© Jason Redmond / Reuters
"The destruction of ISIS is more urgent than the overthrow of Bashar Assad," the elderly US statesman, who served as Secretary of State to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. "The current inconclusive U.S. military effort risks serving as a recruitment vehicle for ISIS as having stood up to American might."
In the commentary, titled 'A Path Out of the Middle East Collapse,' Kissinger argues the region is "in shambles" as non-state movements tear apart countries like Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. He calls the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL) established in parts of Iraq and Syria an "unrelenting foe of established world order," seeking to replace the international system with an Islamic empire.
Comment: That's a bunch of nonsense. ISIS was established by the U.S. in order to destabilize countries which it had previously identified as being important to the American empire and not having existing leaders who were already puppets of the U.S. Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Libya all fell into that category so we see ISIS primarily involved in those countries. It's not at all about an Islamic empire, but about using terrorists to further U.S. imperialism.
Though the US has dominated the region following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Washington is now at odds with just about every party in the region and at risk of losing all ability to shape events, Kissinger warned. At issue in the Middle East today is "American resolve in understanding and mastering a new world."
Comment: Xi and UK Prime Minister David Cameron agree, heralds the start of a "golden era" ( or 'golden error') in Sino-British relations.
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