Syria: will the West attack?

[moderator1]

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[Anonymous]

Most political organizations from the left are already publishing their stand regarding the US/Franc/UK strike on Syria. The SPGB should also publish their own declaration because this might become a very dangerous situation and might provoke a confrontation between the US and Russia. This is what a Socialist Party said about the attack:http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/04/14/pers-a14.html

[alanjjohnstone]

Air attacks took place but rather token muted affairs from my viewing of the reports

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

Most political organizations from the left are already publishing their stand regarding the US/Franc/UK strike on Syria. The SPGB should also publish their own declaration because this might become a very dangerous situation and might provoke a confrontation between the US and Russia.

I hope this latest blog post goes some way to explaining our position, Marcoshttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2018/04/in-response-to-syrian-air-attacks.html

[ALB]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

Air attacks took place but rather token muted affairs from my viewing of the reports

I agree that after all the sabre-rattling, drum-beating and bellicose rhetoric, all that the US and a couple of its poodles have done is to administer a slap across the wrists to the Syrian government. Israel could have done that on its own. It is of course a good thing that they didn't unleash mass destruction. The Army of Islam and those that faked the videos won't be happy of course as that is precisely what they wanted.Lucky that we didn't issue a statement, though we had prepared a front cover for next month's Socialist Standard denouncing the "latest example of capitalist barbarism". Fortunately this can be changed to denounce the hypocrisy of the capitalist states involved and their leaders and changing Trump's words from "righteous power" and "noble warriors" to "might is right" and "trained killers".Beyond that, other points are that they admistered their wrist slap without authorisation either of the UN or their own elected assemblies as, by their own standards, they are supposed to do and before waiting for the report of the chemical weapon inspectors due to commence their evidence collecting today.

[ALB]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

I hope this latest blog post goes some way to explaining our position, Marcoshttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/in-response-to-syrian-air-attacks.html

That's excellent. We can use it in next month's Standard.

[jondwhite]

Is it likely an anti-war protest will clash with conference next weekend? There is a motion on the agenda about protest.

[alanjjohnstone]

You haven't forgotten have you that i am a copy and paste plagiarist….Always to protect my back on the blog, everything is bits and pieces taken from past SS articles and made into something that looks fresh but isn't really.

[alanjjohnstone]

Credit where credit is due. May has learned from Blair's mistakes and has published its legal case for war.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/syria-action-uk-government-legal-position/syria-action-uk-government-legal-positionI'm no lawyer but using this statement as a precedent then China (or Iran, to make it more relevant) has the humanitarian right to attack Saudi military airfields to stop the illegal bombing of civilians in Yemen as Saudi's allies (UK and US) provide it with diplomatic cover.No mention is made that OPCW. No mention made that the use of chlorine barrel bombs can continue to be improvised. I'm sure DaveB can provide the DIY details for one. 

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43768144Corbyn's letter to May. A cautious response which permits a Corbyn the latitude to embark upon his own "humanitarian" war of intervention if it is deemed legal by the UN or one of its agencies.

[Anonymous]

The problem of wars and the killing of others human beings is not only a problem created by the capitalist ruling class, it is also a problem that is supported by many workers who do not care about the killing of others human beings. A President, congressman, minister, or general cannot be blamed only when millions of human beings approve their actions and they are called heroes. Nationalism and patriotism is worst than the rat or snake  poison, at least the snake poison can be used to cure certain cardiovascular diseases

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43766556The BBC's international law expert explains the legality or otherwise of the attack

[ALB]

All this shows that the UN Charter is just a worthless scrap of paper. It bans war in principle but if you read the small print there are let-out clauses. Naturally states that want to go to war  invoke these, All they have to do is to get some clever lawyer to draft a plausible pretext (as in this case). What this does is disguise the real reason for going to war. The most hypocritcal would-be justification is the claim that it is done for humanitarian reasons. No state is ever going to renounce war in the case that the vital interest of its capitalist ruling class are at stake.The attacking states argued that they had to act because Russia had repeatedly exercised its veto to prevent them acting against Syria in the name of the UN. Russia has exercised this over Syria 14 or so times. This compared with the 42 times that the US has exercised its veto to protect its client state in the area:http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/42-times-us-has-used-its-veto-power-against-un-resolutions-israel-942194703

[ALB]

France has now declassified  the intelligence advice on which they based their claim that the Syrian government had carried out a gas attack in Douma:https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/full-text-french-declassified-intelligence-report-on-syria-gas-attack-1.5995544As can be seen, it is not based on any forensic study but only on hearsay from organisations they say "whose information is generally reliable" and on the Syria government having form in the matter. This would not be enough to bring a prosecution let alone have any chance of getting a conviction in a court of law. No wonder the US and Britain are keeping their "intelligence" classified.This is not to say that the Syrian government might not have done it, only that  this remains to be proved.

[Sympo]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

I hope this latest blog post goes some way to explaining our position, Marcoshttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2018/04/in-response-to-syrian-air-attacks.html

I think personally (as a WSM sympathizer) that it's a decent post, but I think it implies a bit that the West is responsible for the Syrian civil war ("The Western capitalist bloc stirred up a civil war in Syria and now they are reaping the whirlwind"). A view that I disagree with.Syria as I have understood it was a vulcano waiting to erupt, with or without Western aid to rebels. It has happened before that there has been unrest in Syria (under Hafez al-Assad, there was the Hama uprising in 1981).Also, it wasn't just the West that financed rebel groups. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two Arab nations, did the same thing. I don't actually know if they gave more money to the rebels than any Western nation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did (but I'm not sure).

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