Aleppo:  a paradise to be for the Syrian people

A sour and humiliating defeat for US imperialism

By Daniel Paquet                                            dpaquet1871@gmail.com

 

The right and far-right are completely abashed.  They, with the terrorists formed in the West (Daesh, in Arabic), lost a dramatic war against the Syrian government and foremost the peaceful people of this country.  They lost grip of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria.

“We may be returning to that earlier (Western invasion, -Ed.), multipolar world.  China is now a superpower, and just starting to test its new muscle.  Russia is newly aggressive. “[1]    

We should underline that “the Canadian financial system could be exposed to stress emanating from China and other emerging-market economies (EMEs).  A disorderly depreciation of EME currencies, for example, could lead to the default of corporate or sovereign debt denominated in US dollars, which would weigh on global economic growth and trade.  A resulting further reduction in commodity prices could lead to significant volatility across financial markets, which would spill over to the Canadian economy and financial system.  This risk continues to be rated as ‘elevated.’  Considerable uncertainty remains around the structural transformation of China’s economy and financial system.  Chinese economy growth continues to slow modestly toward a more sustainable pace, but activity is still being buoyed by high and growing leverage.  High indebtedness is a vulnerability, particularly if growth were to weaken more quickly than expected or interest rates were to rise sharply.  In particular, high corporate leverage in China, especially in uncompetitive industries such as steel and coal, may complicate the transformation of China’s economy and financial sector.  The nature of and interlinkages between the banking and shadow banking systems are also becoming more complex and opaque, increasing the underlying credit risk.  The renewed strength of the US dollar could prove problematic for emerging markets.  It could cause stress for firms with large unhedged US-dollar debts or lead to disorderly capital outflows from these countries.  There is evidence, however that firms have begun to reduce their exposure to currency risk.” [2]

In fact, we need to make such a difference between and EMEs since Arab countries for example are already engaged in capitalist development since years, especially because of their fossil resources (oil).

“In the Middle East, regional powers, like Turkey and Iran, have increasing influence – Iran may hold more say in Syria than any other country.  Relatively speaking, America is no longer nearly as powerful as it appeared to be after 1989. (…) The Obama administration’s reluctance to bomb the Assad regime, or to impose a no-fly zone early in the Syrian Arab Spring, reflects not just reluctance about risking conflict with Moscow or Tehran. It also reflects American’s earlier Middle Eastern disasters.  Those calling on America to intervene militarily in a Mideast crisis forget that America’s recent Mideast interventions have all ended very badly.”[3]

“The decision by the United States (and Canada) to avoid a full-scale military intervention in Syria in 2012 and 2013 was based largely on recent precedent: The long-term invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan were catastrophic failures, leaving little appetite for another.  But why … didn’t we lend our military strength to unseat Mf. Al-Assad?  The answer, by then, is Libya.  The same thing was done there in 2011, when NATO forces lent air support to the popular move to overthrow their own dictator (sic) - and now look at the place.  - A disaster.”[4]

“Mr. Trump’s approach to Iran is at the heart of these conflicting prophesies.  The incoming president is likely to support, or at least tolerate, even greater Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Alwayite regime led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  But Iran also supports the Syrian strongman, and with each victory by the regime, Tehran’ influence grows. Yet Mr. Trump is strongly anti-Iran.  He has called the agreement negotiated by the Obama administration and Tehran to put its nuclear weapons program on hold ‘disastrous, ‘and vowed to rip it up, which would alarm allies who value the respite, even it if is temporary, from the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.”[5]

How are the Russian authorities the future US Trump administration?

“Speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow, the Russian President said earlier comments he had made about his country’s own military modernization had been misunderstood in the United States, and that he accepted that the U.S. military not Russia’s, was the most powerful in the world. (…)  ‘(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name.  They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity.  You have to know how to lose with dignity.”[6]

In general, mass media capture any word or image that serves their gold and forget about the crux of the matter.

“Fully aware that a new world was taking shape, journalists wondered how best to cover what others referred to as a war, even if it might not actually be one.  Did the astonishing development of social media and omnipresent round-the-clock news channels mean that their trade should adopt new practices, subject to new rules? Regarding photographs videos, what could or should they show? (…)  Religion has supplanted ideology. Terrorists have mastered the art of using the media: not only do they manipulate them; they also want to feature there, as heroes. (…)  Thirty years ago, semiologist Daniel Dayan said there was a clear division of labour between terrorists and the media:  one perpetrated acts of violence, the other reported them, one directed the production, and the other held the camera.  But then terrorists started producing their own pictures, particularly all these video recorded by suicide bombers before going into action.  Now terrorists reckon to supply the media with turnkey events.  They are no longer prepared to allow an independent body to show their act. (Head of adolescent psychiatry at Cochin hospital in Paris, Marie-Rose Moro, concluded that) the situation is rather different for young women, ‘ In general they are better at putting words on things than boys, Moro explains, They find  it a lot easier to talk about a traumatic picture, as if they wanted to protect themselves with words.  In psychiatric terms I would say that the boys are much more alexithymic, that the girls:  they find it much harder to identify, differentiate and express their emotions.”[7]

Terrorists destabilize psychologist weak people in the Western world; and they also destroy treasures accumulated by mankind since centuries.

“Worlds collided peacefully in the covered market that was Aleppo’s beating heart for centuries as trade routes linking Europe, Asia and Africa met in the Souq al-Madina, a warren of shops and narrow alleyways that made Syria’s largest city rich and vibrant. (…)  Apartment blocks and markets in a city that is more than 7,000 old have been shattered by artillery fire. (…) Prior to the fighting, Aleppo had long been a meeting point, bridging the seas with the deserts, as well as joining together Christians, Muslims and Jews.”[8]

“Russia has played a key role in helping the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reconquer the (terrorist, - Ed.) controlled parts of Aleppo).  In Moscow, Lt.Gen.Rudskoi said 9,560 people had been transported out of eastern Aleppo in 15 convoys while more than 3,400 insurgents ‘of moderate opposition’ had surrendered.”[9]

“Mr. Trump’s approach to Iran is at the heart of these conflicting prophesies.  The incoming president is likely to support, or at least tolerate, even greater Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Alawite regime led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  But Iran also supports the Syrian strongman, and with each victory by the regime, Tehran’s influence grows.  Yet Mr. Trump is strongly anti-Iranian.  He has called the agreement negotiated by the Obama administration and Tehran to put its nuclear weapons program on hold ‘disastrous,’ and vowed to rip it up, which would alarm allies who value the respite, even if it is temporary from the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.”[10]

 “It would be naïve to suppose that a rule of this sort would have the slightest impact on the intensity of terror (French jihad expert David Thompson) says Jihadists totally reject convention media.  They operate through a parallel media circuit on the net which I call the ‘jihadosphere’.   Processes of posthumous glorification of terrorists certainly occur in these circles, but the hero-making goes on, regardless of whether media broadcast a person’s photo or name.”[11]

 

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[1] Editorial, Aleppo and  the return of history, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday, December  17, 2016, page F6

[2] Bank of Canada, Assessment of vulnerability and Risks, Financial System Review, Ottawa, December 2016, page 16

[3] Ibidem, Editorial, page F6

[4] Saunders, Doug, The fall of Aleppo: Four sobering lessons, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday, December 17, 2016, page F7

[5] Ibbitson, John, Trump has proved volatile on Middle East, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday, December 17, 2016, page A6

[6] Osborn, Andrew; Soldatkin, Vladimir (Moscow), Putin plays down U.S. threat to Russia, The Globe and Mail, December 24, 2016, page A14

[7] Le Monde, The power of image and the terrible power of terrorism, The Guardian Weekly, London, 16.12.16, page 44

[8] Givannetti, Justin, What the world lost by ignoring Aleppo, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday 17, 2016, page A8

[9] Tu Thanh Ha, Aleppo braces for final reckoning, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday, December 17, 2016, page A14

[10] Ibbitson, John, Trump has proved volatile on Middle East, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Saturday, December 17, 2016, page A6

[11] Ibidem, The power of image and the terrible power of terrorism, page 45