A long road from Kosovo to Kurdistan

[CHIMO]

The precedent of Kosovo is a terrible precedent, which will de facto blow apart the whole system of international relations, developed not over decades, but over centuries. have not thought through the results of what they are doing. At the end of the day it is a two-ended stick and the second end will come back and hit them in the face.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin

In myriad aspects, Kosovo is the new Kurdistan (and the other way around), as much as Iraq is the new Yugoslavia.

The unilateral independence of Kosovo has nothing to do with "democracy". But then what's the point of this North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO) provocation towards Vladimir Putin's Russia - a historic ally of Serbia?

The ongoing saga revolves around two crucial, interrelated facts on the ground: Pipelineistan and the empire of 737 (and counting) US military bases in 130 countries operated by 350,000-plus Americans. In short: it revolves around the trans-Balkan AMBO pipeline and Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, the the largest US base built in Europe in a generation.

Ops. Left out the link.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB29Ak02.html

Don't let anyone know about this. It is something that we are not supposed to discuss, or even think about!

[Caradoc]

1. Highly recommend...

...that everyone read 'Nemesis' by Chalmers Johnson in which he outlines the size, scope and unfortunate 'blowback' from the hundreds upon hundreds of US bases, listening posts and otherwise secret installations worldwide. Afghanistan too is a part of the Pipelineistan plan. Canadian defence minister Peter Mackay was on the CBC last night talking about Afghanistan and of course showing his extremely poor grasp of history. As anyone who has studied the subject knows, Afghanistan had a democratically elected socialist government, the Taliban rose up to overthrow it, the former Soviet Union was asked to intervene (not 'invade'...big difference) to help the government survive, the US began arming the the 'Mujahideen' of which radical extremists like the Taliban were a significant part ('Charlie Wilson's War' etc.), Reagan gave them sophisticated weaponry, losses grew for the Soviets and they were driven out, the legitimate government was overthrown, the Taliban took control, Osama bin Laden found a safe haven to operate from and turned on his former CIA masters. That's called 'Blowback' and is the essence of 'Nemesis'.

Kosovo shows all the signs of creating more 'blowback' for the West's cynical meddling in affairs that it should stay well out of.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. The Taliban "rising up" was intentionally orchestrated by the US

in the first place in the hope of drawing in the Soviets and give them "their Vietnam".


From a 1998 interview published in Le Nouvel Observateur with Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski:

Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs <"From the Shadows">, that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

http://www.takeoverworld.info/brzezinski_interview_short.html

[Caradoc]

3. 'Rose up' ...

...as in the establishment of a fundamentalist religious movement that found, among other things, the idea of educating women distasteful. Fascinating that the US would take credit for drawing the Soviets in, however, I would also take that with a grain of salt. It's much the same as looking at how something has turned out and taking credit for it after the fact ie ''we planned that all along.' A very common political trick, although it wouldn't surprise me that there was some basis of truth to it. But I doubt they foresaw the Soviets willing to invest ten years and 100K troops. Still, how many in the west are aware of this chain of events? Not many, and the MSM does nothing to clarify this particular history. It also underlines the element of 'blowback' as in the instigation of events where their ultimate outcome is unforseen. The Soviet Union fell but so did the two (actually, three) towers...will it ultimately lead to the US economy falling as well?