MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Al Jazeera, 15 Sept., 2013
A US-Russian plan to remove Syria's chemical weapons is a "victory" that averts war, a Syrian minister said, as Washington warned that the threat of US force "remains real".
"On one hand, it helps the Syrians emerge from the crisis and on the other it has allowed for averting war against Syria...," Ali Haidar, minister of state for National Reconciliation, told Russian news agency Ria Novosti on Sunday.
"It's a victory for Syria that was achieved thanks to our Russian friends." [....]
Also interesting, on Russian spin on topic, see:
We're 'Next' and Putin Deserves the Nobel Prize: What the Russian Press Makes of Syria
By J. Dana Stuster, Passport @ ForeignPolicy.com, Sept. 13, 2013
Comments
by artappraiser on Sun, 09/15/2013 - 8:50pm
It will be interesting.
I understand they won't be assigning authorship of the attacks, though Ban seems to be after Assad otherwise for crimes against humanity.
I'm reading LOTS of stuff that calls into question that Assad or the government ordered the chemical attacks...
And LOTS of stuff pointing the finger pointedly at "the rebels" with a good dose of the US, Israel, and Turkey conspiring to make it look like Assad did it.
With the ultimate purpose of bringing the US in to topple Assad, etc.
We will see...
Hard to argue with a deal to have Assad relinquish his weapons. Who couldn't like that? But was that really the plan? And beyond that, it's getting very murky to me.
by Peter Schwartz on Sun, 09/15/2013 - 10:25pm
Didn't Syria claim a great victory over the Zionist infidels in the 1982 Lebanon War when, in a single day, Israel destroyed the entire Russian made Syrian air force, without losing one aircraft?
BTW, does anyone take seriously Syrian government pronouncements?
by NCD on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 1:00am
When I first heard the Russian proposal was serious it sounded like a win-win-win for all three, Russia, Syria and the US. Practically perfect diplomacy. Only downside now is Syria crowing about it. Maybe Vlad will talk to them about that.
by EmmaZahn on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 7:00pm
Yeah, is basically why I posted it. NCD asks "does anyone buy this stuff?" Just because we are used to making fun of "the mother of all battles" rhetoric on Saturday Night Live doesn't mean it doesn't play seriously to the intended audiences. It must work somewhere because it's a favorite of dictators everywhere (and not exclusively Arabic; see North Korea for one example.)
by artappraiser on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 8:08pm
It works among Assad's supporters in Syria and that is critical for him, of course.
by Bruce Levine on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 8:24pm
Some form of it works for people everywhere. Even moderate dem Chris Matthews practically had an orgasm on camera when Bush flew to the aircraft carrier, strutted in his flight suit to give a speech under his Mission Accomplished sign. That propaganda worked for a significant portion of the American public just as Assad's probably works for enough of his people. The Iraqis weren't any more impressed by it then we are by Assad's claim to have beaten us now.
by ocean-kat on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 8:37pm
It seems it's not working too well, with the couple of million who have fled Syria, the 100-200 thousand dead, and the tens of thousands of rebels.
Assad probably thinks it does work, along with his coterie of sycophants, psychopaths, murderers and war profiteers..
by NCD on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 8:35pm
It probably works better than the truth.
/statement by Assad:
I'm humiliated but I was caught between a rock and a hard place. The Americans were about to bomb me and the Russians ordered me to give up my CW. What could I do? I'm just Putin's puppet and I can't survive without his support. I had no choice but to obey him. It was embarrassing.
by ocean-kat on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 8:43pm
Doesn't have to work with all Syrians, only the combatants.
This NYT headline today struck me, my bold: Deal Represents Turn for Syria; Rebels Deflated.
Assad's victory spin is blunt right now. If it gets more sophisticated as the U.N. starts in on the war crime prosecution stuff....if he can play a new reformed image being unfairly victimized... the rebels then got to figure out how to control their liver eaters or they become the new "worst" guys....and they need those liver eater boots on the ground right now....etc.
by artappraiser on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 9:02pm