John Kerry on Despot Tour to Reassure by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
November 4, 2013

America’s top diplomat John Kerry is not known for honesty. Recall a couple of months ago how Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled Kerry a “blatant liar” when the latter tried to deny the involvement of al-Qaeda in Syria’s charnel house.

But the American secretary of state came clean this week – no doubt by accident – when he confirmed to media that recent policy rows between the US and Saudi Arabia’s ruling House of Saud are merely on the basis of “tactical” differences. The fundamental policy goals, that is, the strategy, remain the same, Kerry admitted.

US trying to play Iran off Syria? by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
October 30, 2013

Is the US trying to manipulate Iran, through sanctions relief, in order to assert Washington’s agenda for regime change in Syria?

The answer would seem to be ‘yes’, as suggested by the latest tour of the region by the UN-Arab League special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi.

In particular, it was the private message that Brahimi brought to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that suggests the Algerian career diplomat is acting more as an interlocutor for Washington’s nefarious political agenda, rather than as an honest peace broker.

Saudi-US Row: Prince Bandar bin ‘Sulking’ Tries Old Bribe and Threat Trick Again by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
October 24, 2013

Historic allies, the United States and Saudi Arabia, are in the midst of a full-blown row, after the kingdom’s spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan threatened that their strategic liaison was on the rocks.

The sulking sultan is no stranger to maverick mood swings. But there is good reason to believe that the senior Saudi is not merely acting alone, and that this is the obscurantist kingdom’s way of expressing strategic frustrations.

Bankrupt at Home and Abroad, Syria Shows Washington is a Spent Geopolitical Player by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
October 19, 2013

US policy on Syria could be described as “a comedy of errors” if the consequences for human suffering were not so brutal. Having largely created a quagmire of terrorism and lawlessness in Syria through covert insurgency operations over the past two and half years, the US government looks like a hapless Doctor Frankenstein who has lost control of the beast, or should we say beasts….

Rick Rozoff: UN Syria Resolution May Allow Action Against Rebel Supporters

by Rick Rozoff
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
September 29, 2013

Image by The Eyes Of New York via Flickr

John Robles
Voice of Russia
September 29, 2013

The full text of the United Nations Resolution on Syria has been published and thanks to the efforts of the Russian Federation and China is one of the most balanced of such documents in the last century. However there remains the threat of a western attack on Syria.

Time to Turn the Table on West Warmongers by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
September 29, 2013

Image by asterix611 via Flickr

US President Barack Obama described the latest Security Council resolution on Syrian chemical weapons as “a huge victory for the world”. It certainly was a huge victory for diplomacy over war, to the relief of the world’s people.

But for Obama to seek credit in the passing of this resolution is contemptible. It was a defeat for warmongers led by the likes of Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry, who were clamoring for unilateral missile strikes on Syria.

Want to Buy a War? The MoD Wants to Sell You One by Lesley Docksey

by Lesley Docksey
Writer, Dandelion Salad
England
September 27, 2013

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

The UK Ministry of Defence is worried; worried that the public have become ‘risk averse’ to the point that we won’t want to go to war anymore; so worried that in November 2012 they wrote a report – The Implications of Current Attitudes to Risk for the Joint Operational Concept – made public today by the Guardian. The report, while purportedly studying ‘risk’, is really asking ‘How do we sell war to the public’?

Selling an Invasion? Consult Joseph Goebbels by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
September 26, 2013

“The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.” George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair, 1903-1950)

Since the US-UK project on Syria is back, invoking Syria’s President as Hitler – as previously, Slobodan Milosevitch, Saddam Hussein, and Colonel Quaddafi in earlier “Crusades” – it is instructive to note how the ludicrous claims mirror the strategy of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s  Reich Minister of Propaganda.

Proof of Obama’s Cheap Words: Bahrain by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
September 25, 2013

Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, President Barack Obama delivered his usual barrage of myth and mendacity concerning the role of the US in the world.

Some commentators have since swooned at the possibility of dialogue between Iran and US and a new era of diplomacy – all because of a few positive-sounding words uttered by the American president.

Obama and the Usual American ‘DAM’ Exceptionalism – Delusion, Arrogance and Mendacity by Finian Cunningham

Image by UweHiksch via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
September 25, 2013

President Barack Obama addressed the opening of the 68th General Assembly of the United Nations with his usual oratorical formula. Admittedly, the man is a good speaker with flawless technical delivery. But by now this has become a tiresome act of grandiloquence and lofty idealism with no substance.

Bloody Weekend Explodes Washington’s Contradictions over Al Qaeda and War on Terror by Finian Cunningham

Image by The Eyes Of New York via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
September 23, 2013

It was a busier and bloodier weekend than usual for Islamic extremists linked to the Al Qaeda franchise, with hundreds killed in bomb and gun attacks in Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Kenya, as well as the ongoing war in Syria, where the same brand of jihadists form the dominant fighting groups trying to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Potential US War on Syria Based on a Snuff Movie by Finian Cunningham

Image by Michael Fleshman via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
September 21, 2013

The American war footing towards Syria plumbs a new diabolical depth.

Not only is it an act of criminal aggression against an innocent country – the supreme crime according to Nuremberg Principles – but that transgression would itself be based on another vile crime – the deliberate killing of children for propaganda purposes.

Revisiting “Red Lines” by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
September 20, 2013

“Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions.” Frantz Fanon, 1961. (1925-1961)

Dennis Kucinich’s Interview with Bashar al-Assad in Syria

Image by Michael Fleshman via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

martysoffice on Sep 18, 2013

Western Lies, Criminality Unraveling in Syria by Finian Cunningham

Image by Vertigogen via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
September 19, 2013

The US has accused Russia of “swimming against the tide” in persisting with its claims that foreign-backed militants in Syria committed the chemical weapons attacks, not the Syrian armed forces, as the Western governments have asserted.

In a sense, the US is correct. Russia is indeed swimming against a tide – a powerful tide of fabrication and propaganda promulgated by Washington, its Western allies and their dutiful news media.