Redlines and Ratlines: From Libya to Syria to Ukraine(?)

[georgephillip]

What explains why Obama pushed the NATO bombing of Libya yet backed off his 2012 red line in Syria, and do these two events have a rat line leading to Ukraine via Turkey and Saudi Arabia?

Sy Hersh seems to think so:

"The full extent of US co-operation with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in assisting the rebel opposition in Syria has yet to come to light. The Obama administration has never publicly admitted to its role in creating what the CIA calls a ‘rat line’, a back channel highway into Syria.

"The rat line, authorised in early 2012, was used to funnel weapons and ammunition from Libya via southern Turkey and across the Syrian border to the opposition.

"Many of those in Syria who ultimately received the weapons were jihadists, some of them affiliated with al-Qaida. (The DNI spokesperson said: ‘The idea that the United States was providing weapons from Libya to anyone is false.’)"

Hersh's latest expose doesn't mention Ukraine; however, I can't help notice the similarities between how Barry and Kerry lied about Assad being the only side in the Syrian conflict capable of using Sarin and their current statements regarding Ukrainian upheaval.

Throwing NATO at Libya has one set of consequences while doing the same in Ukraine would have another.

Seymour M. Hersh · The Red Line and the Rat Line: Erdo?an and the Syrian rebels · LRB 17 April 2014

 

[georgephillip]

"Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal.

"The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff.

"The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East.

"As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.

"For months there had been acute concern among senior military leaders and the intelligence community about the role in the war of Syria’s neighbours, especially Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra..."

Seymour M. Hersh · The Red Line and the Rat Line: Erdo?an and the Syrian rebels · LRB 17 April 2014

Did recent "rent-a-mobs" drive Ukraine's recent coup?
Were they paid for by a portion of the $5 billion the US invested in Ukrainian "democracy" over the past two decades.
What happens if regions of eastern Ukraine reject what they see as a US sponsored coup, Libya and Syria on Russia's border?

 

[waltky]

Obama sendin' in the paratroops...

US to Send Paratroopers to Poland, Baltics
April 22, 2014 ~ The United States is sending about 600 paratroopers to Poland and the Baltic states in an expansion meant to underscore its commitment to NATO allies as a result of escalating tensions in Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said 150 paratroopers based in Italy will arrive Wednesday in Poland. He said another 450 paratroopers will be deployed to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III from the 97th Air Mobility Wing plane drops paratroopers during an exercise over the NATO airbase in Aviano, Italy.

The bilateral exercises will last about a month. He said new troops will then rotate in for fresh exercises throughout the rest of the year.

Kirby said placing troops on the ground is more than a symbolic gesture. He called for Russia to remove its forces from the border with Ukraine and respect Ukrainian sovereignty.

US to Send Paratroopers to Poland, Baltics

See also:

Vicenza-based paratroops deploying to Poland, Baltics
The U.S. is deploying 600 troops to Poland and the Baltic states to participate in joint infantry training exercises, Defense officials announced Tuesday, part of an effort to reassure allies in the former Soviet sphere of influence concerned about Russia’s newly aggressive posture.

Four companies from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy, will be dispatched – one to Poland, one to Latvia, one to Lithuania and one to Estonia. About 150 paratroops will arrive in Poland on Wednesday, and the rest of the 600 will be in place in the Baltic States by Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby and European Command officials said. This will be the first in a series of rotational deployments for training exercises that will continue throughout the rest of the year and possibly beyond, according to Kirby. “The message is to the people of Poland, Lithuania [and] Estonia, that the United States takes seriously our obligations” under Article 5, Kirby said. That article of NATO’s founding treaty regards any attack against a member state as an act of aggression against the entire alliance. “If there’s a message to Moscow, it is that...we take our obligations very, very seriously on the continent of Europe.”

Since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, allies in eastern Europe fearful of Russian intentions in the region, have watched events unfold with concern. Moscow has since massed about 40,000 troops and other military assets along Ukraine’s eastern border. In the midst of ongoing political unrest in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he reserves the right to use military force to protect ethnic Russians in other countries. In recent weeks, the U.S. bolstered its presence in the region, including adding rotations of F-16s in Poland for training missions and bolstering air policing over the Baltics. NATO surveillance aircraft also has been deployed to Poland and Romania to monitor events in Ukraine.

The Vicenza-based 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) conducted a parachute operation into Juliet Drop Zone at Aviano, Italy,

Last week, NATO also announced additional measures aimed at reassuring allies, focused mainly on an intensification of NATO’s air policing mission over the Baltics and the deployment of more allied ships into the Baltic Sea and eastern Mediterranean. Earlier this month, a Russian Su-24 fighter jet made a dozen close-range, low-altitude passes near the USS Donald Cook destroyer. The Cook was in international waters in the Black Sea at the time. The Pentagon called the actions “provocative and unprofessional.” Kirby said the USS Taylor will replace the Cook in the Black Sea after the Cook finishes its mission.

Poland has sought a more robust presence of U.S. and NATO forces in the country, with the country’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski urging NATO to station 10,000 troops in Poland. EUCOM said in a news release the U.S. Is increasing land force activities in the region “at the request of the host nations.” “These events are in addition to previously scheduled multinational land force military exercises and are aimed at assuring our regional allies of the United States’ unwavering commitment to NATO, EUCOM said.

Vicenza-based paratroops deploying to Poland, Baltics - Stripes

 

[georgephillip]

A former ambassador and National Security Adviser has recommended using US troops on the ground to bring order to Ukraine:

"In a 15 April OPED published in the Washington Post, former Ambassador and Bush Deputy National Security Advisor, James Jeffrey, now a fellow at the Washington Institute argues for the commitment of American ground forces to 'quell the crisis' in Ukraine.

"In yet another American triumph of ill-considered military adventurism over statecraft, Ambassador Jeffrey seems to think Mr. Putin will be impressed with the gradual appearance of a few U.S. Army ground units on Russia’s border.

"Meanwhile, like Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Jeffrey is ignoring the simple truth that Mr. Putin is doing the West a favor by removing the Russians from Ukraine through annexation."

Ground Troops to Ukraine, Really Mr. Ambassador? » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

The author of this article, a retired(?) Colonel, believes in giving Ukrainian voters a say in the matter:

"Instead of threatening Moscow, it is now time for Secretary of State Kerry and his colleagues in the European Union to ask Mr. Ranko Krivokapic, the President of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to meet with Mr. Putin and propose an OSCE-monitored plebiscite in Ukraine’s Russian speaking areas.

"If the population in Eastern Ukraine wants to join Russia, then, they should be allowed to vote themselves into Russia with a plebiscite.

"However, at the same time, the Ukrainians in the West should be allowed to join the EU without joining the NATO Alliance, much like Sweden, Austria, or Finland.

"This outcome would provide Mr. Putin with what he thinks he wants and Ukraine’s true Ukrainians with what they want: membership in the European Union.

"None of these developments or proposals involves a military confrontation between Russia and the West."