US seeks to add fuel to fire in Syria: Analyst

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/23/252334/us-seeks-to-add-fuel-to-fire-in-syria/

The US’ administration has relentlessly tried to bring down the legitimate government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by all possible measures, including aggressive actions and even paving the way for a foreign military intervention in Syria.

Some experts believe that some countries including Saudi monarchy as well as Qatar and Turkey, along with the United Nations are playing the role of the United States’ proxies in the Syrian unrest.
Russia and China, however, have effectively utilized their veto power to block Washington and its allies’ efforts to implement another Libya-style scenario in Syria.
Press TV has conducted an interview with historian, journalist and researcher, Deepak Tripathi from the capital city of London to further discuss the issue.
The video also offers opinions of two additional guests, political commentator, Joseph Zrnchik from Chicago and also Bill Jones, with the Executive Intelligence Review from Washington.
What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Now, how do you see the situation on the ground at this point?
We see that the United States seems to be extremely bold as we saw earlier, Hillary Clinton said that she would make China and Russia pay and being very aggressive even in their statements and saying how they are supporting the so-called Syrian opposition.
Tell me about this in general. Have you seen them being this bold before and exactly do you think that they will stop until they try to totally destroy the government in Damascus?
Tripathi: Well, after the events of recent days in which four or five senior officials in the Syrian government were killed and others wounded; we know today on the ground that fighting is continuing in the suburbs of Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo which has a very mixed population and there must be a risk of a multi-layered conflict there between the government forces and the rebels as well as within each community.

So the situation is serious on the ground, one thing that strikes me about statements coming from Washington and New York by American officials especially, is that both the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Defense Department are speaking in the same language which is very odd, they are both speaking in the language of war, and when America’s diplomat in chief starts talking in the language of war, then it is clearly a symptom of not any serious attempt being made to pacify an increasingly volatile situation but it is a symptom that the government in Washington is becoming increasingly dysfunctional.

Press TV: Ok, what about that Mr. Tripathi? You are sitting in London. Of course our guest in Chicago obviously is in the United States, but I also want to look at the situation in the United Kingdom.
Let us go back to the whole media, as he said media propaganda and media control and what the people are actually being told about the situation in Syria?
From your perspective, you are sitting in the UK; how important is that in this whole war on Syria as far as the media campaign that they are waging?
Tripathi: I think the mainstream media everywhere and as you asked me and I am sitting in the United Kingdom, mainstream newspapers here are speaking in the same language as the rest of the West.
I think that there are two things that need to be said about these wars in the Middle East.
Number one, that even the liberal media that should be speaking against these conflicts, that should be speaking in a more balanced way in so far as killings by both sides, all sides, are being committed, but that is not so, the Syrian government is being…
Press TV: Why is that the case?
Tripathi: Well, I was going to say that the liberal media, first of all, is also being fed by military, ex-military officers in these countries, who have served in the past, in various governments in the West and are being offered as commentators.

The other thing is, the liberal media, the conservative media, were going to oppose the Middle East [ern] regimes anyway because they are especially against those regimes that are anti-West; but even the liberal media have taken a certain position in favor of war.

The underlying motive is the same and that is that the Middle East which is oil rich and the West is out to establish complete control over the Middle East, therefore the main[stream] media in general are supportive of government policies.
Press TV: Well, Mr. Tripathi let us look at that international aspect of it all and the role he has mentioned, our guest in Chicago [Bill Jones] mentioned, the role of the United Nations and many people feel that basically is acting more or less as a proxy to the United States.
First of all, I want to know if you agree with that statement or not and if so, what needs to be done to change that international body to make it one that is, let us say, less prejudiced?
Tripathi: Well, I think that the united Nations had in recent years become a tool of the United States, in recent months especially, after the mistakes that China and Russia both realize now; they made a mistake in going along with the West and the resolution that was passed in the United Nations Security Council about Libya.
The West and NATO in particular, went beyond it and they engaged in the overthrow and murder of Gaddafi [the former slain leader of Libya].
In recent months, I must say that both China and Russia have realized that if the Syrian government falls, and after that there is a risk of turmoil in Iran, then the control of the West, the United States, over the Middle East region will be complete and the people, the government, the international community will have no choice, because the whole region would have been taken over by the United States, under its control, and therefore, I think that the United Nation Security Council is bogged down because of Chinese and Russian resistance and I think both these countries by exercising their vetoes are doing the job that the United Nations in its current format is supposed to do.
Press TV: Ok, let me just jump in, Mr. Tripathi, you are saying that they are doing the job that the United Nations is supposed to do, because of the vetoes, however at the same time we have countries like Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, Like Turkey who of course are proxies of the United States, who are openly supporting the resistance, giving arms, we have Turkey reports now that they are putting missiles right on the Syrian border; openly trying to overthrow a sovereign nation.
So you are saying that they are playing the role of the United Nations but how do we keep these other countries in check and balances? Who do they have to answer to?
Tripathi: That is a very good point and that brings me to the other aspect of the current situation within the United Nations; the United Nations because of Chinese and Russian resistance is bogged down.

America can not have at all its own way, and therefore very tragically, and I think in violation of international law and a certain amount of disrespect for the United Nations; countries like Qatar, which is punching way above its weight, it is a country of two million people but by golly, I mean look at the intervention it is making in Syria and in the region as a whole.

These countries with support from the United States and the European Union have taken the law into their own hands and that is another aspect of the current international situation.