Focus [Voltaire Network]

Focus

Investigations, critical analyses, original insights

3886 articles

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"Before our very eyes"

Sarin gas is as volatile as Washington’s promises

by Thierry Meyssan

16 June 2013
Did Syria or did she not use sarin gas against its armed opposition? After haunting newspaper columns, the question found a positive answer in Paris, London and Washington. The red line has apparently been crossed. War may therefore be imminent. In reality, this media game comes too late. In terms of international law, Syria is not a signatory to the chemical weapons Convention and may use them freely. Moreover, inventing that Damascus has used weapons of mass destruction is a perfectly futile ploy, considering that the war is nearing an end.

"Before our very eyes"

The uprising against Brother Erdogan

by Thierry Meyssan

Beirut (Lebanon) | 10 June 2013
For Thierry Meyssan, the Turkish people are not protesting against Recip Tayyeb Erdogan’s autocratic style, but against his policies; in other words, against the Muslim Brotherhood, of which he is the mentor. What started on Taksim Square is not a color revolution over a new building project, but an uprising that has spread across the entire country; in short, it is a revolution that calls the "Arab Spring" into question.

Afghanistan

The NATO Afghanistan War and US-Russian Relations: Drugs, Oil, and War

by Peter Dale Scott

Moscow (Russia) | 7 June 2013
Peter Dale Scott continues his analysis of the U.S. system of domination. In a conference held in Moscow, this former Canadian diplomat summed up the findings of his investigation into the funding of the system with money deriving from drug trafficking and hydrocarbon deals. Although widely known, such facts are nevertheless difficult to accept.

Erdogan risks the ’must go’ path

by Pepe Escobar

4 June 2013
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is playing with fire as he belittles the popular protest spreading among a cross-section of secular Turkey and totally opposed to his highly personalized/autocratic mix of hardcore neoliberalism and conservative religion. The prime minister now deriding demonstrators as "looters" is the same man who said Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak "must listen to his people" and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go.

Moscow remembers Charlie Wilson’s War

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

31 May 2013
The subterfuge and ideological drive seen in Senator John McCain’s flight to Syria had heavy overtones of the 1980s tour by Charlie Wilson to secure arms for the Afghan mujahideen. McCain’s maneuver aligns well with Europe removing an arms embargo and wavering US resistance toward boots on the ground. This time, however, Russia could respond in kind, posits Ambassador Bhadrakumar.

Tashkent turns to Moscow : Uzbekistan no longer has a choice.

by Lev Vershinine

Moscow (Russia) | 30 May 2013
Islam Karimov, the divine leader of the Uzbeki nation, managed for years to maintain a position mid-way between the Kremlin and the White House. He never stopped flirting with one while annoying the other - or vice versa. However, the US project for destabilising Central Asia by replacing the Taliban in power in Afghanistan has left him no choice - Uzbekistan is now allied with Moscow.

“The machiavelian threefold game of the neoconservatives”

by Laurent Guyénot

27 May 2013
To realize their fantasies of world domination, the neocons resorted to a triple discourse, as Laurent Guyénot shows in this study, i.e. a cynical political philosophy developed by their mentor Leo Strauss for domestic consumption; a cold analysis of Israeli strategic interests for the benefit of the leaders in Tel Aviv, and a fear-mongering warning against imaginary dangers besetting U.S. public opinion.

Part II

Boston and the CIA ‘Snafu’: The grey eminence behind Turkey’s Erdogan and the AKP

by F. William Engdahl

Frankfurt (Germany) | 25 May 2013
In the first part, geopolitical analyst William Engdahl discussed the role of CIA’s Graham Fuller in creating the policy of using angry Jihadist Muslims as trained terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere against the Soviet Union. Herein—largely drawing on the revelations made by FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edwards—Engdahl throws the spotlight on the entire CIA-sponsored Islamic Jihadist operations run through Fetullah Gülen across Turkey into Central Asia and Russia and China.

Part I

Graham Fuller, Uncle Ruslan, the CIA and the Boston Bombings

by F. William Engdahl

Frankfurt (Germany) | 20 May 2013
Are there too many coincidences in the Boston Bombings official narrative to call them coincidences? Behind each one lurks the shadow of Graham Fuller—a top CIA strategist who famously advocated co-opting Islamic extremists to further advance the US agenda in Central Asia—and his cozy ties with the accused brothers’ uncle. William Engdahl delves into the ramifications of the Fuller-Tsarni connection, the most compelling of the Boston smoking guns, and the threatening can of worms it has opened up.

Using the Cold War

The Truman Administration’s Response to the Bolivian National Revolution

by Benjamin Dangl

19 May 2013
In light of Evo Morales’ May Day expulsion of USAID from Bolivia for seeking to undermine his government, here is a look back to the Harry Truman administration’s work to undermine Bolivia’s transformative National Revolution in 1952. "This history’s legacy lives on; Washington’s power is woven into the fabric of Bolivian politics, from the dreams and nightmares of the National Revolution, into the MAS era of today," argues Benjamin Dangl.

Israel’s Act of War Against Syria—Madness or Cold Calculation?

by F. William Engdahl

Frankfurt (Germany) | 12 May 2013
At a time when the US and Gulf proxies are losing ground to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) nationwide, this pundit ranges in on the likely motive for Israel’s recent air raids against Syria, carried out with Washington’s approbation.

How the Boston Bombings May Change the World for the Worse!

by James Petras

4 May 2013
The relation between the suspected Boston Marathon bombers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and the Boston Police (BP) is a point of contention and controversy.
The FBI, at first, claimed no knowledge of the bombing suspects but later was forced to admit having received at least two sets of intelligence reports, one from Russian officials and another from the CIA, identifying one of the suspected bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as a potential (...)

Kennedy, the Lobby and the Bomb

by Laurent Guyénot

2 May 2013
Exactly fifty years ago a crucial episode took place in the history of “U.S. democracy”; an epic struggle whose outcome would influence the future of the entire world. Guyénot Laurent revisits those events and recalls what was at stake at that critical historical juncture.

"Before our very eyes"

The Boston Marathon Mysteries

by Thierry Meyssan

Damascus (Syria) | 28 April 2013
Two weeks after the attacks in Boston, the U.S. authorities continue to release piecemeal the clues they claim to have found. Everything revolves around the Chechen origin of the "guilty" parties and the conclusions to be drawn. Meanwhile, Internet users and the Russian press are depicting a different story, one in which the main "culprit" is a CIA agent.

Systemic Destabilization in Recent American History

9/11, the JFK Assassination, and the Oklahoma City Bombing as a Strategy of Tension

by Peter Dale Scott

Los Angeles (United States) | 27 April 2013
Scholar and former diplomat Peter Dale Scott compares the events of September 11, the JFK assassination and the Oklahoma City bombing. He exposes the existence and continuity of a "deep state" behind the facade.

The Lynching of Mouamar Gaddafi

The Cult of Killing and the Symbolic Order of Western Barbarism

by Jean-Claude Paye, Tülay Umay

Brussels (Belgium) | 16 April 2013
The display of the lynching of Mouamar Gaddafi exposes our societies for what they are. It mesmerizes and dismantles our capacity to think and critically assess a historical process. By focusing public attention on what constitutes a “ritualized atrocity” these gruesome images confirm that the US Empire actually represents an unprecedented regression, a step backwards in the history of humanity. They show that the objective of the war on Libya was not only conquest, leading to the plundering of oil or of Libyan assets, but also, just as was the case in the Crusades, the destruction of a symbolic order, leaving room for the sheer enjoyment of an act of killing, as displayed by the media, in a capitalist World Order run amok.

President Chavez: A 21st Century Renaissance Man

by James Petras

15 March 2013
Faced with a violent world of imperial counter-revolution, and resolved to stand with the oppressed of the world, Hugo Chavez enters world history as a complete political leader, with the stature of the most humane and multi-faceted leader of our epoch: the Renaissance figure for the 21st century. Thus concludes James Petras in this analytical reflection of the thirteen years of elected presidency of the iconic Venezuelan leader.

America: The New Saudi Arabia?

by F. William Engdahl

15 March 2013
At a time when much of the world is looking with a mix of envy and excitement at the recent boom in USA unconventional gas from shale rock, when countries from China to Poland to France to the UK are beginning to launch their own ventures into unconventional shale gas extraction, hoping it is the cure for their energy woes, the US shale boom is revealing itself to have been a gigantic hyped confidence bubble that is already beginning to deflate. Carpe diem!

Forgetting Torture: Lee Hamilton, John Brennan, and Abu Zubaydah

by Kevin Ryan

Washington D.C. (USA) | 13 March 2013
The ground is giving way under the feet of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the attacks of September 11. The main source of the Commission’s report, Abu Zoubeida, whose confessions were extracted under torture, is now officially considered worthless. And the CIA agent who arrested and interrogated Zoubeida has admitted he invented everything.

March and Rally at the White House on April 13

U.S. Drones Out of Africa and Everywhere!

21 February 2013
U.S. drone bases are multiplying on the African continent: Niger has agreed to hosting surveillance drones on its soil”; neighboring Burkina Faso already has one; two new drone facilities are opening in Ethiopia and the Seychelles; and UN peacekeepers in Congo want to use U.S. drones. Drones, which have terrorized Somalia from AFRICOM’s base in Djibouti for the past seven years, have become the centerpiece of the modern U.S. version of gunboat diplomacy.

Would-Be Head of CIA Ready for War on All Fronts

by Nil Nikandrov

14 February 2013
Mr. President, tell us who your C.I.A. Director is and we will tell you who you are! No remark could be more appropriate in view of Barack Obama’s decision to place an apologist for torture and drone assassinations at the helm of the top U.S. intelligence agency. Analyst Nil Nikandrov fills out John O. Brennan’s profile, a man who enjoys the President’s "implicit trust."

Britamgate: Staging False Flag Attacks in Syria

4 February 2013
On January 22 a telling leak cropped up in the Internet. British defense contractor’s BRITAM server was hacked and megabytes of classified internal files of the firm were released to the public. Now the case is acquiring a Britamgate scale due to the publication on Prison Planet. What is the story behind the leakage? Why this scandal is likely to turn around the situation in Syria?

The recolonization of Africa

Condemnation of Mali war and denunciation of Western neo-colonial plot

Brussels (Belgium) | 4 February 2013
On January 11, 2013, France launched a military intervention in Mali, an African country where nearly half the population lives on less than $ 1.25 per day. Paris’ reasons for justifying this operation come straight out of the "war on terror" rhetoric, so dear to the Bush Jr. administration. On January 17, independent MP Laurent Louis denounced before the Belgian Parliament the real goals of the intervention. The only legislator to oppose Belgium’s backing of the French operation, Laurent Louis points out that Western countries - including France - have supported and continue to support, in Syria, the same jihadists that Paris claims it wants to fight in Mali.

Mali and AFRICOM’s Africa Agenda: Target China

by F. William Engdahl

31 January 2013
Out of the blue in the last days Mali has suddenly become the focus of world attention. France has been asked to militarily intervene by Mali’s government to drive Jihadist terrorists out of the large parts of the country they claim. What the conflict in Mali really is about is hardly what we read in the mainstream media. It is about vast untapped mineral and energy resources and a de facto re-colonization of French Africa under the banner of human rights. The real background reads like a John LeCarre thriller.

Syria and International Criminal Court

New Phase of Military and Diplomatic Stand-Off

by Alexander Mezyaev

Moscow (Russia) | 26 January 2013
The situation in Syria is evolving according to the most unfavorable scenario. The opposition has met the President Bashar Assad’s proposals for peaceful resolution of the crisis with Aleppo University bomb attacks. Another diplomatic provocation is in the works in response to the Russian and Chinese efforts aimed at finding ways for peaceful resolution of the crisis.

"Before our very eyes"

Mali: One war can hide another

by Thierry Meyssan

Damascus (Syria) | 23 January 2013
A long time in the making and announced by François Hollande six months in advance, the French intervention in Mali was portrayed as an emergency decision in response to dramatic developments. This scheme aims not only at seizing Mali’s gold and uranium, but more especially at paving the way for the destabilization of Algeria.

The Bared Teeth of the Syrian War: Qatar Feels the Brunt

Moscow (Russia) | 20 January 2013
The war in Syria appears to be increasingly remote-controlled from abroad. Almost all states in the region seem to be involved to varying degrees, with Qatar providing the lion’s share of the funds going to the Free Syrian Army. However, the investment has generated disappointing returns. To avoid its funds from going up in smoke, Qatar has decided to dole them out on the basis of the actions carried out. As a result, the ASL began staging its most spectacular and deadly attacks to the detriment of its real military objectives.

Torture as a source of information

Abu Zubaydah Poses a Real Threat to Al Qaeda

by Kevin Ryan

Washington D.C. (USA) | 19 January 2013
Still imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Abu Zoubeida is the main source of Western intelligence on Al Qaeda. He gave under torture the names of other leaders of the terrorist organization, who were arrested in turn and provided the information now in the hands of the U.S. authorities. In short, he is the main source of what the latter supposedly know about al-Qaida. Problem: it is now recognized that Abu Zoubeida was never a member of al-Qaeda and that his confessions under torture were made to end his suffering. Most of what the U.S. intelligence claims to know about Al-Qaida is a pure figment of Zoubeida’s fertile imagination. And all of it is wrong.

Part II

The USA’s decades long war against China

by Robert S. Rodvik

Vancouver (Canada) | 13 January 2013
After decades of covert actions meant to overthrow the communist government of China, in 1989 the CIA launched the first of its so-called "colour" revolutions, which, being unsuccessful, did not achieve a designation of its own, those appellations coming later, in Eastern Europe and Georgia. This action took place in Beijing, where the CIA had trained a coterie of "students" to unseat the government.

The Endgame in Syria: Strategic Stage in the Pentagon’s Covert War on Iran

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Ottawa (Canada) | 10 January 2013
The ultimate goal in Syria, this pundit argues, is not regime change per se, but to do whatever it takes that will result in Iran’s isolation in the region. Believing that they have succeeded in neutralizing Tehran’s allies in the Levant: Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas, the opponents of Iran will be concentrating now on subduing her supporters in Iraq. Revealing the endgame behind the plans for Syria, an Israeli intelligence report has signaled that Iran can now be attacked without coordinating a regional response. Meanwhile, the Washington clock may currently be ticking to a different tune.

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