Russia and the West are headed for a clash, it seems, and the West is leading the charge in a markedly insane way. At this time there are three separate attack “fronts” against the Russian Federation. All of them are (presently) rhetorical: The RussiaGate charade being fomented and built up by a large contingent of the US government and almost all of its media outlets; the recent accusation and 24 hour ultimatum given by British Prime Minister Teresa May; and in a meeting of the UN Security Council on 13 March, US ambassador Nikki Haley threatened a new US strike on Syria, reminiscent of the cruise missile strike one year ago.
TASS News Agency reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had very strong words about this:
“If a new strike of this kind takes place, the consequences will be very serious… Mrs. Haley should understand that it is one thing to irresponsibly exploit the microphone in the UN Security Council and it is another thing when both the Russian and American militaries have communication channels and it is clearly stated via these channels what can be done and what must not be done… The US-led coalition knows well about that.
“When, against the backdrop of an obvious failure to implement [UN] Resolution 2401, in as much as it concerns militants and their sponsoring West, new resolutions are put forward under the pretext that it is Russia, Iran and the Syrian government that have failed to provide for the requirements of the previous resolution while Mrs. Haley makes a statement that the US is, of course, a peaceful nation but it may at any time deliver a strike against the forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, as they did a year ago by striking the Shayrat airbase, I simply don’t have any normal terms left to describe all this,” Lavrov pointed out. (Emphasis mine)
Ambassador Nikki Haley threatened the strike in response to reports of chemical weapons’ use and other attacks against civilians in the ongoing civil war in Syria, but her language, while appearing strong and righteous in the UN, actually hides a rather sinister plot, according to Russian sources. According to Russia’s General Chief of Staff, Valery Gerasimov, the United States is allegedly (either explicity or through inaction) using anti-Assad militants to stage a chemical attack, and after the attack takes place, the US intends to pin the blame on the Syrian government and the Russian leadership supporting it.
The group suspected is Tahrir al-Sham, and though on the books the US opposes this group, it is often alleged that the group is a proxy for American policy expressed as military force in the region, as was also the case with al-Sham’s previous incarnation as the al-Nusra Front.
This is extraordinarily strong rhetoric coming from Russia, and once again, it appears that a line has been reached… and crossed.
This is merely speculative (and hopefully wrong!!), but based on observations of Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation speech on March 1st, and launch tests of Kinzhal and reports of other extremely highly advanced new weapons President Putin disclosed, as well as the British situation and now this Syrian situation, it appears that although Russia wants to avoid a fight, it seems that it knows one is coming.
The American policy mess in these matters is utterly astounding. Even though the United States has a very good President, it appears (again as merely an observation) that the American government and indeed, now, the British and maybe even other Western powers, have lost touch with reality. Russia has conducted no aggressive action of any type against anyone. There is no evidence or even a hint that this has taken place, yet the West is building a case with a ferocity we have not seen since the “New Cold War” started. Worse, unlike the North Korean situation, this one’s lack of factual basis makes it extremely dangerous, and at least according to the level of rhetoric, the chance of the war of words getting physically hot seems rather high.
The most alarming thing about this is the lack of rationale, and the danger is that once shots are fired, any remaining reason will be rapidly lost.
Now to be sure, the reality of this situation may well be trumped up. This is an election week in Russia, and it may possibly be that some of this is intended to make the Russian government under Putin look strong. But honestly, I doubt it. There is no pervading sense in Russia that the nation’s strength is in trouble or that they are in any way losing control. The point of view inside Russia seems to largely be that the Americans have lost their minds. There is no real anger at them, but there is a lot of disappointment and frustration.
It would appear that Mr. Lavrov’s words “I simply don’t have any normal terms left to describe all this,” really express this sentiment very well.
The post Lavrov: “I simply don’t have any normal terms left to describe all this.” appeared first on The Duran.