Labels without meanings; dictators are dictators

A label defined by a dictator by any other definition is still a falsehood.President (self-appointed) Assad of Syria has labeled the dissidents in his country as terrorists. That’s the new world-speak word for enemies of the state, or being against the status quo.In 1968, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley — who was one of the last of the big city bosses and was mayor from 1955 to 1976 — called the rioting protesters at the Democratic Convention “pinkos,” the anti-American label of the day. Daley was on record as saying “that an order be issued by [the police] immediately to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand, because they’re potential murderers, and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting.”Assad is doing much the same thing but with much bigger weapons. Faced with rising disapproval and protest in his country, perhaps as a result of the ongoing Arab-spring, Assad has simply taken to bombing, torturing and executing his citizens or anyone who is in the way — women, babies, and children included. And then those who are wounded he denies medical aid, preferring to target makeshift hospitals.Six times the United Nations has tried to get the world powers to censure this activity. Twelve times the League of Arab Nations has sent observers to try and stop the violence. All these attempts have been rebuffed. In the U.N., Syria’s only — and I mean only — ally is Russia. What’s Russia’s game? Oil and Iran’s nuclear program. How are they linked? Here’s how.Israel and the U.S. are opposed to allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapons program. Israel has, on occasion, targeted Iran’s scientists and facilities with spy-killings and bombings. Israel is rightly concerned that Iran will have a nuclear bomb capability as Iran is on record as saying Israel should not exist.However, let’s turn to Zbigniew Brzezinski, the ex-U.S. National Security chief who is now advising this administration (and the previous one, but no one remembers that). What are his credentials for assessing dangers in such areas of turmoil? When Gorbachev was under house arrest and the coup was under way in Moscow, Brzezinski was an advisor to ABC. On air he was asked how dire this change was for the U.S. His response so shocked Diane Sawyer and her team that he was not consulted again for five days. He said this: “Do you see any aircraft over Moscow? No? Then the coup has failed and will be over in five days or less.” While the rest of the world was certain the new Moscow leaders would reign terror across the world, Brzezinski was proved right. ABC somewhat sheepishly had him back on and quasi-apologized.Last week Brzezinski was quite clear on TV again. He explained that Iran has no delivery system, no miniaturization system, to make a deliverable atomic bomb. Even if they make one, they cannot deliver it effectively. And even if they could, an atomic weapon unleashed on Israel would kill as many Egyptians, Lebanese, Jordanians and Palestinians. This is hardly a credible threat to the region. Did he think then that such a weapons program is not a danger? His answer was classic Brzezinski. He explained that everything that could be done with sanctions should be done, and unifying the region’s Arab nations (not to mention Pakistan, India and China) against a bomb program should be encouraged.Why then is Russia backing Iran and Syria? Russia is exporting some $2 billion in nuclear power plant technology and equipment to Iran. Russia sees nothing wrong with that. Even if the residue from those peaceful reactors could be transformed into bomb fuel, that’s a different program, one they say they do not support in any way.As for Syria, for the Russians, that’s a two-step with Iran. Russia’s oil is more expensive to extract than Syrian and Iranian crude. Russia is also the largest European and Asian exporter of natural gas. Russia borrowed from China (bonds) and they are paying that back as quickly as possible. If Iran and Syria have sanctions running against them, oil prices will stay high, paying off Russia’s budget deficit — while Russia is strengthening ties with allies. If Syria were to fall as Libya did, Russia, which is not part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), would find that OPEC was once again controlling the price of oil. Currently the U.S. has a hand at the OPEC table via Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, etc. In short, once we got control of any part of OPEC, Russia needed to ensure they had cards to match.As 500,000 people in Homs, in Syria are bombed, it is worth thinking about the price we, as humanity, pay for stable oil prices. However, like Mayor Daley, Assad’s time is coming and with his fall from power, Russia may become more desperate to control the world’s premier commodity.Some would argue that new drilling in the U.S. would alleviate this crisis. Perhaps, but only if such drilling was tied to removing the puppet strings we and the Europeans have attached to the new “free” countries rich in oil. Does anyone in their right mind think oil execs will agree to that, or the guys in Congress getting fat donations? In the end, their greed and manipulation may push us all to the brink in the Middle East once again. Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.