Stephen Lendman

Washington’s view on Russia’s Syrian campaign depends on who’s commenting at different times along with what major media scoundrels report or suppress.

Pentagon commanders are awestruck by Moscow’s formidable military power, its sophisticated weapons matching or exceeding their own capability, outdoing the prowess of other NATO countries.

Its navy once derisively called “more rust than ready” is reinventing itself impressively. Its overall military capability dispels the myth about unmatched US superiority. Its Syrian campaign since September 30 has been devastatingly effective by any standard, permitting government ground forces to recapture lost territory, making slow and steady gains.

Peace remains elusive. Expect late January talks to be no more successful than earlier ones. Washington wants US-controlled puppet governance replacing Syrian sovereign independence.

It wants war, not peace. So do its rogue regional allies, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. Russia’s intervention changed the dynamic on the ground dramatically - short of hastening an end of conflict.

Protracted war continues. US and rogue allied support for ISIS and other terrorist groups means endless conflict and instability.

Syria is like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - ravaged and destroyed by US imperialism, devastated by continued war, Russia making a huge difference but unable alone to turn around a troubled region as long as Washington remains hardline.

Yet its campaign remains impressive by any standard, continuing without letup. US propaganda portraying it as ineffective or striking the wrong targets is utter rubbish.

Early in the campaign, Putin said Russia’s “objective is to stabilize the legitimate authority (in Syria) and create conditions for a political compromise.”

He also wants ISIS and other terrorist groups contained - fought abroad, preventing them from gaining a foothold in Central Asia, threatening Russia’s heartland.

At the same time, he knows as long as US imperial policy remains unchanged, endless wars, instability and chaos reflect the new normal, continuing ahead without letup, affecting other countries yet to be targeted - a permanent war agenda risking WW III.

On January 9, The New York Times, Reuters and other scoundrel media sources cited an unnamed senior US official’s Big Lie instead of responsibly debunking it - claiming “only a third of Russian airstrikes” hitting ISIS targets.

Thousands of Russian sorties and strikes hit ISIS and other terrorist groups with pin-point accuracy, causing major disruptions in their operations, permitting Syrian military advances.

Claiming otherwise distorts reality on the ground, ignoring Russia’s real war on terrorism, polar opposite Washington’s phony one, supporting the scourge it claims to oppose, media scoundrels perpetuating its campaign myth.

The unnamed US source claims most Russian airstrikes hit anti-Assad rebels, so-called moderates, along with killing civilians in residential areas and market places, using few precision-guided weapons.

False on all counts! All anti-Assad militants are terrorists, imported from scores of countries, trained by CIA operatives and US special forces in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, maybe Israel and elsewhere - along with their counterparts in these countries.

Russia’s precision-guided weapons are as technically advanced as any in the West, used exclusively in its Syrian campaign with devastating effectiveness, targeting ISIS and other terrorists alone, scrupulously avoiding civilian areas.

Big Lies otherwise persist - Washington the epicenter of managed news misinformation. Media scoundrels repeat it unquestionably.

They’re complicit in willful deception - supporting all US wars on humanity and new ones planned, in lock step against global peace and stability.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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