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Washington plays a double game, but Ankara is the loser

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  • Washington plays a double game, but Ankara is the loser

    Mideast Mirror
    August 9, 2012 Thursday

    Washington plays a double game, but Ankara is the loser


    As Washington prepares to reap the harvest of the Syrian crisis
    regardless of its outcome, Ankara has created nothing but trouble for
    itself, says Nahed Hattar in Jordanian al-Arab al-Yawm

    The U.S. is playing a double game in Syria, argues a Jordanian
    commentator. If the regime falls, it would have imposed its
    unquestioned hegemony on the Middle East at no cost to itself. If the
    regime wins, it can always negotiate with it. But whatever happens,
    Turkey has emerged as the greatest loser from the Syrian crisis.

    IMMORAL ENGAGEMENT: "The U.S. is engaged in an immoral double game in
    the Syrian crisis," writes Nahed Hattar in the Jordanian daily al-Arab
    al-Yawm.

    It fully realizes that the route to direct military intervention is
    shut due to the newly emerging international balance with Russia,
    China, and the BRIC countries. And this means that the chances of
    toppling the Syrian regime by force are limited. This stems from the
    following factors:

    -First, the Syrian Arab Army's overwhelming superiority over the armed
    resistance.

    -Second, the economic aid that the Russians and the Iranians are
    delivering to Damascus.

    -Third, the political backing that President Bashar al-Assad is
    receiving from at least half the Syrian people.

    -Fourth, the fact that the opposition is fragmented, with its
    leadership disputed by various capitals and intelligence agencies,
    even though its main weight has shifted towards the fundamentalist,
    takfiri, and terrorist groups.

    Despite this, the U.S. continues to peddle the illusion of toppling
    the regime by 'whatever means available.' It is encouraging the armed
    elements, including the terrorists, and backing them politically,
    financially, and in terms of intelligence. It is providing cover for
    Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey's efforts to arm and finance these
    elements. And it is doing so in the hope that 'a miracle' will occur
    and the regime will fall as a result of terrorist attacks accompanied
    by political and media incitement and defections.

    But that is just a hope; it is not a realistic aim. In fact,
    Washington has admitted that it knows little about what is really
    happening in Syria and that this does not allow it to form a practical
    and realistic vision for the future. Despite this, the Americans have
    some practical and realistic aims in Syria. These consist of
    prolonging the country's haemorrhage, destroying its infrastructure
    and economy, exhausting its army and society, and breaking the Syrian
    people's will so that they will accept U.S. hegemony and
    reconciliation with Israel.

    These aims explain the large number of terrorist attacks that are not
    intended to weaken the regime, but to undermine the state and the
    army's capabilities. These include blowing up infrastructure, such as
    railway lines, gas and oil pipelines, water pipelines, electricity
    plants, and public installations, and the assassination of scientific
    and military cadres. (What political aim, for example, could be
    derived from the assassination of the director of the Syrian missile
    project?) In fact, via the monitoring of contacts between American and
    Free Syrian Army (FSA) officers, it has been proven lately that these
    attacks were planned by the U.S.

    The argument over Syria is no longer meaningful. The picture is now
    clear, with no embellishments or shades of grey. We are now in the
    midst of a war between the Syrian army and the armed groups of every
    shape and color. The final word today belongs to force, not to debate
    or demonstrations or political and media hallucinations. It is the
    outcome of the war on the ground that will decide the political
    situation.

    For the Americans, if the regime falls, they will reap an all-out
    victory in the Middle East at no cost. On the other hand, there is
    nothing to prevent them from negotiating with Damascus after it
    decides the battle militarily. In the first instance, the Gulf rulers
    will find themselves lining up behind their American master. In the
    second case, they will have to pay the price in the form of terrible
    vengeance.

    But regardless of its outcome, the greatest loser in the Syrian crisis
    is Turkey. Today, it has lost its regional status and is mired in its
    hostility with Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Russia. But its greatest loss
    lies in the dramatic explosion of its Kurdish problem. The secession
    of the Kurdish region, which includes some 20 million people, is now a
    possible item on the agenda.

    Damascus delivered a strategic blow to Ankara when it recognized the
    Syrian Kurdish problem and armed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
    fighters who are now seeking to carve out a safe zone inside Turkey
    with the aim of transforming it into a base for liberating the entire
    Kurdish province.

    A united Kurdish state is looming on the horizon. And this in turn
    will reopen the file of Iskandarun Province [Turkish Hatay] as well as
    the issue of Arabs, Alevis, and Armenians in Turkey. This adventure in
    Syria has burnt the fingers of a major regional state of Turkey's
    stature. What are we to expect in the case of a state such as Jordan?

    In Jordan's case, we are not only referring to the country's limited
    capabilities. We also have in mind the realistic elements of the
    project to transform Jordan into an alternative homeland for the
    Palestinians. These factors will come together with a qualitative leap
    as soon as - God forbid - we move towards anarchy.

    "The likelihood of this is growing as demonstrated by numerous and
    shocking indications," concludes Hattar.

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