The US “Plan B” for Syria and the threat of world war

[JohnyCanuck]

The US “Plan B” for Syria and the threat of world war

by Bill Van Auken

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also reportedly spent the last several days discussing a “Plan B” that would involve their participation in direct military intervention to save the “rebels” that they have supported. The Saudi-owned news group al-Arabiya has quoted officials in Riyadh as confirming the House of Saud’s decision to send troops into Syria in what would constitute a provocatively hostile invasion.

Responding to the ominous implications of such an escalation, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the German daily Handelsblatt Thursday: “The Americans and our Arab partners must think hard about this—do they want a permanent war? All sides must be forced to the negotiating table instead of sparking a new world war.”

Medvedev’s choice of words was not mere hyperbole. A military intervention to rescue the “rebels,” which amounts to a war to save Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Al Nusra Front, the leading force on the ground in Aleppo province, could quickly bring the US and its allies into combat with Russia, an armed confrontation between the world’s two major nuclear powers.

US officials have spoken in recent days of creating a “humanitarian corridor” to Aleppo and other rebel areas under siege by government forces. Presumably this “corridor” is meant to replace the main supply route for the “rebels” from Turkey, which has been cut off by the government offensive, disrupting the CIA-orchestrated arming of the “rebels” with stockpiles poured in from Libya, the Gulf oil kingdoms and beyond. Such a corridor would require a military force to protect it and enforcement of a “no-fly zone,” meaning a confrontation not only with Syrian government forces, but with Russian warplanes as well.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/02/12/pers-f12.html

[SoLeftIAmRight]

1. Bush has given us a forever war

The MIC's wet dream

[newthinking]

2. Not forever anymore. We are no longer playing with smaller countries.

This is far more serious than the last cold war, where Reagan almost caused everyone to get so concerned with each other that we almost had accidental nuclear war on more than one occasion.

[delrem]

5. I do believe it was Hillary and her "Friends of Libya", "Friends of Syria", efforts

that escalated the situation to this pass.

I know, Bush began the escalation by attacking Iraq after taking out Afghanistan. But it's been a long 7 years since then.

Dems aren't innocent of this, not by a long shot. And it should be clear to everyone that the US is in the regime change business in Syria, and doesn't give much of a damn what method is used or what the outcome.

[HassleCat]

3. Our military would welcome the opportunity.

A chance to test our tactics and technology against those of the Russians. This would be better than Vietnam, where the Russians (USSR) stayed mostly in the background and didn't do much direct participation. The chances of provoking an actual war with Russia are pretty slim, as long as Syria could serve as a military proving ground for both the US and Russia. Don't forget the economic benefits to both sides from weapons sales.

[jakeXT]

4. I don't know if doing the same thing over again can be described as thinking

It worked with Afghanistan and Russia in the 80's, so they are trying a proven concept, in their minds.