Seumas Milne shills for Syria & Iran: Sees hidden Zionist hand in calls for Assad’s overthrow

Seumas Milne’s latest communique published by the Guardian (Intervention in Syria will escalate, not stop the killing, Feb. 8) can be summed up thusly:

• Russia and China were correct to veto a recent western-sponsored UN resolution – “condemning Bashar al-Assad’s regime, requiring his troops to return to barracks and backing an Arab League plan for him to be replaced” – because it would amount to externally imposed (imperialist) regime change, and would be unfair to Assad, biased in favor of anti-government forces, and may lead to “foreign” intervention.

• Russia and China have rightfully acted to thwart the anti-Syria resolution “to challenge the west’s attempt to corral the Arab uprisings for its own interests.”

• “US, Britain and their allies” have no credibility to interfere in Syrian affairs given the fact that, for 45 years, “they have underwritten Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights”.

• One of the  most important dimensions of the Syrian conflagration is the fact that the west and its Arab clients are trying to use the crisis to ramp up a confrontation with Iran, as “the overthrow of the Syrian regime would be a serious blow to Iran’s influence in the Middle East.”

• “As the conflict in Syria has escalated, so has the western-Israeli confrontation with Iran.” 

So, Milne’s talking points can be summarized as:

Don’t be fooled by seemingly altruistic Western efforts to stop the massacre of civilians by the Syrian despot, as they’re really only interested in strengthening their hand in a confrontation with Iran (which isn’t, in fact, trying to build a nuclear weapon), and maintaining Western/Israeli imperialist dominance in the region.

I guess the only question is whether Milne’s essay was his own, or whether it was written by the Syrian ministry of propaganda.  Bashar Assad, on March 31, in his first public statements since the uprisings, said his country was the target of a major conspiracy, pointing the finger at the U.S. and Israel, specifically blaming anti-government protests on “enemies with an Israeli agenda“.

In fact, the official Syrian state news agency featured a story just today (Feb. 8) which quoted Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasserallah on Tuesday saying “that there is an Arab, Israeli and US decision, represented by the so-called the Arab moderate states to overthrow the regime in Syria.” 

Finally, Milne’s defense of Syria and Iran included the allegation that “US defence secretary Leon Panetta and national intelligence director James Clapper acknowledged that Iran isn’t after all “trying to build a nuclear weapon“.

Except that, when you follow the link, its clear that Panetta and Clapper “acknowledged” no such thing.  Clapper was quoted in the Guardian report as saying: “Iran was keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons”.

Further, the most recent IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear issue, posted on the Guardian’s own website, says “Iran is on a structured path to building a nuclear weapon“

Parroting Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah anti-Western, anti-Zionist, propaganda. Lying about the Iranian nuclear threat: AKA, just another day’s work for Seumas Milne’s anti-imperialist propaganda mill.

Related articles

• Guardian readers skew conversation about UK, U.S. & Iran in a decidedly Semitic direction (cifwatch.com)
• Guardian’s Seumas Milne runs interference for “anti-Imperialist” Islamic Republic of Iran (cifwatch.com)
• Tin-Pot Pravda: Guardian editorial scolds Israel for taking Iranian nuclear threat seriously (cifwatch.com)
• More Pro-Iranian “Hasbara” at ‘Comment is Free’ (cifwatch.com)