'West attempts to convert Syria into client state' - Video & Text
A prominent writer commenting on the Syria crisis tells Press TV that Washington has a longstanding plan to replace sovereign states with client states that serve its interests. Press TV has talked to Stephen Lendman, writer and radio host from Chicago to further discuss the issue.
Press TV: Mr. Lendman, first of all tell us about Annan’s initiative. How much of an impact could it have on efforts to end the unrest in Syria?
Lendman: Well, it will have no effects whatsoever. In fact it was not intended to have an effect. When I heard Annan was appointed the envoy to settle this crisis, I just blanched, because I knew his record as UN Secretary General for a decade, he did nothing whatsoever to end Washington’s imperial rampaging for an entire decade. He was not appointed to establish peace and stability, he was appointed to do exactly the opposite. His plan really is not a peace plan at all, it sounds like a peace plan, but he puts the onus on Assad. Assad is a victim, he is not the perpetrator of the violence and listen to his language all the time, he is pressuring Assad to stop the violence. Assad is responding to the violence, the insurgent violence, the violence is armed, funded, trained by Washington, by Britain, by France, by Saudi Arabia, by Qatar, by Turkey. Turkey being the home of a lot of the insurgents that literally just crossed the border and then when Syria confronts them, Syria gets blamed for defending itself. Same thing that happens in Palestine; defend yourself, you are called a terrorist. Defend yourself against insurgents in Syria and you are called an aggressor. In other words, everything is upside down or backwards or turned on its head. Nothing will be accomplished. I do not know what Annan hopes to accomplish in Tehran. Tehran does not support Washington’s imperial project neither do I.