Eric Zuesse
The unusually honest Western news-site, German Economic News, (Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten) headlined on Tuesday November 17th, and opened (plus excerpts here), as follows:
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Putin stepped up the pressure: long-range bombers against ISIS
German Economic News | Published:17:11:15 18:56 Clock
Russia stepped up its military strikes against jihadists: For the first time the Russian Air Force on Tuesday brought in its Long Range Bomber. The Russian army leadership has announced the liberation of 80 villages. Together with France and Germany, Russia could succeed in liberating the region from the grip of jihadist forces. …
Russia is currently the only world power with determination to eliminate the jihadists. The US Army has transported ammunition to “moderate rebel groups”, which were brought by sea to Syria. Many of these groups are supported by Turkey, some belong to the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
The US Congress had approved massive military sales to Saudi Arabia on Monday. The Saudis have been supporting terror groups for years in the region and want to prevent especially Iran from increasing its influence in the region.
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Here were some typical Western reports on the situation, at the same time as that (and none of them mention that the U.S. is supporting Al Qaeda in Syria, known there as Al Nusra, as being ‘moderate forces’):
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/opinions/isis-no-military-answer-paton-walsh/index.html
The news that the U.S. government was (and is) supporting Al Qaeda in Syria was unpublishable in the United States. The first news report about it was at an English-language Serbian news site, nsnbc, but was ignored not only in U.S. media but in those of U.S.-allied countries. Then the great American journalist Seymour Hersh, unable to get his news report about that published in the U.S., was finally able to get it published in the London Review of Books. The U.S. government claims that the people whom it arms and trains to overthrow Syria’s secular President Bashar al-Assad, are “moderate” Syrians, not “radicals,” meaning not jihadists. However, since all polling that has been done of Syrians shows President Assad to be supported by the vast majority of Syrian citizens, because jihadists are strongly opposed by most Syrians, and since virtually all non-jihadist Syrians support the present government, it is understandable why the U.S. government insists that if there is to be any election for President in Syria, then Assad must not be on the ballot. No matter how much the Syrians might prefer to be led by their current leader Assad, the United States and its allies won’t permit that to happen. The U.S. government has been working since at least 2009 to remove Mr. Assad from power there.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.