US trying to con Russia with ceasefire

New US Syria Strategy Aims to Con Russia 
 

By Stephen Lendman

Information Clearing House,

23 February, 2016

Months of Russian air power and rejuvenated Syrian ground forces making significant gains against ISIS and other terrorist groups got Washington to change strategy.

Wanting to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, it relies on deception – conning Moscow to cease bombing terrorist infested northern Syrian areas where US special forces are deployed, claiming  they’re supporting are “moderates.”

On the phony pretext of modestly increasing military-to-military communication and cooperation beyond last October’s “memorandum of understanding,” relating to safety protocols for Russian and US warplanes operating in Syrian airspace, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s spokesman Peter Cook said:

[The Pentagon] “provided a geographical area that we asked (Moscow) to stay out of because of the risk to US forces” on the ground – to protect their safety “in a dangerous situation.”

So far, Russia “honored this request,” he explained. It’s a thinly veiled con, a ruse,  Moscow will see through and reject.

Washington wants to give terrorist elements it supports (falsely called “moderates”) breathing space, a chance to rearm, regroup and add new fighters to their ranks.

Turkey provides them safe haven, aids their movement cross-border into Syria while continuing to shell northern Syrian-based anti-terrorist Kurdish YPG forces, OK’d by Washington.

Fact: US policymakers pretend to want peace. They intend endless war to accomplish their objective – eliminating sovereign Syria, replacing it with US-controlled puppet governance.

Fact: Diplomatically negotiating with Washington assures disaster. Terms agreed on are systematically breached, negotiating partners irresponsibly blamed.

Fact: US imperial aims are pure evil, wanting all independent governments eliminated, especially Russia and China.

Fact: Its aim for dominion over planet earth depends on it.

Fact: Its strategy relies on endless wars, raping and destroying one country after another – Syria in the eye of the storm.

If Putin goes along with the Pentagon’s request to cease bombing areas infested with US-supported terrorists, everything

Russian air power and Syrian ground forces accomplished so far will be jeopardized.

Washington will be in a stronger position to turn things around in its favor – perhaps able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Establishing a safe zone in northern Syria will become a platform for US-supported continued war while talking peace – strengthening terrorist forces, aiding their advance into other areas.

The most fundamental rule to follow in dealing with Washington is knowing it can’t be trusted – not ever. Hegemons yield nothing.

They want things entirely their way, letting nothing interfere with their imperial aims.

Hopefully Putin and other Russian officials are too smart to fall for America’s ruse. Continuing their anti-terrorism campaign nationwide is vital to have any hope for eventually liberating Syria.

Washington doesn’t negotiate. It demands. Hoping bilateral or multi-lateral talks will gain important concessions is a major mistake. A military solution alone can save Syria.

US rhetorical support for cessation of hostilities and resumption of peace talks is pure subterfuge – aiming solely to undermine Russia’s effective war on terrorism, essential to continue unobstructed.

Michel Chossudovsky explained Washington’s strategy, saying it’s “to protect remaining US sponsored terrorist positions in Northern Syria including those of the ISIS from Russian airstrikes.”

He cited a “Secret Pentagon document. (T)he ultimate objective ‘was’ (and likely remains) to create an Islamic State Caliphate (Salafist Principality) in Northern Syria.”

Defeating America’s objective depends on Russian air power and Syrian ground forces maintaining unrelenting pressure, continuing their effective campaign, rejecting the Pentagon’s thinly veiled scheme to undermine it.

Preserving Syrian sovereignty depends on it – along with foiling Washington’s Middle East agenda, part of its grand plan to rule the world unchallenged.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.  His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." 

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.  It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

See also - Kerry: Provisional deal reached on Syria cease-fire: Kerry said he discussed the terms of a cease-fire with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and said the two must now reach out to the opposing forces in the conflict. He declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it “is not yet done.”