The One Graph That Sums Up Why We’re Going to War With Syria
If ever there was a sign of the military industrial complex in America, this graph is it.
Reports that the United States is very near to launching an attack against Syria to punish Damascus for the use of chemical weapons sent Raytheon’s stock price to a 52-week high this week.
Who is Raytheon? The manufacturer of the BGM-109, more commonly known as the Tomahawk missile, the weapon of choice of the Obama administration in any strike against Syria.
Raytheon stock has surged over the past two months, coinciding with the biggest U.S. military build-up America has mounted since it launched an assault against Libya in 2011.
Raytheon is a Cambridge, Mass.,-based American defense contractor with total employment of 72,400 people. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of guided missiles and produces such widely used weapons as the AIM-7 Sparrow missile, the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile and the BGM-109 Tomahawk. The company is also responsible for the Air Warfare Simulation program used by the Air Force. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, the company had nearly $23 billion in arms sales, more than 90% of its total revenue for the year.
Would American direct intervention in Syria be about justice? Can its purpose be clearly defined? Is this a way to send a message to Iran? And has President Obama backed himself into a corner this time? CrossTalking with Pepe Escobar and Stephen Schlesinger.
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
Senior Iranian Army Commander Brigadier General Hossein Valivand
A senior Iranian Army commander says recent threats of war against Syria are part of the West’s “psychological warfare” against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“All the remarks made regarding a military option against Syria is psychological warfare,” Brigadier General Hossein Valivand stated on Friday.
Valivand said the United States and other Western powers have resorted to threats of war to pressure the Syrian government and people, given the failure of foreign-backed Takfiri groups like al-Nusra Front to topple the Assad government.
“Among the goals of this propaganda and psychological warfare are winning concessions from Syria and countries backing it [on the one hand], and responding to pressures [exerted on the part] of the Zionist regime [of Israel] on the other hand,” he noted.
The commander, however, voiced confidence that the Syrian Army and people will foil the US-Israeli scheme.
The remarks come as the war rhetoric against Syria following an alleged chemical attack on the suburbs of Damascus on August 21 gains momentum.
Syria militants and foreign-backed opposition accuse the Syrian government of carrying out the attack, a claim Damascus has strongly rejected.
China, Iran and Russia, among other countries, have warned against any foreign military intervention in Syria, which has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.
In addition, people around the world have staged demonstrations against the US threats of war against Syria.
Anti-war protests were also held in several cities across the US on the same day, including Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago. In New York City, supporters of the Syrian government gathered at Times Square chanting slogans against the US warmongering policies.
France is prepared to invade Syria even without British support
The refusal of the UK parliament to sanction a military strike against Syria will have no effect on France’s stance on the issue. Paris does not rule out that the operation may be launched September 4, after parliamentary hearings on the Syrian crisis, France’s President François Hollande stated, as reported the French newspaper Le Monde.
The French national leader has emphasized that his country is prepared to act in Syria without support from its British allies. “Each country is a sovereign state and makes own decisions whether to take part in an operation or not. This applies equally to Great Britain and France,” Hollande said.
The president stated that the intervention could begin even before UN experts left Syria; however, he didn’t rule out that a decision to launch a military operation could be made by French top officials prior to parliamentary hearings, scheduled for September 4.
“I rule out making a decision before receiving all information which would support it,” he emphasized. “I have summed the parliament on Wednesday for an emergency session in order to discuss the Syrian situation. If I send France [to Syria], the government will inform [the parliament] on means and objectives according to article 35 of the Constitution.”
Regarding events of August 21, when an alleged chemical attack happened in Damascus suburbs, Hollande stated that for France, possibility of using nerve gas “is an established fact which is not even refuted by Syrian authorities. The issue now is to establish guilty parties in this travesty. France possesses numerous pieces of evidence, which point to the Syrian regime being responsible for it,” he added.
Reminding that the 1925 Geneva protocol, prohibiting use of chemical weapons provides a legal basis for intervention, Hollande declared that Paris was looking into all options regarding retaliatory measures. “France wants a proportionate and firm response to the Syrian regime in Damascus,” the president said, emphasizing that he believed it inappropriate to use the word “war.” “We’re talking about punishment for heinous violation of human rights,” he clarified.
The president added that no resolution of the UN Security Council on the Syrian situation will not prevent creation of a wide international frontline consisting of countries, willing to take part in the potential military operation. “If the Security Council will be prevented from action, a coalition will form,” the president said. “It will be supported by the Arab League, which has already condemned this crime and made it public. It will also receive support of the European Union.”
François Hollande noted that currently “there are very few countries which are able to execute punishment with corresponding methods.” “France is among these countries, and it’s ready to act. We will make a decision after thorough coordination with allies,” he said, adding that later on he would talk with Barack Obama on this subject.
France’s president once again reminded that he believed “the Damascus chemical attack cannot and should not go unpunished” and that Paris “possesses evidence,” pointing to governmental forces being behind the attack.
“Otherwise there is a distinct risk of allowing escalation which would render using chemical weapons commonplace. I do not think there should be an international intervention which would ‘free’ Syria or depose the dictator, but I believe that it’s necessary to crack down on the regime which commits irredeemable acts against its population,” the president said.
Answering a question regarding potential aftermath of the Syrian invasion with regards to Moscow, Hollande claimed that “Russia refuses to admit that the regime could be guilty of the travesty as it fears Bashar Al-Assad’s ousting will cause chaos.” “I want to assure Russia that the worst outcome is the current situation which reinforces mujahedeen militants, “ he said.
“I’ve always told president Putin that I will in not call into question special relations which the country have been maintaining with Syria for a long time. It’s in Russia’s interests to reach a political decision as soon as possible.”
America was shocked, Israel outraged and Russia gleeful – here is how the world’s press reacted to Thursday night’s defeat of David Cameron’s motion on Syria in the House of Commons.
Yesterday’s vote on Syria on the front page of Spain’s El Pais and The New York Times.Photo: EL PAIS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Pensive looking, his face creased into a frown, President Barack Obama was pictured on the front page of Thursday’s New York Daily News with the headline “The British aren’t coming!”
“President Obama is starting to look more like the Lone Ranger than Paul Revere,” the paper said. “England joined Germany Thursday in abandoning the US march to war.”
Their consternation at the United States having to “go it alone” was echoed across the American press – albeit in a more refined manner.
The Washington Post headline read “Obama can go it alone on Syria. More lawmakers clamour for vote. British cooperation seems unlikely.” The Los Angeles Times said “US willing to go solo on Syria,” and in an editorial the paper expressed its own reservations about military action.
People across the world have protested against the Western powers’ possible military action against Syria. Demonstrators with anti-war and pro-Syrian placards marched in the US, Jordan and Venezuela.
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
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