Syria is the Middle Eastern Stalingrad

Day and night, for years, an overwhelming force has been battering this quiet nation, one of the cradles of human civilization.

Hundreds of thousands have died, and millions have been forced to flee abroad or have been internally displaced. In many cities and villages, not one house is left intact.

But Syria is, against all odds, still standing.

During the last 3 years I worked in almost all of Syria’s perimeters, exposing the birth of ISIS in the NATO-run camps built in Turkey and Jordan. I worked in the occupied Golan Heights, and in Iraq. I also worked in Lebanon, a country now forced to host over 2 million (mostly Syrian) refugees.

The only reason why the West began its horrible destabilization campaign, was because it “could not tolerate” Syria’s disobedience and the socialist nature of its state. In short, the way the Syrian establishment was putting the welfare of its people above the interests of multi-national corporations.

*

More than two years ago, my former Indonesian film editor demanded an answer in a somewhat angry tone:

“So many people are dying in Syria! Is it really worth it? Wouldn’t it be easier and better for Syrians to just give up and let the US have what it is demanding?”

Chronically petrified, this young woman was always searching for easy solutions that would keep her safe, and safe with significant personal advantages. As so many others in this time and age, in order to survive and advance, she developed a complex system resting on betrayals, self-defenses and deceptions.

How to reply to such a question?

It was a legitimate one, after all.

Eduardo Galeano told me: “People know when it’s time to fight. We have no right to tell them … but when they decide, it is our obligation to support them, even to lead them if they approach us.”

In this case, the Syrian people decided. No government, no political force could move an entire nation to such tremendous heroism and sacrifice. Russians did it during World War Two, and the Syrians are doing it now.

Two years ago I replied like this: “I have witnessed the total collapse of the Middle East. There was nothing standing there anymore. Countries that opted for their own paths were literally leveled to the ground. Countries that succumbed to the dictates of the West lost their soul, culture and essence and were turned into some of the most miserable places on earth. And the Syrians knew it: were they to surrender, they would be converted into another Iraq, Yemen or Libya, even Afghanistan.”

And so Syria rose. It decided to fight, for itself and for its part of the world.

Again and again, it retained itself through the elections of its government. It leaned on its army. Whatever the West says, whatever the treasonous NGOs write, the simple logic just proves it all.

This modest nation does not have its own powerful media to share the extent of its courage and agony with the world. It is always the others who are commenting on its struggle, often in a totally malicious way.

But it is undeniable that whilst the Soviet forces stopped the advance of the German Nazis at Stalingrad, the Syrians have managed to stop the fascist forces of Western allies in its part of the world.

Of course Russia got directly involved. Of course China stood by, although often in the shadow. And Iran provided support. And Lebanon-based Hezbollah put up, what I often describe as, an epic fight on behalf of Damascus against the extremist monsters invented and armed by the West, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

But the main credit has to go to the Syrian people.

Yes, now there is nothing left of the Middle East. Now there are more tears than raindrops descending on this ancient land.

But Syria is standing. Burned, wounded, but standing.

And as is being widely reported, after the Russian armed forces came to the rescue of the Syrian nation, more than 1 million Syrian people were able to return home … often to encounter only ashes and devastation, but home.

Like people returned to Stalingrad, some 70 years ago.

*

So what would my answer be to that question now: “whether it would be easier the other way”, to surrender to the Empire?

I guess something like this:

“Life has meaning, it is worth living, only if some basic conditions can be fulfilled. One does not betray great love, be it love for another person or love for one’s country, humanity or ideals. If one does, it would be better not to be born at all. Then I say: the survival of humankind is the most sacred goal. Not some short-time personal gain or ‘safety’, but the survival of all of us, of people, as well as the safety of all of us, humans.”

When life itself is threatened, people tend to rise and fight, instinctively. During such moments, some of the most monumental chapters in human history are written.

Unfortunately, during these moments, millions tend to die.

But the devastation is not because of those who are defending our human race.

It is because of the imperialist monsters and their servants.

Most of us are dreaming about a world without wars, without violence. We want true kindness to prevail on earth. Many of us are working relentlessly for such a society.

But until it is constructed, until all extreme selfishness, greed and brutality are defeated, we have to fight for something much more “modest” – for the survival of people and of humanism.

The price is often horrible. But the alternative is one enormous gaping void. It is simply nothing – the end, full stop!

In Stalingrad, millions died so we could live. Nothing was left of the city, except some melted steel, scattered bricks and an ocean of corpses. Nazism was stopped. Western expansionism began its retreat, that time towards Berlin.

Now Syria, quietly but stoically and heroically, stands against Western, Qatari, Saudi, Israeli and Turkish plans to finish the Middle East.

And the Syrian people have won. For how long, I don’t know. But it has proven that an Arab country can still defeat the mightiest murderous hordes.

Andre Vltchek is philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist, he’s a creator of Vltchek’s World an a dedicated Twitter user, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2016/01/02/syria-is-the-middle-eastern-stalingrad/

Guerre e recessione, i fondamenti della Pax Americana

Gli ultimi decenni sono stati abbastanza per capire che la fine della Guerra Fredda non è stata realmente la fine della guerra, ma piuttosto un moltiplicatore della stessa, il cui risultato è stato una verace offensiva neoimperialista degli Stati Uniti.

La creazione dell'egemonia americana sul mondo è stato il cambiamento più radicale patito dal mondo. Intere civiltà sono state distrutte — Iraq, Afghanistan, Libia, Siria- mentre gli USA si sono presi la responsabilità di essere i poliziotti del mondo.
Tuttavia l'instaurarsi dell'egemonia imperiale americana alla fine del mondo bipolare non ha condotto il mondo alla globalizzazione del sistema capitalistico e neanche a condizioni di stabilità e crescita economica. L'economia capitalistica aveva già dato segnali di cedimento negli anni '80 e '90 e dal 2008 è il centro di un sistema che sta attraversando una fase di profonda e prolungata recessione, che ancora nessuno sa quando finirà, ma che ha già portato alla distruzione dei resti dell'eccellente sistema di welfare in Europa e livelli record di disoccupazione.
E' questa l'Utopia che il Sistema imperialista e capitalista propone al mondo?
E' stato in nome di questi scenari di guerra e di crisi economica che si è proposto di distruggere tutto ciò che vi si opponeva? Per questo è stato imposto il regno del mercato e il presunto dogma della superiorità militare degli USA. E' stato con questi obiettivi che all'Europa è stato proposto di distruggere il suo passato fondato sui diritti sociali. E' con questo che gli USA invitano, o meglio costringono, gli altri paesi a partecipare ai loro accordi di partnership transoceanica.
Questo mondo miserabile fondato sulla potenza delle armi e dei soldi è arrivato al capolinea. I paesi che resistono rappresentano l'inizio di un nuovo ciclo di costruzione di un mondo basato su diritti per tutti e solidarietà.
Per tutti questi motivi la luna di miele con l'egemonia unipolare del Nord America è durata poco. I BRICS, la Cina, la Russia, i governi progressisti dell'America Latina sono legami della nuova economia multipolare del mondo e gettano le basi per una nuova geopolitica basata sulla bipolarità mondiale.
La recessione nel centro del Sistema capitalistico mondiale colpisce tutto il mondo, ma il resto del mondo non è entrato in una recessione profonda e prolungata come in passato. Gli USA non possono invadere la Siria ed attaccare l'Iran. Gli USA continuano ad essere la maggiore potenza mondiale oggi, ma stanno incontrando limiti a cui non pensavano quando trionfarono nella Guerra Fredda.
 Occorre che l'Europa si renda conto che occorre smetterla di seguire ciecamente la politica estera americana per sentirsi più sicuri. I paesi europei devono adottare un altro modello economico, non solo quello dell'austerità imposta dalla Germania. I paesi membri dei BRICS mostrano la possibilità di disegnare nuove geometrie mondiali, politiche, economiche e militari.  Con chi vuole stare l'Europa?
Il mondo segnato dall'egemonia imperiale nordamericana è un mondo di guerra e recessione.
L'America Latina ha dato un contributo importante a questo nuovo mondo multipolare, con il Mercosur, l'UNASUR, CELAC e la partecipazione diretta del Brasile nei BRICS e gli accordi firmati dai paesi della regione con Cina, Russia e BRICS stessi. Gli USA non possono più fare affidamento sul loro vecchio cortiletto. Il Messico sta pagando il prezzo della ripetuta sottomissione al suo vicino settentrionale. L'Europa è paralizzata dall'austerità. Iraq e Aghanistan sono stati distrutti dall'occupazione militare degli USA.
Il XXI secolo è uno scenario di lotta per una nuova egemonia mondiale, condivisa, democratica, consensuale, con negoziati per risolvere i conflitti ed un'economia basata sulle necessità di tutti e non l'imperativo del capitale speculativo.
Fonte:  http://it.sputniknews.com/mondo/20151211/1702926/guerra-recessione-pax.html