{"id":93697,"date":"2019-10-09T13:06:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T20:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93697"},"modified":"2019-10-09T13:06:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T20:06:55","slug":"beware-of-false-flags-and-media-firewalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/09\/beware-of-false-flags-and-media-firewalls\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware of False Flags and Media Firewalls"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><em>You take a country like Cuba. For us to test the possibility that\nengagement leads to a better outcome for the Cuban people, there aren\u2019t that\nmany risks for us. It\u2019s a tiny little country. It\u2019s not one that threatens our\ncore security interests, and so [there\u2019s no reason not] to test the\nproposition. And if it turns out that it doesn\u2019t lead to better outcomes, we\ncan adjust our policies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>(Former) President Obama explaining\n     the \u2018Obama Doctrine\u2019 (of \u2018engagement\u2019, combined with meeting with core\n     strategic needs\u201d), as quoted in Noam Chomsky\u2019s&nbsp; \u2018Who Rules the\n     World?\u2019 (Penguin, 2017)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>(Views expressed in this article are those of the author, who\noffers them to the intelligent reader for what they are worth. Constructive\nfeedback, signifying praise or blame, will be appreciated. Trolls who\nhabitually make misleading comments out of malice or mischief without reading\nthe text with adequate attention, please keep off if you can.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A communiqu\u00e9 issued by Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign affairs ministry (\u2018Sri\nLanka condemns drone attacks in Saudi Arabia\u2019\/The Island of September 25, 2019)\nhas expressed disapproval of the recent drone attacks on two large oil processing\nfacilities in Saudi Arabia. The foreign ministry statement goes: As a country\nthat has suffered from terrorism for thirty years, Sri Lanka remains committed\nto addressing this scourge in all its forms and manifestations. Stability in\nWest Asia is pivotal for the global economy and Sri Lanka hopes that the\nparties concerned would soon resolve their issues through peaceful negotiations\nand dialogue.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ostensibly routine diplomatic communication is, no doubt,\nintended to look like a sincere expression of solidarity with Saudi Arabia\nafter the September 14 drone attacks on its two most important oil\ninstallations. The document implicitly identifies the rich Saudi Arabia as the\nvictim and its poor southern neighbour and blood relative Yemen as the villain.\nBut&nbsp; to average Sri Lankan observers with at least a rudimentary knowledge\nabout the background to the Saudi-Yemen conflict that has raged since 2015, and\nwith enough familiarity with the deliberate unravelling under the Yahapalanaya\nof the national security, social, and economic gains made during the 2009-2014\nperiod in Sri Lanka, it could amount to no more than a diplomatically necessary\nperfunctory gesture that could be a bit embarrassing for the government if it\nis revealed that the September 14 attacks on the Saudi oil fields were actually\ncarried out by some other actors and from another direction than those\noriginally named. (As explained below, Peter Koenig of Global Research suggests\nthat the attacks were not launched from Yemen.) The awkward&nbsp; foreign\nministry gesture, for all its feigned diplomacy, might be viewed as a tactless\nmove in respect of a highly complicated and treacherous situation in that\nregion that, after all, hardly concerns the government or the people of Sri\nLanka. However, to any Sri Lankan who visits the news website of the Global\nResearch &#8211; Centre for Research on Globalization &#8211; it may appear that the same\nmastermind is probably behind the Saudi-Yemeni incident and the Islamist terror\nbombings in Sri Lanka on April 21. Both cases could be false flag operations\nwith twisted ends. The tragic, nay, fatal irony of the awkward message could be\nlost on most members of the government, except the crooked and the cruel few at\nthe top (who must be chuckling to themselves), who are implicitly wearing, in\nthe public eye, a badge of shame over their betrayal of Sri Lanka\u2019s war heroes\nby timidly accepting guilt on their behalf, under \u2018\u00ednternational\u2019 pressure from\nwhat Noam Chomsky calls a \u2018Leading Terrorist State\u2019, at Geneva over war crimes\nuncommitted.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A hint of background information is appropriate here. Ali Abdullah\nSaleh, the first president of Yemen, known to be a friend of Iran, resigned in\nFebruary 2012 after almost twenty-two years (1990-2012) in office. This was\nfollowing the Yemeni Revolution of 2011, which was simultaneous with the\nso-called&nbsp; \u2018Arab Spring\u2019 upheavals in other Arab countries such as Egypt\nand Tunisia. The pro-Saudi Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, former Field Marshall turned\npolitician, who had been vice-president under Saleh from 1994 to 2012,\nsucceeded Saleh on his ouster. Hadi himself was toppled by the Houthi rebels\n(led by the Houthi tribe, hence the name) on January 22, 2015. The Houthis are\nYemeni Shiites. Iranians are predominantly Shiite, and Saudi Arabia\u2019s state\nreligion is Sunni Islam. In the current civil war in Yemen, the fighters of the\nHouthi Movement, who are now in control of Sana\u00e1 the capital, are allied with\nthose loyal to the former president Saleh. Saleh loyalists have clashed with\nforces supportive of Hadi who are based in Aden.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was overthrown by the Houthi\nrevolutionaries in January 2015 over political and economic issues, he fled to\nSaudi Arabia. Now, Saudi Arabia is America\u2019s&nbsp; most important ally in the\nregion. The \u2018\u00ednternational community\u2019 recognises the government of the fugitive\npresident. In 2015, Hadi appealed for military support against the\nrevolutionaries and Saudi Arabia responded by forming a coalition of nine\ncountries from the Middle East and Africa, and launched an invasion into Yemen.\nThey conducted it as a UN operation that is in compliance with Article 2 (4) of\nthe UN Charter. But some scholars dispute the claim that the said article of\nthe UN Charter allows it. Anyway, neutral observers suspect that Uncle Sam was\nthe real power behind the invasion, which began with air strikes at Houthi\npositions in early 2015. In the actually unwarranted military conflict that\nfollowed, tens of thousands of innocent Yemenis have died, including thousands\nupon thousands of children, caught up in bombing raids or starved to death in\nfamine; diarrhoeal diseases including widespread cholera epidemics have claimed\nmany lives.&nbsp; Economist and geopolitical analyst Peter Koenig, in a recent\narticle in <a href=\"http:\/\/globalresearch.ca\">globalresearch.ca<\/a> (September\n24), charges that this unjust war is &#8230;. carried out by Saudis as a proxy for\nthe Washington and Pentagon handlers.\u201d Responsibility for the alleged drone\nattacks on the Khurais oil field and the Abqaiq oil processing facility in\nSaudi Arabia was promptly claimed by the Houthis, who said that they sent some\nten \u2018suicide drones\u2019 for the attack. However, Koenig casts doubt on this claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quoting \u2018Asia Times\u2019 reports, Koenig suggests that the attacks\nwere probably launched from Southern Iraq, and not from Yemen or by the\nHouthis. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had clearly said: There is no\nevidence the attacks came from Yemen\u201d.&nbsp; Koenig writes: If it all sounds\nlike a big fabricated confusion, it\u2019s because it is a big fabricated confusion.\nIran is singled out; fingers pointing to Iran (except, miraculously those of\nSaudi Arabia), like a sledgehammer hitting Iran, again and again. \u2013 The\nmainstream media loves it. Today, a week after the attack, most nobody remembers\nthe Houthis claiming responsibility \u2013 it was Iran. Period. The media blitz\nwon\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Immediately after the Houthis purported suicide drone\u201d attacks,\nit was claimed that they knocked out 50% of Saudi\u2019s crude oil production (but\nKoenig downplays the significance of this claim by pointing out that, in terms\nof global production, it is a mere 5%, and that Saudi crude oil production was\nreturned to pre-attack levels in no time). In what must be a&nbsp; pretended\nknee-jerk reaction to the Houthi claim, Mark Pompeo, without any evidence\nwhatsoever, blamed Iran for the drone strikes. Donald Trump, with the\ncharacteristic promptness that he displays in such situations, imposed\nadditional economic sanctions on Iran, boasting that they were the most severe\nones imposed on a country! Most surprisingly, meanwhile, the \u2018victim\u2019 Saudi\nArabia, as if confused by the absurd claim (that Iranians were behind the oil\nattacks), refrained from accusing Iran, though the latter is its sworn enemy, a\ncircumstance that would make such a claim (of supposed Iranian aggression)\nhighly plausible to Saudi Arabia and would have prompted it to immediately make\nsome noise against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A high official in the Iraqi government confirmed that the attack\nwas launched from Iraqi soil, though other officials vehemently denied that\nthey had anything to do with the attacks. What the Iraqi government official\nsaid must be viewed against the fact that there is a heavy US military presence\nwith twelve bases in that country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018So, the tables are turning\u2019, Koenig sardonically observes, \u2018and\nthe Houthis are winning\u2019. This, though, was at a heavy cost as suggested above\n(incurred by unjust war inflicted on the hapless Yemenis through Saudi Arabia\nas an agent of the US). Much of the debris of weapons lying on the ground in\nYemen carries the logo \u2018Made in USA\u2019, and would lead one to conclude that\nAmerica, not Saudi Arabia, is at war with Yemen.&nbsp; Koenig clarifies this\nabsurdity by inferring what must be passing through the masterminds in\nWashington: \u2018Yemen occupies a strategic geographic and geopolitical location\nand must not be ruled by a people-friendly government, let alone by a socialist\nleaning government, as the Houthis are. Besides, Yemen may have huge deep\noff-shore oil reserves\u2019. With this he explains his conclusion that the biggest\nwinner may be Washington: \u2018They have a new devastating blame on Iran \u2013 more\nsanctions, more justification to launch a direct confrontation against Iran \u2013\npossibly through Israel, or the NATO forces; the neutral\u201d international\nkilling machine \u2013 an amalgam of spineless Europeans and Canada, who love to\ndance to the tunes of Washington \u2013 hoping to get some crumbs of the loot at the\nend of the day, before the empires falls.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One can argue, as Koenig does, that it is quite logical that the\nHouthis hit back in a decisive attempt to reach an end to the costly war and\nits unspeakable excesses.&nbsp; (They probably did not do the hitting back in\nthe present case; it was not done for them by someone else.) Koenig takes a critical\nlook at the conduct of the mainstream Western media in this context: \u2018Isn\u2019t it\nweird that the misery and tens of thousands of Yemeni deaths in an unjust and\npurely criminal aggression instigated by the US, carried out by Riyadh and\nlasting already for more than 4 years, that this monstrous aggression pales in\nthe mainstream media, as compared to two blazing Saudi oil fields?&nbsp;\nDoesn\u2019t that say a lot about our programed to the core western brains, our\nsense of humanity, what\u2019s left of it?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another Global Research scholar, investigative historian Eric\nZuesse (The Sickness of American Foreign Policy\u2019\u2019\/September 30, 2019),\ncomments on the behaviour of the American mainstream media: \u2018America\u2019s media\nwere merely passive megaphones for the regime\u2019s lies\u2019 (Here he is referring to\nGeorge Bush Jr\u2019s and his coterie of officials\u2019 lies in 2003 about Sadam\nHussein\u2019s Iraq possessing WMD.) Zuesse claims that, between 2003 and now, the\nUS has invaded \u2018Libya and Syria and Yemen, on the basis of lies that in some\nrespects were even more blatant\u2019 (than the Iraqi WMD lies). Let me quote Zuesse\nat some length:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The same groups of billionaires\ncontrol the US \u2018news\u2019 media today as controlled the media in 2003; and they\ncontinue, in their \u2018news\u2019-media, the same stenographic \u2018reporting\u2019 \u2014 propaganda\nby their Government, regarding which nations are the latest targets, for the\nmasses to hate and fear, as being our nation\u2019s \u2018enemies\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018These are the lands suitable for US weapons and bombs to destroy.\nThese \u2018news\u2019-media simply \u2018justify\u2019 what are, in fact, international\nwar-crimes: US-and-allied invasions, of nations that never had invaded the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s always the Big Lie that the hate-target is only \u2018the\ntyrant\u2019, and not the nation. But it is the targeted nation that gets\nstrangulated by America and its allies imposing \u2018sanctions\u2019 that are really\neconomic blockades (such as against Venezuela and Iran today, but formerly\nagainst Iraq before we invaded it and destroyed it); and, then, if that doesn\u2019t\nbring down the targeted Government, a coup is attempted; and then (if no coup\nresults), paying and arming \u2018rebels\u2019 (such as Al Qaeda in Syria) to overthrow\nthe targeted nation\u2019s Government; and, then, missiles and bombers are used, in\norder to destroy the infrastructure.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many respects Sri Lanka is poles apart from any of the\ncountries that American intervention has messed up including Libya, Syria, and\nYemen, but it may be safely&nbsp; included among Zuesse\u2019s \u2018targeted nations\u2019.\nThe above descriptions might echo, in the minds of those of us who are informed\nenough, aspects of Sri Lanka\u2019s current predicament. Its strategic geographic\nlocation (enhanced by the recent discovery of substantial offshore mineral\nresources in the north, northwest, and northeast territorial waters) is its\nmisfortune. The country will remain vulnerable to potential&nbsp;\n\u2018strangulation\u2019 through superpower involvement in its affairs to an intolerable\ndegree unless Sri Lankans are allowed by the powers that be to enjoy in peace\nall the basic human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human\nRights (UDHR) of the UN of which Sri Lanka is a member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Intervention\nby friends when two persons or groups or countries are at loggerheads with each\nother concerning some issue is not a bad thing, as we all know, is not a bad\nthing, when it is done in a fair and friendly spirit. Willful interference in a\ncountry\u2019s internal affairs with ulterior motives is not the same as altruistic\nintervention. An independent sovereign nation with a sense of national dignity\nlike Sri Lanka cannot docilely accept interference from another country however\npowerful that country may be. The above descriptions&nbsp; are likely to strike a chord with all\naverage Sri Lankans who are cognizant of the disastrous consequences of brazen\nsuperpower interference particularly over the past five years that operates\nthrough local agents who are programmed to do their foreign sponsors\u2019 bidding.\nA recent wisecrack among common people was: rusiyawa palanaya karanne putin &#8211;\nlankawa palanaya karanne pitin\u201d lit. Russia is ruled by Putin &#8211; Sri Lanka is\nruled from outside\u201d. Russian president Vladimir Putin has made a great\nimpression on the currently leaderless Sri Lankans. It is hoped that Sri\nLankans will be allowed to elect a proper leader of their choice without let or\nhindrance on November 16.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drone or missile attacks on the Saudi oil fields must have left\nordinary Sri Lankans cold because they would hardly think of the rich and\npowerful Saudi Arabia (source of violent Islamic extremism) as a victim of\nYemeni terrorism. However, considering the the death and destruction that Saudi\nArabia inflicted on Yemen over the past four years, Sri Lankans would have\nstood with the latter rather than the former in their Saudi caused misery. On\nthe other hand, the people of Sri Lanka are aware and intelligent enough to\nunderstand when false flag operations are carried out to deceive them.&nbsp;\nBoth Koenig and Zuesse criticise the biased media that support the despicable\nagendas of the powerful rulers. Sri Lankans are required to beware of media\nfirewalls that try to leave them in the dark while they are being robbed of\ntheir freedom and sovereignty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former US president Barak Obama\u2019s definition of the so-called\nObama Doctrine which forms the epigraph to this essay reflects the nature of\nAmerica\u2019s foreign policy stand. Whichever party (Obama\u2019s Democratic or Trump\u2019s\nRepublican Party) is in power, America\u2019s broad national interest is not\nsacrificed out of concern for other nations. No doubt, geopolitically, Sri\nLanka is of much greater importance for America than its tiny neighbour Cuba in\nterms of its \u2018core security interests\u2019.&nbsp; However, let us hope that\nAmerica, in the name of humanity, decide to adjust its policies in meeting\nthose strategic needs without inflicting too much pain on other countries\nincluding tiny little Sri Lanka.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rohana R. Wasala You take a country like Cuba. For us to test the possibility that engagement leads to a better outcome for the Cuban people, there aren\u2019t that many risks for us. It\u2019s a tiny little country. It\u2019s not one that threatens our core security interests, and so [there\u2019s no reason not] to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}