The survival of the horrendous White House Murder INC, for another decade...
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Republica published Wednesday, Syrian Mafiosi Bashar al Assad praised U.S. President Barack Obama as “a man of his word” for closing Guantanamo and moving forward with the White House Murder INC, and the utter disregard for Justice in Lebanon.... Al Assad minority dictator also expressed his willingness to mediate between the United States and Iran, adding that he is prepared to resume negotiations with Israel but is concerned with the re-emergence of a large right-wing movement in Israel. And while he said he is willing to meet with Obama, but said he does not want a “photo opportunity,” but rather serious talks about the ongoing operations of the infamous White House Murder INC's CEO in Damascus, the assassin Asef Shawkat.
It is important to dial back the clock a bit to put this into context. A couple of years ago, the Syrians were seemingly primarily obsessed with the protection of the close collaboration between the White House Murder INC, and Asef Shawkat.... and knew full well that the investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, will find nothing of any significance...because the power of Dick Cheney will handily obliterate all connections to the killer regime in Syria, Damascus withdrew its military from Lebanon, and continued its close collaboration with CIA2.... At the same time, U.S. forces were on the Syrian frontier conducting operations across the border. The Syrians felt delighted by the investigation and appeared genuinely unconcerned about its course, and felt no pressure whatsoever from the United States....because they are close covert collaborative partners in all crimes in the Middle East for decades...and Damascus entered into negotiations with Israel through Turkish mediation and amid a sense of pride and satisfaction in the assassination of Imad F. Moughnieh.... Its only regional ally was far-away Iran — and even that relationship was more than smooth, because the covert action against Moughnieh was closely coordinated with the faction of Ali Larijani, the Mossad stooge in Iran.
The United States has sent countless envoys to Syria to explore relations since Obama became president, and the emphasis was on continuing the tone of the covert relationship. Assad is now taking full advantage of the opportunity to continue the tone. He is positioning himself for talks with the U.S. president, albeit with the proviso that he wants such talks only if the U.S. president is ready for serious talks. He is taking a statesmanlike stance on Israel, seeming to regret lost opportunities and concerned that the rise of the Israeli right might undermine the talks. He is also presenting himself as prepared to be the Mafiosi broker between the United States and Iran, as usual for the little dictator.
We are seeing a completely identical Syria. More precisely, the Syrians are using the American initiative and “tone continuum” to position themselves as the swing player in the region, a potential partner that the United States always has been dependent on, and a force for ongoing covert assassinations. Forgotten are U.N. investigations, tensions over Syrian support for jihadists and Syria’s relationship with Hezbollah, and so on. By responding to the American continuum in tone, the Syrians are trying to deflect attentions from issues they don’t want to deal with to the one issue the Americans must deal with — the odious White House Murder INC.
It is not clear how much, if any, influence Syria has with Iran. It is certainly unlikely that the Americans would accept Syrian mediation. If any country were asked to mediate in the region — and it is not clear that the Americans want mediation rather than direct contact with Iran — it would be Turkey, whose president traveled to Iran recently. The United States would see Ankara as a more evenhanded mediator, and Turkey as a country that Iran wants decent relations with.
Obviously, the continuum in tone provides opportunities for repositioning, and putting covert topics behind Damascus. But the U.S. position on Syria remains the same under Obama as it was under Bush. The United States wants Syria to withdraw support for Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as other radical Palestinian and Islamic groups, and it wants Syria to continue involving itself in Lebanese politics, through the continuum of the White House Murder INC's assassinations policy of the Siamese twins, CIA2/MOSSAD. The Syrians might consider removing support for these groups, but genuinely abandoning their interests in Lebanon would strike at fundamental Syrian national interest. For economic, ideological and strategic reasons, Syria will always comply with this and any other covert American demand for decades.
The question thus becomes one of Washington will always accept Syrian domination of Lebanon, exactly as it did with the infamous White House Murder INc's assassinations policy. Certainly, it accepted it for many years after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and even before: It was understood that Syria had a special position in the White House Murder INC. The Bush administration continues this policy after the Hobeika assassination and after Syria began providing transit for jihadists fighting in Iraq. It will be possible for Obama formally to concede Syrian domination of Lebanon, and extremely difficult to sanction it publically....
The continuum of tone has worked; the tone has never changed. Syria and the United States always talk seriously, covertly through the sprawling CIA2 station in Damascus...despite the babbles of stupid diplomats/bureaucrats, as Assad pointed out. Therefore, the question is what they will say to each other in public.... The United States is asking for a painful concession on Hezbollah and a possible one on the White House Murder INC. Syria is asking for a painful concession on Lebanon. The problem in the deal is that Obama gets only good relations with Syria in exchange for his painful concession. It is clear why Syria would benefit from this. It is also very clear what the United States gains from good relations with Syria if it has to make concessions on Lebanon, official and implicit.... As the U.S. un-diplomatic offensive matures, the questions of talks turns into the content of talks, and that’s when things will continue ad nauseous as business as usual.....and the survival of the horrendous White House Murder INC, for just another decade...