Syria takes the lead in the discussion this week as there has been a major military defeat of ISIL that may mean more than just a turning point in the war. The defeat was the capture of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Archaeological importance, saved by the Syrian Army and its allies, including Hezbollah, and supported by Russian air power. For Cohen this is a stunning victory, perhaps the most important for Russia and Syrian forces of the whole campaign, as it may have brought about a change in discourse between Wash and Putin. Washington now cannot deny Russian successes and its motives in the Syrian War, and perhaps Western cooperation with Russia against international terrorism is now possible. Cohen sees a ‘subtle but meaningful shift now in how Russia American relations are proceeding’. Russia even emerges as ‘the savior of Palmyra” in a few stories in the MSM.
Elsewhere in both Europe and the United states viewpoints are much more schizophrenic. Russia ‘weaponizing refugees’ is again heard with stories about Russia even pushing Muslims across border from Russia. This is echoed by NATO spokespeople like Breedlove, and is clearly preposterous as refugees directly affect Russia too. Cohen also notes that in spite of the freeing of Palmyra, no congratulations were given by Obama to Putin or to the Syrian Army. Clearly, in the past (and supported by the West’s inept efforts against ISIS) it did not appear that Damascus being taken by ISIS was of much concern to Washington. Quite recently Russia was seen and stated to be United State’s main strategic enemy.
The main question here for Cohen is if Palmyra is the military turning point in the war, and it is admittedly seen as such by Washington, will the Russian component change the relationship politically between Moscow and Washington? For Cohen how we got to this point is necessary for answering the question. And the answer is that we got this far over a kind of dtente with Kerry over Syria, and Putin backs this policy. Does Palmyra give impetus to furthering cooperation? This cooperation could change the complexion of whom Washington considers the strategic threat to the USA. Cohen goes on to speculate that the Washington policy about strategic regime changes may be in flux too.
On to Kiev and a government in turmoil there. Natalia Yaresko is a strong prime minister candidate for a bankrupted Kiev but is she more a controller for Washington? She wants to be P.M. of Ukraine and threatens to leave if she doesn’t win, but maintains, as a positive policy, only to appoint technocrats of her choosing – to be, in all likelihood with a strong foreign component. Cohen looks at this as a pattern of continuing colonization by the West that did not work in Russia in the 1990s and is likely not viable in Ukraine either. Perhaps this will be true although it has been a winning formula for Washington in the West. But what the government in Kiev may end up necessarily being something beyond a puppet….
The theme throughout the broadcast is Western deceit and manipulative media campaigns against all positive outcomes by Moscow. It is deeply disturbing to this writer that the anti-Russian lies perpetrated in the West have become so poisonous and preposterous and yet will affect the lives of whole populations in serious and fundamental ways. That the campaign is based on the ugly motives of the Wolfowitz Doctrine in Washington is clearly a pornographic obscenity. That the citizens gradually learn to distrust all public policies seems to be ignored by governments in the West, and the damage done is to the Fourth Estate, and to the ruling political institutions; it is a factor in the rise of opposition parties in Europe that will eventually change policies there against Washington or force Washington to intervene to prevent their coming to power – and hence to further degrade those societies. It is a cycle of instability building upon instability and a way of watching how the West destroys itself with its own corrupted values and institutions. But for the citizen how does one regain trust lost in governments and media who have joined forces in betraying their citizens in perpetual escalation?
This post was published at Audioboom
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