Dec. 9, 2024 (EIRNS)—The dramatic turn of events in recent days in Syria is not an expression of dynamics internal to that besieged nation, but the result of external pressures, interventions and violations. These are perpetrated by Western circles in the Global Showdown they are waging, principally against Russia and China, but against the entire Global Majority. Their aim? Just to stay “on top”—even of the ash heap.
The just-concluded Schiller institute international (online) conference Dec. 7-8, “In the Spirit of Schiller and Beethoven, All Men Become Brethren!” provides the assessments and concepts for the international resistance movement against this Global Showdown. The situation could not be more dangerous.
Look at the nature of the Nov. 20 event sponsored by the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). The theme of the daylong event was to address how “nuclear weapons use is no longer non-imaginable.” On the third panel, Rear Adm. Thomas Buchanan, Director of the Plans and Policy Directorate at StratCom (Strategic Command) gave the keynote, addressing how the U.S. is prepared to use nuclear weapons to maintain its dominant role in the world. He spoke of selectively using some weapons, and holding back others for future use. He said, “I think everybody would agree, if we have to have an exchange, then we want to do it in terms that are most acceptable to the United States. So it’s terms that are most acceptable to the United States that puts us in a position to continue to lead the world, right. We’re largely viewed as the world leader.”
Admiral Buchanan’s statements reveal U.S. actions underway, intended for a “war of aggression.” It is preparation for mass death. The U.S. is in violation of the Nuremberg Codes and all accepted international relations. The Admiral’s views stated Nov. 20 should have been the number-one news headline worldwide. Yet no politician or major media outlet even reported it, let alone publicized it.
Speakers at the Schiller Institute event on Dec. 7 called out Buchanan’s statements, in particular in the keynote by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and remarks by Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, and U.S. Marine veteran. Ritter then publicized the war danger further in a briefing at the National Press Club the same day, titled, “Say ‘No’ to Nuclear War!”
In this context, look at the depravity and hypocrisy of what Western media and politicians are saying about the situation and recent history in Syria, characteristically making use of outright lies. The one-note narrative is repeated that Bashar al-Assad is an evil brute. That is the answer for everything. For why half of Syria’s 22 million people are displaced, within or outside of their country. That is why the U.S. has troops in Syria, and so on. Is that why the U.S. has no fewer than 19 military bases in the region, 9 of them permanent installations? See the U.S. military base map provided by the Council of Foreign Relations.
Voices of truth are sounding on what is happening. A new interview that Col. Jacques Baud (ret.), intelligence analyst from Switzerland, gave to Nima Alkhorshid on “Dialogue Works” today, is one case. Zepp-LaRouche summarized his report today in a briefing with her associates: "He says that what happened in Syria was not an inside rebellion; it was entirely steered from the outside. Already in 2011 when the so-called Arab Spring and the so-called civil war in Syria erupted, this was 85% fighters coming from Benghazi and the so-called Libyan revolution. Then in 2014 there was a massive flood of fighters from Libya, Türkiye, Iraq, Russia, Dagestan, Chechnya; and the revolt was entirely staged from the outside.
“Syria up to 2011 was a completely viable state with working institutions, a functioning army, excellent infrastructure. And at that time, the Syrian Army could wage a very tough fight against these rebels, but already then the Syrian population suffered a lot. And in the meantime, [came] the continuous sanctions which had the support of the U.S.—the Caesar sanctions, then the permanent bombings from the U.S. and Israel. The Kurds being completely backed by the United States. So that the Islamists who had regrouped in Idlib and other areas, all of that had weakened the whole Syrian country, especially the Army, so they did not have the resources they had in 2011. This put the government in a dilemma that either they would fight, but with a tremendous cost in lives of the Syrian population, but without any of the means they had in 2011.
“So, the Syrian government decided that they could not take up this fight, especially because these rebels in the meantime were extremely well-armed, trained by the Ukrainian special forces with U.S. weapons. So when Assad had to make the choice between either fighting a bloody war again with no means, or abandoning power, he decided to choose surrender, and preserve the lives of the population in Syria.
“Baud also said this was completely consistent with Assad’s entire biography, because he never wanted to be in politics. He was a medic working in London as a doctor. But when the eldest son of Hafez al-Assad was killed in a car accident, he took the responsibility to step in. But he was a very moderate person, always driving his own car without security, and life until 2011 was very good, also according to Westerners judging it. There was political freedom, women could dress as they had in the West.
“Suddenly when the geopolitical decision was made to go in this direction of the Arab Spring and the revolutions, then suddenly Bashar al-Assad was called a dictator. But it was completely a bunch of lies.
“Baud said Netanyahu will not be the winner in the long run of what just happened. Erdoğan had said that he’s ready to enter Israel, and that means Türkiye is just one step closer now to Israel.
“Then, Baud also said that the West played an extremely perverse role in all of that, because it is al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and they just changed their flag and became HTS, but the ideology is the same. The reason why the war was so bloody is because these people were all racial Islamists who sacrificed themselves for winning. The high price had to be paid by the Syrian population. This guy [Abu Mohammad] al-Jolani is now interviewed by CNN as the big winner, has now changed his appearance, and now looks like Zelenskyy with green fatigues, but it’s the same person. It was the sanctions of the United States which caused this: The fact that the United States stole the oil and grain for years.”
There is much more to the Baud interview that Zepp-LaRouche summarized, which Baud gave today to Nima Alkhorshid on his YouTube channel program, “Dialogue Works.”
The events in Southwest Asia are part of a strategic picture with other sharp changes and destabilizations, as seen in South Korea, Georgia, Romania and other locations, as well as in Syria. They signify we are nearing a total showdown.
At the same time, there are initiatives and actions that count. For example, in the United States, a bill has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 10218), calling for a halt to the U.S. supply to Ukraine of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems).
It is urgent to join with the International Peace Coalition for a massive mobilization worldwide. As Zepp-LaRouche called it today, an “outreach of reason.”
