Russian Foreign Ministry on Syria and Venezuela

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (MZ below) explained the deteriorating situation in Syria's Idlib province, the last remaining stronghold of US-supported terrorists - a festering issue I've discussed for months. 

MZ was late addressing it, earlier saying Turkey's Erdogan was cooperating with Russia in disarming terrorists in the demilitarized Idlib zone he and Putin agreed on.

Erdogan supports terrorists infesting northern Syria, giving them safe haven in Turkey, letting pass back and forth cross-border freely.

His proposed 20-mile deep buffer zone across the Turkish/Syria border has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with combating terrorism, everything to do with illegally annexing northern Syrian territory, a land-grab scheme Putin hasn't contested, at least not publicly.

MZ: (US/Turkey supported) al-Nusra terrorists "established complete control" over the demilitarized zone, using it and other Idlib territory as platforms to attack Syrian soldiers and civilians.

For months since last September, Russia pretended things were improving, paying little heed to reality on the ground.

MZ: "The number of ceasefire violations continues to grow. Over 1,000 cases have been recorded since the signing of the Russia-Turkey Memorandum of September 17, 2018." 

"As a result, 65 people have been killed and over 200 wounded. Thirty ceasefire violations have been recorded in the past four days alone. The continued provocations by terrorists pose a threat to the civilians, Syrian army personnel and the Russian Khmeimim base."

Erdogan is like Trump and other senior US officials, never to be trusted, their promises consistently hollow, made to be broken, their agenda hostile to regional peace and stability.

The Turkish president is part of the festering problem in Syria, hostile to Assad and the country's sovereignty, supporting regime change.

Putin puts up to him for business and other reasons, a dubious relationship with a despotic figure, pretending to support conflict resolution.

MZ: "Despite the unequivocal statement by US President Donald Trump on" withdrawing US forces from Syria, "no practical steps have been taken."

On Friday, local sources in northern Syria said US forces continue supplying their bases with heavy weapons, munitions and equipment - more evidence the Pentagon intends staying in the country.

According to the Arabic-language Baladi news website, Pentagon aircraft delivered military and related aid to terrorists in southern Syria near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

US forces held military exercises with them. The notion of Pentagon troops pulling out of the country, abandoning 18 or more bases, is pure fantasy. 

Pentagon forces came to all US war theaters to stay, not leave, including Syria, MZ adding "it is obvious that US units and their allies from the so-called anti-ISIS coalition in Syria have failed to prevent the movement of terrorists, that were besieged in eastern Syria, to other parts of the country."

She's half right, failing to explain the Pentagon transports ISIS and other terrorists to areas of Syria, Iraq, and other countries where its commanders want them used as imperial foot soldiers.

Commenting separately on the situation in Venezuela, Russia's Foreign Ministry said things "reached a dangerous point," adding:

"(US supported) extremist opponents of the legitimate government of Venezuela have opted for a highly confrontational scenario." 

"The United States and several other countries in the region have recognized the opposition leader who has sworn himself in as Venezuela's interim president." 

"This can only deepen the social divide in Venezuela, aggravate street protests, dramatically destabilize the Venezuelan political community and further escalate the conflict." 

"The deliberate and obviously well orchestrated creation of dual power and an alternative decision-making center in Venezuela is a direct path towards chaos and erosion of Venezuelan statehood." 

"Several people have already died. We firmly condemn those who are pushing Venezuelan society into the abyss of violent civil discord."

"We regard Washington's unceremonious actions as yet another demonstration of its total disregard for the norms and principles of international law and an attempt to pose as the self-imposed master of another nation's future. The United States is clearly trying to apply a tried and tested regime change scenario in Venezuela."

"We are especially alarmed by the signals we have received from some capitals on the possibility of foreign military interference. We warn that such opportunism can have catastrophic consequences."

The above remarks and similar ones fall on deaf ears in Washington and in capitals of countries supporting its imperial agenda.

Russia didn't go far enough, failing to say hands off Venezuela, warning the Trump regime against forcibly trying to remove Maduro, offering him help to prevent it, similar to intervening in Syria against US-supported terrorists.

The only language US hardliners understand is toughness. Giving them a taste of their own medicine is long overdue. The same goes for Israel.

Failure to counter imperialism encourages its rampaging. Concern for its own security is reason enough for Russia to help its allies - before they're lost to US wars, color revolutions and coups, the Russian Federation left  isolated on its own.

Action, not rhetoric, gets Washington's attention. Nothing else can work. It never has in the post-Soviet era - so how possible now dealing with the most extremist hardliners in US history, bent on regime change in Russia and all other sovereign independent countries.

The time for toughness against US imperialism is now.

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