President Trump reiterated to the press today that the United States is maintaining its military presence in Syria not to patrol the nation’s border with Turkey, but to control its oil fields.

“We’ve kept the oil,” Trump said. “We’ve stayed back and kept the oil. Other people can patrol the border of Syria, frankly, and Turkey, let them – they’ve been fighting for a thousand years, let them do the border, we don’t want to do that. We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re keeping the oil. I like oil. We’re keeping the oil.”

This open “kick their ass and take their gas” policy is nothing new for America’s reality TV president; he’s been saying it for years. It was recently addressed head-on by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who said during an interview that it’s nice to have a US president who is honest about America’s true motives in the Middle East for once.

“As for Trump, you might ask me a question and I give you an answer that might sound strange,” Assad said. “I say that he is the best American President, not because his policies are good, but because he is the most transparent president.  All American presidents perpetrate all kinds of political atrocities and all crimes and yet still win the Nobel Prize and project themselves as defenders of human rights and noble and unique American values, or Western values in general.  The reality is that they are a group of criminals who represent the interests of American lobbies, i.e. the large oil and arms companies, and others.  Trump talks transparently, saying that what we want is oil. This is the reality of American policy, at least since WWII.  We want to get rid of such and such a person or we want to offer a service in return for money.  This is the reality of American policy. What more do we need than a transparent opponent?”

Some establishment media chose to deliberately misinterpret Assad’s scathing criticism of US foreign policy as praise for Donald Trump, with The Hill tweeting out “Syrian President Assad praises Trump: He is ‘the best’ because he’s ‘most transparent president’”, and The Jerusalem Post running the headline “SYRIAN LEADER BASHAR ASSAD: DONALD TRUMP IS THE ‘BEST U.S. PRESIDENT’–The Syrian leader, who allegedly committed war crimes against his own people to suppress public demands and win a bloody civil war, seemed to approve of Trump’s honesty.”

Many US foreign policy critics have been rightly attacking this administration’s open resource grab; if Russia had forcefully invaded a sovereign nation and seized its oil fields without permission the American political/media class would be shrieking hysterically and working to manufacture support for World War Three within minutes. Yet that is what American exceptionalism leads the empire to do without a second thought.

Assad’s comments mirror what I wrote more than a week ago (so please note that I’m not an Assadist–he’s a Caitlinist), but it’s important to point out that Trump’s oil narrative is just the latest in a long list of excuses that the US government and its apologists have been making to justify the illegal occupation of Syria.

We were told that the US must intervene in Syria because the Syrian government was massacring its people. We were told that the US must intervene in Syria in order to promote freedom and democracy in the Middle East. We were told that the US must intervene in Syria because Assad used chemical weapons. We were told that the US must occupy Syria to fight ISIS. We were told that the US must continue to occupy Syria to counter Iranian influence. We were told the US must continue to occupy Syria to protect the Kurds. Now the US must continue to occupy Syria because of oil.

These wildly different reasons the public has been given for America’s need to forcibly insert a military presence into Syria all have only one thing in common, and that’s America forcibly inserting a military presence into Syria. This is because they are not reasons, but excuses. The US forcibly inserted a military presence into Syria with the full intention of keeping it there, and then started diddling a bunch of completely different narratives in order to justify the thing it already wanted to do long before any of those excuses arose.

For eight years we’ve been spoonfed an assortment of radically different narratives explaining why the US needs to control Syria militarily, and it turns out that the US and its allies have been plotting to control Syria since long before then. This is because Syria occupies an extremely geostrategically valuable location that is in no way limited to its oil fields. In 2004 Assad launched his “Five Seas Vision“, a plan to use Syria’s supreme location to place itself at the center of a regional energy and transportation system and become an economic superpower. The nation was then plunged into chaos seven years later, but whoever manages to secure control over this location will be able to achieve the same lucrative energy and transportation control for themselves. The dispute over pipeline routes that many have highlighted is just one small example of this. There’s also the illegally occupied Golan Heights which the extremely shady Genie Energy corporation has a vested interest in, and which provides a third of Israel’s water supply, and which the US has decided to officially regard as Israeli property.

So it’s a geostrategically crucial region, and it happens to have no interest at all in allowing itself to be absorbed into the blob of the US-centralized power alliance, allying itself instead with the unabsorbed nations of Russia and Iran. This has made it the epicenter of a giant global imperialist struggle the implications of which stretch far beyond its borders to the rest of the world.

This is the real reason why half a million Syrians have died in an imperialist proxy war, and why many more Syrians continue to suffer under US-led sanctions and the deprivation of their nation’s valuable natural resources. Not because of humanitarianism, not because of democracy, not because of chemical weapons, not because of ISIS, not because of Iran, not because of Kurds, and not even really just because of oil, but because there’s a globe-spanning oligarchic empire to which Syria has refused to submit. Everything else is empty narrative.

Whenever you see anyone arguing for keeping troops in Syria that aren’t there with the permission of the Syrian government, this is all they’re really supporting: a campaign to annex a strategically valuable location into the US-centralized empire. This is true regardless of whatever reason they are offering for that support. And notice how all the different reasons we’ve been inundated with all appeal to different political sectors: the oil and Iran narratives appeal to rank-and-file Republicans, the humanitarian arguments appeal to liberals, and the Kurds narrative appeals to many leftists and anarchists like Noam Chomsky. But the end result is always the same: keeping military force in a location that the empire has long sought to absorb.

By providing many different narratives as to why the military presence must continue, the propagandists get us all arguing over which narratives are the correct ones rather than whether or not there should be an illegal military occupation of a sovereign nation at all. This is just one of many examples of how the incredibly shrinking Overton window of acceptable debate is used to keep us arguing not over whether the empire should be doing evil things, but how and why it should do them them.

Don’t fall for it. It is not legitimate for the US empire to occupy Syria for any reason. At all. “Because oil” is not a legitimate reason. “Because Kurds” is not a legitimate reason. “Because ISIS” is not a legitimate reason. “Because Iran” is not a legitimate reason. “Because Russia” is not a legitimate reason. “Because freedom and democracy” is not a legitimate reason. “Because chemical weapons” is not a legitimate reason. And those who are driving this illegal occupation know it, which is why they keep shifting to whatever’s the most convenient narrative in any given moment.

_______________________________

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66 responses to “US Needs To Occupy Syria Because Of Kurds Or Iran Or Chemical Weapons Or Oil Or Whatever”

  1. “It is not legitimate for the US empire to occupy Syria for any reason.”
    Correct, but the U.S. empire has no legitimate leaders. All we have are sociopathic leaders. Criminals. The morally insane. But oh so charming and convincing!

  2. Please consider adding the link to my recently published paper entitled, “Water, Trump, and Israel’s National Security” to your web site. Here is the link https://besacenter.org/mideast-security-and-policy-studies/water-israel-national-security/ .
    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Access to potable water is critical for Israel’s future, yet the country depends more and more on its desalination plants, aquifers, and water from outside its borders. Pollution and other factors may jeopardize water supplies as Israel extracts oil and natural gas on and off its coast. American oil and natural gas firms, with the assistance of the Trump administration, may pressure the Israeli government to allow the extraction of these resources in exchange for additional assistance. Jerusalem must put access to potable water at the forefront of its national security goals.

    Sincerely,

    Dr. Donald D.A. Schaefer

  3. Please consider adding the link to my recently published paper entitled, “Water, Trump, and Israel’s National Security” to your web site. Here is the link https://besacenter.org/mideast-security-and-policy-studies/water-israel-national-security/ .

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Access to potable water is critical for Israel’s future, yet the country depends more and more on its desalination plants, aquifers, and water from outside its borders. Pollution and other factors may jeopardize water supplies as Israel extracts oil and natural gas on and off its coast. American oil and natural gas firms, with the assistance of the Trump administration, may pressure the Israeli government to allow the extraction of these resources in exchange for additional assistance. Jerusalem must put access to potable water at the forefront of its national security goals.

    Sincerely,

    Dr. Donald D.A. Schaefer

  4. Hmmm

    Without question the issues of israel, it illegal occupation and theft of Palestine, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and the slow motion genocide of the indigenous Palestinian peoples by way of war crimes, crimes against humanity and Apartheid are among the most censored topics in the world today.

    Censorship manifests itself in many ways, some blatantly by way of outright deletion of the offending words. Other methods are more subtle. For instance; moving forum rebuttals from their related post and placing them somewhere else in the forum completely unrelated. Waiting days or even weeks to post the comment on the forum for public display. Or using cascading comments of a single sentence or even word to drive the post pages down and out of the immediate view of readers. Then there are the ploys used by the likes of Disqus, which not incidentally didn’t start until after it was bought out by a dual citizen israeli, which are designed to keep the poster unaware that censorship has occurred at all. Other simplistic methods are regularly used like posting offending commentary using formatting that discourages viewers from reading it. Naturally it tends to have an undermining effect on the comment and the commentator whether it is actually read or not……….

  5. Too much misinformation and misinterpretation to comment on except for one thing. The annexation of the Golan Heights (after many years of occupation by Israel) only proves that wars have consequences. Did Syria forget that when they started their wars and when for years they shelled Israel from the Heights?

  6. US is there for every reason except Israel.

    Funny I think Trump even mentioned they were going back in due to an Israeli request.
    Israel lobby in Washington, Israelis running the media, banking etc.
    What could possibly go wrong?

    Same thing as 109 other countries I guess?

  7. I do not know what effect this article will have on you; but after I finished reading it I felt peaceful.
    Donald in Blunderland By Tom Engelhardt
    http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176624/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_donald_in_blunderland/#more

    1. Ohhh Seamus P. Please don’t mention that vile Gatekeepers name, you may get him coming here. It’s bad enough Louis Proyect and his minions are trolling at Offguardian. Sigh. Really wonder who is putting them up to it….

      1. Anyone who doesn’t agree with You is a vile gatekeeper, the reverse of reflexively calling someone an Assadist a Putinist etc , One of our biggest problems is that We can no longer even tolerate differences of opinion and debate them on a factual basis, or even have a rational conversation.. calling people like Englehardt and Chomsky gatekeepers, may make You feel good , but You are not winning any rational arguments.. I completely disagree with Louis Proyect who to his credit publishes any comment that disagrees with his views , Why dont You go to his website “unrepentant Marxist”.. and make some coherent arguments ?

        1. Marb: cheers for the advice. I’ve actually visited Louis Proyect’s website a few times, and I agree with some of the things he has said. And you’re wrong Marb… I do not label Everyone I disagree with a ‘vile gatekeeper’. I understand how irrational that would be. And I do get that we all have differences of opinion, otherwise we’d all be sheep. Have a good day.

  8. Peter in Seattle Avatar
    Peter in Seattle

    You know, this article got me to thinking: Since using radical jihadists and White Helmets as proxies didn’t get the job done, and since multiple false-flag poison-gas attacks didn’t get the job done, and since getting Amnesty International and Democracy NOW on side didn’t get the job done, and since severe financial sanctions didn’t get the job done, maybe USAID should send Juan Guiadó to Syria, to be the voice for freedom and democracy over there. /s

  9. So, finally, Trump has personally and directly committed a clear cut almost universally acknowledged impeachable offence, something capable of being seen from almost every viewpoint as a “high crime or misdemeanor”.

    “We should be able to take some also, and what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly”

    Amongst other tweets and statements.

    They have him on toast.

    One suspects the Democrat controlled Star Chamber impeachment process will pass up on that wonderful gift to remove him from office in exactly the same way and for the same reasons they ignore Biden’s activities in Ukraine.

  10. Assad’s comments mirror what I wrote more than a week ago (so please note that I’m not an Assadist–he’s a Caitlinist) …

    I love it! Next time someone like (Louis Proyect) calls me an ‘Assadist’, and going to correct him straight away: ‘Hell no! I’m a Caitlinist.’

    That’ll fix his wagon right quick!

    1. Ohhh Seamus, please don’t mention that vile Gatekeepers name, you may get him coming here. It’s bad enough Louis Proyect and his minions are trolling at Offguardian. Sigh. Really wonder who is putting them up to it….

  11. Might makes right. So America is right until someone stronger tells them they are wrong. The opinions of the little dogs carry no weight.

  12. You could add Politico to those media outlets selectively and misleadingly highlighting Assad’s comment about Trump being the “best president.” I just want to re-emphasize this as it’s the latest, clearest tell of how the media wilfully distort these matters.

    As someone who used to have a fairly benign view of the mainstream press — acknowledging flaws while appreciating their strengths — I find myself now almost completely at sea. It’s only sites like this one — scattered and few but invaluable — that appear to offer any hope of achieving even a most precarious hold on reality.

  13. “Its all a big club, and you ain’t in it.”
    — the late great philosopher George Carlin.

  14. FB hasn’t let me post any of your articles for about the past 2 weeks. I’m getting this message: “Sorry, something went wrong. We’re working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.” Are others getting this message?

    1. What is Facebook?
      🙂

      1. Ha, ha…A good one. In fact, an awesome one.

      2. Peter in Seattle Avatar
        Peter in Seattle

        Facebook: An extensive collection of user-tracking and -profiling domains that are blocked in my computers’ hosts files and have been added to my scriptblocker’s “untrusted” blacklist. See also: “Surveillance Society,” ‘Controlled Psuedo-Democracy,” “The Role of Private Corporations Under Fascism,” and “What Were You Thinking?” 😉

  15. Just wondering? What happens down the road when the United Nations passes a resolution requesting that the United States end its illegal invasion and occupation of Syria? I would think that sooner or later the United States is going to have to leave Syria; or is the United States going to start World War III over Syria?

    1. Sorry, UN Resolutions are paper teeth in the mouth of a paper tiger.

      Even assuming that such a request is passed without being watered down to the level of a polite suggestion, and is not quickly “reconsidered” or withdrawn entirely, it will simply be ignored.

      The UN is a museum of high-minded geopolitical rhetoric, but the sad truth is that its deliberative bodies and rapporteurs are, at best, Cassandras*.

      ____________________________________________________

      * In the unlikely event that readers here are unfamiliar with the myth, or curse, of Cassandra:

      Cassandra (from a Greek word meaning “helper of men”), aka Alexandra, was a beautiful and charismatic prophet. But a spurned, vengeful Apollo placed a curse upon Cassandra: her prophecies, though true, were fated never to be believed. This curse was particularly agonizing because Cassandra’s accurate foretellings of calamity and doom were doubted or ignored.

    2. The United Nations was used as an excuse to get Saddam out of Kuwait, and an excuse for countless other military actions; why not Syria.

  16. Substitute “Assange” for “Feldenstein” and you’ve got the upcoming “trial” in the good old U S of A:

  17. So just exactly who is it that is going to “keep the oil”? When he says “we” does that mean Trump has a mouse in his pocket? Either there is a secret deal having already been made with the various players, a legal title question still to be solved or there is a piracy charge to be made… take your pick. That said, Trump is most famous for rattling other people’s chains in order to to manipulate them. Recall that in spite of all the seemingly overpowering forces arranged against him from the beginning, no one pulls out and plays the Trump card like Trump. I begin to suspect that rather than cards, it is we that are all being played.

  18. Finally! An actual impeachable offense. Go for it Democrats. Pass a resolution condemning Trump for stealing Syria’s oil. Giving military support to terrorists so you can steal Syria’s oil? Quid pro quo?

  19. A Wonderful article Ms Johnstone, Thank You!

  20. Caitlin and Assad have both ripped the wizard’s curtain wide open and exposed the naked truth behind it. Love it! I heard on RT yesterday that US has now set its sights on Greece for the same reason – strategic location for shipping and commerce. Poor Greece. We won’t take it over with military, but the results will be just as devastating to its economy and sovereignty.

  21. Hmmm

    Good Grief! The secret and completely illegal US invasion and occupation of Syria has almost nothing to do with natural resources or strategic geopolitical necessity. Both reasons are bandied about endless by the media because they imply there was actually some sort actual real tangible benefit to America and the American people when “our” leaders in Washington secretly began waging war against an impoverished 3rd world country. THERE WAS AND REMAINS ESSENTIALLY NONE!

    America has been a net exporter of oil for half a decade. When push comes to shove we have more than enough oil reserves for decades to come. Syria hasn’t been a geopolitical/military country of any particular importance (for America) for decades prior to our invasion in the early 2000’s. Syria has never been a trading partner of any significance to America. The Technology which will be used to wage the next World War rendered key traditional geographic points on the map like Syria and Turkey irrelevant long ago.

    Washington ordered the secret invasion and occupation of Syria for the primarily to ensure that israel holds on to the stolen Golan heights. And to begin process of carving up the country necessary for the zionists wet dreams of a massive jewish only empire extending from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River all the way to Libya moves forward

    Any discussion of US military actions in Syria which fails to mention israel, the Golan Heights, zionism and the israeli lobbies and stranglehold they have held on the leadership in Washington since 9-11 should automatically be considered highly suspect and red flagged. Regardless of intent or motivation, any discussion of Syria and US involvement failing to include israel is in effect aiding and abetting israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan Heights. Furthermore, by default, any such omissions deflect readers attentions away from the real reason the US invaded the Middle East starting all the way back in 2001…….(israel)

    1. Yes, any intelligent honest observer, including Caitlin Johnstone, knows that the only reason is zionist bribes to politicians. But she may well be right that the point is lost until the propagandized people admit that there is no other reason.

      As soon as they detect the Israel line they shift into witch-hunt mode for the zionists, on whom they believe they have social and economic dependencies, due to MSM propaganda. The social dependencies arise from their cowardice and selfishness, fear of defending the obvious truth against their own kind. They all know that witch-hunt will be immediately instigated against themselves if they dare speak the truth.

    2. So, you believe the oil industry propaganda that speaks of the huge reserves of ‘shale oil’? You might check again because it turns out that (predictably) those fracking oil fields are depleting at a much faster rate than the traditional oil fields. But don’t worry, like with Florida swamp land, you can still find people willing to sell you a ‘ground floor’ investment to get in on the oil boom.
      ———-
      Me, I’m still waiting for my big tax rebate check that Americans will receive because of the money “we” made when “we” stole the Iraqi oil.

      1. So stealing to fund the empire does not necessarily mean funding its subjects? What rectums!

      2. His argument does not depend on the shale oil supply, just mentioned at one point.

    3. A.) The US is still not a net energy exporter, despite all the fracking.

      B.) Actually, Caity DID mention Israel in her article:

      There’s also the illegally occupied Golan Heights which the extremely shady Genie Energy corporation has a vested interest in, and which provides a third of Israel’s water supply, and which the US has decided to officially regard as Israeli property.

      Time for new glasses?

      1. Hmmm

        Domestic oil and gas production after steady increasing since 2008 absolutely exploded starting in 2015 as laws related to production, distribution and exporting were introduced/changed and/or rescinded igniting the industry. “Official” US oil and gas production numbers are very similar to “official” inflation rates and “official” unemployment rates; they are never accurate. All three consistently use highly massaged and manipulated numbers which grossly understate the actual levels. So the bottom line on exports: it depends…..

        If the American people realized there was in fact no real dependency on foreign oil, the realization that the decision to continue Military actions in the Middle East would become untenable was not lost on the powers that be in Washington.

        Apparently, for some odd reason, I apparently did miss Caitlin’s paragraph which briefly mentions Israel and the Golan Heights. I humbly stand corrected on that point. Though she failed to draw any explicit connections between the occupation in the Golan and US boots on the ground in Syria. Instead, she drew the readers attention first to Cheney and Genie oil leaving the reader to conclude the connection between israel the Golan and the US had more to do with Dick Cheney than anything else…..

        This in no way lets the countless other articles purporting to inform the readers as to why the US is in Syria that do fail to mention these points.

    4. Peter in Seattle Avatar
      Peter in Seattle

      Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is in fact a compelling natural-resources/geopolitical reason for overthrowing Assad.

      The strength of the US printing-press dollar is currently shored up by our ability to force other countries to accept and use it. One of the main ways we do that is through the petrodollar — dollars purchased in order to buy gas and oil from countries we have coerced into accepting US dollars exclusively.

      Saddam announced that he would start selling for euros instead. We destroyed his country and had him executed.

      Gaddafi announced plans to establish a new gold-backed dinar that he would sell Libya’s oil for, and also to establish a dinar-based African Development Bank that would compete with the IMF and World Bank (two other major tools of US economic subjugation). We destroyed his country and had him executed.

      Iran is doing barters and setting up an alternative to SWIFT with Europe. And now we are just itching to destroy that country and have its leaders executed.

      As for Venezuela, it has the largest known oil reserves in the world and it’s not playing ball with US imperial designs. If Trump doesn’t bring Venezuela to its knees, the Fortune 500 will do its utmost to seat a US president who will.

      Coming finally to Syria, Europe is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, and Russia doesn’t sell exclusively for dollars. (Under US-imposed sanctions, I’m not sure they can currently sell for dollars at all.) Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states do sell exclusively for dollars. They wanted to run pipelines through Syria to Europe and Assad said no (back in 2010, I believe). They didn’t like that; Europe didn’t like that; and the US didn’t like that. (Russia did!) And guess who funded, equipped, advised, and coordinated the anti-Assad forces in Syria. (And guess who defended Assad.) What a coincidence, right?

      So there you have it. Israel would certainly like to see Syria emasculated and balkanized for its own domestic reasons. But even if you could unite all of the pro-Zionist Jews and evangelical Christians in the world into one effective block, they still couldn’t outbid the amoral, areligious Fortune 500 when it comes to buying US-government foreign policy. As in many other areas, their interests respecting Syria just happen to coincide.

      1. Hmmm

        In my opinion, for what its worth, I believe your argument is flawed. Fundamentally, I disagree with you because there exists light years of distance between your claimed and the real world import of the justifications you present. Though you do an excellent job parroting the official government line. Your reply sounds like it was taken verbatim from a think tank white paper.

        For example: In 2009, before the US invasion and occupation Syrian oil production was projected to be slightly less than 0.5% of global production FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. That number is barely statistically significant. And by 2016 that number had dropped to .05% Not exactly numbers that would impact the US economy in general or the US dollar in particular in any meaningful material way, let alone justify risking a world war. Assad could sell his oil in euros, gold, paper napkins, it wouldn’t matter a tinkers damn to the US economy in general or the US dollar Good grief.

        As for your implication that the economies of Libya and/or Syria were ever any threat to the IMF I can only say; surely you jest. Iran and Venezuela are essentially irrelevant to this discussion.

        Why is it that so many people are trying to get the American people to swallow the idea that somehow Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and now Venezuela should all be treated as if they were in the same pot?

        1. Peter in Seattle Avatar
          Peter in Seattle

          You’re responding to a straw man, not to what I actually wrote.

          I never said a word about Syrian oil production, which is indeed a drop in the bucket. I spoke of Saudi and Gulf-State production, which is huge, running in pipelines through Syria to Europe and being sold for US dollars.

          And while I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the petrodollar strategy I explained was developed in conjunction with think tanks, I’m not aware that official papers describing it were ever released for public consumption. The US government uses cover stories to justify its actions instead. For example:

          * Mosaddegh and Sukarno were “communists.”

          * Saddam supported Al Qaeda and had weapons of mass destruction.

          * Gaddafi was going to slaughter his own people and have his troops rape them (with the assistance of government-issued Viagra, a particularly imaginative touch).

          * Assad is a brutal dictator who nerve-gasses his own people (pay no attention to the false-flags).

          * Maduro is a brutal dictator who is starving his own people (pay no attention to the sanctions behind the curtain).

          * And in every case, the US fights for “freedom and democracy” (pay no attention to the actual behavior of the dictators and puppet régimes we do support).

          Maintaining the US dollar as the world’s leading reserve currency so we can run the printing press without suffering inflation and devaluation is not the sole explanation behind US military imperialism. The military-industrial complex is a powerful component of the US economy and does whatever it can to create and boost demand for its products and services. Simply taking other countries’ natural resources and ensuring that a big chunk of them are owned or controlled by American companies is another motive. (The IMF and World Bank provide an assist by forcing privatization at fire-sale prices.) But I think the petrodollar is a leading explanation, and certainly a more compelling one that some mysterious cabal of Zionist Jews — which could itself be described as yet another useful cover story.

          1. Hmmm

            You are confused as to what constitutes a strawman and how that logical fallacy is used in an argument my friend.

            The main trust of your original comment was that the US was in primarily in Syria because of the “threat” posed to the dollar’s reserve status by Assad’s decision to begin trading in other currencies. The subtle shift in your argument and tactics not withstanding.

            My rebuttal focused on the fact that the Syrian economy, even at it’s height was so small and inconsequential that even if Assad did drop the dollar it would have no material impact on the dollar’s reserve status and thus there exists no reason to destroy Syria on that basis. Syria’s oil production was introduced into evidence solely in support of my contention that Syria’s economic output is inconsequential.

            Lets see know, I have a hard time keeping up with the latest reason why we are in Syria. First it was part of the the “war on terror”, which quickly morphed officially into regime change. Then the war against “ISIS” and “al Qaeda”. And of course Iran was the designated bad guy. And then the “Russians”, then the “Turks”, then “oil” again?, and now the “dollar”? Talk about throwing mud on the wall…….

            The fact of the matter is that at this late date the people in control of the US government are desperate to come up with some sort of explanation to justify the illegal invasion, destruction and occupation of Syria because the American people aren’t buying the bullshit they have been selling.

            The United States is in Syria because without our presence there Israel eventually will have to give back the Golan Heights it illegally invaded and occupied during a war which it started and then blamed on Syria. A war which was started by Israel specifically to steal the Golan Heights from Syria.

            As for the dollar; it is losing its place as the world’s reserve currency because the Jewish bankers who have controlled the FED for a 100 years have debased what was the strongest currency in the world in 1913 to the point its buying power has been reduced by over 95%. Each time Americans go to the grocery story, buy a car, a house, pay their utility bills or or taxes they are reminded of that fact. Clearly every finance minister of every single country on the planet is well aware of that fact and will eventually drop the dollar as a result of that indisputable fact, not because of “Iraq” or “Libya” and certainly not because of the US invasion of “Syria”.

            As with most things that relate to “Israel” and US actions in the Middle East, Accam’s Razor and a healthy dose of common sense applies in spades here.

            1. Peter in Seattle Avatar
              Peter in Seattle

              @DDearborn:

              “The main t[h]rust of your original comment was that the US was in primarily in Syria because of the “threat” posed to the dollar’s reserve status by Assad’s decision to begin trading in other currencies.” [Emphasis added.]

              No, it wasn’t. Re-read my previous comments.

  22. Assad is his last name, so I think you mean to say he’s a Johnstoneist 😉

  23. Except in self-defense, there is no righteous motive for violence, and there are those who would even disagree with that, like Jesus and Gandhi. Using violence to advance or even defend whatever economic interests US corporations may have and invading-occupying another sovereign nation for such motives are plainly acts of thievery, piracy, and murder, and illegal by international law.

    That said, another sad truth remains: The US and the entire global economy remain addicted to oil. Ergo, Big Oil calls a lot of our foreign policy shots and the US citizenry’s own wasteful use of oil in our fleets of inefficient automobiles adds plenty of pressure for that to continue. It’s not just the Big Oil execs and members of the board, but the American people as a whole who live by and for this addiction.

    Unless we complete a transition to renewable energy and much more energy-efficient vehicles, we will continue to need that oil just like a heroin addict needs his next hit. Are we the people pressing hard enough for that to happen? Looks like we’re still not, even though since 1973 we should have had plenty of awareness, and it’s doubtful we’re going to do it before the situation builds to even higher pressure..more and more people throughout the world are expecting to reach the glorious heights of GDP-per-capita attained by the US at the same time that the resources needed to keep this game going are getting closer and closer to final depletion.

    I agree with Assad that it sure is nice to hear a US President speak honestly, especially one who usually is just a congenital liar or, better to say, a blatant and boldfaced liar, rather than a hypocritical master of subterfuge (typical politician) like the rest before him have been. The question now is whether he’ll take it to the next level and admit our oil addiction, its dangerous consequences, and then whether he and the US people will make the commitments needed to get us free from our oil addiction ASAP. We do have the technology to do this, but do we have enoug (numbers and intensity) awareness and the will to get it done before our addiction kills us?

    Hate to say it, but this looks doubtful and what’s happening now instead is $trillions more military spending, nuclear weapons modernization, even a new Space Force to make sure we can keep our addictions fed until the bloody end. We’d rather be thieves and pirates as long the GDP goes up? So it looks, and there’s lots of big money and jobs in all those “beautiful weapons”…We have the full gamut here of mafiosos, their hitmen-muscle, the drug dealers, and the addicts dependent on them… That’s government of the people, by the people, for the people? Is that what we really want? If so, then let it all go to hell, and it surely will.

    1. And do you want those same people in control of the transition in renewable energy?

  24. Yup. STORMCLOUDSGATHERING website saw and predicted all this comeing years back. The Syrian Kurd refugees I met tried to explain that it’s like the middle class worker home owners losing their homes to several waring factions of organized criminal soldier of fortune driving them out from several sides…. that each sides of the armies are out to steal the land and homes of the civilians…. that the war is a take-over by malicias pretending to media that it is civil war. They shook their heads at me that westerners do no have a language to explain what is happening there. To even get granted refugge status in Canada, they had to keep their mouths shout about what is really going on ther. Genocides, atrocities, decpetions, falsities, horrors, terrorism. With the peacfull working upper and middle class caught and murdered in the middle. Mass graves of civilians were later found.

  25. Bloody bloody imperialism. As you rightly say Caitlin, all this was planned long ago. Even General Wesley Clark appeared on YouTube in an interview with Amy Goodman admitting the United States plan was to “take out 7 countries in 5 years”.
    Years before the ‘civil war’ broke out. Oh, and Syria was one of those 7 countries named by Clark.
    It was all about regime change to install a pliant puppet regime in Syria. Power and Control. Oil was the bonus.
    This is so mind bogglingly disgusting. The Evil Empire not only floods Syria with hordes of jihadist terrorists, the presstitutes repeatedly smear, censor and lie about Syria, the Hegemon imposes sanctions against their victim – THEN Steals Its Oil, and threatens Syria from trying to retake the Oil fields. In its OWN Bloody Country!! Hello?
    The United States is an out of control Terrorist State par excellence. It is a danger to all humanity.

    1. Remember that when you go to the polls. If you vote Dem or Rep you are an accessory to murder.

      1. Gezzah’s from Australia, I believe.

      2. Maxim Gorki…. I’m a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, therefore won’t be voting for anyone. Period. I havn’t voted for over 20 years anyway. I woke up, sniffed the coffee, and realised the whole thing was a Punch & Judy charade, and ‘we the people’ don’t actually have a say in how things are Really run, except to tick a few boxes every few years. It changes Nothing of Real Substance. The same 0.01% are still running things.

  26. say the name: the Empire is zionist and predominantly jewish.

    1. Well, sort of…a smaller magority of modern Jews wether of Hebrew decent or not, whether practicing modern judaizm or not are quite with you in agreeing that the old clergy Pharizee and Saducee power grabbing zionists, THEY LIVE amongst us today with new names and faces following the same old war gods with new names. Yeah, there are jewish bloodlines amongst them…. CUTTHECORD, you would be clearer and less offensive to good jews everywhere if you rather enamed the evil warlocks SADUCEE s and PHARessee. Am I right? Get your language modernized… but yeah, historically the “god” that met Mosses on Mount Sinie was /is a grand deciever.

    2. Oh shut the fuck up. If you think the empire has anything to do with Judaism or Jewishness it’s because you don’t understand it. Keep that moronic bullshit the fuck off my site.

      1. It’s a new world, Caitlin — a world in which there are agent provocateurs who could get truth-telling internet sites banned or their creators jailed for “promoting” (by allowing certain comments) a wide variety of politically-incorrect acts, such as racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, etc. etc. etc. Here’s just one example that I think at least reinforces the point:
        https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-american-hacker-who-terrorized-u-s-jews-with-bomb-threats-gets-10-years-1.6677435
        I’m not saying that the commenter in this case is indeed a provocateur, but that it is a possibility that cannot be ruled out. When one considers that Jeremy is being labeled an anti-semite, absolutely anything is possible.

      2. Thank you Caitlin. As always, you say what I mean to say, and do it better. 🙂
        ———–
        As for me, I was raised around the old Ku Klux Klan, so I heard all the myths about how ‘the jews’ control everything and are responsible for everything ages ago. I didn’t believe it then, and that was back before I made my escape, got a chance to see some of the world, and learned oh so much that I didn’t know back then. And I still expect the people spouting such nonsense about ‘the jews’ to then go off on a rant about how white people can never live with n—–s, usually followed by a rant about Catholics and the Pope.

        1. Funny, all these people baying for war seem to be pretty darrn jewish to me.
          Are there any of them that are not jewish or directly funded by jews?

          1. Name just one if you can?

    3. You have it bass ackwards, ctc. Israel is just a big military base for the empire and the Jewish population there are being used as a blunt instrument to keep the wound open and keep the Arab peoples divided. The oligarchs who are really running things (or trying to anyway… screwing up badly lately) can live anywhere in the world that they want. Why would they care about some crappy scrap of desert other than what Ms. Johnstone pointed out above?

      1. The joke of it all is that the crazy Christian fundamentalists (like Pompeo) don’t care about the Jews. They only seem to support them because having “The Temple” in Jerusalem rebuilt is one of their signs that Armageddon is coming, which leads to all of the Christians rising up to heaven to be greeted warmly by Jesus who for some unexplained reason will be happy to welcome a bunch of mass murderers to heaven. They expect to be laughing at “The Jews” who won’t get into heaven because they didn’t become Christians. Talk about being used.

        1. So Israel gets support from the Xtians for REAL military aid from the US, and in exchange the Xtians get an IMAGINARY rapture from their IMAGINARY god? Sounds like a fair trade to me! 😀

  27. Just like the jihadists,
    any pro-oil warmonger,
    pro-Kurd warmonger,
    pro-humanitarian warmonger,
    pro-world policeman warmonger,
    et.al
    who favor the ongoing, perpetual wars
    in the middle east
    are free to get on an airplane,
    travel there, and join the fighting.

    Those who favor all the wars
    but are unwilling to go fight the wars
    are known in the trade as
    CHICKEN-HAWKS

  28. Years ago Syrian Girl posted 9 reasons for the conflict. Number 1–NO DEBT. Syria along with Iran, Cuba and North Korea have their own sovereign central bank not owned by any of the intenational banksters. The last to leave that exclusive club was Libya and before that Iraq and Afghanistan.The Fed of course is a wholely owned subsidiary of the international bankster families. You know the Morgans, Stanleys, Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Royals of Europe et al.
    That all this sturm und drang is because of oil makes a more understandable narrative. Not that oil is not important. All the aformentioned families are oil families as well as banking families. But money creation is the key. If you control the central bank you can make sure the oil is traded in dollars or euros and not rubles or yuan. Not only that it makes sure that countries have to pay interest to those families if they want to create money. In the US new money can only be ultimately created through interest due the Fed.

  29. A very nice speech that I’m sure fell on either deaf ears or those who are totally helpless. They’ve said it before and they keep saying it, “we can worship them as gods and serve them as slaves or die. And, I imagine that the real reason for cutting down all the forests is so there won’t even be a rock to hide under.

  30. Many years ago I read a comment by someone whose name I’ve forgotten – the US never goes home. Think about it – bases established during WWII are STILL THERE.

    When discussing the real reasons for the US being in the Middle East, don’t overlook the Yinon Plan and the Clean Break strategy. They underpin everything.

    1. exactly why Bernie has no objection to the Empire’s wars, and why the chance for Bernie to be the POTUS gets closer to nil by the day: more people around the world are more aware.

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