Foreign Minister Bob Carr has effectively called for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to be assassinated, as a pre-condition for a resolution to the Syrian crisis. Interviewed by Kerry O’Brien on ABC Four Corners on 8 October, following a one-sided British-produced report on the Syrian rebels fighting Assad, Carr cast himself as an aspiring peace-broker in the conflict, who is negotiating to get agreement from all sides to respect civilians and hospitals. However, he exposed his own charade, by regurgitating the British-Obama-al-Qaeda line—Assad is the whole problem, and he must go. And then, not satisfied enough that this position—of demanding one side gives in completely—destroys any hope for a ceasefire, Carr uttered publicly what Assad already knows: the British, Obama, al-Qaeda, and now Australia, intend to kill him. He said, “This sounds brutal and callous—perhaps an assassination combined with a major defection, taking a large part of its military, is what is required to get 1) a ceasefire and 2) political negotiations.”
Aside from the illegality of assassinating a head of state, under the international law that the Anglo-Americans brazenly flout in their insistence on “might makes right”, what does it achieve in terms of peace? If the British and American murder of Qaddafi didn’t forewarn Assad of what he is in for, the invasion of Syria by the same al-Qaeda Jihadis from Libya would have. How would any head of state react to an invasion by terrorists, especially knowing they intend to murder him? Obviously with maximum force. Therefore, Carr’s call gives the lie to his professed desire for peace: using the threatened assassination of the head of state as a tool in this way is intended to cause maximum conflict and bloodshed.
It is also intended to trigger WWIII. Car is acutely aware that Russia and China are blocking the British-Obama drive for regime change in Syria in the U.N. Security Council, explicitly because they see it as a breach of the principle of national sovereignty, for which they have warned that they are prepared to fight to the end, including with nuclear weapons. By any measure, assassinating a head of state is also a gross breach of that state’s sovereignty, and Russia and China will see it that way. An assassination could well set off the chain reaction of events that escalates quickly into a nuclear showdown.
Turkey intercepts Syrian civilian airliner en route from Russia
Oct. 11—In a stunt that keeps the Syrian-Turkish crisis on a hair trigger for war, and now brings Russia directly into the equation, the Turkish Air Force forced a Syrian commercial airliner flying from Moscow to Damascus to land at Ankara airport yesterday, claiming it had intelligence that it was carrying weapons to Syria. After an inspection, all they found was “communications equipment,” which they seized. The aircraft was then released along with its 37 passengers and crew.
Syria immediately announced it would intercept any Turkish plane in its airspace; Turkey then declared that its civilian aircraft will not cross Syrian airspace.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that the aircraft was carrying “banned” equipment and that Turkey had the right to inspect the aircraft. Appearing on TV tonight, PM Erdogan escalated and said the plane was carrying “military equipment,” a charge the Russians vehemently deny.
Moscow asked Ankara for clarification on the incident, a Russian Foreign Ministry source said yesterday, adding that there were 17 Russians on board the flight. In a sharply worded statement from the Foreign Ministry, the Russians said the lives of their citizens were endangered. Russian consular and medical personnel were denied access for 5 hours, according to Ria Novosti.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair Faruk Logoglu, a retired ambassador and a former undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, today denounced the government for forcing the aircraft to land. “This incident is the latest bitter fruit of the wrong and biased Syria policy which the AKP government has been following. With this incident, an air dimension has been added to the already-tense relations between the two countries.” He added that the plane incident has displayed a “worrying and dangerous escalation full of unknowns.”
Logoglu, however, said the political aspect of the issue was more important than its technical aspect, amid questions of whether the inspection was conducted in line with the rules of international civil aviation. “This development will also negatively effect our relations with Russia with which we already have an opposite approach” on Syria, in addition to the problems it will cause with the Arab republic, he said.
The Syrian government has demanded a return of the seized cargo and full restitution. The Russian media have unleashed a firestorm of reproach against Turkey, accusing its authorities of not only making false accusations, but claiming they tortured the pilots and mistreated the passengers.
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