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Growth of the Empire

Comment by Larry Ross, February 23, 2005

Mike Whitney makes some important points.

Syria had nothing to gain and plenty to lose with Hariri's death.
The US and Israel have much to gain if they can drive Syria out of Lebanon, and then bring Lebanon under US/Israeli influence. If they can develop momentum behind their charge that Syria did it, they can provide more justification for attacking Syria, and get more US public support for war with Syria.

Mike Whitney reveals that Washington wants to control Middle East oil, so that countries "will continue to hold paper that represents $8 trillion worth of US debt" as "that happens to be the only way they can purchase the oil that's essential to their industries."

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Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington’s Plan

by Mike Whitney, February 17, 2005

To understand who assassinated Rafik al-Hariri we don’t need to look any further than the $1.5 billion US Embassy currently under construction in Baghdad. The new embassy, the largest of its kind in the world, will facilitate 1,800 employees and serve as the regional nerve center for American political and economic activity. What does this have to do with al Hariri?

It demonstrates that the US is establishing a massive command center for its future domination of the entire Middle East. This suggests that Lebanon must be entered into the family of client states who accept a subservient role to American military and economic power, and who willingly comply with the requirements of the regional constable, Israel.

Al Hariri’s assassination provides the raison d'être for severing ties with Syria and for transforming Lebanon into a US vassal. This conforms nicely with Israel’s ambition to surround itself with non-threatening states as well as affording access to the vital water resources of Lebanon’s Wazzani River. In other words, the murder of al Hariri has created some extremely fortunate opportunities for both Israel and the US; merging seamlessly with their overall objectives in the region.

The likelihood that Syria was involved in the assassination is zilch. One can hardly imagine a greater disaster for poor Syria who has been scrambling to avoid the American bludgeon for the last four years. Few people realize that Syria provided more assistance in the first year of the war on terror after 9-11 than any other nation. That’s of little consequence now, as the US is on a mission to quickly integrate the entire region beneath the American standard and prove that it can be trusted with its continued stewardship of the world economy.

Fortunately, there are cracks and fissures appearing everywhere in the US artifice and new alliances between former allies of America are forming almost by the day. This creates a dangerous new threat to the empire and violates the “three grand imperatives” of imperial strategy: “to prevent collusion and maintain dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard, p. 40) Alliances between the major players (India, Iran, Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, China and the EU) demonstrate that the “barbarians” are coming together more swiftly than imagined, creating a potential roadblock for Middle East consolidation. This explains why this risky gambit was put into play.

We should also consider the assassination in terms of the drooping dollar. If Washington’s plan to control Middle East oil does not succeed, the dollar is headed for the landfill. There’s no way that the world will continue to hold paper that represents $8 trillion worth of debt unless that happens to be the only way they can purchase the oil that’s essential to their industries. The Bush administration is on a tight “time-line” which requires ham-fisted tactics to play out on city streets in foreign capitals. The murder of al Hariri fits conveniently within this regional strategy.

It’s a marvel to see how quickly the forces of empire swing into action when a major event like this transpires. Less than 10 hours after the assassination, Washington was withdrawing its ambassador without even scant knowledge of who was responsible. The press, of course, was immediately deployed to perform its task of “finger-pointing” at Syria and to create the spurious narrative of why such a suicidal action would be in their interest. The US organized small demonstrations in Beirut to march around in front of adoring camera lens to create the impression that the Lebanese masses held Syria accountable. (A nice touch that the US used effectively in both Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia) And the Bush team worked feverishly to frame Syria with an onslaught of prepared accusations and innuendo. By now, we should all know the drill: the main players like Bush stay above the fray and make no reckless claims of guilt on Syria’s part, while his emissaries in the media and the Congress heap suspicion on the target state. (Isn’t this what happened with the “Swift-boat” fiasco? Bush pretended not to be involved while his underlings and the media devoured Kerry in full view of the national audience.)

The next phase of this farce is to expel Syria’s 15,000 soldiers from Lebanon so that Israel-America can begin the arduous task of establishing another client regime.

As for Syria, Russia has entered the breach announcing that it will go ahead with a “controversial sale of weapons despite the objections of Ariel Sharon.” (Russian made surface-to-air SA-18 missiles. Russia made a similar deal with Venezuela just last week)

Is this just the beginning of an arms race in the Middle East to counter American and Israeli ambitions?

It appears that at least some of the “vassals” are beginning to tire of Washington’s murderous antics and are willing to counter with the only thing that will discourage further aggression -- a viable deterrent.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state, and can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com.

This article was first published at www.dissidentvoice.org.