Paul Craig Roberts On Russian Bombings In Syria – Putin Sent A Decisive Message To The West
October 5, 2015 in News by RBN
With people around the world worried about the escalating war in Syria, today former U.S. Treasury official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, told King World News that with four straight days of Russian bombings in Syria, Putin has sent a decisive message to the West.
Eric King: “Dr. Roberts, about this situation in Syria, obviously the Russians have bombed key targets and the rest of the world is watching and saying, ‘Putin just took over and put a stop to the madness.’”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: “It certainly looks that way. You know Putin told the world at the U.N. meeting, ‘We can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world.’ So he told the United States, Europe, and the other puppet states such as Canada, Australia, and Japan that Russia will no longer tolerate this. And two days later they (the Russians) have taken over the situation in Syria.
Essentially the United States is responsible. This (warring force) is the group that came out of the forces we created in Libya to overthrow Gaddafi. And when Russia blocked the intended U.S. invasion of Syria, Obama sent these people to Syria and pretended they were a free Syrian army of oppressed Syrians who were fighting to liberate their country from a dictator who used chemical weapons against his own people.
But the United States lost control of them, even though Washington’s clandestine operations still seem to supply them. So basically the Russians have said they can’t tolerate complete and total chaos in the Middle East and it’s going to stop before it engulfs Syria…
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts continues: “What we see here is real leadership from the president of Russia, something the United States has failed to provide for a long time.
And it’s very interesting if you remember one of the famous statements from George Orwell, which is: ‘In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.’ And that’s precisely what Putin did at the United Nations — he stood up and told the truth. He asked Obama to his face: ‘Do you know what you have done?’”
Eric King: “Now that Putin has stepped in and asserted Russia’s authority and put a stop to the madness, at least for now, where do we go from here?”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: “That’s what we will learn. The Russian government very quickly supported this. This all happened amazingly quick. I think this is one of the things that has stunned Washington. Putin goes to the U.N. and tells everybody that ‘We can no longer the state of affairs in the world.’ And two days later he’s out there bombing ISIS. (LAUGHTER). This is amazing.
And the Russian equivalent of the U.N. Security Council very quickly ratified his decision, as did the (Russian) parliament, the Duma. So these are not people who sit around sucking their thumbs and arguing with each other. They figure out what has to be done and they act decisively.
And the whole time he (Putin) is very polite (even when executing decisive military action). I mean, he asked Obama, ‘Do you realize what you have done?’ (LAUGHTER). He (Putin) doesn’t call people names as they call him and he doesn’t threaten them with sanctions. He’s not provocative but he’s decisive, and he’s not going to put up with this anymore.
A Staggering 97 Percent Of Russians Back Putin
And it’s not just Putin — it’s the entire country. His (Putin’s) approval rating is 86 percent! This is unheard of in any Western country. Moreover, of the remaining 14 percent that’s not approving him, 11 percent of them disapproves because he’s too easy on the West. (LAUGHTER). So in effect he (Putin) has got 97 percent of the Russians behind him. No other country puts that kind of support behind its political leaders.
Another important fact, Eric, is that Putin has stressed the total legality of the Russian approach because Putin is asked in by the president of Syria. So the government of the country has asked the Russians to do this. And Putin and his foreign minister, Lavrov, have both pointed out that the American and French bombings are illegal because they have not been asked by Syria to do this. So they (the U.S. and France) are unilaterally exercising military force in a sovereign country with no go-ahead from the government of that country.
So again we see that it’s Putin who stresses legality and international law, and it’s the Americans who violate it. This is not a favorable comparison for Washington. It makes Washington look exactly as it is — that it’s exceptional and it doesn’t have to obey international law and goes about causing chaos. Europe is now faced with a horrendous problem and it has to dawn on them that this is all their own fault for supporting American wars in the Middle East, particularly the sending of the Islamic State group into Syria.
So what we will probably see from this, Eric, in particular when you take into account the massive influx of refugees into Europe because of the American wars in the Middle East, is a weakening in the American empire. The Europeans will be thinking, ‘Do we really want to be American vassal states? Look at the consequence. We are now overrun with millions of refugees when we already have struggling economies, high unemployment, and sovereign debt problems.’
So I think the chickens are coming home to roost. The United States has caused so much instability in the world, so much chaos, destruction, suffering, and hardship, and now the consequences of that are coming to Europe. The Europeans will have to wonder…