So reads the headline of John Pilger’s recent article in The Independent of the U.K.
Foreign aggression, al Qaeda, and ISIS have been dealt a considerable setback in the Middle East, following several years of neoconservative bloodletting and ethno-sectarian cleansing (primarily the handiwork of Washington, DC, London, Tel Aviv, and the Saudis… primarily through radical Salafist proxies).
For Syrians, for the region, for the international community, and ultimately, for global stability — during a time of mass-insanity in Western governments and institutions — this is a remarkably good outcome.
This peace brings long-awaited relief to millions, following years of horrific suffering which the Syrian people never asked for and in no way deserved.
This resolution also represents a *second* black eye for the imperialist bully in the region (following Washington’s self-inflicted “shiner” in Iraq — which likely cost over a million Iraqis their lives, per a peer-reviewed study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Medical School and published in the respected British medical journal, The Lancet).
I hope my friends, here, won’t simply take my word for it. Read Fisk’s article and familiarize yourself with the outstanding journalism of Eva Bartlett, Consortium News, Jeffrey Sachs, and the handful of other brave souls who’ve reported this invasion (and multi-front proxy war) honestly, cutting through a sea of propaganda.
The end of this campaign of Western-initiated atrocities is a *very* good thing, and I’m happy for the Syrian people. They have weathered a brutal and prolonged assault, but now have their country back and can begin rebuilding their lives.
That this monstrously ill-conceived and destructive regime-change op ended the way it did was the best outcome anyone could have hoped for.
And the neocons’ preferred next step — a “No-fly Zone” in Syria — would have only prolonged the nightmare for most Syrians and risked plunging the globe into a third World War that humanity can ill afford.
(Though the politicians, MSM, MIC, and neocons will gnash teeth and pull hair, this outcome is truly best: self-determination under imperfect rulers is far better than going the way of post-Qaddafi Libya.)
JO’D – 9/30/17