La nota que sigue es de Pepe Escobar y salió publicada hoy en South Front. En la misma se detallan las posibles implicancias del eje Rusia-Irán como articulador del nuevo alineamiento estratégico de Medio Oriente (alineamiento que denominamos SITRIC en un post anterior, aludiendo a la alianza tácita que se está produciendo entre Siria, Iraq, Turquía, Rusia, Irán y China). A ver si les gusta:
Título: The Russia-Iran
Strategic Game-Changer
Texto: Russian Tu-22M3
Backfire bombers – as well as Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers – leave from the
Iranian Hamadan airfield to bomb jihadis and assorted «moderate rebels» in
Syria, and immediately we’ve got ourselves a major, unforeseen geopolitical
game-changer.
The record shows
that Russia has not been present militarily in Iran since 1946; and this is the
first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran allowed another nation
to use Iranian territory for a military operation.
Bets could be
made the Pentagon would, predictably, freak out like a bunch of pampered, irate
teens. They did not disappoint, complaining that Russia’s advance warning did
not allow enough time to «prepare» – as in blaring all across the planet
another episode of «Russian aggression», on top of it in cahoots with «the
mullahs». Further desperation ensued, with Washington claiming Iran might have
violated UN Security Council resolutions.
Moscow’s spin, in
contrast, was a beauty; this was all about logistics and cost cutting. Admiral
Vladimir Komoyedov, chair of the State Duma’s Defense Committee and a former
commander of the Black Sea Fleet, gave a lovely explanation of the modus
operandi:
«It is expensive
and takes a long time to fly from bases in the European part of Russia. The
issue of the cost of military combat activities is, at present, a priority. We
must not go over the current Defense Ministry budget. Flying Tu-22s from Iran
means using less fuel and carrying larger payloads... Russia won’t be able to
find a friendlier and more suitable, from the point of view of security,
country in that part of the world, and strikes must be carried out if we want
to end this war... Airfields in Syria are not suitable because of the constant [need
for] flying over areas of combat activities».
Don’t mess with
the SCO
All fine and
dandy then. The Pentagon will keep crying foul. Enraged Zionists in Israel and
fanatic Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia will throw tantrums and turbo-charge the
proverbial «Iranian existential threat» to apocalyptic levels. Whatever. These
«facts in the skies» cannot be altered. Especially because if they open the way
for a decisive victory in the battle for East Aleppo, the foreign-imposed
Syrian civil war will be all but over.
Ali Shamkhani,
head of Iran’s National Security Council, made no mistake this is all about
Iran-Russia strategic cooperation in a – real – fight against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh
terror, and not, as spun by Western corporate media, the return of Iran as a
«military asset» of a great power.
Iraqi Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi, for his part, stressed, «I allowed the bombers to fly
over because we received clear information about them. They make precise
strikes, avoid casualties among civilians. So, we will consider all the
requests concerning security of civilians in Syria».
This was code for
Baghdad coolly allowing Russian access through Iraqi airspace for the TU-22M3
bombers. Next inevitable step would be the Russian Caspian fleet launching
cruise missiles over Iranian and Iraqi airspace towards those Beltway-protected
«rebels» in Syria.
And there’s more,
much more.
A 2015
Moscow-Damascus agreement has now been ratified by Russia. That, in effect,
turns the Russian air base at Khmeimim into a permanent military base in the
eastern Mediterranean.
Beijing and
Damascus, for their part, have just agreed on closer military ties on top of
Chinese humanitarian aid. Syrian Arab Army personnel will eventually be trained
by Chinese military instructors.
Beijing is now
directly involved in Syria for a key national security reason; hundreds of
Uyghurs have joined Daesh or follow al-Qaeda goon Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the
much-appreciated-in-the Beltway leader of the Army of Syrian Conquest – and may
eventually return to Xinjiang to wage jihad.
And then, there’s
the absolutely delicious cherry in the cheesecake, as professor of Middle East
Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, Zhao Weiming, told the
Global Times; Beijing’s new power play in Syria is payback for Pentagon
interference in the South China Sea.
So what will
Hillary do?
All of the above
points to the new look of what used to be a white elephant in the room; the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) now means serious business.
As the «4+1»
(Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, plus Hezbollah) started to share intel and
operation procedures last year, including a coordination center in Baghdad,
analysts such as Alistair Cooke and myself saw it as en embryo of the SCO in
action. This was definitely, already, an alternative to NATO’s «humanitarian»
imperialism and regime change obsession. For the first time NATO was not free
anymore to roam around the world like an out-of-control Robocop. Even though
only Russia and China were SCO members, and Iran an observer, the cooperation
involved – at the request of a government fighting jihadis and still a target
for regime change – already qualified as a major, new geopolitical fact on the
ground.
Now, this variant
of the New Silk Roads – New Silk Airways? – involving Russia, Iran, Iraq and
Syria and precisely targeting Salafi-jihadism, qualifies once again as
accelerated Eurasia integration. Both SCO heavyweights China and Russia will
not only admit Iran as a full member as early as next year; they know Iran is a
key strategic asset in a battle against NATO, and they will never let Syria
become the new Libya. In parallel, Russia’s strategic moves in Crimea and Syria
are set to be dissected in excruciating detail in Chinese military academies.
Eurasia
integration is being progressively intertwined with the SCO.
Whatever Tel Aviv
and Riyadh – with their massive Washington lobbies – may fear about
Russian-Iranian security cooperation, it’s NATO that’s livid. And much more
than NATO, Hillary «Queen of War» Clinton.
The record shows
Hillary with a severe crush on Assad to be dispatched the Gaddafi way. In the
event of a Hillary presidency, bets can be made she will force the Pentagon to
impose a no-fly zone in northern Syria and weaponize assorted «rebel» remnants
to Kingdom Come.
And then there’s
Iran. During the 2008 US presidential campaign, I was on the floor as Hillary
addressed the AIPAC conference in Washington, a truly frightening spectacle.
Using the – false – premise of an Iranian attack on Israel, she said, «I want
the Iranians to know that if I’m president, we will attack Iran. In the next 10
years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on
Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them».
Oh really? Over
Russia-Iran strategic cooperation? Over a progressively integrated SCO? Bring
it on, Queen of War.
Ya comenzarán a hablar del "nuevo eje del mal"
ResponderEliminarYa comenzaron. Cordiales saludos,
ResponderEliminarAstroboy