World
Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington’s Plan
By Mike Whitney
From AxisofLogic.com
To understand who
assassinated Rafik al-Hariri we don’t need to look any further than the
$1.5 billion US Embassy currently under construction in Baghdad. The new
embassy, the largest of its kind in the world, will facilitate 1,800
employees and serve as the regional nerve center for American political
and economic activity. What does this have to do with al Hariri?
It
demonstrates that the US is establishing a massive command center for its
future domination of the entire Middle East. This suggests that Lebanon
must be entered into the family of client states who accept a subservient
role to American military and economic power, and who willingly comply
with the requirements of the regional constable, Israel.
Al
Hariri’s assassination provides the raison d'être for severing ties with
Syria and for transforming Lebanon into a US vassal. This conforms nicely
with Israel’s ambition to surround itself with non-threatening states as
well as affording access to the vital water resources of
Lebanon’s
Wazzani River. In other words, the murder of al Hariri has created some
extremely fortunate opportunities for both Israel and the US; merging
seamlessly with their overall objectives in the region.
The
likelihood that Syria was involved in the assassination is zilch. One can
hardly imagine a greater disaster for poor Syria who has been scrambling
to avoid the American bludgeon for the last four years. Few people realize
that Syria provided more assistance in the first year of the war on terror
after 9-11 than any other nation. That’s of little consequence now, as the
US is on a mission to quickly integrate the entire region beneath the
American standard and prove that it can be trusted with its continued
stewardship of the world economy.
Fortunately, there are cracks and fissures appearing everywhere in the US
artifice and new alliances between former allies of
America
are forming almost by the day. This creates a dangerous new threat to the
empire and violates the “three grand imperatives” of imperial strategy:
“to prevent collusion and maintain dependence among the vassals, to keep
tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming
together.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard, p. 40)
Alliances between the major players (India, Iran, Brazil, Venezuela,
Russia, China and the EU) demonstrate that the “barbarians” are coming
together more swiftly than imagined, creating a potential roadblock for
Middle East
consolidation. This explains why this risky gambit was put into play.
We
should also consider the assassination in terms of the drooping dollar. If
Washington’s plan to control Middle East oil does not succeed, the dollar
is headed for the landfill. There’s no way that the world will continue to
hold paper that represents $8 trillion worth of debt unless that happens
to be the only way they can purchase the oil that’s essential to their
industries. The Bush administration is on a tight “time-line” which
requires ham-fisted tactics to play out on city streets in foreign
capitals. The murder of al Hariri fits conveniently within this regional
strategy.
It’s a
marvel to see how quickly the forces of empire swing into action when a
major event like this transpires. Less than 10 hours after the
assassination, Washington was withdrawing its ambassador without even
scant knowledge of who was responsible. The press, of course, was
immediately deployed to perform its task of “finger-pointing” at Syria and
to create the spurious narrative of why such a suicidal action would be in
their interest. The US organized small demonstrations in Beirut to march
around in front of adoring camera lens to create the impression that the
Lebanese masses held Syria accountable. (A nice touch that the US used
effectively in both Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia) And the Bush team
worked feverishly to frame
Syria
with an onslaught of prepared accusations and innuendo. By now, we should
all know the drill: the main players like Bush stay above the fray and
make no reckless claims of guilt on Syria’s part, while his emissaries in
the media and the Congress heap suspicion on the target state. (Isn’t this
what happened with the “Swift-boat” fiasco? Bush pretended not to be
involved while his underlings and the media devoured Kerry in full view of
the national audience.)
The
next phase of this farce is to expel Syria’s 15,000 soldiers from Lebanon
so that Israel-America can begin the arduous task of establishing another
client regime.
As for
Syria, Russia has entered the breach announcing that it will go ahead with
a “controversial sale of weapons despite the objections of Ariel Sharon.”
(Russian made surface-to-air SA-18 missiles. Russia made a similar deal
with Venezuela just last week)
Is this
just the beginning of an arms race in the Middle East to counter American
and Israeli ambitions?
It
appears that at least some of the “vassals” are beginning to tire of
Washington’s murderous antics and are willing to counter with the only
thing that will discourage further aggression -- a viable deterrent.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb05/Whitney0217.htm
Feb 26, 2005
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