Two months back, shocking videos of mutilated bodies of dead children and women alleged to be victims of deadly attack of chemical weapons in East Ghouta of Syria went viral. And in no time, the US imperialist regime charged the Syrian government of using poisonous chlorine gas and similar toxic chemicals against its civilian population. Citing the photos, the US government officials as well as the UN, long turned into their rubber stamp, expressed ‘grave concern’ for the Syrian people and accused Syrian President Assad and his government of brutally killing civilians and raked up the oft-repeated claim that the “regime of Assad” is very evil and must go. And then the US, Britain and France bypassing any consensus at UN and brazenly trampling international laws launched a volley of air strikes against three Syrian targets. Germany is also reported to have already marked and documented possible targets, using its surveillance aircraft. Syria has thus become an open book to the US-led NATO constituents. Earlier, the US-backed Zionist Israeli regime had mounted air attack on Syria from Lebanese airspace in violation of international law. Clearly, there is a concerted move to escalate another large-scale war in the Middle-East.
Creating ground for military intervention by making false and fabricated charges
The ‘grave concern’ of the Pentagon rulers and their associates was short-lived as soon it was laid bare that the posts on chemical attack victims were all fabricated. These had in reality been photos from Gaza and Mosul and deliberately uploaded to slam false accusations against the Syrian government. Little wonder that the US led imperialist powers dispensed even with the fig leaf of an ‘enquiry’ into the purported crime before launching the air strikes. It is worth recalling that way back in 1964, the US rulers had circulated news of phony “attack” by Vietnamese PT boats on a US warship in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 and then on that pretext triggered the most heinous war of aggression against Vietnam. Over a decade back, the US imperialists invaded Iraq on the false pretext that Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi President, possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and on that false plea killed over three lakhs of innocent citizens including women and children and razed the country to rubble. After military occupation, a puppet regime was installed there. A mockery of trial was held to muder Saddam Hussain. Later, the door was opened to the most felonious terrorist organization like ISIS, backed and armed by the US and its associates, to rise from the ashes and hold the entire area and its surroundings to ransom. Within few years, it was the turn of Libya, another oil rich Middle-East country. Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan President, an ardent proponent of pan-Arabic nationalism and proposed merger of all Arab countries into one country—the “United States of Africa”, became an eyesore of the US imperialists. So, the US rulers pressed notorious CIA to lend all necessary support to various anti-Gaddafi disgruntled groups and elements and then combine them in a planted rebel organization named ‘National Transitional Council’ (NTC). It was posed as if NTC had spearheaded a democratic struggle of the peace-loving masses “fighting tyranny” of Gaddafi regime and organized popular militias to “liberate the country” from the clutches of a despotic regime. Then, under the cover of a crescendo of human rights violation propaganda against Gaddafi and in the name of helping the same very NTC in its nefarious game to assume power by any means, the US imperialist rulers together with their British and French counterparts overriding world opinion and dispensing with endorsement from a pliant UNO, launched direct military attack on Libya under the pretence of a “humanitarian” mission to protect civilian lives. So, Gaddafi was savagely assassinated by the US imperialists and their agents. Next to be on the hit list of the US imperialist sharks has been President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
Syria—the latest target of a fabricated charges
The pattern followed in Syria is very similar to that adopted in Iraq or Libya. Since President Assad has long been refusing to bend down before US dictates, the US imperialists and its allies created a so-called ‘rebel’ force in Syria named ‘Free Syrian Army’ (FSA) hinging largely on Sunni fundamentalism, fed it with all aids and assistance to start a movement, under the cover of a so called movement for democracy, with a declared demand for ouster of the President, Bashar Al-Assad. Alongside, with a view to destabilizing Assad, they went on financing, training and arming terrorist insurgents and tens of thousands of mercenaries like al Qaeda terrorists, recruits of Jihadist fanatics etc. operative within Syria . Qatar had trained many al Qaeda like rebels who are active in Syria. And German arms had reached ISIS via Qatar. In spite of that,the planted ‘rebels’ and so-called insurgents could not topple the Assad government, nor could they elicit any leniency from Assad. Rather Assad continued to enjoy his people’s support, apparently from their long-standing anti-US imperialist mind-set. Then, in keeping with their tradition of spreading lies, the US imperialists with the help of their well-knit propaganda machinery and notorious espionage agencies, charged Assad government of killing hundreds of civilians in Damascus using lethal sarin gas in 2013. But investigations by noted journalists like Seymour Hersh, who exposed the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, observation of Peter Ford, former British ambassador to Syria, revelations by Scott Ritter, former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq and even admission by Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State till the other day, clearly proved that President Assad’s government was not responsible for the chemical weapons deaths and the accusation was fake and craftily manipulated by al Qaeda -like forces to provoke a direct military intervention by US. Then, after being unable to dislodge Assad regime despite all efforts to exacerbate planted ‘rebellion’, the US rulers once again in December last accused the Assad government of having launched chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun area of Syria. And on that pretext, the US pounded the Shayrat airbase of Syrian army from the sky. But once more the lie was exposed when James Mattis, the then US Defence Secretary, made it clear that the US had no evidence of any such chemical attack. On the contrary, investigation documents released by secret information agencies also indicated that the use of criminal chemical weapons on Syrian civilians in Khan Sheikhoun was planned and operationalized by the US intelligence to oust Assad from power.
Still, the US imperialists did not relent from weaving ploys to achieve their sinister mission. Douma, the city of East Ghouta adjacent to Damascus, the Syrian capital, had long been under the hold of many armed terrorist groups like Jaysh al-Islam (Saudi-backed), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda), Ahrar al-Sham, backed by the US and its imperialist allies from Europe. This city under siege had been used by these terrorist-fundamentalist groups to launch deadly missile attacks on Damascus and kill civilians including school children. After a series of such deadly missile strikes since 21 February the Syrian Army was left with no choice to secure Damascus other than freeing the East Ghouta from the terrorists. So, it began air strikes hitting the hideouts and the base of the terrorists, especially their missile stockpiles. Enraged by brutal killing, inhuman tortures and repressions by the terrorist groups, the people of East Ghouta wholeheartedly supported the Syrian forces in their bid to liberate the city. Sensing that East Ghouta too would soon be freed by the Syrian government forces, the pro-US terrorist groups hoarded all the supplies and left the people there to starve. The hostage citizens were also used by them as a shield whenever the Syrian government forces were trying to free the hostages and take control of the city. But overcoming all these, the Syrian Army wiped off terrorists’ hold in East Ghouta and was on a victory run over the ‘rebels’. The town of Douma was the last to be liberated from the grip of the Jaysh al-Islam and other terrorist groups who had no option but agree to an evacuation. Smelling defeat, the US imperialists, as an initial manoeuvre, sought to enforce a ceasefire of 30 days in East Ghouta, the aim being to ensure an escape route for the ‘rebels’ and terrorists subservient to them. But the Syrian government only agreed to hold back fire only for 5 hours when the buses carrying the hostage East Ghouta citizens would move out and then again go for all-out assault. It is at this point that once again the lies about ‘chemical attack’ by Syrian army were spread to ‘justify’ direct military intervention. Preposterous indeed! Why should the Syrian government choose this moment of victory to suddenly unleash a gas attack? That Syria did not possess any weapon of mass destruction was confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons currently in Syria for inspection. It is now revealed that White Helmets, a British NGO, had staged a fake chemical weapon attack on the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 last and that this was used as a pretext for the coordinated US-Britain-France action. One thing is clear. Fabricated allegations were thrust upon the Assad regime by the US and its associates every time the Syrian Army made advances against the rebel terrorist groups. Last year, it was Khan Sheikhoun. This year it is Douma. It also needs to be mentioned that US-Britain imperialist duo has been pretending to be so opposed to chemical weapons and the human suffering they cause. Incredible indeed! The whole world knows that no one other than the US imperialists have been recklessly using chemical as well as nuclear weapons on civilian population to score military victory over the opponents. It happened in Japan, in the Korean War, in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Libya and in so many other places. Now it is happening in Syria. And there is repeat of the shrewd saga of ‘turning the table’.
Why is the US hell-bent to dislodge Assad?
Obvious question is why the US imperialists are hell-bent to dislodge President Assad. For that a few relevant economic-political issues need to be taken into cognizance at the outset. First of all, though Syria is not a major crude oil producing country, both Saudi Arabia and Iraq oil pipelines have gone through Syrian deserts starting decades ago, from which it has earned much revenues. Secondly, the world’s largest known natural gas reservoir sits in the middle of the Persian Gulf straddling part in the territorial waters of Qatar and part in Iran. The US imperialists have a hawk’s eye on these crucial natural resources for long and hence they have been so keen to take control over that by resorting to all kinds of evil measures including flexing of military muscle. In July 2011, the governments of Syria, Iran and Iraq signed a historic gas pipeline energy agreement. The proposed pipeline was to run from the Iranian Port Assalouyeh near the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, to Damascus in Syria via Iraq territory. The agreement was poised to make Syria the centre of assembly and production in conjunction with the reserves of Lebanon. This was envisioned to be a geopolitically strategic space extending from Iran to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Shortly after signing with Iran and Iraq, Syria announced discovery of a gas well in its area of Qarahand. Gazprom, a large Russian company in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of natural gas, was chosen to be a major investor or operator of these newly discovered gas fields in Syria. Next point is that European Union (EU) is the world’s largest market for gas. Iran, which also has gas fields, had planned to extend the pipeline from Damascus to Lebanon’s Mediterranean to cater to the huge EU market. On the other hand, Qatar, hitherto a close ally of US-Saudi combine, is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and naturally eyes the same EU market. For that, it also intended to build pipelines to the Mediterranean. So, it needed to edge out Syria. In fact, in 2009, Qatar approached Assad with a proposal of constructing a gas pipeline from Qatar’s north Field to Turkey via Syria to facilitate its EU supply. Assad refused, citing Syria’s long friendly relations with Russia and Gazprom. In fact, Assad had been consistently stalling any ingress of the US imperialists into its oil and gas reserves. Obviously, the US-Saudi bloc has taken umbrage at this. Hostility of the US imperialist bloc towards Assad was further aggravated when he dropped US dollar for oil trade and opted for Euro and banned Genetically Modified Seeds of which large US MNCs are the biggest suppliers. The US monopolists, giant MNCs and banks—who are the holders of US imperialist regime—fear that defeat of US economic-political strategies in the Middle East would severely affect the hegemonic design they have been pursuing to buttress their ulterior class interest. They also apprehend that if US interests are jeopardized there and US military is compelled to pull out from the region, it would benefit Russia and China, now turned imperialist-capitalist following counter-revolution and appeared as major contenders in the global capitalist market. Also, it might strengthen the position of Iran, another formidable anti-US regime in West Asia. So, is the ‘imperativeness’ to drag out the same pretext to overrun Syria and plant a client regime there.
It is worth mentioning in this regard that Syria is also a unitary semi-presidential republic or a bourgeois dictatorship regime and obviously people there are also subject to bourgeois oppression and exploitation. Like all other ruling bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries, the Syrian bourgeoisie also, in decadent moribund capitalism, cannot and could not fulfil the democratic aspirations of their people. So, there does exist grievances among the Syrian people. But that by no means authorizes any imperialist power or any reactionary pro-imperialist government of the Middle East to interfere and stimulate dissention with a view to bringing about a regime change and install a puppet government composed of reactionaries favoured by them. It is the inalienable right of the people of any country to choose their own regime and no foreign power should illegally and unauthorisedly interfere in the internal affairs of any sovereign country, let alone bring down military assault. Syria must be left to the Syrians to decide the course that people of that land would follow. They need to struggle for emancipation by giving birth to revolutionary leadership and treading along correct base political line.
Role of imperialist Russia
In this context it may be mentioned that capitalist-imperialist Russia in its own interest has been lending full support to Assad’s forces in combating this threat for quite some time. It ought not to be forgotten this Russia is not the socialist Soviet Union which once stood out as the bulwark against all imperialist machinations including military interventions. This Russia ruled by the Russian bourgeoisie saddled in power after counter-revolution in 1991 pursues the same hegemonic design with the intention of extending its own sphere of influence.
Russia’s involvement in the war in Syria is thus more out of concern of losing out to US and its allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the ‘energy war’ i.e. who would control how much of oil and gas reserve in the Middle East. Moreover, 80 per cent of the gas that the Russian state-controlled company Gazprom produces is sold to Europe partly through Turkey and Syria. The proposed largest gas pipeline in the Middle East stretching from Iran’s gas-rich South Pars field to the Mediterranean coastline in Lebanon via Iraq and Syria would not only cater to the European market but also the markets of China, India and Pakistan and other South-east Asian countries. Secondly, Iran, rich both in oil and natural gas, has an edge over Saudi Arabia, rich only in oil, and Qatar, rich only in natural gas. For long, Iranian rulers have been friendly with Russia and opposed to US hegemonism. So, Russia does not want to lose that advantage. To it, Syria with strong economic ties with Iran and antagonistic to US-backed Saudi bloc is obviously a natural ally. To contain Russia, the US-led Western imperialists have been strengthening and extending NATO bases in Eastern Europe and Baltic states and pulling strings from behind to pull down the pro-Russia government in Ukraine and brought on a civil war there. On the other hand, Russia is trying to assert its own power and thwart US machinations in Syria and extend its own sphere of influence. It is thus clear that this imperialist onslaught upon the Arab world is driven by the rapacity and cruelty so typical of the imperialist powers who have pounced upon this region with all might and shrewdness to establish an unchallengeable control over this region and its natural resources.
What makes the US brigands so undeterred in brigandage?
Obvious question is why the imperialist vultures turned into worst war mongers and how could the US imperialists and their allies dare to launch one after another armed attack on other countries, occupying other lands flexing military muscle, engineering coups and planting pliant regimes in various countries, sustaining a war psychosis throughout the world and Middle East in particular, and orchestrating local, partial and even large-scale wars with alacrity? Answer lies in the economic essence of imperialism and the prevailing international political situation. Great Lenin had said long back that imperialism generates war. Why did he say so? Because, capitalist economy is dependent on market demand. Following endemic law of exploitative capitalism, the purchasing power of the common people falls rapidly. So, the market shrinks. When the home market squeezes, the imperialists seek market outside. But then conflicts arise among the imperialist powers centered on grabbing of market. Often this conflict translates into armed conflicts, meaning wars. Both the first and second world wars took place because of that. But soon the external market also dries up and imperialist-capitalist crisis deepens further. So, in order to stave off the growing crisis, the imperialists-capitalists seek to reduce dependence on normal consumption market and instead scout for maximization of profit through artificial stimulation of economy by way of increasing military consumption. That means, that the government itself turns up in the market as the buyer of military hardware with the money from the government budget funded by the people’s money. This is called militarization of economy. The more acute the crisis, the more militarized is the economy. Next comes the question of releasing the stockpiles of arms so bought or produced, in order to make fresh space for market of arms and keep militarization running. So, they trigger off war here and there, creating a market to sell arms to various warring countries or themselves use those arms in course of hostilities with other countries. That is why all imperialist powers foment war tension and hostilities worldwide. So long imperialism would stay, chances of outbreak of war would be there. The law of inevitability of wars in the era of imperialism is a law of political economy which arises from the special economic conditions of the era. The increased war threats and war mongering of the US imperialists and their fellow-travellers are to be understood in the light of this genesis of imperialist war.
Secondly, so long the socialist camp, its shortcomings notwithstanding, was in existence, it worked as a bulwark against imperialist war mongering. But with sad dismantling of the socialist camp due to revisionist conspiracy backed by world imperialism, the imperialist sharks, particularly the US imperialists, became unbridled and turned unbridled neo-colonial exploitation and attacks into outright wars of aggression be it through direct occupation or proxy wars.After turning one country after another into hotbeds of imperialist machination, loot and plunder, the US imperialists and their associates turned towards the oil and gas rich Middle East which was set into flames of war under a range of false pretexts entailing colossal loss of innocent lives and properties. Over 3.5 lakh civilians died when the US invaded Iraq. Number of civilian deaths have been reported to be around 2 lakhs (Check figure please) in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Palestine. In Syria, over 2 lakh people have already been killed and more than 30 lakh Syrians displaced outside the country. Amnesty International has stated in no unambiguous term that the US-sponsored ‘rebels’ “have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, including abductions, torture and summary killings through the indiscriminate use of weapons such as mortars, improvised explosive devices and suicide car bombs in attacks on residential areas under government control.” But the US imperialists are unfazed, and hell bent to bring the entire Middle East under their boot in avid pursuit of their hegemonic design.
US imperialists, Hands off Syria
The situation indeed is explosive. The cruelty and inhumanity of the US imperialists for fixing their tight grip on pelf have been boundless. The US along with its fellow travelers in Europe and associates like Zionist Israel, Saudi Arabia and their cohorts have turned the entire Middle-East into a killing field . Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria—who knows who is the next to witness imperialist fury and carnage of unprecedented dimension; how many innocent citizens including women and children would be mercilessly killed, how many would be maimed, how much of property would be destroyed. If allowed to go undeterred, these blood-thirsty vultures would be more unbridled in future holding the entire world people to ransom. It is the people who bear the brunt of the capitalist crisis and imperialist wars. The governments spend public money from the exchequers for manufacturing lethal weapons which then are used against people. While the imperialist-capitalist rulers and their war-merchants multiply their wealth, the innocent hapless people pay the price by losing life and property. So, people must rise up. The toiling millions of different imperialist-capitalist countries need to spearhead in right earnest revolutionary working struggle against their respective bourgeois rule by developing correct revolutionary party and leadership. As against unholy nexus and alliance of the oppressive imperialist-capitalist powers, there should be cemented unity and fraternity among the toiling people and rise of people’s power. Alongside, in absence of the mighty Socialist Bloc that once could restrain the imperialist brigands from doing whatever they wanted, the bulwark of resistance must be created by exerting pressure of worldwide organized militant anti-imperialist movement. United, sustained and well-coordinated anti-imperialist, anti-war militant peace movements with the communists at the core ought to be developed in every nook and corner of the world with a view to creating a powerful pressure upon the war-monger US imperialists and their associates to immediately withdraw from Syria and for that matter, every occupied as well as war-torn regions. That struggle will not only encourage the struggle of Syrian people against US intervention, together it will also enhance their cause. Let the toiling people of the world unite and unanimously raise the slogan—
US imperialists! Hands off Syria.
