Saturday 8 August 2020

Historical context: 7 wars in 5 years planned in 2003

 We need this historical context in this situation. Back in 2003 the US/Israeli neocons had Lebanon in their crosshairs and they still do.

Look at Macron's shameful uninvited visit to Beirut trying to whip up the Lebanese crowds

General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned - Seven Countries In Five Years

Originally published in March 2007

General Wesley Clark:

Because I had been through the Pentagon right after 9/11. About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, "Sir, you've got to come in and talk to me a second." I said, "Well, you're too busy." He said, "No, no." He says, "We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, "We're going to war with Iraq? Why?" He said, "I don't know." He said, "I guess they don't know what else to do." So I said, "Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?" He said, "No, no." He says, "There's nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq." He said, "I guess it's like we don't know what to do about terrorists, but we've got a good military and we can take down governments." And he said, "I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."


So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?" And he said, "Oh, it's worse than that." He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, "I just got this down from upstairs" -- meaning the Secretary of Defense's office -- "today." And he said, "This is a memo that describes how 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." I said, "Is it classified?" He said, "Yes, sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me." And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, "You remember that?" He said, "Sir, I didn't show you that memo! I didn't show it to you!"


Press TV

7 August, 2020


Lebanese people have taken to the social media to vent their anger at French President Emmanuel Macron over his uninvited visit to Lebanon and his "colonial mentality" by calling for a new political pact and reportedly threatening the country's leaders.  

Macron made the visit to Lebanese capital of Beirut on Thursday after a cataclysmic explosion killed 145 people and injured more than 5,000 others.

The deadly incident also left at least 300,000 without habitable homes, hammering a nation already beset by US-instigated economic crises.

During the snap visit, the French president called for an international inquiry into the devastating blast that generated a seismic shock felt across the region.

Lebanon's Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network said Macron, in a meeting with President Michel Aoun, threatened Lebanese leaders with sanctions if they do not submit to reforms and a “political change”. 

Macron also called for a “new political pact” among Lebanese political factions and said he had proposed a roadmap to the Lebanese authorities to unlock billions of dollars in funds from the international community, and that he would return to Lebanon in September to follow up.

I will be back on September 1, and if they can't do it, I'll take my political responsibility”  toward Lebanon, said Macron in remarks more sounding like those about a protectorate. 

In flagrant act of interference, French president proposes new ‘political pact’ for Lebanon

The French president has proposed a new political pact for Lebanon in a clear act of interference after a huge blast in Beirut.

Macron’s remarks sparked a swift backlash, with many Twitter users denouncing what they deemed as interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon, which gained independence from the French colonial rule more than seven decades ago.

French cities are in chaos and now Macron is going to take care of business in Lebanon?

Lebanese beware!
— Marc (@o_liuw) August 6, 2020
To defend everything is to defend nothing. #Macron is trying hard to be everything to everyone. Never visited #Lebanon before today and now he is playing pater noster in #Beirut? His political responsability was to be supportive back in 2017/2018.
— Fares Meherzi (@25Juillet_) August 6, 2020
He is chasing contracts, the French always do this.
— Jed Stone (@Jedstonepompey) August 6, 2020
I can't comment on #Macron's visit to #Lebanon from a Lebanese perspective, but as a French citizen, it's interesting to see Macron celebrating Lebanese citizens protesting their government while at home riot cops are sent to tear gas French citizens protesting his own.
— Rim-Sarah Alouane (@RimSarah) August 6, 2020
He can't take care of what's happening in France but he will take care of Lebanon...
— Fred73 (@ftrib) August 6, 2020
Do we need to become a French colony again?! Most of this is happening to us because of a domino affect that started with the Turks and the French. We need Lebanese people who truly care about Lebanon to run us. Not any outside influence
— Amanda Hamze ?￰゚ヌᄃ (@AmandaHamze) August 6, 2020
Happily enough, since he can't accomplish anything in his own country I doubt this will go further than words.
— FlowerPower ദേവത (@FlowerPowaaaaaa) August 6, 2020
Don't worry, everything he said is just a "one man show" for the camera. He doesn't care at all about lebaneses and he won't lift a finger for them.
— Citoyen Lambda (@CitoyenLambda44) August 6, 2020
I ask our Lebanese sovereignist friends to be wary of the words of #Macron, and to take a look at the situation in France before applauding his words.This Opportunist Affairist is on the lookout for Business. Its motto the misfortune of some makes the happiness of others.
— Tomer René Bayssière (@Tomer_bayssiere) August 6, 2020
I’m French and I’m so ashamed !
Please, don’t think French people are like him.
— Martin Parks (@Pti_Kiwi) August 6, 2020
Lebanon is not a french colony!
— Gavin (@Gavin24386855) August 6, 2020
The French Mandate is BACK?!!
— عمر (@kki9p_) August 6, 2020
Yeah, I don't think Lebanon needs France to interfere. It has never worked.
— Ali (@lebaeneseali) August 6, 2020
A political pact? I would be very wary of this if I was living in Lebanon.
— Bitter old cat lady ? (@bittroldcatlady) August 6, 2020
.
France sees Lebanon as its colony
This is how the president should have been received!

تعتبر فرنسا لبنان مستعمرتها
هكذا كان ينبغي استقبال الرئيس #مكرون ?￰゚ヘᄈ pic.twitter.com/rz5j7jOvek
— لیا آبنوس_حساب جدید (@lieaEbony) August 6, 2020

Macron's remarks provoke unrest

Macron’s remarks at a time of shock and anger among the traumatized nation also provoked protests in central Beirut, where security forces fired tear gas to disperse dozens of demonstrators.

The protesters marched on the roads leading to the government building and the parliament. They pelted security forces with stones and set tires on fire, shouting against the political elite.

Some in the small protest were wounded, the National News Agency reported.

The powerful explosion on Tuesday took place in port warehouses that stored highly explosive material near central Beirut. Video footage captured a shockwave travelling fast across hundreds of meters, essentially flattening the area.

Beirut blast aftermath resembles Lebanon civil war: MSF chief

Doctors Without Borders says the Beirut blast caused destruction like that caused by the country

Dozens of people are still missing, and thousands of people have been displaced as a result of the colossal blast, which leveled the whole port and a large section of central Beirut and turned successive apartment blocks into masses of debris and twisted metal.

A large supply of confiscated explosive material that had been stored in a warehouse at the city's port for the past six years is suspected to have caused the massive explosion, the biggest to ever hit the Middle East, but investigators have only just started to look into what happened.

Lebanon govt. gives investigative committee four days to find those responsible for Beirut blast

Lebanon gives an investigative committee four days to determine responsibility for the devastating explosion in Beirut.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab has announced three days of national mourning for the victims of the deadly incident and declared a state of emergency across the country for two weeks.

Diab has pledged that those responsible for the massive blast in Beirut would be held to account, calling for international assistance to help the country, which is already staggering from economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus cases.

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