[Rich]

Yes, just as the Russian's were invited to invade Afghanistan by their political puppets.

I wasn't aware that President Amin invited the Soviet invasion.

[Atlantis]

Sure Just as soon as you assassinate Putin.

Putin is a patriot, he'll do whatever is right for mother Russia.

You need to get rid of this pervert first, then we are talking.

[skinster]

Yes, just as the Russian's were invited to invade Afghanistan by their political puppets. That regime failed and Assad will too. America can afford to be patient. We don't want puppet states. We want stable democracy. Has Turkey become a US puppet? Has Saudi Arabia? Kuwait? Qatar? We are committed to preventing the spread of extremist oppression in Africa and the ME.

Okay I had to stop here Nice knowing you Zam, our relationship is over since you're obviously utterly clueless about the US relationship with the Middle East (and Africa). Thanks though, for living up to the American stereotype.

[Zamuel]

Nice knowing you Zam, our relationship is over since you're obviously utterly clueless about the US relationship with the Middle East (and Africa).

We had a relationship? … I knew you had a rich fantasy life, but … … Go back to your Tom Selleck & Tom Cruise foldouts … Please!

The American commitment is obvious, if not openly announced policy. Trump's Iranian decision was inevitable in light of their Syrian adventurism. I would not be surprised if their desperate search for someone to fill in for the US becomes dependent on their withdrawal and guarantees of future behavior.

It's a shame. The Iranian clerics expansionist / anti-Israel motivation ruined a real opportunity for the Iranian people. If they continue to pursue it, the next revolution isn't that far off.

I wasn't aware that President Amin invited the Soviet invasion. :?:

Not Amin, Taraki. Amin Had just become deputy prime minister.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan
Amin and Taraki (1978) traveled to Moscow to sign a friendship treaty which included a provision that would allow direct Soviet military assistance should the Islamic insurgency threaten the regime. This insurrection intensified over the next year and it became increasingly obvious to the Soviets that Taraki could not prevent all-out civil war and the prospect of a hostile Islamic government taking control. By mid-1979 Moscow was searching to replace Taraki and Amin, and dispatched combat troops to Bagram Air Base outside of Kabul

It was apparent Taraki and Amin were losing what amounted to an Afghani Civil War. Moscow desperately wanted to replace them. Russian troops were sent just to hold Kabul and prevent the governments complete collapse. (much like the situation with Assad). They were immediately reinforced with tanks & special forces troops.

The following invasion (December) happened after Amin assassinated Taraki (October 79, I think). It was the soviets that executed Amin and installed Karmal.

Zam

[skinster]

[Heisenberg]

I was at a conference last week where Dick Cheney called Iran a "bad actor" for its actions in Syria while praising Saudi Arabia as "moderate" and calling for renewed use of waterboarding by the CIA. He was applauded for this by the largely Democrat-leaning crowd in the spirit of bipartisanship. The idea that the USA cares about "stable democracy" and "preventing the spread of extremism" is utterly laughable.

[skinster]

Were you at the same conference where CodePink's Ariel Gold called out Cheney for being a war-criminal?

[Heisenberg]

If only. Mine was an extremely boring hedge fund conference where nothing remotely interesting happened.

[skinster]

[skinster]

U.S. threatens wider war on Syria, Iran
President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the U.S. was unilaterally leaving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the Iran nuclear deal — and effectively taking a path of direct confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran. New sanctions were announced, to take effect within months. Literally hours after the announcement, Israeli missiles rained down just south of Syria’s capital.

Israel launched further strikes in Syria on May 10 against what it claimed to be Iranian infrastructure, a claim both Syria and Iran have refuted. This Zionist aggression escalated into an exchange of missiles with Syria, making it the first time Syria has struck the Zionist occupation since 1974. Syrian missiles targeted occupation infrastructure in the Golan Heights, Syrian land occupied since 1967. The Israelis tried to pin these missiles on Iran, too.

Trump campaigned on a promise to destroy the JCPOA. At the beginning of 2017, he focused his international warmongering on Iran first and foremost, before moving on to Venezuela, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and others.

To some it may appear that this figurehead of world imperialism has a personal enmity toward the Islamic Republic. Perhaps he is driven by deep ideological convictions explained away by neo-conservatism. Maybe the Israeli lobby has become powerful enough to lead the U.S. into wars on its own behalf, against U.S. “national interests.” Many in the mainstream press say Trump is simply unintelligent.

In contrast to these half-baked bourgeois narratives, material reality tells us a different story. For starters, a reality TV star doesn’t tell the Pentagon what to do, ideology cannot overrule capital, and in the case of Israel, the tail doesn’t wag the dog. Every war Israel has waged has benefited Wall Street and the U.S. capitalist ruling class.

As Gen. Alexander Haig, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, said in 1981, “Israel is the largest U.S. aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk.”

U.S. for nuclear plans under Shah
There was a time when U.S. capitalists planned a nuclear program for Iran. Under the Shah, a U.S. puppet, General Electric and Westinghouse won eight contracts to construct nuclear reactors in Iran. Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran had plans to buy 18 nuclear power reactors from the U.S., France and Germany.

During the Shah’s reign, the U.S. wanted Iran to be less domestically dependent on oil and export its black gold on the world market, profiting the U.S. firms that controlled the oil. Today the opposite is true.

Threats against Iran’s nuclear development, and the previous U.S. interest in limiting Iranian uranium enrichment, were always rooted in U.S. economic dependence on oil. Trump’s decision to kill the JCPOA isn’t in contradiction with this fact; it is a sign that U.S. capitalists are more desperate than ever to maintain their oil and gas profits — desperate enough to recklessly pursue a regional war to devastate Iran and expand existing U.S. occupations.

For decades Wall Street and the military-industrial complex fed off of a massive flow of petrodollars from Saudi Arabia and other comprador regimes in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. invasion of Iraq ushered in the fracking boom and a myriad of other huge, unsustainable profits for big oil. That bubble burst, but the insatiable need for profits has some hoping they can relive the magic of the George W. Bush era through Trump.

The unilateral action of the U.S. concerning the JCPOA has strong implications for its relationship with Europe. Though the imperialist powers stand united in most colonial policies, Europe is growing increasingly destabilized, and there is discontent among different elements of the European bourgeoisie with the U.S. These contradictions would be exacerbated by expanded wars in West Asia. The U.S. has historically used control of the region’s oil resources as leverage over Europe. A regional war would strengthen U.S. capital at their expense. It’s unlikely, however, that these elements would pose any challenge to a new U.S. war.

Pentagon setbacks in Syria
Setbacks for the U.S. on the Syrian front are a major factor in the drive to war with Iran. Since the Russian intervention in September 2015, the Syrian state and allied forces have had one decisive victory after another. Thousands of death squad fighters, with billions of dollars in funding and often advanced weaponry, have been disbanded, disarmed or defeated. Any hope of the U.S. or its allies to liquidate the Syrian nation through proxy forces has been completely abandoned.

Syria is now confronted directly by a Turkish invasion in the northwest, a U.S. occupation through the YPG (the Kurds’ People’s Protection Units) across northern and eastern Syria, a U.S.-Jordanian base close to Jordan in al Tanf, an Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights and a buffer zone of Israeli-supported contras surrounding it. Despite this, Syria controls the majority of its land.

This direct confrontation marks a new and very dangerous phase of the war against Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed this in a recent interview in which he said Syria is fighting the terrorists, meaning the armies of Turkey, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

“Forget about the different factions and who is going to finance those factions; at the end, they work for one agenda, and those different players obey one master: the American master. [Turkish President] Erdoğan is not implementing his own agenda; he’s only implementing the American agenda, and the same goes for the other countries in this war.

“So, first of all, you have to fight the terrorists. Second, when you take control of more areas, you have to fight any aggressor, any army. The Turkish, French, whoever, they are all enemies; as long as they came to Syria illegally, they are our enemies.” (sana.sy/en, May 10)

Though Iran has an extremely limited presence in Syria, it has been a longtime ally of Syria and played a vital role in defeating proxy armies there. A direct confrontation with Syria is, de facto, a direct confrontation with Iran. Iran has expressed multiple times that if it doesn’t stop ISIS and its ally, the United States, in Syria and elsewhere, Iran will have to defend itself on its own territory.

The opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli strikes in Syria, the ongoing massacres of Palestinians commemorating the Nakba, the cancelling of the nuclear deal, and other regional provocations are also aimed at a key ally of Syria, Iran and the Palestinians: the Lebanese Islamic resistance, Hezbollah. The Lebanese resistance and their allies won an impressive victory in the May 6th Lebanese elections, solidifying the bond between liberation forces and the Lebanese state.

The U.S. and Israel are itching for a war to tip the balance of forces in the region by dealing a decisive blow to Hezbollah. Hezbollah itself has warned that the next time it fights Israel, it won’t be alone. Iran, Syria and national liberation forces throughout the region will fight alongside them.

The U.S. and Israel are moving in concert toward a wider war against Syria and Iran, a war for the benefit of U.S. banks, oil corporations and the military-industrial complex. This war will not only cost millions more lives in West Asia, it will plunge working class and oppressed people around the world into further devastation.
https://www.workers.org/2018/05/15/u-s- ... yria-iran/

[Zamuel]

msn news - AFP - OPCW confirms chlorine use in February attack in Syria https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAxlGYs?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare -A global arms watchdog on Wednesday confirmed that chlorine was "likely used as a chemical weapon" in a February attack on the Syrian town of Saraqeb.

A fact-finding mission by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons determined that "chlorine was released from cylinders by mechanical impact in the Al Talil neighbourhood of Saraqeb" on February 4, an OPCW statement said.

The team's conclusions were based on finding two cylinders "which were determined as previously containing chlorine."

Environmental samples also "demonstrated the unusual presence of chlorine in the local environment," said the organisation, based in The Hague.

The pendulum swings, Gas attacks did occur on Feb 4 and are being attributed to "Syrian Attacks."

Zam

[skinster]

The pendulum swings, Gas attacks did occur on Feb 4 and are being attributed to "Syrian Attacks."

What a liar you are. From the article you posted:

the watchdog did not say which side in Syria's complex seven-year civil war was responsible for using chlorine.

As an aside, the article also reported one source being the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which we know is a one-man show based in a clothing store in Coventry, who was opposed to the Syrian government. This news came out recently, about him and his relationship to the British government:

[Zamuel]

What a liar you are. From the article you posted:

You know skinster, most of the people on Pofo can read for themselves and make up their own minds, without you telling them what to think.

Zam

[Decky]

It sure saves time not to though.

[Zamuel]

It sure saves time not to though.

Of course Decky, you want'a play through …?



Zam

[Decky]

Of course Decky, you want'a play through …?

Eh?

[Ter]

Huge explosions reported at Syria’s Hama air base, cause unclear

Conflicting accounts emerge for what set off blasts at military airfield; Sky News Arabia reports attack on powerful Iranian air defenses, others say it was an accident

Massive explosions rocked the Hama military air base in western Syrian early on Friday afternoon, according to Syrian state media.

There were conflicting reports as to the cause of the blasts, which sent a huge plume of grey smoke into the air above the base.

“The explosions struck several regime depots of weapons and fuel at Hama military airport,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP.

The Observatory said it was not immediately clear what set off the explosions.

The Sky News Arabia outlet reported that the explosions were caused by an attack on an advanced Iranian air defense system.

However, Syrian military sources told the Lebanese el-Nashra TV station that the blasts were caused by an accident at a weapons storage depot.

There were no immediate comments by Syrian officials on who or what was behind the explosions.

The blasts came soon after midday, as the region is experiencing a scorching heat wave. Almost all previous Israeli airstrikes on targets in Syria have been late at night or in the pre-dawn hours.

According to Sky News, the target of the strike was an Iranian Bavar 373 long-range missile defense system, a state-of-the-art model that was unveiled in 2016 and put into service in March 2017. Iranian officials compare the system to the Russian-made S-300 system, which is considered a powerful air defense platform.

Video footage from the scene, posted to social media, showed a huge cloud of smoke rising out of the military air field.

Syrians in Hama reported hearing at least four successive blasts, likely indicating that a weapons depot had been hit by the blast, setting off more and more munitions.

On the night of April 29, the Israeli Air Force carried out missile strikes against a nearby military base, just south of Hama, and another facility in Aleppo, in northern Syria, which Israel believes were used by Iranian forces.

Those air raids were said to have destroyed some 200 missiles and killed at least 26 fighters, mostly Iranians.
After maintaining an official policy of refusing to comment on such strikes, the Israeli military last week revealed that it had been conducting air raids against Iranian targets in Syria as part of a mission dubbed “Operation Chess.”

The purpose of “Operation Chess” was to prevent Iran from carrying out reprisals for an Israeli airstrike against the Iranian-controlled T-4 air base in central Syria on April 9, which killed at least seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including a senior officer responsible for its drone program.

Iran had also used the T-4 base to launch an attack drone carrying explosives into Israel in February, according to the Israel Defense Forces; the drone was shot down.

The IRGC’s al-Quds Force in southern Syria launched 20 rockets at northern Israel last week. Four of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, the army said, and the rest fell short of the border.

In response, the Israeli Air Force conducted strikes against over 50 Iranian military targets in Syria and destroyed several Syrian air defense systems that had fired on Israeli jets, the army said.

Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that the Jewish state will not accept Iranian entrenchment in Syria and is prepared to take military action in order to prevent it.

Last week, the Israeli army reportedly told senior ministers that it believes the current round of hostilities was over, but tensions in the north will persist, and that border incidents are still possible.

The AFP contributed to this report.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/huge-expl ... e-unclear/

More Iranian toys go up in smoke.
Al Hamdullila

[Zamuel]

More Iranian toys go up in smoke.

Rebels have been raiding Syrian airbases quite regularly. Not with such spectacular results though. And 4 major explosions ! Maybe the Israelis slipped them a few "Matadors."



Zam

[skinster]

You know skinster, most of the people on Pofo can read for themselves and make up their own minds, without you telling them what to think.

Zam

I didn't tell them anyone what I thought, I called you out for being a liar for claiming that thing you stated came from the article you shared, when the article said no such thing.

[Zamuel]

I called you out for being a liar for claiming that thing you stated came from the article you shared, when the article said no such thing.

And as is often the case, you got it wrong. (emphasis added)

https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAxlGYs?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare - Eleven people had to be treated for breathing difficulties on February 4 after Syrian government raids on the town of Saraqeb, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at the time

You don't like the source? fine. But I did not lie about what the article says.

Zam