SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence’s contributor, David Hungerford, provides an alternative look at the Paris attacks.
There is a pattern to things that happen when the United States faces a serious defeat in its international policy. A sudden violent atrocity shocks the world. There is a huge uproar. The U.S. setback goes unseen. Humiliation is avoided. Time is gained to cope.
For example, in Ukraine the US-backed Kiev junta met disaster in its 2014 military campaign against the insurgent People’s Republics in the east. Suddenly, on July 17, Malayan Airlines Flight MH-17 was shot down in the battle zone! The setback to US policy disappeared from the news.
The same pattern fits the terrorist attack of November 13 in Paris.
On October 30, 2015, U.S. imperialism found itself facing a political disaster of a very high order in Vienna. The Syrian government’s position in the country’s civil war has been greatly strengthened by its alliance with Russia. Because of that the United States had to sign an agreement with fifteen countries, including Russia. The European Union and the United Nations are also signatories.
The stated purpose is “to discuss the grave situation in Syria and how to bring about an end to the violence as soon as possible.” A nine-point political process is outlined. Point 8 says: “This political process will be Syrian led and Syrian owned, and the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.” [Emphasis original.]
The government of Syria is not a signatory since the aim is to set up negotiations between it and its domestic opposition in the conflict. Terrorists are specifically excluded. Further efforts on the process are in motion.
By signing the Vienna agreement the United States had to give up its lawless and violent policy of “regime change,” at least in words. It had to give up its demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go.
U.S. policy on Syria is in complete disarray. The latest is an announcement that the United States will send troops into Syria to “to advise and assist rebel forces combating ISIS.” It makes no sense at all.
The Middle East is a chaos of wars, economic crises, and rivalries. A setback in Syria of this magnitude endangers the long U.S. dominance of the region.
Suddenly, an atrocity happens in Paris! The US-backed Daesh, or ISIS, claims responsibility!
Meanwhile, everyone forgets the Vienna process.
There seems to be a familiar pattern here! Marx says history always repeats itself. Perhaps this is a case in point.
Many questions present themselves.
The Daesh was able to move long military caravans on open roads from Mosul in Iraq into Syria, without air attack from the United States. It has been able to gain a great deal of money from sales of oil from fields in controls, without the United States stopping it. How did the Daesh manage these things?
The United States complains that Russia that it is bombing terrorists in Syria whom the United States likes. Russia should only bomb terrorists the United States does not like. Which terrorists do you not like, asks Mr. Putin? He receives no answer.
How were the terrorists able to plan and execute an operation of this scale in Paris without detection by the security forces? According to some reports, highly professional gunmen perpetrated many of the killings. (Again we have a similarity. On Feb. 20, 2014 a sniper attack on Kiev’s Maidan Square killed 60 to 100 people. Forensic analysis traced the attack to a single location.)
These are only a few of the questions that have already arisen.
It is still too early to draw definite conclusions about Paris. Only one thing is certain: the “official story” should not be accepted without careful and thorough examination. We must not be stampeded into anything. The truth will emerge soon enough.
