Voice of Russia (VoR)

A retired US military officer Karen Kwiatkowski in an interview to VoR reveals interesting facts about American international policy and its relations with the Middle East - in particular, the information that the US provided chemical and biological weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime.

Twelve years ago America initiated its global war on terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. Looking back over these years, how far has America got in the struggle against the terrorist groups? And what did they manage to achieve?

First, we need to clarify. The United States was allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan up until August and September, early September of 2001. Secretary of State Colin Powell has just been in Kabul, he granted a monetary award to the Taliban government in recognition of their success in almost eliminating the opium trade after 6 years of trying.

In mid 2001, in the middle of that year, Taliban oil dignitaries will be unattained and used in Texas, as agreements on Afghanistan oil pipeline were being pursued, beyond that US intelligence and military relations with al-Qaeda's leader Bin Laden and others had been developed since the unset of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980s.

So, we go a way back with all these groups that today we understand to be terrorist groups. It isn't that the United States is in work with terrorist groups, with al-Qaeda. And what makes Obama's attacks in Libya and potential attacks in Syria so interesting – we are, as in the 1980s, fighting, in some respects, on the side of Muslim fundamentalist rebel groups, just as we were fighting with the Taliban 30 years ago against the Soviet Union.

More »

A short comment by Paul Craig Roberts

Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

Vladimir Putin is established as the leader of the free world and the defender of the rule of law. Barack Obama is established as the leader of a lawless, rogue war criminal government that lies through its teeth and schemes to massacre millions of peoples.

This morning in the New York Times the President of Russia writes:

“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.’”

“But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.”

“We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.”

“If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.”

More »

John Pilger

A stirring has begun, though people of conscience should hurry.

Russia's peace deal over chemical weapons will, in time, be treated with the contempt that all militarists reserve for diplomacy. With Al-Qaida now among its allies, and US-armed coupmasters secure in Cairo, the US intends to crush the last independent states in the Middle East: Syria first, then Iran.

On my wall is the front page of Daily Express of September 5, 1945 and the words: "I write this as a warning to the world." So began Wilfred Burchett's report from Hiroshima. It was the scoop of the century. For his lone, perilous journey that defied the US occupation authorities, Burchett was pilloried, not least by his embedded colleagues. He warned that an act of premeditated mass murder on an epic scale had launched a new era of terror.

Almost every day now, he is vindicated. The intrinsic criminality of the atomic bombing is borne out in the US National Archives and by the subsequent decades of militarism camouflaged as democracy. The Syria psychodrama exemplifies this. Yet again, we are held hostage to the prospect of a terrorism whose nature and history even the most liberal critics still deny. The great unmentionable is that humanity's most dangerous enemy resides across the Atlantic.

John Kerry's farce and Barack Obama's pirouettes are temporary. Russia's peace deal over chemical weapons will, in time, be treated with the contempt that all militarists reserve for diplomacy. With Al-Qaida now among its allies, and US-armed coupmasters secure in Cairo, the US intends to crush the last independent states in the Middle East: Syria first, then Iran. "This operation [in Syria]," said the former French foreign minister Roland Dumas in June, "goes way back. It was prepared, pre-conceived and planned."

More »