officials said Secretary of State Clinton had raised the issue with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during her brief visit to Kabul on Saturday.  Officials emphasized that Ms. Clinton had stressed America’s moral outrage by warning the Afghan leader that women’s rights are a “litmus test” for the country's progress. 

There has been no comment from the Taliban, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Russians or the Chinese.

Chriss Street will be in studio with Paul Preston on “The Inside Education”; Streaming Live from Monday July 9^th to Friday July 13^th.  Click Below to listen between 7-10 PM each night:  http://www.mysytv.net/kmyclive.html

Obama Gets Bit Wagging the Dog

By Chriss Street

President Obama hopes of using the “Wag the Dog” strategy of starting a small war in Syria to divert attention from collapsing re-election prospects just got allot more complicated as Syria successfully just shot down a Turkish Air Force American made F-4E 2020 reconnaissance plane with a Russian made and most likely operated SA-5 surface-to-air-missile. Given the plane was hit while flying extremely low and fast less than a mile off the Syrian coast, it seems obvious the plane was spying on coastal defenses

The loss of a front line NATO war plane prior to hostilities being officially declared, demonstrates the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad and his Russian allies are “locked and loaded” to demonstrate they will not be intimidated by President Obama.

President Bill Clinton successfully pioneered the Wag the Dog strategy in a 1997 NATO bombing campaign of Yugoslavia to distracted public outrage from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. President Obama had hoped to follow Clinton’s play-book of funding an escalating Syrian rebellion, convince NATO to declare a humanitarian emergency and then send in the U.S. Air Force to bomb the supposed offender for the nightly news.

Politically, the last month has been a disaster for Obama’s re-election campaign, with the latest Rasmussen election poll showing him now 5 percentage points down to Mitt Romney and falling fast. Under vicious attack from his own base since the start of the year for not upholding their liberal progressive ideals, the President has been forced to triangulate away from ingratiating the Wall Street and big business financial interests who so mightily funded his last campaign.

Obama’s highly visible embrace of the divisive issues of abortion rights, gay marriage and immigration amnesty cooled the ire of his base, but also turned off Catholics and soccer moms. As his re-election fortunes have tumbled, Obama has ratcheted up his justification for a U.S. intervention in Syria.

The shooting down of the NATO member jet comes two days after we published “The Arab Spring Turns to Winter”, to detail how the Obama Administration and Saudi Arabia were funneling weapons and foreign jihadi warriors into Syria to bolster the rebellion. Yesterday, the New York Times followed with a report that Central Intelligence Agency agents in Turkey are handling the logistics for trans-shipment of heavy weapons to the

rebels. Our report also warned Hezbollah, Syria and Iran’s ally, is actively trying to destabilize the rebels’ supply lines in Northern Lebanon, and Russia has sent a naval task force that includes an aircraft carrier, helicopter gunships, and marines to demonstrate Russia’s willingness to protect their Syrian port at Tartus.

The President had hoped that Syrian adventure would play-out in a similar manner as ousting Colonel Gadhafi from Libya. But in Libya the eastern half of the country was able to throw out the Libyan army in the first days of the rebellion. By the time NATO declared its humanitarian no-fly zone, the Libyan anti-aircraft system’s over-lapping fields-of-fire was compromised and NATO planes faced only modest ground defenses.

No such luxury will be experienced in Syria since after a year of turmoil the rebels have not been able take any cities as a base of operations. During this period, the Syrians have been resupplied with the most sophisticated anti-aircraft systems their Russian benefactors have to offer. According to a June 15 article in The New York Times, Syria has acquired Pantsyr-S1 and Buk-M2 anti-aircraft missiles that are known to be highly effective against air or sea attacks. Plus in recent years, Syria had already been spending $500 million a year on competitive Russian weapons. Brig. Gen. Itay Baron, head of the Israel Defense Force Military Intelligence Research Department stated that together Syria and Iran have approximately 3,500 missiles and Hezbollah has about 60,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel; 10 times more than Israel faced in 2006.

Desperate to move the needle of public opinion back in his favor, President Obama now finds himself in a risky trap of his own making. If he backs off of support for the Syrian rebels, he risks being seen as cowering when facing a united strength of Syria, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. If he boldly charges forward, he risks sparking a full scale war against enemies who know how to fight and will kill.

Listen to Chriss Street & Paul Preston on the Syndicated Radio Show “The Inside Education” Streaming Weekday Evenings from 7-10 PM on: Click Here: http://www.mysytv.net/kmyclive.html



 
 If you would like Chriss Street to speak to your organization, contact chriss@chrissstreetandcompany.com Chriss Street’s latest book: “The Third Way” is now available at www.amazon.com


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