Craig Murray: The End of Pluralism in the Middle East

Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 2:08pm

This is a must read in its entirety. This is everything the Director of Defense Intelligence warned about in 2012, the takeover of the Middle East by a salafist fascist death squad.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/12/the-end-of-pluralism-in-...

Craig Murray
The End of Pluralism in the Middle East
December 6, 2024

… When the entire corporate and state media in the West puts out a unified narrative that Syrians are overjoyed to be released by HTS from the tyranny of the Assad regime – and says nothing whatsoever of the accompanying torture and execution of Shias, and destruction of Christmas decorations and icons – it ought to be obvious to everybody where this is coming from.

… Not one Sunni Muslim-led state has lifted a single finger to prevent the genocide of the Palestinians. Their leadership is using anti-Shia sectarianism to maintain popular support for a de facto alliance with Israel against the only groups – Iran, Houthi and Hezbollah – which actually did attempt to give the Palestinians practical support in resistance. And against the Syrian government which facilitated supply.

The unspoken but very real bargain is this. The Sunni powers will accept the wiping out of the entire Palestinian nation and formation of Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia communities in Syria and Lebanon by Israel and forces backed by NATO (including Turkey).

… should Syria fall entirely to jihadist rule – which may happen fast – I do not rule out Lebanon following very quickly indeed, and being integrated into a Salafist Greater Syria.

… What this all potentially amounts to is the end of pluralism in the Levant and its replacement by supremacism. An ethno-supremacist Greater Israel and a religio-supremacist Salafist Greater Syria.

Unlike many readers, I have never been a fan of the Assad regime or blind to its human rights violations. But what it did undeniably do was maintain a pluralist state where the most amazing historical religious and community traditions – including Sunni (and many Sunni do support Assad), Shia, Alaouites, descendants of the first Christians, and speakers of Aramaic, the language of Jesus – were all able to co-exist.

The same is true of Lebanon.

What we are witnessing is the destruction of that and imposition of a Saudi-style rule. All the little cultural things that indicate pluralism – from Christmas trees to language classes to winemaking to women going unveiled – have just been destroyed in Aleppo and could be destroyed from Damascus to Beirut.

… It is the United States which is promoting the cause of religious extremism and of the end, all over the Middle East, of a societal pluralism similar to Western norms. That is of course a direct consequence of the United States being allied to both the two religio-supremacist centres of Israel and Saudi Arabia.

It is the USA which is destroying pluralism, and it is Iran and its allies which defend pluralism. I would not have seen this clearly had I not come here. But once seen, it is blindingly obvious.

Beirut 6 December 2024

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Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 3:43pm
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https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/12/craig-murray-the-end-of-pluralism-...

It appears that pluralism is ending in more than just the Middle East. Moon of Alabama hints, of course, that pluralism will be ending soon in the United Kingdom as well. Moreover:


Romanian court annuls result of presidential election first round

They're going to keep annulling results until the people they want to win, win, I surmise. Here in the US we have duopoly, two rival dictatorships vying for power, no thoughts about what how the historians of the future will regard all of us. I don't think that future historians will imagine us as being a whole lot better than Nazis. More to the point, I don't think of this as "pluralism" so much as it is what Elvis Costello sung about forty-five years ago:

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:03pm

@Cassiodorus

some of the comments at MoA about Craig Murray's piece, starting at the most recent comments today, and some are highly critical of Murray, advocating waiting to see how the military aspect plays out. Others are critical of Murray for being overly simplistic about the Sunni/Shia divide overall. I hope they're right.

But I'm struck by the fact that whatever the plan, it is clearly the plan of "the West" as described by the DIA in 2012.

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Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:40pm
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@Linda Wood it appears that we are going back to "if you don't command an army, and if you aren't a billionaire, then yes you live under a dictatorship." Here one recalls that when Hugo Chavez took over the government of Venezuela, he had supporting comrades in the Venezuelan Army, all of which were put to good use in 2002 when the CIA attempted to overthrow him.

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

Submitted by on the cusp on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 6:34pm

@Linda Wood foray into the fray.
He is a historian, geopolitical analyst, has familiarity with Muslims in his own country, and is in the most informative situation, which is physical presence and personal contacts in the Middle East. I will not criticize his conclusions until I can say the same for myself.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:05pm

The MSM is doing its part to come to the aid of the terrorists as we are seeing the emergence
of their beloved White Helmets.

The beatification of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is underway.

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:10pm

https://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-doc...

2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”

May 19, 2015 by Brad Hoff

The newly released DIA report makes the following summary points concerning “ISI” (in 2012 “Islamic State in Iraq,”) and the soon to emerge ISIS:

Al-Qaeda drives the opposition in Syria

The West identifies with the opposition

The establishment of a nascent Islamic State became a reality only with the rise of the Syrian insurgency (there is no mention of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as a catalyst for Islamic State’s rise, which is the contention of innumerable politicians and pundits; see section 4.D. below)

The establishment of a “Salafist Principality” in Eastern Syria is “exactly” what the external powers supporting the opposition want (identified as “the West, Gulf Countries, and Turkey”) in order to weaken the Assad government

“Safe havens” are suggested in areas conquered by Islamic insurgents along the lines of the Libyan model (which translates to so-called no-fly zones as a first act of ‘humanitarian war’; see 7.B.)

Iraq is identified with “Shia expansion” (8.C)

A Sunni “Islamic State” could be devastating to “unifying Iraq” and could lead to “the renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena.”

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Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:22pm

@Linda Wood

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:16pm

https://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-doc...

… Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.

The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.

The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:20pm

https://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-doc...

2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”

May 19, 2015 by Brad Hoff

The newly released DIA report makes the following summary points concerning “ISI” (in 2012 “Islamic State in Iraq,”) and the soon to emerge ISIS:

Al-Qaeda drives the opposition in Syria

The West identifies with the opposition

The establishment of a nascent Islamic State became a reality only with the rise of the Syrian insurgency (there is no mention of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as a catalyst for Islamic State’s rise, which is the contention of innumerable politicians and pundits; see section 4.D. below)

The establishment of a “Salafist Principality” in Eastern Syria is “exactly” what the external powers supporting the opposition want (identified as “the West, Gulf Countries, and Turkey”) in order to weaken the Assad government

“Safe havens” are suggested in areas conquered by Islamic insurgents along the lines of the Libyan model (which translates to so-called no-fly zones as a first act of ‘humanitarian war’; see 7.B.)

Iraq is identified with “Shia expansion” (8.C)

A Sunni “Islamic State” could be devastating to “unifying Iraq” and could lead to “the renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena.”

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 4:34pm

had concerns:

https://geopolitics.co/2015/12/22/dempseys-pentagon-aided-assad-with-mil...
London Review of Books Vol. 38 No. 1 · 7 January 2016
Military to Military: US intelligence sharing in the Syrian war
Seymour M. Hersh

… Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling of foreign fighters and weapons across the border. ‘If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me. ‘We understood Isis’s long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA’s reporting, he said, ‘got enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration. ‘I felt that they did not want to hear the truth.’...

http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287...

… THE GENERAL SITUATION:

A. INTERNALLY, EVENTS ARE TAKING A CLEAR SECTARIAN DIRECTION.

B. THE SALAFIST, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND AQI ARE THE MAJOR FORCES DRIVING THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA.

C. THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION; WHILE RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN SUPPORT THE REGIME.

… C. IF THE SITUATION UNRAVELS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME, WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE STRATEGIC DEPTH OF THE SHIA EXPANSION (IRAQ AND IRAN).

D. THE DETERIORATION OF THE SITUATION HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES ON THE IRAQI SITUATION AND ARE AS FOLLOWS:

--1. THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA… ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY...

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 5:03pm

can be downloaded at this Judicial Watch site:

https://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/pgs-287-293-291-jw-v-dod-and-sta...

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 5:38pm
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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by on the cusp on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 6:39pm

@snoopydawg dinner this evening.
I am impressed with Wilkerson' understanding of Sunni/Shia conflicts, and, of course, his knowledge of Syria's oil, wheat, and the incessant needs of Israel.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by Marie1 on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 7:37pm

@snoopydawg
That's an excellent talk by Wilkerson. While I should have, I never put Biden within the Scoop Jackson camp. Labeling him a warmonger is correct but insufficiently descriptive. Makes it much clearer why he was all in on the Iraq War which was a project of the Scoop Jackson descendants. Also never thought that sixty years on we would still be dealing with this nutbags.

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Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 7:24pm
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.

...held by so-called human beings proves once and for all that our species is not sentient and is doomed to self destruction. The doorway to collective consciousness and enlightenment is closed to our biologically inferior brains.

I, for one, am on the wrong planet, stuck with the wrong species. I've known this since I was a small Child. This mistake is playing out the only way it can. We are a dead end; a waste of universal consciousness.

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Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 7:23pm

The US, Israel and Turkey have come out on top. At least for the short term.

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Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 9:08pm
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@humphrey GdyiyJtWwAAVCj-.jpg

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 7:40pm
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.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20241207/russia-warns-against-geopolitical-use-...

One reason why Syria has been overwhelmed so easily is because Russia has let Israel bomb Syria at will and destroyed Iranian supplies for hezzbolah and hamas. Plus Israel has killed many of the players in Syria while Russia just watched and wouldn’t let Syria use air defense systems.

I posted on this last Saturday.

Russia says that it will stand behind Assad. Time will tell…

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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 8:36pm

@snoopydawg

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 9:57pm
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@humphrey

Maybe connect to the tweet below? I guess time will tell what’s happening there.

Russia went to help Syria defeat ISIS because they didn’t want them on their border…

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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 9:47pm
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Stay tuned I guess. But then I was told that taking other country’s land was bad. Guess that only applies to America’s enemies?

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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 10:01pm
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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 10:48pm

Also too:

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Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 12/07/2024 - 11:34pm

in the world /S) Israelis enter Syria in another land grab.

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Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sun, 12/08/2024 - 1:03am
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.

This entertaining interview with Dmitry Orlov starts at 16:47 with a tour of the US-provoked conflicts in the rest of the world, describing their ultimate resolutions under Donald Trump's unique know-nothing policies. To rehash the Middle East chaos based on current limited data, start again at 00:00.

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Submitted by QMS on Sun, 12/08/2024 - 8:29am
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A couple of interesting points.
Dmitry Orlov mentioned So. Korea
does not breed well in captivity. Bye bye.

Another concerning point is this 'game' represents
an opening salvo on the war against BRICS. The
western asymmetrical approach seems to be
backfiring. And Trumps tariff scheme will only
harm the US consumers.

Whadda mess. Thanks for your reporting LO!

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question everything