yo bro ~KOHN-KERRY: Spin out, facts in. This is a monster strategic defeat for the NATO-Gulf Cooperation Council-Israel axis ...

"... So once again - don't mess with Hezbollah. One can imagine the ear-splitting wrath levels in Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Doha. Their "response" - or revenge - may include setting Lebanon on fire. The usual imperial courtiers, Brookings Institution-style, are already mourning a Middle East prey to an "aggressive Russian-Iranian axis". [3] What about the aggressive NATO-GCC-Israel axis bent on totally destroying Syria to install an Islamist, pro-Western puppet state?

The Susan and Samantha show

And now, to compound the drama, we have Susan Rice as the new US National Security Adviser and Samantha Power as the new US ambassador at the UN Security Council. It's always helpful to remember that along with Hillary Clinton, these were the Three Graces of "humanitarian intervention" that forcefully pushed for the bombing and destruction of Libya.

Whatever replay strategy Susan and Samantha may come up with, Russia and China will veto. Moreover, even the Washington establishment admits all options are noxious. [4] To top it off, Turkey has been plunged into the Taksim/Occupy Gezi/Down with the Dictator maelstrom - and the last thing an embattled Erdogan will be thinking about is to further empower a bunch of "rebel" losers.

As for the Geneva II talks - co-sponsored by Washington and Moscow - their next preparation meeting will only happen in three weeks or so. This means that even if Geneva is on - and that's a major "if", considering the "rebels" in disarray are bound to boycott - it will be in early July or even later. Plenty of time for the SAA to keep advancing. But also plenty of time for the NATO-GCC axis to keep denying the "Syrian people" the fateful decision over who should lead them out of this ghastly proxy war.

Notes: 1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Gulf Cooperation Council.
2. See here (in French).
3. Iran Outmaneuvers U.S. in the Syrian Proxy War, Bloomberg News, June 5, 2013.
4. The No-Plan Zone, Foreign Policy, June 5, 2013.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. He also wrote Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

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