The announcement last week by the United
States of the largest military aid
package in its history – to Israel – was
a win for both sides.
Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu could boast
that his lobbying had boosted aid from
$3.1 billion a year to $3.8bn – a 22 per
cent increase – for a decade starting in
2019.
Mr Netanyahu has presented this as a
rebuff to those who accuse him of
jeopardising Israeli security interests
with his government’s repeated affronts
to the White House.
In the past weeks alone, defence
minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared
last year’s nuclear deal between
Washington and Iran with the 1938 Munich
pact, which bolstered Hitler; and Mr
Netanyahu has implied that US opposition
to settlement expansion is the same as
support for the “ethnic cleansing” of
Jews.
American president Barack Obama,
meanwhile, hopes to stifle his own
critics who insinuate that he is
anti-Israel. The deal should serve as a
fillip too for Hillary Clinton, the
Democratic party’s candidate to succeed
Mr Obama in November’s election.
In reality, however, the Obama
administration has quietly punished Mr
Netanyahu for his misbehaviour. Israeli
expectations of a $4.5bn-a-year deal
were whittled down after Mr Netanyahu
stalled negotiations last year as he
sought to recruit Congress to his battle
against the Iran deal.
In fact, Israel already receives
roughly $3.8bn – if Congress’s
assistance on developing missile defence
programmes is factored in. Notably,
Israel has been forced to promise not to
approach Congress for extra funds.
The deal takes into account neither
inflation nor the dollar’s depreciation
against the shekel.
A bigger blow still is the White
House’s demand to phase out a special
exemption that allowed Israel to spend
nearly 40 per cent of aid locally on
weapon and fuel purchases. Israel will
soon have to buy all its armaments from
the US, ending what amounted to a
subsidy to its own arms industry.
Nonetheless, Washington’s renewed
military largesse – in the face of
almost continual insults – inevitably
fuels claims that the Israeli tail is
wagging the US dog. Even The New York
Times has described the aid package as
“too big”.
Since the 1973 war, Israel has
received at least $100bn in military
aid, with more assistance hidden from
view. Back in the 1970s, Washington paid
half of Israel’s military budget. Today
it still foots a fifth of the bill,
despite Israel’s economic success.
But the US expects a return on its
massive investment. As the late Israeli
politician-general Ariel Sharon once
observed, Israel has been a US
“aircraft carrier” in the Middle East,
acting as the regional bully and
carrying out operations that benefit
Washington.
Almost no one blames the US for
Israeli attacks that wiped out Iraq’s
and Syria’s nuclear programmes. A
nuclear-armed Iraq or Syria would have
deterred later US-backed moves at regime
overthrow, as well as countering the
strategic advantage Israel derives from
its own nuclear arsenal.
In addition, Israel’s US-sponsored
military prowess is a triple boon to the
US weapons industry, the country’s most
powerful lobby. Public funds are
siphoned off to let Israel buy goodies
from American arms makers. That, in
turn, serves as a shop window for other
customers and spurs an endless and
lucrative game of catch-up in the rest
of the Middle East.
The first F-35 fighter jets to arrive
in Israel in December – their various
components produced in 46 US states –
will increase the clamour for the
cutting-edge warplane.
Israel is also a “front-line
laboratory”, as former Israeli army
negotiator Eival Gilady admitted at the
weekend, that develops and field-tests
new technology Washington can later use
itself.
The US is planning to buy back the
missile interception system Iron Dome –
which neutralises battlefield threats of
retaliation – it largely paid for.
Israel works closely too with the US in
developing cyberwarfare, such as the
Stuxnet worm that damaged Iran’s
civilian nuclear programme.
But the clearest message from
Israel’s new aid package is one
delivered to the Palestinians:
Washington sees no pressing strategic
interest in ending the occupation. It
stood up to Mr Netanyahu over the Iran
deal but will not risk a damaging clash
over Palestinian statehood.
Some believe that Mr Obama signed the
aid package to win the credibility
necessary to overcome his domestic
Israel lobby and pull a rabbit from the
hat: an initiative, unveiled shortly
before he leaves office, that corners Mr
Netanyahu into making peace.
Hopes have been raised by an expected
meeting at the United Nations in New
York on Wednesday. But their first talks
in 10 months are planned only to
demonstrate unity to confound critics of
the aid deal.
If Mr Obama really wanted to pressure
Mr Netanyahu, he would have used the aid
agreement as leverage. Now Mr Netanyahu
need not fear US financial retaliation,
even as he intensifies effective
annexation of the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu has drawn the right
lesson from the aid deal – he can act
against the Palestinians with continuing
US impunity.
- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-09-19/palestinians-lose-in-us-military-aid-deal-with-israel/#sthash.fL4Eq28N.dpuf
The US, France and Britain Scrap United
Nations Diplomacy, Embrace Terrorism against
the People of Syria...
By Felicity Arbuthnot
“An ambassador is a …
gentleman sent to lie abroad for the
good of his country.” (Attributed
to Sir Henry Wotton, 1568-1639.)
October 03, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Global
Research"
- When Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s
Permanent Representative to the United
Nations (“We the people of the United
Nations, determined to save succeeding
generations form the scourge of war …”) rose
to speak at the UN to address Syria’s
ongoing tragedy, on Sunday 25th September,
US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power,
François Delattre, Permanent Representative
for France and British Permanent
Representative, Matthew Rycroft,
metaphorically threw their toys out of the
pram and walked out. Anything more infantile
and further away from the UN’s founding
aspirations would be hard to find.
They would have done well to hear Mr
Churkin’s full address (1) it lays out home
truths and the reality of international
State sponsored terrorism – resulting in
Syria’s living nightmare – in succinct
detail. He began:
“It is the sixth year that the Syrian
people have been suffering a grave
tragedy. In 2011, Washington and some
other Western capitals decided to
continue the reshaping of the
geopolitical space of the Middle East
and North Africa, which started with the
US and UK criminal invasion in Iraq in
2003. Besides, both in Libya and Syria
they continued to ‘use an axe’ without
any disdain for the support of terrorist
groups … consequences of countries’
break-ups and flows of millions of
refugees were qualified as an unforeseen
‘irritant’.”
Samantha Power, however, has never seemingly
found a conflict she would not embrace
(safely, from afar, of course.) The Balkans,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria,
“liberation” by annihilation seemingly ever
her preferred option. The UN welcomes some
unlikely Representatives to uphold its
founding aspirations.
“What Russia is sponsoring and doing in
Aleppo is not counter terrorism, it is
barbarism”, railed Ms Power. Clearly she has
forgotten the US led, multi-country
barbarisms above and further that Russia has
been invited to work with Syria to attempt
to resolve the country’s terrorist crisis.
The US and their “allies” – in the air and
on the ground – are illegals, in
contravention of a swathe of international
law.
She
appears to also have forgotten the numerous
substantiations of the US (and allies)
funding and arming the head chopping, organ
eating, child murdering other illegal
immigrants from over one hundred foreign
countries, according to varying analysts.
Another irony is America appointing itself
the “world’s policeman” – as the world is
seeing what its policemen are doing at home.
Also dropped through Ms Powell and her
fellow UN absconders memory hole seems to be
General Wesley Clark’s near immediate post
9/11 revelation from a Pentagon colleague
that:
“
… we’re going to take out seven
countries in five years, starting with
Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya,
Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off,
Iran.” Moreover, not to be forgotten is
that the plans for Syria’s destruction
were plotted in detail from within the
then US Embassy in Damascus. (2)
Interesting is also the UK walkout
Representative’s background, recalling that
the UK is ever willing killer-in-arms with
the US. Matthew Rycroft has trailed around
varying war zones or war enablers in a
“diplomatic” capacity since graduation from
Oxford University in 1989.
An
early placement was at the NATO desk in the
British government’s bailiwick, Whitehall.
After various Foreign Office placements he
joined the British Embassy in Washington in
1998, from where he was seconded to both the
US State Department and US Congress. On
returning to the UK he became, in February
2002, Private Secretary Foreign Affairs, to
the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair,
according to his evidence to the Chilcot
Inquiry on Iraq. (3 pdf.)
February 2002 was of course the time the
planning in the Foreign Office was
concentrating on Tony Blair’s now infamous
meeting with George W. Bush in Crawford
Texas in the coming April. Rycroft denied
having any involvement in those plans,
however he had integral involvement in the
infamous Downing Street memo of 23rd July
2002. (4)
The
memo related to the plans to overthrow
Saddam Hussein, discussed at a meeting held
by Tony Blair at which Rycroft was one of
the attendees. His memo began:
“SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL – UK EYES
ONLY
“DAVID
MANNING
From:
Matthew Rycroft
Date:
23 July 2002
S 195
/02
“cc:
Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary,
Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John
Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan
Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
“IRAQ:
PRIME MINISTER’S MEETING, 23 JULY
“Copy
addressees and you met the Prime Minister on
23 July to discuss Iraq.
This
record is extremely sensitive. No further
copies should be made. It should be shown
only to those with a genuine need to know
its contents.
“John
Scarlett summarised the intelligence and
latest (Joint Intelligence Committee)
assessment. Saddam’s regime was tough and
based on extreme fear. The only way to
overthrow it was likely to be by massive
military action …
“C
reported on his recent talks in Washington.
There was a perceptible shift in attitude.
Military action was now seen as inevitable.
Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
military action, justified by the
conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But
the intelligence and facts were being fixed
around the policy. The NSC had no patience
with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for
publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s
record. There was little discussion in
Washington of the aftermath after military
action.” (Emphasis added.)
In
the memo’s “Conclusions” Rycroft’s first is:
“(a)
We should work on the assumption that the UK
would take part in any military action … “
The
rest is Nuremberg’s “supreme international
crime …” and bloody, genocidal history.
Ongoing.
Rycroft has now turned his attentions to
Syria. On walk out day, the 25th September
in a speech to the UN (5) which includes too
many inaccurate and misleading statements
(many might say mistruths) to address here,
he includes:
“ …
the death and destruction that the sectarian
Assad regime has unleashed upon them. Nor
will they forget that Russia aided and
abetted this ruthless sectarian dictator in
waging war against his own people.”
Goodness, word for word out of the US-UK
Saddam Hussein hand book – “waging a war
against his own people”, “sectarian
dictator.” As Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Syria
is secular and the government is fighting a
war to rid the country of the terrorists who
flooded in as a result of the fruition of
the US plans formulated in 2006
Rycroft also alleged the use by the
government of chlorine bombs – he had
clearly not read, or chosen to ignore the
various Reports, including by the UN,
categorically disproving this.
Iraq had the US inspired “Iraq Liberation
Act” of 1998 held over the nation’s head
until destroyed by the US and UK in 2003.
Syria has the “Syria Accountability and
Liberation Act” (6) of July 2009. Apart from
imposing draconian sanctions of the sort
that resulted in the deaths of half a
million children between 6th August
1990 and 12th May 1996 in Iraq,
the Act:
“Sets
forth diplomatic measures intended to
isolate the government of Syria.”
And:
“Authorizes the (US) President to provide
assistance to support a democratic
transition in Syria.”
In
another re-run of the Iraq lies,
Rycroft adapts the “Saddam starves his own
people” line – when in fact the
US-UK driven embargo even denied baby
formula – and accuses President Assad of
“failing to stop starvation.”
Incidentally, in 2003, after the invasion of
Iraq, Matthew Rycroft was awarded the CBE: “
… an honour awarded to an individual by the
Queen for a leading role at a regional level
or a prominent … role at a national level in
any activity. The definition of CBE is
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire.” The cynic might speculate
that his part in “Empire’s” Iraq slaughter
might have been a contributory factor.
But
he has not lost talent for plotting and
economy with the truth, it would seem. But
then, between experience in the Foreign
Office, the State Department and Congress
would be a peerless education. An example:
On
12 September, the eve of the ill-fated
ceasefire: “President Dr. Bashar Al-Assad
vowed to regain every inch of Syria from the
terrorist forces.
“The
Syrian President made this promise during
his visit to the rural Damascus town of
Darayya on Monday.
“In
addition to his promise to recover every
inch of the country, the Syrian President
stated that his government will rebuild
Darayya after the four year long battle left
the town in ruins.” (7)
On
15th September, Matthew Rycroft
translated this statement in a address to
the UN as: “Earlier this week, Assad said it
was his objective to regain the entire
country by force …” (8) He surely learned
well from his part in Iraq plotting.
Meanwhile, on 25th September
(clearly a very busy plotting day) the UK’s
new Foreign Secretary (it is hard to think
of anyone less suitable to be a diplomat)
was in Turkey. He tweeted:
Boris
Johnson
@BorisJohnson
Follow
#Turkey is
a vital partner to the UK. Pleased to visit
for first time as Foreign Sec for talks with
Govt, civil society & #SyrianOpposition
9:34
AM – 25 Sep 2016
Meeting “opposition” head choppers, eh?
Another shocking international conspiracy
against a small, proud nation, which
threatens no one. The onslaught against
Syria, the betrayal of a fellow Member of
the United Nations will be added to the list
of crimes of enormity laid at the feet of
the “Special relationship” – the barbarism
of the US-UK alliance.
Incidentally, diplomacy: “The art of dealing
with people in a sensitive and tactful way.”
Notes
1. http://russiaun.ru/en/news/sc_
salp
2. http://www.globalresearch.ca/
syria-and-conspiracy-theories-
it-is-a-conspiracy/29596
3. http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/
media/234076/2010-09-10-
transcript-rycroft-s1- declassified.pdf
4. http://warisacrime.org/node/1
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/
speeches/it-is-difficult-to-
deny-that-russia-is-
partnering-with-the-syrian-
regime-to-carry-out-war-crimes
6. https://www.congress.gov/bill/
111th-congress/house-bill/1206
7. https://www.almasdarnews.com/
article/video-assad-vows-
regain-every-inch-syria/
8. https://www.gov.uk/government/
speeches/we-cannot-afford-to- repeat-history
The original source of this article
is Global Research
|
