For whom the Syrian bell tolls

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NL22Ak03.html



For whom the Syrian bell tolls
By Pepe Escobar
Dec 22, 2012

The top geopolitical tragedy in 2013: the rape of Syria.

Just as once in a while I go back to my favorite Hemingway passages, lately I've been going back to some footage I shot years ago of the Aleppo souk - the most extraordinary of all Middle Eastern souks. It's like being shot in the back; I was as fond of the souk's architecture as of its people and traders. Weeks ago, most of the souk - the living pulse of Aleppo for centuries - was set on fire and destroyed by the "rebels" of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA).

In this Syrian tragedy, there is no Hemingway young hero, no Robert Jordan in the International Brigades fighting alongside Republican guerrillas against the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. In the Syrian civil war, the international brigades are mostly of the mercenary, Salafi-jihadi, beheading and car-bombing type. And the (few) young Americans in place are basically high-tech pawns in a game played by the rapacious NATOGCC club (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its Arab puppets of the Gulf Cooperation Council).

The tragedy continues. The Syrian state, political and military security apparatus will maintain its mini-blitzkriegs - with no second thoughts for "collateral damage". On the opposing side, "rebel" commanders will be betting on a new Saudi-Qatari-encouraged Supreme Military Council.

[bemildred]

1. Yep, an ugly business, and likely to stay that way.

Violence isn't something you just turn on and off like with a switch. When conditions are ripe, it adapts and grows.