<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="userContent">"American imperial influence has diminished,
but we should remember that American power has been on the wane since
1945. The peak of US power was immediately after the Second World War
and it has been declining <span class="text_exposed_show">steadily since then.<br> <br>
"Since the late 1940s, power has been diversified. In 1949, China
became independent, which was a serious blow to the US imperial system
based on the idea of controlling Asia via the control of China. <b>Since
then, Latin America has also escaped US control.<br></b> <br> "Inside the
US, <b>policies undertaken by elite groups -- such as the offshoring of
production and the financial shenanigans which led to the current
financial recession -- have enriched these elite groups, but have
severely harmed US power...<br></b> <br> "There was a drought of
unprecedented scale in Syria which devastated the agricultural
community, so people streamed into the cities to survive. There was
serious social disruption. Therefore, the tragedy that has unfolded in
Syria is partly a consequence of global warming...<br> <br><b> "Syria took
in a million or so refugees from Iraq, and on top of that came the huge
immigration into the cities. Then events saw some towns emulate the Arab
Spring uprisings to which Assad reacted with extreme brutality.</b> The
country then entered into the standard dynamics of military conflict.<br> <br>
"The Syrian government was supported by Russia and Iran, from whom it
received arms. Later, the growing groups of rebels, some of whom were
local militias, jihadis and secular democrats, began to receive arms
flown in from Qatar by the CIA.<br> <br> "As things are moving, downtown
Damascus is under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government
while the suburbs are under rebel control. Things are moving in the
direction of national suicide with crimes and atrocities on both sides.
The country is also moving towards partition with a sector controlled by
Assad including Damascus, and a sector controlled by a variety of rebel
groups.<br> <br> "It is likely that Kurdish areas, which are gaining
some autonomy, may gain complete autonomy and link up with Kurdish areas
in northern Iraq to create a broader Kurdish entity...<br> <br> "Under those conditions there will never be negotiation because Assad is not going to negotiate his suicide.<br> <br>
"And the US government and population are not interested in an armed
invasion. The phrase is 'no boots on the ground.' But other kinds of
intervention, like the sanctions regime against Iran, can be carried out
which won't cost US casualties.<br> <br> "This UN proposal has been
supported by Russia, but the US position is a little hard to determine.
The US seems to be dragging its feet. There is a formulation of the US
position stated by France, but it's pretty much the US position."<br> <br><b>
"The US policies being enacted are basically Obama's. Obama greatly
expanded the drone campaign. That's the most extreme terrorist campaign
going on in the world today.<br></b> <br> "In the Arab world, the dictators
are strongly opposed to Iran and want the US to take action, but the
populations don't. <b>The populations don't like Iran, but they don't
regard Iran as a threat. </b>That's a western obsession. <b>The populations in
the Arab world regard the US and Israel as threats.</b>"</span></span><div><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br></span></span></div><div><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">--Noam Chomsky [<a href="http://chomsky.info/onchomsky/20131002.htm">http://chomsky.info/onchomsky/20131002.htm</a>]</span></span></div></body></html>