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WEST USING SUNNI-SHIITE SPLIT TO KEEP SYRIAN CONFLICT FRESH FOREVER
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920428000734
Sat Jul 20, 2013 9:55
TEHRAN (FNA)- American columnist and environmental activist Dean
Henderson believes that the Western powers are using the religious
and ethnic diversity in Syria to create a deep and long-life sectarian
conflict in the Muslim country.
"The Sunni/Shiite split is being used to divide Syrians so that old
imperial forces can retake the country. The real issue is that Assad
leans left and this is a threat to the monopoly capitalist system
which employs these intelligence operatives," Dean Henderson said in
an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency.
Dean Henderson was born in South Dakota and earned an M.Sc. in
environmental studies from the University of Montana in 1991. He
founded the political newsletter "Missoula Paper" in 1990. Henderson
has traveled to some 50 countries and has written articles for the
Global Research, In These Times, Paranoia, Veterans Today, Rense.com
and Press TV. Dean co-founded the U. of Montana Green Party and Ozark
Heritage Region Peace & Justice Network. He was Vice-President of
the Central Ozarks Farmer's Union and former President of the Howell
County Democrats. In 2004 he won the Democratic nomination for Congress
in Missouri's 8th District. He has authored four books.
Henderson took part in an exclusive interview with the Fars News
Agency and responded to some questions regarding the ongoing violence
in Syria and the future of war in the crisis-hit country.
What follows is the text of the interview.
Q: It seems that one of the objectives the foreign forces are seeking
in Syria is fomenting sectarian strife and religious conflict between
the different ethnic and religious groups, specially the Sunni majority
population and the Shiite-Alawite minority. What's your viewpoint
towards the efforts made by the foreign powers and insurgents who
want to pit the Sunnis against the Shiites in Syria?
A: Yes, the Anglo-American intelligence apparatus is using the same
old divide and conquer strategy they have used since the days of the
India/Pakistan split. We have seen an increased use of this "playing
the ethnic card" to recently conquer Iraq, Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and now Syria. The Sunni/Shiite split is being used to
divide Syrians so that the old imperial forces can retake the country.
The real issue is that Assad leans left and this is a threat to the
monopoly capitalist system which employs these intelligence operatives.
Q: What do you think about the chances of the US intervening in
Syria militarily? Of course, Russia and China will not allow a UN
Security Council resolution against Syria which may legalize the
military attack, but the US and its European allies may take action
unilaterally and recklessly, like what they did about Afghanistan.
What's your take on that?
A: I do not think the US will intervene in Syria unilaterally,
only because the Russian response thus far has been much more firm
than in previous conflicts like Iraq or Libya. If they do intervene,
there will have to be a face-saving Russian response after all they
have invested and things then get very dangerous.
Q: What's your viewpoint on the situation of the Syrian refugees who
have fled to such countries as Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan? Has
the international community done enough to solve the problems of
these desperate people?
A: The situation is dire and the international community has not
done enough to help the refugees. The West is using the refugees as
a political tool by blaming Assad, but the Free Syrian Army and its
international sponsors are clearly to blame for the crisis.
Q: The opponents of President Assad accuse him of using chemical
weapons against the protesters, but the Syrian government says that
it possesses credible evidence that they are the insurgents and
foreign-backed terrorists who used chemical weapons against the
pro-government citizens and army forces. What do you think about
this duality?
A: It is clear to me that the Free Syrian Army was the one using
chemical weapons, partly as a false flag operation to blame the Assad
government for doing so. Assad would be mad to have used these weapons
as it would provide a pretext for further Western aggression. It is
purely propaganda.
Q: How do you see the role of the mainstream media, especially
the Arab news outlets in boosting the morale of the insurgents
and foreign-backed mercenaries? Of course the war is going on, and
psychological operations play a key role in determining the fate of
the war. What's your take on that?
A: The Western and Arab mainstream media are a joke, a tool for the
monopoly capitalist agenda. The entire spectrum from Fox News on
the right to PBS and Al Jazeera on the so-called "left" have been
cheerleaders for the rebels. There has been no balance reporting on
the issue. It is instructive that now that Assad has routed the rebels,
the mainstream media has gone silent on the conflict.
Q: Some political commentators have suggested that the war on Syria
is a war for the vast offshore gas reserves the country possesses,
like the war on Iraq which was a war for oil. Will the Western powers
and their mercenaries succeed in bringing Syria to its knees and take
over Syria's gas reserves?
A: It seems likely that there are resources at stake, whether natural
gas reserves or pipelines. In the end I do not believe that the
imperialists will succeed in Syria and we may very well look back on
this conflict as a turning point in the global power balance as the
Anglo-American alliance becomes less relevant and the BRICS (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations emerge as a global
counterbalance.
Interview by Kourosh Ziabari
From: A. Papazian
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920428000734
Sat Jul 20, 2013 9:55
TEHRAN (FNA)- American columnist and environmental activist Dean
Henderson believes that the Western powers are using the religious
and ethnic diversity in Syria to create a deep and long-life sectarian
conflict in the Muslim country.
"The Sunni/Shiite split is being used to divide Syrians so that old
imperial forces can retake the country. The real issue is that Assad
leans left and this is a threat to the monopoly capitalist system
which employs these intelligence operatives," Dean Henderson said in
an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency.
Dean Henderson was born in South Dakota and earned an M.Sc. in
environmental studies from the University of Montana in 1991. He
founded the political newsletter "Missoula Paper" in 1990. Henderson
has traveled to some 50 countries and has written articles for the
Global Research, In These Times, Paranoia, Veterans Today, Rense.com
and Press TV. Dean co-founded the U. of Montana Green Party and Ozark
Heritage Region Peace & Justice Network. He was Vice-President of
the Central Ozarks Farmer's Union and former President of the Howell
County Democrats. In 2004 he won the Democratic nomination for Congress
in Missouri's 8th District. He has authored four books.
Henderson took part in an exclusive interview with the Fars News
Agency and responded to some questions regarding the ongoing violence
in Syria and the future of war in the crisis-hit country.
What follows is the text of the interview.
Q: It seems that one of the objectives the foreign forces are seeking
in Syria is fomenting sectarian strife and religious conflict between
the different ethnic and religious groups, specially the Sunni majority
population and the Shiite-Alawite minority. What's your viewpoint
towards the efforts made by the foreign powers and insurgents who
want to pit the Sunnis against the Shiites in Syria?
A: Yes, the Anglo-American intelligence apparatus is using the same
old divide and conquer strategy they have used since the days of the
India/Pakistan split. We have seen an increased use of this "playing
the ethnic card" to recently conquer Iraq, Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and now Syria. The Sunni/Shiite split is being used to
divide Syrians so that the old imperial forces can retake the country.
The real issue is that Assad leans left and this is a threat to the
monopoly capitalist system which employs these intelligence operatives.
Q: What do you think about the chances of the US intervening in
Syria militarily? Of course, Russia and China will not allow a UN
Security Council resolution against Syria which may legalize the
military attack, but the US and its European allies may take action
unilaterally and recklessly, like what they did about Afghanistan.
What's your take on that?
A: I do not think the US will intervene in Syria unilaterally,
only because the Russian response thus far has been much more firm
than in previous conflicts like Iraq or Libya. If they do intervene,
there will have to be a face-saving Russian response after all they
have invested and things then get very dangerous.
Q: What's your viewpoint on the situation of the Syrian refugees who
have fled to such countries as Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan? Has
the international community done enough to solve the problems of
these desperate people?
A: The situation is dire and the international community has not
done enough to help the refugees. The West is using the refugees as
a political tool by blaming Assad, but the Free Syrian Army and its
international sponsors are clearly to blame for the crisis.
Q: The opponents of President Assad accuse him of using chemical
weapons against the protesters, but the Syrian government says that
it possesses credible evidence that they are the insurgents and
foreign-backed terrorists who used chemical weapons against the
pro-government citizens and army forces. What do you think about
this duality?
A: It is clear to me that the Free Syrian Army was the one using
chemical weapons, partly as a false flag operation to blame the Assad
government for doing so. Assad would be mad to have used these weapons
as it would provide a pretext for further Western aggression. It is
purely propaganda.
Q: How do you see the role of the mainstream media, especially
the Arab news outlets in boosting the morale of the insurgents
and foreign-backed mercenaries? Of course the war is going on, and
psychological operations play a key role in determining the fate of
the war. What's your take on that?
A: The Western and Arab mainstream media are a joke, a tool for the
monopoly capitalist agenda. The entire spectrum from Fox News on
the right to PBS and Al Jazeera on the so-called "left" have been
cheerleaders for the rebels. There has been no balance reporting on
the issue. It is instructive that now that Assad has routed the rebels,
the mainstream media has gone silent on the conflict.
Q: Some political commentators have suggested that the war on Syria
is a war for the vast offshore gas reserves the country possesses,
like the war on Iraq which was a war for oil. Will the Western powers
and their mercenaries succeed in bringing Syria to its knees and take
over Syria's gas reserves?
A: It seems likely that there are resources at stake, whether natural
gas reserves or pipelines. In the end I do not believe that the
imperialists will succeed in Syria and we may very well look back on
this conflict as a turning point in the global power balance as the
Anglo-American alliance becomes less relevant and the BRICS (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations emerge as a global
counterbalance.
Interview by Kourosh Ziabari
From: A. Papazian