Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The West’s War Against Syria: Out of Control
17 Feb 2016
🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

What began as a U.S. scheme for regime-change in Syria now threatens to ignite global war. Turkey is poised to come to blows with Russia, as the U.S. revs up its “Plan B” to dismember Syria under the guise of attacking the Islamic State. “The Turks could block the Bosphorus Straits, closing off access to and from the Black Sea, bottling up Russian naval forces and provoking a world war.”

The West’s War Against Syria: Out of Control

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“The American “coalition” never tried to militarily defeat ISIS in Syria or Iraq.”

The five year-long U.S.-led proxy war against Syria is about to spiral out of control, with possibly fatal consequences for the human race. The Obama administration’s web of lies, intrigue, and relentless aggression has turned Syria into the world’s most insane field of battle, where both the United States and Russia provide air cover to Kurdish forces that are being shelled by America’s NATO ally, Turkey. Turkey has also been shelling units of the Syrian army, operating under Russia’s protection. With 18,000 Turkish soldiers poised at the border, a Turkish invasion of Syria is considered imminent, and will likely include Saudi Arabian troops and aircraft – all of which would become targets for Russian air defense systems the second they violate Syrian land and air space. Should Turkey and Russia come to blows, which is entirely possible within the next few days, the Turks could block the Bosphorus Straits, closing off access to and from the Black Sea, bottling up Russian naval forces and provoking a world war. The Turks temporally blocked the door to the Black Sea back in December, after they shot down a Russian plane.

Meanwhile, western governments, their royal Arab allies, and the global corporate media scream for some kind of so-called “humanitarian” intervention in northern Syria – a transparent call for the United States to activate its so-called “Plan B” – an all-out U.S. military offensive against...who?

The United States will claim it’s against the Islamic State. These days, the U.S. claims everything it does in Syria and in Iraq is part of the fight against the Islamic State. But, of course, there never was a U.S. war against the Islamic State, which spread like wildfire until the Russian air force intervened in late September. The U.S., the Brits, the French, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf kleptocracies financed and armed all of the jihadist gangs that descended on Syria after 2011, and although the Islamic State decided that it had plans of its own, the American “coalition” never tried to militarily defeat ISIS in Syria or Iraq. ISIS was still useful, to wear down the Syrian army and keep the Iraqi government off balance and dependent on the United States.

“A Turkish invasion of Syria is considered imminent.”

The success of the Russian intervention changed all that. Under Plan B, the United States and its allies will move militarily to absorb the Islamic State and take over the Syrian territory the jihadists now occupy, de facto dismembering Syria. The surviving ISIS fighters would fight on under U.S. protection, distributed among other jihadist groups and under new political labels. At least, that appears to be the plan.

However, the Turks have their own agenda. Turkish President Recep Erdogan has staked his political life on defeating and humiliating the Kurds, in his own country and in Syria. But, the United States has made a huge investment in acting as the “protector” of the Iraqi Kurds, in order to dismember and control Iraq, and the Americans are trying to play the same game with the Syrian Kurds. That’s why the U.S. is providing air cover to some Syrian Kurdish units, while the Turks are shelling other Kurds who operate under Russian air cover, 60 miles away. The Turks don’t like the game the Americans are playing, and are threatening to invade Syria, confront the Russians, and force the U.S. to choose between Turkey, or the Kurds, or World War Three. This is a very dangerous moment for the planet.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20160217_gf_CrazySyriaWar.mp3

More Stories


  • Uhuru rally
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Solidarity With the Uhuru Three
    09 Aug 2024
    Omali Yeshitela joins us to discuss the looming federal trial of the Uhuru Three on charges of being foreign agents. We also talk about this year’s presidential election and the defeat of…
  • Refugees welcome signs at a rally
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racist And Islamophobic Riots In Britain
    09 Aug 2024
    Roger McKenzie speaks with us about the wave of Islamophobic and racist attacks in the UK. We also discussed his Morning Star Online article, “Only Class Solidarity Will Defeat Racism.”
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Racists Riot in Britain
    07 Aug 2024
    The United Kingdom’s ugly history of subjugating people in the global south has created a deeply racist country. The criminal ruling class exploits, but white racism blames the desperate newcomer.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    U.S. Rejection of Venezuela’s Democracy Vindicates Trump Contesting the 2020 Election Result
    07 Aug 2024
    It cannot be said that the U.S. has free and fair elections. Yet, the country regularly uses the false virtue of democracy to enact regime change when its interests are threatened by a…
  • Safiya Bukhari
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: On the Question of Political Prisoners, Safiya Bukhari,1995
    07 Aug 2024
    To commemorate Black August, read Safiya Bukhari's essay on political prisoners and political movements. Her words resonate today.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us