THE ROVING
EYE There
will be hell to pay for NATO's Holy
War By Pepe Escobar
US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running out
of rhetorical ammunition in the US's Holy War
against Syria. Perhaps it's the strain of
launching a NATO war bypassing the UN Security
Council. Perhaps it's the strain of being eaten
for breakfast routinely by Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Hillary has just
called on "Western powers" and their Arab stooges
- the NATOGCC compound [1] that passes for the
"international community" - to "make it clear that
Russia and China will pay a price because they are
holding up progress" regarding weaponized regime
change in Syria.
In non-newspeak, this
means, "If you block our new war, there will be
payback".
Howls of laughter in the
corridors of the Kremlin and the
Zhongnanhai
notwithstanding, this shows how desperate the
NATOGCC compound is to force regime change in
Syria as a stopover in cutting off Iran's
privileged connection with the Arab world. And
this while Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan - leading NATO's eastern flank - itches to
attack Syria but can't find a way to sell it to
Turkish public opinion.
Into this
incandescent context plunges WikiLeaks - releasing
a batch of very embarrassing emails against the
Assad system and the NATO rebels as well. A
possible side effect will be to inspire waves of
so-called progressives all across the West to
start supporting the Holy War on Syria. A
realistic effect will be to show how unsavory both
sides - the police state Assad system and the
armed opposition - really are.
Car
bombing tourism, anyone? It's useful to
examine what price Washington itself, not to
mention its NATO subjects, could be paying for
this Holy War branch-out fought with - who else -
the same bunch of "terrorists" who until yesterday
were about to destroy Western civilization and
turn it into a giant Caliphate.
Washington, London and Paris have tried -
twice - to twist the UN Security Council into yet
another war. They were blocked by Russia and
China. So plan B was to bypass the UN and launch a
NATO war. Problem is NATO has no stomach - and no
funds - for a very risky war with a country that
can actually defend itself.
Thus plan C is
to bet on a prolonged civil war, using the
Far-from-Free Syrian Army (FSA), crammed with
mercenaries and jihadists, and the band of
opportunistic exiles known as the Syrian National
Council (SNC).
The SNC has actually called
for a Libya-style no-fly zone over Syria -
shorthand for a NATO war. Turkey also formally
asked NATO for a no-fly zone. NATO commanders may
be inept - but they have a certain amount of
experience with major embarrassment (see
Afghanistan). They flatly refused it.
The
SNC - and the FSA - could not be more
un-representative. The "Friends of Syria" - as in
Hillary and the Arab stooges - barely acknowledge
the existence of the National Coordination Body
for Democratic Change (NCB), the main indigenous
opposition movement in Syria, composed of 13
political parties, mostly from the Left, Arab
nationalists and including one Kurdish party. The
NCB firmly denounces any form of militarization
and totally dismisses the FSA.
Iraq's
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari - a Kurd - has
warned that Salafi-jihadists of the al-Qaeda mould
are moving into Syria in droves. Apparently this
bunch still listens very closely to "invisible"
al-Qaeda ideologue Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri; five
months ago he issued these marching orders to
jihadis in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. It
also helps that many of them are being weaponized
- via different networks - by the House of Saud
and Qatar.
For months everybody knows that
the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) of
al-Qaeda-linked Abdul Hakim Belhaj has been active
in Syria - as well as remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq
now responsible for car bombings even in Damascus.
In the event of a post-Assad Syria
dominated by hardcore Sunnis infiltrated by
Wahhabis and Salafi-jihadists, guaranteed blowback
will leave Afghanistan after the 1980s anti-Soviet
jihad looking like a ride on Disneyland Hong Kong.
We accept yuan and rubles As for
China, it's laughing about Hillary's desperation
all the way to the bank. As the House of Saud
becomes ever more paranoid with what it sees as
the Obama administration flirting with democracy
in the Arab world, Beijing jacked up trade ties by
delivering a bunch of new missiles to Riyadh.
And while the "West" flirts with Holy War,
Beijing's state-sponsored corporations have been
buying commodities like crazy all across the
Middle East, North Africa and South America - as
well as stockpiling rare earths for strategic
reserves. China produces no less than 97% of the
world's rare earths - used on everything from
iPads to those shiny new missiles now frying in
the Arabian desert.
Other side effects as
in "the price to pay" for the bypassing of the UN
and the obsession on NATO as global Robocop will
be inevitable. It shouldn't be forgotten that the
Holy War on Syria is a stopover on the way to
Tehran. For instance, a new system of maritime
insurance, as well as a new international exchange
mechanism - bypassing Western diktats - may be
about to be born.
Yet the most important
element may be a concerted move by Russia, Iran
and China to reorganize the global energy market
by transacting outside of the petrodollar.
So Washington cuts Iran off from SWIFT -
the international bank clearing system? Iran's
central bank counterpunches; if you want to do
business with us, you can pay in any currency
apart from the US dollar, or you can pay with
gold.
This is the Holy Grail of the Holy
War - not Syria; one thing is for Tehran to accept
euros as payment for its oil and gas; another
thing is to accept gold. On top of it with full
support from both Russia and China.
In a
nutshell; the whole Holy War syndrome is
accelerating the end of the US dollar as global
reserve currency. And when it happens, will there
be an American Spring? Or will US elites - like
the Mob - have the guts, and the muscle, to force
Russia and China to pay the price?
Note: 1. NATOGCC is a
compound of the North Atlantic treaty Organization
and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
