Russia and Syria on the Offensive

    Russia and Syria are on the Offensive



    The last time I wrote about Syria (In My September 2015 Article Russia Defends Syria, Yemen Resists) Russia had only just begun to make it's presence clear to the world in Syria. This in itself was cause for celebration as it foiled US and Turkish plans to expand their bombing campaign creating a No-Fly Zone in northern Syria to protect their terrorist bridgehead there. Since then however Russia has launched an all out air offensive destroying the massive terrorist infrastructure that has been built up weapons depots and command centers exploded across Syria. However this offensive proved only the opening move and as predicted once the terrorists had been softened up the SAA (Syrian Arab Army) went on the offensive with the aid of their allies from Hezbollah, Iran and Iraq and the brave civilian militias of the NDF (National Defense Forces.) The balance has already completely shifted in Syria and this only the beginning. Russia has not only helped to turn around the situation in Syria. With this bold move they have destroyed Washington and Israel's decades long schemes to create a "new middle east". Indeed Russia has completely shattered the US plans for global hegemony which sought to prevent the emergence of any rivals to it's power. This was known first as the Wolfowitz doctrine publicly disavowed when leaked in the New York Times in the early 90's it was secretly followed being officially adopted after 9/11 as the Bush Doctrine. With the enormous economic growth of China and now Russia's demonstration of it's military capabilities which clearly rival NATO's and have sent the pentagon into an absolute panic it is clear that the age of American hyper power is at an end. There will be no "New American Century" and the wonderful thing is that Russia could never have accomplished this without america's imperialist rampage. It was the US which forced long time enemies Russia and China into an alliance. The 35 year attempt to destroy Iraq may well lead to an Iraq allied not only with Iran but now with Russia. A new power bloc is forming in the middle east what Pepe Escobar has dubbed the "p4 + 1" composed of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Russia.

    The Russian Offensive exceeded all expectations instead of a repeat of subtlety of the war in Ukraine it resembled Russia's war in Georgia which managed to smash a country that NATO had armed to the teeth in a manner of days after it launched an unprovoked attack on Russian peacekeepers in the Breakaway region of South Ossetia. In other words Russia launched an all out air offensive targeted ISIS, Al Nusra, and the hundreds of other terror groups who adopt a hundred different names to create confusion but are all Al Qaeda death squads. Russia wisely choose to ignore the myth of the "moderate" rebels which is nothing more then a propaganda term meant to confuse the western public. The FSA for example are the ones who filmed themselves eating a human liver. Al Nusra carried out the chemical weapons attacks. Actually the west had a whole propaganda campaign lined up to brand Al Nusra ( Which is Al Qaeda's Syria Branch) as moderate rebels. Oh the Irony they claimed they were destroying Iraq to prevent terrorists from getting "weapons of mass destruction" now they are openly allied with terrorists who carry out chemical weapons attacks. They have even gone so far as to start praising the original Al Qaeda putting out the myth that they were horrified by the excesses of Al Qaeda in Iraq. This is nonsense all the horrors we see today in Syria were present in Afghanistan back in the 80's the torture and beheadings began then but since it was the soviets and their progressive afghan allies who were the victims no one in the corporate media bothered to report it. Wherever the CIA and special forces train their death squads you will see the same horrors from the Philippines, to Indonesia, To Vietnam to El Salvador, to Syria today. It's all part of "Psychological Operations" Thankfully this campaign to brand Al Nusra as "moderate rebels" is now rather useless. Russia intends to bomb any group that is waging war against Syria. I could only laugh as the corporate media howled in outrage about Russia bombing the wrong terrorists. Russia used the opportunity for a little diplomatic comedy  first it asked for a list of who the moderates are. If the US had complied doubtless within the hour Syrian intelligence would doubtless have provided a long an embarrassing account of each "Moderates" terrorist career and war crimes. Next Russia asked the US for a list of ISIS targets in Syria. Another joke meant to expose the US phony war on terror. If they had actually provided accurate information Russia could bomb america's terrorists proxies while wondering aloud why the US had failed to do so. If they provided fake info Russia could have made a laughingstock of US intel as Syria is now under constant Russian Drone and Satellite surveillance. Next Russia requested a list of places the US didn't want it to bomb. Russia's long suffering diplomatic corps exemplified by the long suffering Lavrov is clearly enjoying their revenge for all the lies, insults, and threats they have been subjected to since the US backed coup in Ukraine. They managed to completely fool the US state department who thought all the Russian talk about diplomatic solution in Syria meant Russia was ready to sacrifice Assad when in reality Russia was building a coalition that will both save Syria and reshape the region and the world.


   Thus despite the Media war and the childish tantrums of the imperialists in Washington Russia continued it's methodical air campaign. Terrorists bases and arms depots were targeted. The whole country was under their surveillance their goal was to destroy the terrorists weapon supplies while cutting off any attempts to resupply them. But this was only the first part of their plan. Once they had the terrorists softened up Russia the SAA, Iran, and Hezbollah began to plan a major ground offensive aimed at finally securing Homs, Aleppo, and Damascus. The terrorists are about to get a taste of what the Ukrainian Fascists suffered last summer and the Germany Nazi's experienced long ago. They are about to learn the meaning of the word Cauldron. They are about to be surrounded cut off from supplies and merciless shelled until they die or surrender. In fact there are rumors floating around that the Novorossians may show up. Of course it's best to wait until things actually happen before believing anything these days.  Russia and it's enemies are having fun spreading all sorts of rumors. First supposedly the Chinese were coming, then the Belorussians, then the Chechens, now the Novorossians. I think Russia will send land forces as Douglas Valentine once explained from a military perspective it is highly advantageous to have ones troops always engaged so they gain combat experience becoming "battle hardened" as they say. Thus I suspect that Russia and the other CSTO (CSTO Collective Security Treaty Organization the Russian NATO) countries will send troops to Syria on a permanent basis. They are already expanding their bases to accommodate Naval, Air, and Ground Forces and both Russia and Syria have been dropping hints. First Russia said it would send troops if asked. Then Syria said it would ask if it needed to.  Thus I wouldn't be surprised if one day soon the pentagon wakes up to a nasty surprise a CSTO army in Syria.


   However in the Meantime it is the Heroes of the Syrian Arab Army and their allies who are fighting a slow but steady offensive on many fronts. It is the SAA who are the true heroes of the war on Syria for four years they have fought to defend their country always managing to fight on  against the endless stream of foreign death squads poring into the country from Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. 75,000 of them have already given their lives. These numbers show that the myth of the Ruthless Syrian army is nonsense as Eva Bartlett explains their casualties are so high because in order to spare civilian lives they choose  a more dangerous form of house to house fighting to slowly liberate towns instead of merely obliterating towns that had become terrorist strongholds.Nearly every family in Syria has lost a brother, a father, or a son in this war fighting on the front line. Of course Syria's women are equally brave many are fighting on the front lines to defend their country. If it had not been for so many people ready to bravely sacrifice their lives to save Syria the country would have been destroyed long before Russia decided to decisively intervene. Now with Russian assistance they are again on the offensive. Damascus the long suffering capital was finally free of the sound of being shelled by the terrorists. Homs is nearly pacified. Aleppo is being encircled. They are on the offensive in Latakia. Kuweires Airbase which has been surrounded and under siege for over 2 Years is about to be rescued as the SAA and NDF slowly force their way into ISIS territory opening a route towards the base which has been solely supplied by helicopter up to now. To me this base symbolizes the whole war in Syria surrounded on all sides by enemies but bravely resisting no matter what. Fighting with the SAA of course are Hezbollah who earned undying Glory for their two victories over Israel. First they forced Israel to Withdraw from most of southern Lebanon which it had been Occupying since the 1982 Israeli  invasion. That took years but when Israel tried to invade again in 2006 Hezbollah forced them to withdraw in weeks. That was when the plan to destroy Syria was set into motion when it refused to cut ties with Iran or Hezbollah. However as Mahdi Nazemroaya reminds us the US actually considered invading Syria in 2003 using their chemical weapons as an excuse. Hezbollah's heroic assistance to Syria will never be forgotten. Iran is also fighting alongside Syria the bravery of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp generals is amazing. While western generals usually operate far from the front lines in almost complete safety the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp sends it's generals to the front lines to act as advisers and quite a few have died on the dangerous front lines of Syria's war. Most recent to die was Brigadier General Reza Khavaru.  He died only days after General Hossen Hamedani was killed. Thus amidst all the excitement of the Russian air offensive we shouldn't forget all the brave Syrians, Iranians, and Hezbollah fighters who have given their lives and who are still giving their lives in defense of Syria.


    Thanks to the coordinated Offensive by Russia, Syria and Hezbollah the tide of the war is already shifting. The terrorists and their sponsors are in a panic. One Hilarious headline claimed hundreds of jihadi's were shaving their beards and disguising themselves as women to flee. Qatar threatened to attack Russia but unless it wants to be renamed Gazprom Peninsula I'd advise them against launching an attack on Russia. As Pepe Escobar quoting Bandar Bin Sultan aka Bandar Bush explained "Qatar is 300 people and a television station." (Al Jazeera) Although Russia is usually pragmatic while it is in the middle east it may as well make the GCC monarchs worst fears come true. I say it is time for a string of revolutions in the gulf monarchies. They should start by aiding Yemen it would be the perfect opportunity to give the saudis their own little Afghanistan as revenge. Plus Yemen is of vital geostrategic importance and South Yemen was once allied to the Soviet Bloc. Then a tiny bit of help and encouragement is all the people in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the rest of the GCC need to rebel. The perfect revenge for Ukraine. It is time these corrupt monarchs got a taste of their own medicine. "Off with their heads!" Of course that would probably push the US over the edge as it would mean all the world's biggest oil producers united in one bloc under Russian protection. Still I'm glad to help give imperialist war planners sleepless nights worrying about it.

   Russia's offensive is meant not only to crush the NATO death squads occupying the country. It is also meant to send a clear signal to the west not to mess with Russia. America spends more on weapons then the rest of the world combined but that is in part because the whole thing is a swindle. For example it spent a fortune developing the disastrous F-35 fighter plane. It builds huge expensive aircraft carriers that would last about 5 minutes in the event of war with Iran, Russia or China. Hence Russia's other main goal is to demonstrate to the world it's military might. Thus it hopes that whatever madman or madwoman America selects will be restrained by a now humbled pentagon. It has used the war in Syria to unveil some nasty surprises first unleashing 26 Cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea which flew over Iran and Iraq hitting targets in Syria. In response the US media made up claims that a missile had crashed in Iran but failed to produce any evidence. The important thing was that the US had no idea Russia had such long range Cruise missiles. The next nasty surprise the Russians had in store was to set up anti-air defenses effectively sealing the country off from NATO planes. Finally according to Pepe Escobar they unleashed their EM weaponry capability completely blinding NATO not just in Syria but even in Ukraine. Again the US had no idea Russia had this capability. And again their was utter panic in the Pentagon. No doubt Russia has even more nasty surprises in store for the pentagon.

    History will probably see this as the Stalingrad moment of World War 4. Stalingrad was the moment the tide turned forever against the Nazis during World War 2. World War 4 is the war that immediately began with the end of the "Cold War" which I prefer to call World War 3 the war on the "Third World." While the US justified fighting this war based on their embarrassing propaganda of an "international communist conspiracy" and presented it as resisting "Soviet Aggression." However as soon as  the USSR collapsed the US literally re-doubled it's war on the planet killing millions in places like Iraq and the DRCongo. This is actually statistically provable the number of wars doubled after the end of the cold war. This proved that the soviets had been right all along it was always about American Imperialism and the USSR had been a restraining influence on the american empire. This is why I see most of the various wars of the past 25 years as one single war a World War 4 for total US dominance in reality the dictatorship of a few hundred billionaires over the billions of people living on this planet. While much of the world lives on less then a dollar a day, with no access to health care or even drinkable water millions have been slaughtered to keep it that way. No doubt America's soft power has killed far more people then even it's bloody wars through the forced imposition of America's forced austerity policies that have forced hundreds of millions into poverty, and spread hunger, disease, and ignorance. Few in the "1st world" realize the sheer scale of horror that has been created around the planet. Only the wise economic planning of China and the move towards socialism of Latin America inspired by the late great Hugo Chavez have seen these trends move in the opposite direction. China has lifted 500 Million people out of poverty it should be said in their honor since few seem willing to sing their praises. To return to my point since the fall of the soviet union we have all been living though World War 4. In Most countries this war is primarily economic as the global oligarchs attempt to destroy all the gains made during the cold war by the people. A subtle war on hospitals, schools, pensions, all in the name of producing pure capitalism. However in many places it has been a much bloodier war an attempt to destroy any state that opposes them to destabilize the planet as excuse to further expand the scope of America's overstretched military power. To give a partial list Panama was the first victim of World War 4, then Iraq, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, DRCongo, Colombia, Sudan, Somalia. This was all before 9/11 when America was attacked by it's allies from Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia the infamous Al Qaeda. I don't have time to go into it here but obviously 9/11 was carried out by US allies with funding from other US allies and the co-operation of elements of the american government. This is when World War 4 quickly became all too Obvious. Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Mali, Nigeria along with  dozens of unknown little dirty wars across the planet in fact many of the 90's war are still going on like DRCongo and Somalia. World War 4 is the largest ugliest war in history. The goal is not to create stable little right wing dictatorships like during the cold war(See My October 2015 Article "Operation Condor") Instead the goal is to create "Balkanization" and failed states. Yugoslavia was shattered into a bunch of tiny NATO EU colonies it's once vibrant socialist economy dismantled. Fascists(Croatia), Gangsters(Kosovo), Wahhabi terrorists(Bosnia & Kosovo) and neoliberal puppets (Serbia) were installed in newly destroyed Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was the lucky one the true goal is best revealed in places like Libya and DRCongo where Death Squads wage endless war on the populace. This is what the Empire of Chaos hoped for in Syria and still hopes for.

   Sorry to repeat all this history but to truly see the importance of Putin's move into Syria we must view world war 4 in all it's scope. No one knows how many millions have died so far in this war which reaches all the way from Western Africa across Eurasia. It is being fought in the middle east and in central Asia, In Ukraine, In caucuses, southern Russia and Eastern China. The Central Front on this war is currently Syria an important Geopolitical Pivot point. Those familiar with geopolitics will know that Central Asia is the Key area for controlling eurasia which is why the US is so pleased to have an endless war to fight in Afghanistan once a vital link in the silk road which China is attempting to recreate with it's new silk road strategy. However there are other very important Geopolitical points according to Mackinder, Central Africa is another heartland for example. The Balkans are another area of vital strategic importance the original heartland. Notice the pattern all these spots were chosen for US wars (DRCongo in Central Africa and Yugoslavia in the Balkans )Finally there is what was then called Greater Syria which then included territories the french and British split off to form Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. This Area is vital for controlling the Mediterranean. Russia has a naval base there at Tartous. This is doubtless one of the reasons Syria has been targeted for destruction by the Empire Of Chaos. But it is also one of the reasons Russia has refused to abandon it's ally Syria. By intervening in Syria however Russia has not only acted to save Syria it has also disrupted the entire balance of power in the region. Iraq is already being sucked into the Russian orbit since they are no fools they know full well that ISIS is controlled by the US and it's allies. Any goodwill the nuclear deal bought the US in Iran has been completely overshadowed by this timely reminder of who their true friends are. Even the Puppet government in Afghanistan is now dreaming of Russian support and the Vice president of Afghanistan actually met with Ramzy Kadyrov the colorful leader of Chechnya. Kadyrov is someone else who doesn't get enough appreciation he is doubtless the first truly 21st Century Politician and was recently in the news with his offer to lead 20,000 Chechen troops into the war on ISIS in Syria. Next he released a video of himself catching a snake in mid air strongly resembling a movie Ninja. It's only a matter of time before he becomes a Pop culture Icon.

   Last year I made a wild prediction that Iraq might one day be allied to Russia ( in my July 2014 article "Fall of Slavyansk, End of Iraq") . This was because Russia had provided vital military aid to Maliki in the aftermath of ISIS's big offensive in Iraq last Summer. Of course Maliki was quickly ousted in his place the cypher Haidar al-Abadi became the new prime minister. Yet now it is time for Maliki's revenge his old allies are calling for a vote to ask Russia to replace the US. Iraq is disgusted by America's phony war on terror and US, NATO, GCC, and Israeli support for ISIS are well known facts in the region even if the west still lives in a fantasy world. Iraq's US trained army remains a joke. the ruthless Iraqi Shia Militias veterans of the CIA terror campaign aimed at ethnicly cleansing Iraq's once diverse populace along strictly sectarian lines are the main force willing to fight ISIS but the US refuses to cooperate with them. It's a murky topic but clearly these militias originally which were created by Iran like the Badr Brigade, then controlled by the CIA and used as death squads and torturers in the so Called "Salvador" Option which was really a continuation of the phoenix program developed in Vietnam (See my April 2015 article "The Phoenix Program") These forces are now once again allied to Iran and Iraq's central government so the US has refused to work with them. Also of course the US wants to carve a Sunni state out of western Iraq and Eastern Syria and so was never serious about stopping ISIS at all. As predicted their territory in Iraq proved a base for further attacks on Syria like the one that captured the Ancient City of Palmyra. Thus Maliki's party still the largest in Iraq is now calling for a vote in Iraq's parliament on requesting Russia's aid. Even if this vote is unsuccessful as the US is threatening Iraq not to allow Russia to expand it's air campaign into Iraq it's to late to prevent a de-facto alliance. Russia Iran Iraq and Hezbollah have already set up an intelligence sharing center their first big success was to hit ISIS's figurehead leader Omar al-Baghdadi who rumor has it is now in a hospital in Turkey. Iran is already deeply involved in Iraq and with it's strengthened cooperation with Russia due to the war in Syria Russian influence is bound to grow in Iraq (a former soviet ally.) What an irony 35 years of Imperialist scheming to destroy Iraq beginning with the Iran-Iraq War, then the Gulf War, the sanctions, then the Iraq War which together killed millions of Iraqis and yet despite it all Iraq is now not only allied with Iran but now with Russia as well.


   Russia's intervention in Syria is the greatest example of Internationalist solidarity since Cuba intervened in Angola, foiled a South African invasion and helped bring down apartheid in both Namibia and South Africa ending the last vestige of old style colonialism in Africa. I believe it may be the most decisive historical moment since Stalingrad. From this moment on the American empire is on the decline. World War 4 is far from over but a decisive shift has already occurred in the world balance of power. The return of a Multi Polar world long hoped for has finally and decisively arrived. This grim age of horror and Austerity that began between 1989-1991 is over. A new era has dawned in the world. The resistance of tiny Syria, against so many enemies may end in finally freeing the world from the empire of chaos.
Death to Imperialism!
Long Live the Resistance!


Sources

You Can read about  war in Angola in my 4 part series of Articles First From September 2014 there is "Che Guevara in the Congo" and "Castro vs Kissinger in Angola" and from February 2015 "The CIA in Africa" and "Cuba fought to free South Africa"

Pepe Escobar Wrote some Great articles on the War in Syria Below are his in 3 depth accounts of the pentagon's 3 Nasty surprises

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43128.htm


http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/22/dr-strangelove-gen-philip-breedlove-is-naked/



http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20151022/1028936412/nato-pentagon-frustration.html

Eva Bartlett posted the definitive article debunking the anti-syrian propaganda spewed out nonstop book mark it so you can give it to people who still believe the transparent myths about the war on Syria

 https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/deconstructing-the-nato-narrative-on-syria/

To follow the war in Syria day to day Syria 360 is the place to go

https://syria360.wordpress.com

At Syria 360 there is a daily compilation of reports on the war here is the most recent example

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/syria-in-the-last-24-hours-62/

Putin Gave a Historic speech at the Valdai meeting which I didn't have time to discuss but is well worth reading

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/president-vladimir-putin-truth-lies-war-peace-and-the-way-towards-a-multi-polar-world/

Follow the further adventures of Ramzan Kadyrov and other events in the Caucuses and Central Asia at Christoph Germann's New Great Game Round Up

 http://www.christophgermann.blogspot.com

Operation Condor

   Operation Condor: The CIA, Fascism, and Murder in Latin America




   The US has spent the past 100 Years (and longer) installing murderous dictatorships throughout Latin America. Operation Condor was thus the logical outgrowth of American Foreign Policy dating back to the Monroe Doctrine. Operation Condor was a CIA backed plan to kidnap and torture and kill exiles who had escaped the (CIA installed) fascist military dictatorships in their South American home countries. It was also a secret multinational network operating throughout South America involved in coups, drug dealing, False Flag Terror, and above all massive state terror against their own people. This article is closely related both to my previous articles on the CIA like My February 2014  "Inside the CIA" and My April 2015 "The Phoenix Program" as well as my series on the CIA and Fascism from March 2014 "America, The CIA, and Fascism" and From June 2014 both "Operation Gladio" and "Nazis and the CIA" This is because Operation Condor was closely related to and grew out of both GLADIO in Europe and The Phoenix Program in Vietnam. I am basing this article on the brilliant book by J. Patrice McSherry "Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America" It is a must read both for understanding the Cold War and the War on Terror. McSherry discusses not just Operation Condor but the US covert war on the planet what I today and Condor's operatives back then called World War 3 ("the Cold War"). I Re-Read this book for a third time for this article yet this book manages to blow my mind every time read it. Thanks to all the research I've done for this blog I now know far more then I did at the time about the CIA and covert wars and this made re-reading the book an explosive experience because of all the connections of Operation Condor to other "Dirty Wars" and CIA programs.


   McSherry herself does a masterful job of explaining the parallels pointing out the connections to the Phoenix Program and Operation Gladio. She points out that Operation Condor was part of a global pattern of the creation of "Parallel State" structures to serve what she calls the "National Security State." By "parallel state" she means the network of intelligence, police, military, and paramilitary death squads who's actions are kept secret and unaccountable. "GLADIO" (technically GLADIO was only the name of Italian branch but it has since been applied to describe the whole network of secret armies in Europe founded in every NATO and even most neutral countries) GLADIO was one such network, so was the Phoenix Program which terrorized not just Vietnam but Cambodia and Laos as well. Operation Condor was not only modeled on these programs it was directly connected to them. Phoenix program veterans in a renamed program called "Project X" taught torture at the "School of the Americas" where many Condor operatives were trained and indoctrinated in Fascist US national security doctrine which taught them to see anyone whether, revolutionary or reformist as a threat, to view the people of their countries as the enemy. Their goal was not to stamp out acts they didn't like but dangerous thoughts. As General Jorge Videla of Argentina put it "A terrorist is not just someone with a gun or a bomb but also someone who spreads ideas that are contrary to Western and Christian Civilization" All this was carefully taught to them for decades by US advisers from USAID, the CIA, Military, and Special Forces. American Special Forces were largely made up of european fascist veterans of world war 2 in their early days I should mention. Operation Condor was also directly connected to GLADIO it subcontracted the attempted murder of Latin American exiles like Bernardo Leighton and his wife in Rome out to infamous fascist GLADIO operatives like Stefano Delle Chiaie. Also like GLADIO Condor carried out false flag assassination pretending it's victims had been killed by the left. In one case the Pinochet regime in Chile attempted to portray 119 of it's murdered Condor victims as having killed each other during an attempted invasion. Also like GLADIO (which was behind 1 coup in Greece and 2 in Turkey) the operation Condor Network would carry out coups in their countries installing dictatorships in Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Argentina. Like the Phoenix Program Gladio was primarily an attempt to conduct a campaign of Kidnapping, torture, and finally murder. If you read McSherry's book you'll also learn about Condors connections to the Wars in Algeria and Angola, P-2 in Italy, the Iran- Contra affair, the World anti-Communist League, and to the CIA's secret army of Cuban exile terrorists (who were equally connected to a lot of covert wars and deep events they too were outgrowths of GLADIO). More importantly you will begin to see a terrifying pattern as in the name of freedom and democracy all over the world the US actually installed dictators and trained death squads to make war on the planet. From Africa to Asia to Latin America the Same pattern takes place  often with the same network of US officials famous names like Henry Kissinger, as well as lesser known figures like Vernon Walters and Duane Clarridge, all three were involved in running both Gladio and Condor as Mcsherry points out. It was the same story all over the world because the American Empire used the same methods all over the world. Operation Condor was both the "Cold War" and the "War on Terror" in Miniature. It typified the cold war with it's paranoid anti-communist crusade against any resistance to poverty and injustice. And with it's black sites for torture and Assassination programs it like the Phoenix Program formed the template for the war on Terror. Actually Condor Operatives falsely claimed to be battling "terrorists" as a means to justify their atrocities and manipulated the media to create panic over phony stories concocted as part of their PsyWar. Also with it's creation  of parallel state of death Squads who's actions were both visible and deniable and which conducted a terror campaign against the populace it prefigured the wars on Iraq, Libya and Syria. (The book was written before this strategy of using terrorist death squads as US proxies  became obvious  these are my views not necessarily McSherry's) This was no accident as Condor operatives helped train the contras in the war on Nicaragua as well as the Death Squads of El Salvador that both formed the model for US backed death squads in Iraq who have since expanded across Africa and Eurasia. Of course the war covert war on Afghanistan that gave birth to Al Qaeda was also connected to Condor through the Iran Contra Scandal.


   Latin America was in desperate need of revolution or at least reform. The majority lived in poverty while a tiny and brutal oligarchy owned everything. All over Latin America people were trying to organize change. The Cuban revolution of 1959 had provided an example of heroic defiance. Even elements of the catholic church were beginning to demand social change and liberation theology was spreading across the continent. Workers and peasants were demanding change. Communists and Socialists were working for a better future. This is what had the Pentagon and the CIA concerned. They were determined that there would be "no more Cubas". In order to prevent any form of social change a whole generation of revolutionaries, reformers, even moderates who wanted to merely to maintain democracy would be wiped out. Latin America was set back 40 years and aside from the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua in 1979 the world would have to wait until 1999 and the Election of Chavez before Latin America could finally become the beacon of hope it would have been long ago if not for the US and it's murderous operation Condor. As McSherry explains The main targets would be elected leaders, priests, nuns, supporters of governments they had overthrown, as well as Union members, students, peasants, and other activists. They then moved to "obliterate all traces of leftist thought in their societies." It was terror on a mass scale meant to terrorize whole societies into submission.


   McSherry points out that the roots of Condor began well before the official program began in the 70's. It had it's roots in the long practice of installing dictators like Somoza in Nicaragua and training ruthless armies like the Nicaraguan National Guard to keep them in power all in service of corporate capitalism of course. The forces that would grow into Condor were further strengthened during the Cold War with the creation of the CIA and with programs to train and indoctrinate the military and police of the country in their new counter-insurgency role. The French played a large role in formulating counter-insurgency theory during their Dirty wars to maintain control of Indochina and Algeria. They would be involved in training both the American Military and their Latin American Counterparts. Former Nazis would also train the americans and Latin Americans. However the US would play the primary role. Guatemala was their early laboratory for Counter-Terror after Overthrowing Arbenz they began training death squads there and it was there where the disappearances began. To disappear meant to be kidnapped  tortured then killed with the body buried in secret or left out to send a message. Tens of thousands of people in Latin America would be disappeared in coming decades. Colombia would also become an important area to test out theories of counter-insurgency and death squads. Sadly both Colombia and Guatemala both still live under death squad terror today. Colombia is still being used as a model for covert war (Plan Colombia) resulting in a a terrifying "Drug War" in Mexico that is seldom mentioned despite more then 50,000 people being killed in recent years.


   However it was the 1964 Coup in Brazil that really set the Condor network in motion. Goulart the reformist president was ousted, a military dictatorship was installed and the secret police went on a rampage of torture and murder forming death squads and coordinating police, military, intelligence in a war on the people of Brazil. Goulart may have later been killed using Sarin to induce a heart attack McSherry points out. I was definitely reminded of the death of Hugo Chavez and the many left wing Latin American leaders who have come down with cancer in recent years. Sometimes condor attempted to stage accidents to eliminate their victims and it's most secret aspect were it's "Phase III" operations it's international assassination campaign which targeted prominent political and military figures who were in exile most infamously killing former chilean diplomat and Pinochet critic Orlando Letelier in Washington DC with a car bomb. (Fun film trivia fact this incident was fictionalized in Scarface where Tony Montana's refusal to go along leads to his downfall) Unfortunately I'm skipping ahead again so to return following the coup in Brazil the system of state terror there which developed with the advice of the CIA, AID, and the pentagon was to influence the military and the police of the whole region. The CIA would send Brazilian death squads and their state terror apparatus to train the military, police, and intelligence of the other countries. Thanks to the CIA, the Defense department, and the school of the Americas, and the Conference of American Armies, there was already an integrated approach to the Police, military and intelligence forces of the whole region. The Police were intentionally militarized their role changed from fighting crime to hunting down subversives and they along with the police of much of the world were trained by the americans in brutal methods including torture at their International Police Academy. A multinational network of military and intelligence were formed they heads met regularly in Panama at the school of the America's. Brazil would play a role in the coups in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The terrible results of this influence were best exemplified in Uruguay which would undergo a slow motion coup. From being known as the Switzerland of Latin America Uruguay became the torture capital. The Uruguayan security forces were trained in torture by Dan Mitrione who had earlier trained the Brazilian forces in torture. Mitrione a small town policeman recruited by the CIA was an expert in torture his motto, the precise amount of pain, in the precise place, for a precise amount of time and he viewed himself as a "technician" not a sadist. He would later meet a well deserved fate at the hands of Uruguay's Tupamaro Guerrillas who kidnapped and later executed him. (Costa Gravas made a movie about it "State of Siege") Back in America Mitrione was portrayed as a Hero murdered by senseless terrorists.


 It was after the coup in Chile on September 11, 1973 which overthrew the socialist Allende and Installed the Neo-Liberal Fascist Pinochet regime that Condor would truly begin. A Proto Condor would begin immediately after the coup. Exiles who had fled from brutal regimes were kidnapped tortured and sent back to their home countries for more torture and usually death. With American permission and on their advice they even kidnapped and killed two US citizens radical journalists. Charles Horman and Frank Terrucci who had discovered too much about the CIA role in the coup. Condor was closely connected to surveillance of Americans as McSherry points out. At Fort Holabird in Maryland where Latin American military and intelligence were trained the army also kept files on 10 million American Subversives. Horman and Terrucci had long been under surveillance for Anti-War, Left wing activities and their is strong evidence the US gave their files to Chile's CIA created DINA spy agency and gave the green light for their deaths. (Costa-Gavras made a movie about it called "Missing") Chile became the new center for spreading state terror through Latin America. In 1974 a meeting was held to further increase cooperation in hunting down and killing exiles. Throughout 1974 the number of kidnappings and murders conducted by Condor Steadily increased. At an Abandoned garage called Orletti Motors what we would call today a black site had been set up. It was a veritable torture factory staffed by a multinational force of torturers. Many were veterans of the Argentine fascist death Squad triple A. It was a hell on earth an McSherry gives many horrifying tales of the rape and torture that went on there. Children were tortured in front of their parents. People were starved for weeks. Some went insane from their torture. Most would then be sent back home for further torture and execution although Uruguay preferred to let it's victims live.

   Finally it was in Nov 28, 1975 that Operation Condor was officially established it was named in honor of the Chilean Hosts of the meeting the Condor is their national bird. Colonel Contreras head of Chile's DINA (and on CIA payroll since 73) Was known as Condor one and Signed the Secret Charter on behalf of Chile. Colonel Benito Guanes Serrano signed for Paraguay. Captain Joses Casas of Argentina, Major Carlos Mena of Bolivia and Colonel Jose a Fons of Uruguay all signed. Ecuador and Peru would later join as well. They agreed they needed a secret communications network and a computer database which the US military provided as a front for the CIA. Thus they could all share their massive lists of subversives. Within each country Condor formed a parallel state a secret network of operatives. In Argentina for example Within each military regiment for example their would be a couple of members who answered only to the high level Condor Operatives that headed the military or intelligence. GT (Grupo De Tarea) "task forces" (death squads) were assigned to hunt down subversives.


    McSherry explains that Condor had three levels of activity. First Mutual cooperation among military intelligence agencies to coordinate surveillance and share intel. Exiles were constantly tracked and spied upon. Second covert action to detain and disappear exiles then transfer them to their home countries for torture and likely death. The third level was the top secret "phase III" their international assassination program in which teams of assassins traveled worldwide eliminating their opponents mainly politicians they feared could mobilize opposition to them. Many phase III operations were GLADIO style operations meant to blame the left for their crimes. For example One victim  General Joaquin Zenteno who was also deeply involved in waging the dirty war but who was considered a threat by Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer was killed by the fictitious "Che Guevarra International Brigade." Phase III was also closely connected to the CIA's and secret army of cuban exiles and the fascist Gladio network both of whom were subcontracted to carry out phase III assassinations. Famous Phase III victims included Zelmar Michelini and Hector Guiterez Ruiz two politicians from Uruguay. Chilean General Carlos Pratts and his wife Sofia Cuthbert killed in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1974. the attempted assassination Chilean politician Bernardo Leighton and His wife Ana Fresno in Rome (1975) which was subcontracted to Italian fascists linked to GLADIO. Orlando Letelier former former minister of Chile under Allende, and a fierce critic of the Pinochet regime was killed in Washington DC in 1976 along with Ronni Moffit a US citizen in a car bombing carried by DINA (chilean intelligence) and cuban exiles with the probable involvement of then CIA Director George H.W. Bush. Finally Bolivia's former president Jose Torres killed in Buenos Aires in 1976. They may have killed even more famous victims as they had the ability to induce heart attacks (using Sarin) and stage accidents. As I pointed out earlier this aspect of condor seems to have lived on doubtless now under direct CIA control with a wave of cancer striking Latin America's progressive new leaders which has already killed that revolutionary giant Hugo Chavez. Just my own and many others speculation of course but it should be remembered that the CIA had it's own evil scientific genius head of "technical services" Sidney Gotlieb more well known for his role in MK-Ultra but who also made a deep study of toxins poisons and diseases as tools of assassination both Fidel Castro and Patrice Lumumba nearly became victims. Thus way back in the 50's and 60's the CIA could already cause heart attacks and cancer and far more exotic diseases no one knows what they are capable of today.


    McSherry Describes what she sees as the six defining characteristics of Operation Condor. First it specialized in cross border and foreign operations against exiles. It was thus only a part of the much broader repression carried out by the militaries of their own countries. Operations were conducted by specialized units  within the intelligence agencies of the region. In Chile for example DINA's Foreign department. In Argentina the extraterritorial task force of Battalion 601. Condor operatives were posted as military attaches in neighboring countries. Condor allowed exiles to be targeted with impunity. To give one example there is the tale of a talented Brazilian Pianist Francisco Tenorio Junior known as "Tenorinho". He was picked up on a random search in downtown Buenos Aires because his beard made him a suspected guerrilla. When they found out he was a musician he became  even more suspect in their eyes. Worse still they considered his Conductor Vincius de Moraes to be a communist. He was beaten, then tortured with electric shocks on what his torturers jokingly called the barbecue. Then he was waterboarded already a CIA favorite. Meanwhile his friends were desperately searching for him and trying to get him released. Unfortunately for him he learned that the highest levels of his government  were involved when they came by to question him and he was shot for knowing to much. He was only one of thousands of victims. I selected his story merely to show the tragic absurdity and horror of Operation Condor.



The Second defining feature of Operation Condor was it's multinational character. It united militaries that had formerly seen themselves as adversaries with long histories of suspicion and conflict. On the operational level Condor Units were made up of men from two or more countries organized on the model of US special forces specializing in unconventional warfare, psychological operations and "counter terror" i.e. terrorism. Captives were interrogated by a multinational force of torturers. Thus a prisoner would often be interrogated on their activities in every country they had ever visited by paranoid fascists who saw dangerous subversion in the most harmless activities. As mentioned earlier condor attacks were often carried out as false flags and falsely blamed on the left. Condor units reported to top army and intelligence commanders outside of ordinary military command channels.


    The third characteristic according to McSherry is the the "precise and selective targeting of dissidents." It differed from the broader more arbitrary disappearances conducted by these US installed national security states. Condor was meant to decapitate the leadership both of Revolutionary, popular and leftist organizations but also any leaders who opposed military dictatorship. Thus it was very similar to operation phoenix meant to be the surgical arm of the counter insurgency. It targeted not just revolutionary forces (who are entitled under international law to due process, and freedom from torture and arbitrary execution) As McSherry explains "It Also targeted union leaders, social democrats, Christian democrats, nationalists, dissident generals, former presidents and congressional representatives, and others who were opposed to military dictatorship and repression in their countries."

The Fourth Characteristic was it's "parastatal structure." I'll let her explain "I define Parastatal structures as the forces and infrastructure of "Black World" special operations. This Hidden part what I term the parallel state includes parapolice and paramilitary forces harbored and directed by the state, with access to a vast shadow infrastructure including secret prisons, fleets of unmarked cars and unregistered aircraft, unofficial cemeteries, secure communication systems, and other parallel structures funded by "black budgets." In Latin America the parallel state augmented the lethal capabilities of the military dictatorships while allowing them the appearance of legality and a certain legitimacy" In other words the parallel state allowed them to get away with murder and a host of other crimes. Thanks to the parallel state the crimes of the military dictatorship were both visible and deniable. Once kidnapped by the parallel state a victim was held in complete secrecy, tortured, killed their body burned or thrown out to sea. The victims family had no way of knowing what had happened and most still don't know the exact details all these decades later.

  The fifth characteristic of Operation Condor was it's "Advanced Technology" and access to huge resources. Condor employed a computer database of thousands of individuals suspected of subversion. The CIA helped them set one up it was similar to the ones the CIA set up during the phoenix program in Vietnam or for the Fascist colonels in Greece after their coup. Condor  also used a top secret advanced communications system part of the US militaries communication system doubtless supplied on CIA advice. It was called Condortel. They used it to track their victims and order their death squads into action. Thus throughout all Condors murderous operations which the US officially generally tried to deny or downplay the US government knew everything they were doing since they were obviously able to listen in on their own system.


   The sixth Characteristic of Condor was it's "use of criminal syndicates and extremist organizations and networks to carry out operations, especially Phase III assassinations. while Condor was an alliance among military states, it employed civilians and paramilitaries, another aspect of it's parallel nature." Highly sensitive phase III Style assassins were usually carried out by people not in the military but by "special agents." Of course I've already discussed their use of cuban exiles and Italian fascists to carry out high profile assassinations. McSherry introduces  the shadowy figure of Michael Townley an American who worked for DINA and probably the CIA although they deny it because of his role in the infamous Orlando Letelier assassination. In addition to his jobs for DINA and the CIA Townley was also connected to Latin American fascist groups. Townley worked within the Chilean fascist paramilitary organization Patria y Libertad during the Allende years(DINA was only founded after the coup). He also worked closely with Argentinian death squads Milicia, Libertadores de America and Triple A. Triple A was the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance composed of police right wing military and gangsters and it appears again and again throughout McSherry's book committing the most horrifying tortures and murder. For example at the infamous Black site Orletti Motors many of the torturers were recruited from Triple A. Between 1973-76 Triple A conducted a GLADIO style campaign of terror and psychological operations to help facilitate the 76 coup. After the coup Triple A was integrated into the state terror apparatus and spun off into new death squads.  Townley is  worthy of an article or a book in his own right he along with James Blystone were two probable CIA advisers to condor. In addition to working with fascists Condor also worked with Gangsters and drug dealers. No doubt you could also write a whole book on the role of Condor in drug trafficking. McSherry concentrates instead on it's role as a torture and assassination program but as with GLADIO and phoenix these parallel structures were also perfect for smuggling drugs. Thus Condor operatives along with notorious Nazi exile Klaus Barbie would carry out the infamous 1980 "Cocaine Coup" in Bolivia which McSherry discusses.

    One fascinating chapter of the book called "condor commanders and operatives" gives fascinating details of the careers of some of the top Condor members.  Claudia Vallejos for example was trained by both the Nazi exiles in Argentina, the Brazilians and the US special forces. Infamous sadist Osvaldo Romo Mena worked closely with the nazis in Colonia Dignidad (another infamous black site where many were tortured and killed) . Another Juan Battista was trained by the Navy Seals served in Vietnam and was Condors man in New York city spying on the exiles there before being transferred to central America to train death squads he was a close associate of Oliver North. America was the secret extra member as this story, the Orlando Letelier assassination and CIA deputy director Vernon Walters mysterious trip to Asuncion(you'll have to read the book) make clear. I don't have time to go into it here but clearly Condor was also related to infamous programs like Cointelpro and the CIA's operation Chaos, as well as military intelligence programs that surveilled american subversives. At least three americans were killed by condor.

  Condors final expansion was into Central America. As I pointed out in many ways it was a return home since south america's dirty wars owed much to the template of Guatemala. Central America even had it's own proto-condor dating back to 1963 called Condeca. However with the 1979  Sandanista revolution in Nicaragua Condor was brought into central America. In 1976 With the Letelier assassination Chile was under the spotlight and so the center of Condor moved to Argentina which had just had a recent coup. Argentina waged the most brutal dirty war on it's people in South America  30,000 people were disappeared in a few years. Argentina became a CIA proxy used to train the already brutal central American death squads to be more efficient. After Somaza's fall they also began training the nicaraguan contras and they had already been training Somoza's brutal forces. Rene Aubisson infamous God Father of Death Squads asked for Argentinian help training his death squads at an infamous 1980 meeting of the World Anti-Communist league. At first they trained the death squads in Argentina but later switched to sending advisers out to central America. After the falklands war Argentina cut their level of assistance in revenge for the US siding with Britain and the CIA was forced to take a more direct hand leading eventually to the Iran Contra scandal. The brutal wars waged with the help of condor would be incredibly bloody. In Honduras 2,000 would die, In Guatemala 150,000 were disappeared, in El Salvador 100,000 while in Nicaragua despite their valiant resistance to the invading death squads or "Contras" 50,000 would be killed. During this Period the governments of the region formed their own Central American Condor called CREM which united the governments and the contras in the same centralized cooperation adopted in the southern cone.


   During the "Cold War" aka World War 3 as the Condor network referred to it America claimed to be fighting to spread freedom an democracy. However when it was a choice between democracy that might lead to reform and a loss of corporate profits for the multinational corprations or Dictatorships that would ruthlessly maintain inequality they choose the latter. Thus just like today they were lying outrageously claiming to be fighting "tyranny" while in reality they imposed it everywhere. In Africa, in Latin America, in Asia, even in parts of Europe they imposed brutal military dictatorships that waged an ugly war on their people. Condor was merely one example one network of dangerous fascists, one program of mass murder of torture among many. The best members of a whole generation were systematically wiped out either for daring to dream of a better world or for daring to oppose the nightmare that the Military dictatorships sought to impose. Unfortunately Condor like GLADIO and Phoenix became the blueprint for the future. As McSherry points out every element of Condor was openly adopted as part of the war on terror. Kidnappings now called extraordinary rendition. Torture at black sites. and Hunter killer teams of assassins currently US special forces and CIA drones. Plus a massive system of tracking and surveillance that with advances in technology now spies on every single person on the planet. Somewhere lists are still being stored of subversives. America's war on the planet continues.  This is why it is important to study Operation Condor, the Phoenix Program, GLADIO, and the many other ugly programs in the history of counterinsurgency. All these programs are still being replicated today and as McSherry reveals they were also closely connected although taking place across the world from each other. They reveal the truth behind the propaganda the ugly face of the American Empire of Chaos which rules through terror torture and murder while portraying itself as benevolent.


But there is another much happier lesson to be learned from Operation Condor. Despite their attempt to murder all progressive thought to terrify the people in submission people continued to resist. Operation Condor failed. Today Latin America is a beacon of hope for the world because it is there that people are determined to create a better world and they have already made great strides despite CIA subversion and the resistance of local elites who still control the media. Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador Nicaragua and the still defiant Cuba represent a hope for the world. They are determined to raise their people out of poverty to finally address the inequalities, to improve health care and education. to use their resources to benefit their people and not just multinational corporations. Never again must the US gain control of the continent never again should it be allowed to impose it's operation condor there to terrorize a continent. So remember Operation Condor next time some state department liar is criticizing Venezuela on Human Rights. What insane hypocrisy to criticize them for locking up fascist murderers and coup plotters when the whole continent remembers the bloody reign of terror the US so recently conducted there. Long live a Latin America free of America's brutal rule.


Sources
I relied mostly on J. Patrice McSherry's "Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America" which I highly recommend you read for yourself. I also recommend a Great Documentary about the CIA called "On Company Business" It does a great job of explaining the various coups in Latin America and includes extensive interviews with CIA whistleblowers John Stockwell and Phillip Agee. The section on Mitrione is excellent. The Same director also did a great documentary on GLADIO on 1992  for the BBC just search for BBC and Gladio on youtube. For more on the dirty wars in Central America and the Iran Contra Scandal check out my April 2014 Article "Israel Supported El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua." UNITA in Africa were very similar to the Contras I discuss them in my February 2015 "CIA in Africa" I couldn't resist mentioning these articles as McSherry's work is connected to so many other topics I have studied and written about but with her own razor sharp brand of analysis. She also Wrote a book called "Military Power and Democracy in Argentina" that I look forward to reading. For more on the Condor and Drugs read "Cocaine Politics" By Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall.

You can read one of her Academic papers on Operation Condor here

 http://www.public.asu.edu/~idcmt/terror.pdf






         
               

Russia Defends Syria & Yemen Resists

Russia Defends Syria, Yemen Fights Back




   It's seems to happen every year Russia manages to spring a major surprise on the world foiling the schemes of the American Empire of Chaos. Recently Russia have begun to greatly expand their Assistance to the Syrian Government. In 2013 it was the surprise chemical weapons agreement which lead Obama to cancel plans to launch a bombing campaign aimed at destroying Syria and turning the country over to a bunch of genocidal terrorists from Al Qaeda, FSA, Al Nusra, and ISIS. The Neo-con wing of the US retaliated with the coup in Ukraine which began to simmer that very fall. Then came Russia's next big surprise accepting the people of Crimea's nearly unanimous vote to return to Russia and escape newly fascist Ukraine. Putin sent in Spetsnaz to secure Crimea against retaliation preserving Russia's geopolitical position in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. This lead the people of east Ukraine to hope that they too might be allowed to rejoin Russia or at least secede from Ukraine leading to the birth of Novorossia that territory determined to preserve it's independence from Fascist Ukraine. Of course this lead to the Ukrainian Civil War which I've spent the past two years writing about. when the US began to bomb Syria in Fall of 2014 on the excuse that it was trying to destroy ISIS ( a force it created along with it's allies during the war in Iraq and used to attack Syria), At the time Russia seemed too pre-occupied with Ukraine and Cold War 2.0 to provide more help to Syria. I was really desperate for Russia to act to defend Syria at the time but I had little hope. (See My September 2014 Articles "Empire of Lies" and "War on Syria and Iraq "Peace" in Ukraine")


Now it's a year later and the war in Ukraine has cooled down. The kiev regime is still shelling civilians in Novorossia, fascists are still on the rampage, but there have been no major offensives since last spring when Novorossia captured Donetsk Airport, Smashed a Ukrainian offensive and captured Debaltsevo. (See my February 2014 Articles "Debaltsevo and Diplomacy" and "Victory at Debaltsevo") With Novorossia secure Russia has finally decided to act decisively to aid it's ally Syria. Of course Russia has been providing military aid to Syria since the cold war and throughout the current war on Syria but now despite early denials it is clear that Russia is now prepared to take a direct role in the war. It is another brilliant move by Putin. First it has put a stop to the US and Turkish scheme to begin a "No-Fly Zone" in northern Syria aimed at eliminating Syrian and Kurdish forces there and creating an expanded safe haven for NATO's terrorist armies there. Second it will enable Syria to go back on the offensive against ISIS and other groups which were making gains. Third it has exposed the hypocritical schemes of the Empire of Chaos and it's allies which claim to be fighting the very groups they are funding. There are signs that slightly saner heads in the Obama administration may seize the opportunity to back away from their plans to destroy Syria at least until whatever madman or madwoman takes over after the american election circus in 2016. I suspect that they will continue their covert war on Syria but hopefully they may lessen their support. No doubt the US may seek to retaliate in Ukraine ironically that demented madman John McCain (Friend to Al Nusra Terrorists, Ukrainian Nazis and tool of the Israel lobby) is currently in Ukraine. Thus no doubt the Neo-cons are already plotting their revenge just as they did back in 2013 the last time Russia managed to avert the all out NATO war on Syria.


  Russia has already sent a big shipment of Tanks, Fighter Jets, helicopters and other equipment. It's expanding the airbase in Lattakia in the north and has sent a couple hundred marines to guard the base and possibly fight. They are now providing their satelite intel to the Syrian Government to counter the intel provided the terrorists by the west which have often helped them to launch their attacks in the past. At this stage is unclear just how far Russia is planning to expand it's aid to Syria. However I think over the next several months Syria should begin to launch some impressive offenses driving back the terrorists from their recent gains and attacking them in their bases. Thanks to the schemes of what Pepe Escobar calls the Empire of Chaos Russia has long experience fighting Terrorirism. It began in the 70's with their disastrous war in Afghanistan, then after the Soviet Union was destroyed Russia fought two long and ugly dirty wars in Chechnya suffering humiliating defeat under Yeltsin but managing to reassert control thanks to the alliance between Putin and Akhmad Kadyrov and later his son Ramzan Kadyrov who currently rules Chechnya. Thus after 30 years Russia has learned the hard way how to fight this sort of war and will hopefully send some veteran intelligence agents and special forces troops to help it's Syrian allies who also have long experience fighting this sort of war. For the moment however what has chiefly been provided is hope at last for the Syrian people who have been fighting this war for more then 4 years with no end in sight. Although they had won many victories they faced the prospect of endless war as Syria died the death of a thousand cuts it's hospitals, schools, history all slowly being destroyed while they faced an endless supply of terrorists. Now once again victory seems possible again and the Syrian people will doubtless return to the struggle with renewed spirit. Syria will survive that seems certain now. Russia has already signaled that it is willing to send whatever aid is necessary to save Syria including troops if Syria should ask for them.


    Not only is Russia entering the war it also brings with it the entire CSTO Russia's military alliance with former soviet republics in Central Asia and Belarus. Who knows perhaps even some Novorossiyans may join the fight. After all ISIS has been allied with Ukraine since before the coup and has recently been shockingly open about it with Dmitry Yarosh recently meeting with a Chechen ISIS leader. Some Ukrainian Fascists actually went to fight alongside the Chechen terrorists during the recent Chechen wars. Parts of Ukraine and Chechnya sided with the Nazis during World War 2 of course. By acting to protect Syria Putin is also interfering with plans to funnel terrorists from the Syrian wars into Iraq, Ukraine, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and even China. This is why I call all the various inter-related wars stretching from Central Africa and across Eurasia all the way into China's western frontier World War 4. (World War 3 was the War on the third World during the "Cold" War which killed millions in places like Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia and hundreds of thousands in places like Angola, El Salvador, and Guatemala) These   wars should be viewed not separately but as a single war conducted by the US and it's allies upon much of the planet. Their ultimate targets are Russia and China. Hopefully Russia's move signals it is ready to start countering this war on a global scale. Although we shouldn't get our hopes up surely it would be wise to help Yemen indirectly through Iran since it is openly fighting the saudis, the GCC, and their NATO backers the same one's funding the terrorists in Syria. Also the Green Resistance in Libya is bravely fighting ISIS and it would be wise to send them aid. Well I can dream but if Russia wants to survive world war 4 it must return to it's soviet era strategy of providing at least some aid to those battling US imperialism. For now we must simply be grateful for the aid Russia is providing Syria.


    Now a brief discussion of the geopolitical scheming going on in the background. First one can't help but wonder if the US is planning to betray it's gulf allies. Some elements may seek to build on the Iran deal allying with Iran and Russia to stabilize Iraq and Syria. There is actually a rumor that Obama secretly suggested Putin make this move into Syria. It's sort of like a serial killer calling the police and saying "stop me before I kill again." Obama a lame duck president is unable to rein in some of the crazier elements who launched plans to destroy Syria before he was even in office. Somewhere there may be slightly saner imperialists who question the wisdom of intentionally reducing large sections of the middle east to utter chaos in the name of creating Oded Yinon Plan style ethnic micro states. Once these states are broken like Libya it will be very difficult to ever restore them to order or control. The Refugee Crisis is no doubt already alienating our european allies who have already had to put up with enough craziness due  to the start of Cold War 2.0 last year. Eric Draitser has been making some fascinating points about the refugee crisis which was intentionally expanded by Turkey as an attempt to provoke war with Syria. They forced a mass exodus of their refugee camps. In addition terrorists in Libya, Syria, and Turkey are making huge profits in the Human Trafficking business they will use to fund their terror operations. The goal is also to drain Syria of it's human capital it's well educated population. A very similar scheme was promoted in Iraq once the most educated country of the middle east it's educated classes were intentionally targeted by death squads and forced to flee. Europe is experiencing an Al Qaeda operation paper clip (The mission to smuggle thousands of Nazis west so they could help the US wage it's covert war on the Soviets and eveyone else See my June 2014 Article "Nazis & the CIA" for more) Amid legitimate refugees terrorists and their families are being smuggled west as a reward for trying to destroy Syria. From Europe they will plot more trouble for Syria. No doubt we can expect waves of False Flag terror attacks in Europe over coming years. Gladio B (the FBI's secret name for Al Qaeda and related groups as revealed by Sibel Edmonds) is about to massively expand it's european operations. As if the increasing revival of Fascist Gladio style operations in Ukraine and Croatia were not bad enough. (See my June 2014 Article "Operation Gladio" on both Fascist Gladio A and Al Qaeda style Gladio B) The future for Europe is bleak so long as it remains a slave to the empire of Chaos and it is reaping what it has sewn by funding fascism and terror across the planet. The scenes of refugees usually ignored or invisible in the media flooding across Europe's borders and the ugly treatment they often received were like scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie(Children of Men comes to mind). Europe despite it's pretensions is only a tiny piece of what Mackinder called the World Island Composed of Eurasia and Africa. It thinks it can spread devastation all around the world Island and even within Europe itself (Yugoslavia and Ukraine) with no consequences. Thus Turkey's move backfired by panicking Europe's elite about the disaster they have caused.  Thanks to Russia's quick intervention instead of being forced into a war the west is instead considering the consequences the destruction of Syria would actually have. Europe experienced first hand what the empire of chaos is all about and Putin's move to save Syria was doubtless secretly applauded in many capitals. Some in Washington may secretly be relieved that the US will be able to avoid the war on Syria that it has been slowly moving towards since it began it's illegal bombing campaign last fall. However whatever sane elements remain will not be able to prevent "the crazies" (The neo-cons nickname)  from carrying out some revenge over this cancelled war.


   Novorossia is probably not very happy. They have been hoping for more then a year that Russia would expand it's role instead it has held them in check. Unfortunately for Novorossia it doesn't officially exist and so whatever aid Russia sends both real or imagined is trumpeted in the Media as evidence of a Russian invasion. However in the long run it is doubtless better that the NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) are mostly made up of the people of Novorossia  who have already learned to defend themselves quite well. However Russia should step up it's military aid to Novorossia as it is the most likely place the empire of chaos will seek revenge. Doubtless Chechnya and Central Asia where the US has already expanded ISIS like any successful corporate brand new franchises in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other countries. The countries of the CSTO will be targeted by ISIS but this process had already begun. (See Cristoph Germann's indispensable "new great game round up" in the sources below to follow events in this vital but ignored region) As I mentioned even Novorossia has been targeted by ISIS who have fought alongside the Nazi Azov battalion. However it faces more danger from a renewed assault by Fascist Ukraine. Hopefully the NAF will be able to inflict yet another devastating defeat on Ukraine if it should foolishly decide to launch a big offensive. However as I noted in my introduction there as been a constant pattern of shifting focus between Ukraine and Syria by the empire. Whenever it faces a setback in one it redoubles it's efforts in the other which is how the war in Ukraine started. Of course Ukraine has it's own problems with Fascists continuing their rampage first battling each other in Kiev over the Minsk 2 agreements today they apparently seized the city hall in Kharkov which secretly wishes it was part of Novorossia but where the uprising was crushed early on in the war.


   Now I'll turn to the War on Yemen. For Six Months Saudi Arabia and It's GCC allies have been bombing Yemen in an attempt to reinstall their puppet al-Hadi with secret advice from the US of course. Thus they have been carrying out the same coldly criminal sort of bombing campaign the US carried out against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya aimed at completely destroying the infrastructure and intentionally creating a humanitarian disaster. Strangely the BBC reported on one recent incident even calling it a war crime, Abayomi Azikwe Played the segment on his podcast  full of hypocrisy since Britain was also involved in the bombing same US bombing campaigns in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya. The reporter was shocked to learn that a water bottling plant and a school had been bombed and the saudis like their Israeli, UK and US mentors merely lied and claimed they were storing weapons there. However for whatever reason the reporter decided to investigate and expose the saudis as liars. Even certain elements in the British elite may be re-thinking it's centuries old alliance with the Saudis. They also mentioned the fact that 80% of the population is going hungry. This is the product of the intentional blockade of all supplies similar to the tactics used in Iraq and Gaza to prevent rebuilding or even food or medicine from entering. Yemen has no air defenses and so can do nothing about the bombing campaign which has already killed at least 6,106 people at minimum as of a couple days ago.


    But while Yemen is defenseless against the bombing campaign for now, the people of Yemen are fierce and brave Guerrilla fighters who already beat the Saudis once back in 2009. Thus the GCC were very foolish to launch a massively expanded ground invasion in recent weeks. The Houthis and their allies have been inflicting some major punishment on the invaders. They launched a successful ambush in Ma'rib using a Katushya rocket truck they destroyed a bunch of vehicles and killed many invaders. They even managed to kill Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid the son of the Prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. I wish them the best of luck in killing more pampered royals. What an outrage that these rich monarchs and their spoiled children are waging war on the people of the poorest country in the region Yemen. Hopefully many more royals will meet a similar fate in Yemen. Yemeni forces also managed to shoot down a helicopter. Finally Yemeni forces are advancing in the Saudi Province of Jizan where they seized several areas in the city of Al-Khuba. Although under constant bombardment and facing humanitarian disaster the people of Yemen are defiantly determined to maintain their independence. Their heroic struggle may one day bring down the Saudis and the other corrupt monarchs of the GCC especially if the other forces resisting the empire of chaos, Israel, NATO and the GCC seize the chance to send them aid. Yemen could prove a valuable strategic ally and this war is all about geostrategy and is closely linked to the war in Somalia and the pressure being put on Eritrea. It's all about control over the narrow strait separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. With or without help however Yemen is determined to resist and hopefully have some wicked surprises waiting for those who have invaded their country. Victory to Yemen!


   In Syria the forces of the SAA and their allies have already intensified their war on the endless flow of terrorists their many enemies have flooded the country with (someone needs to come up with an acronym for US UK Israel France NATO and GCC for the sake of us poor bloggers). The Syrian government calls them appropriately "the Conspirators" The Syrian Air Force have redoubled their air offensive inflicting heavy casualties on the terrorists. The terrorists have already started targeting the Russians but that began even before the recent events. They fired an artillery shell at the Russian embassy in Damascus but it didn't explode and the Syrians sent a bomb disposal team to safely remove it. They also launched mortar attacks at the Russian base in Lattakia. Russian marines supposedly counter attacked killing some of them. We can expect dramatic victories in coming months in Syria as more and more reinforcements flow in from Russia and Iran. Iran already began to massively increase it's support for Syria back in May as Eric Draitser reported at the time. (See My June 2015 Long Live Syria) In Coming months hopefully Syria will begin to liberate more and more of it's territory from the terrorist death squads. ISIS, Al Nusra, the FSA, and the hundreds of other names theses groups go by must be eliminated pushed out of Syria once and for all. Only then will the people of Syria once again know peace only then will they be able to rebuild from all the terrible destruction inflicted upon them by "the conspirators". Thanks to Russia and the skillful leadership of Vladimir Putin Syria can now hope for victory and one day peace. Thus I salute Russia for this bold move. I also salute the brave people of Syria who have held out for four years against this ruthless terror campaign winning victory after victory. I also salute their brave allies in Iran, Hezbollah, and Lebanon. And the brave Kurds and their allies who have fought bravely against ISIS. The War in Syria has once again brought home the lesson that in unity there is strength. We can only hope that this alliance will expand and strengthen as time goes on.


   World War 4 will continue for years and probably decades. Yet in it's attempt to either Dominate, conquer or destroy every corner of the planet the empire has made powerful enemies around the world. With Russia's bold move in Syria the global balance of power has shifted against the US at least momentarily. More importantly the people of Syria have been saved from becoming the next Libya ruled by constantly warring death squads who kidnap, torture, rape, and kill the populace with impunity. In Yemen the outlook is more grim but it's heroic people are prepared to resist despite all the odds against them. We can only hope they teach the Saudi Invaders a terrible lesson. The GCC monarchs are the most vulnerable part of the empire of Chaos and we can hope that one day they will be toppled.

Sources

Cristoph Germann's New Great Game Roundup site

http://www.christophgermann.blogspot.com

Pepe Escobar Shared this great WikiLeaks cable (Follow Him on Facebook) showing the US State department plotting to destabilize Syria in 2006
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html

Syria in the 24 Hours 9/22 From Syria 360

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/syria-in-the-last-24-hours-37/

A Great first person account of a Half Russian Half Syrian volunteer in the NDF militia in Syria

 https://thewallwillfall.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/a-russian-syrian-volunteer-talks-about-his-experience-in-the-ndf-pro-assad-paramilitary/

Pepe Escobar on Russia and Syria

http://atimes.com/2015/09/peace-in-syria-its-putins-fault-escobar/

Eric Draitser on Africa, Syria Turkey and the Refugee Crisis

http://stopimperialism.org/imperialism-on-the-march-africa-syria-and-beyond/

Eric Draitser interviews Jay Tharapal (recently back from Syria) in the second half of this episode of counterpunch Radio on Syria and the Refugee Crisis

http://store.counterpunch.org/mark-sleboda-jay-tharappel-episode-18/

Recent Reports of the War on Yemen

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/reports-from-the-war-on-yemen-2/

The Syrian Government on the value of the Russian Help

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/russias-participation-in-fighting-terrorism-will-turn-the-tables-on-the-conspirators/

Abayomi Azikwe's podcast the Last Hour is on Yemen the last 25 minutes or so are the BBC report

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2015/09/20/pan-african-journal-special-worldwide-radio-broadcast

Eva Bartlett compiled a series of reports on "Human Rights" groups like Human Rights Watch and phony Charities like Doctors without borders (exposed back in Afghanistan during the 80's as a intelligence front) and their support for the war on Syria

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/human-rights-front-groups-humanitarian-interventionalists-warring-on-syria/

The Red Army Faction

    The Red Army Faction: The Urban Guerrillas of West Germany


   For my friend and comrade Luci Frank aka @JustFightX



   The Red Army Faction aka The Baader Meinhoff Group or The Badder Meinhoff Gang as the Tabloids called them are not well known in America. This is not surprising as their is an intentional news and historical black out of revolutionary history in general for obvious reasons. However in Germany they are still the object of controversy and were once the objects of tabloid hysteria. I should mention that this article is in part a thank you to all my german readers who surprisingly are my second largest audience after the US. I first came across the Red Army Faction back in 2009 quite by accident I was looking for a movie to watch and ran across the Baader Meinhoff Complex and thus received quite a dramatic introduction to the group. After nearly 8 years of endless war it was quite a thrill to watch them take up arms to directly attack the imperialists of their day. Back then it was Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, that were the scene of apocalyptic destruction although of course this was also the same period that saw the occupation of the west bank and Gaza during the 67 war. Of course in the end the struggle of the Red Army Faction ended in failure it's members killed and imprisoned in a quite similar fashion to what befell the Black Panther Party in the US. Yet their tragic fate only made them more compelling and as you'll see only inspired further resistance. For almost thirty years new members would be inspired by their story and carry on the war against capitalists, fascists, and imperialists in west Germany. However their lasting impact on me would be not their tactics which I wouldn't advise adopting but their ideas, their spirit. In that sense they helped inspire this blog they were above all anti-imperialists. They saw through the lies of bourgeoisie democracy which portrayed itself as civilized and peaceful and saw the bloodthirsty monster beneath. It must be remembered that it was only a little more then 20 years since the defeat of the third reich and they correctly saw that many of the Fascist forces in German Society had merely changed their guise to serve their new american masters.(See my June 2014 Article Nazis and the CIA) They knew all the odds were stacked against them but they hoped their example might inspire a revolution in Germany. Above all they were unwilling to stand by and do nothing when millions were being slaughtered by the empire all over the world. They lived in revolutionary times they were inspired both by radical movements in America and Europe but above all the worldwide revolutionary struggle in the third world. They were inspired by Mao, Che, and the Tupamaros. They took up Che's demand that there must be 2, 3, many Vietnam's if the empire is to be defeated. They managed to cause a lot of trouble carrying out bank robberies, bombings,  assassinations, and kidnapping. They catapulted to both fame and infamy vilified in the right wing media while admired by many in radical circles.


   Now let me introduce the three Red Army Faction Leaders which will be my primary focus. First there was Andreas Baader smart and a rebel from childhood. He became involved in both small time crime and radical politics. He was a loud foul mouthed defiant character which could often get him into trouble. He was also extremely brave and generous. For example when he and Gudrun were working with juvenile delinquents attempting to turn them into revolutionaries one of them Peter Jurgen Boock remarked that they liked his leather jacket. Baader immediately took it off and gave it to the youth as a gift. Boock would go on to be a co-leader in the "2nd generation RAF(Red Army Faction). Next there was his Co-Leader Gudrun Ensslin daughter of a progressive pastor she was an idealist with an unshakeable sense of integrity. She was also a brilliant theorist.  It was her meeting with Baader after at a party celebrating her and 6 others  Iconic illegal protest that would set events in motion. The two met smoked some hashish together and fell in love. It was the memorable year of 1968. They would form an unbreakable bond lovers and revolutionaries. Both were anti-war activists. before moving to Berlin Baader had been involved in the "Schwabing Riots when a police attempt to arrest 2 hippies had lead to a youth uprising in which for the first time instead of the police beating the youth up as was their custom the youth managed to turn the tables on them and beat the police. Gudrun had helped radicalize a generation when after the famous June 2nd demonstrations in 1967 when protesters against the Shah were mercilessly beaten by the shahs thugs as the police looked on. Then the police decided to join in beating the demonstrators as was their custom. In the chaos a policeman shot a protestor. Gudrun on hearing the news at a large gathering of protestors declared that they were dealing with the Auschwitz Generation(The Older Generation who had carried out Genocide during WW2) and that the government would kill them all. With these words she no doubt helped give birth to the June 2nd movement another group that would wage armed struggle against the government. It was in this climate of violent police repression that the parts of the student movement began to turn to violent resistance. Another event that radicalized the student movement was the attempted assassination of the anti-imperialist student leader Rudi Dutschke by a fascist who had been reading the Right Wing CIA sponsored Springer Press. The Springer Press is The german equivalent of Fox news and has long since been exposed as being funded in part by the CIA in order to spread anti-communist right wing propaganda. Fortunately Dutschke  survived although he was badly wounded. This lead to further riots outside the springer press during which an undercover agent handed out molotov cocktails to the protestors.



   This was the climate out of which the RAF were born West Germany was in turmoil. America was reigning death and destruction on Vietnam. Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and Che Guevara were all assassinated that year. The final spark came from Kommune 1 some of who's members would later found the June 2nd movement. They had issued a satirical pamphlet calling for the burning of department stores as a new form of protest against the Vietnam War. They were inspired by an accidental fire in belgium they jokingly issued a pamphlet claiming that  the fire had been a new form of anti-war protest and predicting further fires. However despite the fact they were joking the government put them on trial for terrorism although all they really planned was a custard pie attack on american official. However the idea appealed to Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader. While the Vietnamese were being incinerated by american bombs the average german was caught up with consumerism completely oblivious. Of course things are far worse today as back then at least there was a radical mass anti-war movement. For 500 years the west has largely completely ignored the horrors it has inflicted on the planet. Thus Gudrun and Andreas decided that the only way to bring the publics attention to the war in Vietnam was to bring the war to Germany and they decided to target department stores as symbols of mindless consumerism. However they and a couple of others who carried out the attack did not just decide to toss some molotov cocktails. Instead they built time bombs set to go off when the stores were closed to avoid killing anyone. On the same night two department stores went up in flames causing hundreds of thousands in damage. Unfortunately for them the same undercover agent who had been handing out molotov cocktails at the springer protest had already infiltrated the inner circles of the student movement and so they were quickly arrested along with their accomplices.


   Now I should mention the third leader of the RAF Ulrike Meinhof.The trial for arson was what brought Ulrike Meinhof into their circle. Her upbringing was ahead of it's time as her father died soon after her birth and her mother instead became involved with a female art student. They were both socialists and after her birth mothers death her other mother continued to raise her. Ulrike was a talented writer and political thinker. She was a bit older then the other RAF members and had risen to prominence in the anti-nuclear weapons movement. She became a famous journalist, a film maker, and political figure but she felt a burning desire to do more. She was there at the Springer Riots attempting to block the newspaper distribution trucks. She wrote of the Riot "If you throw a stone, it's a crime. If a thousand stones are thrown that's political. If you set fire to a car it's a crime; if a hundred cars are set afire that's political." After interviewing Gudrun Ensslin she became enormously impressed with her. Actually she never published the interview since if people knew what Gudrun had told her they would never get out of prison. Ulrike longed to move from words to action. Gudrun had already turned her back long ago on her husband and child for the sake of the revolution. Ulrike still had a career and a family. To skip ahead a little she met  Gudrun again along with Andreas this time when they had already been forced underground after the trial and the three of them would spend the night on LSD talking further radicalizing Ulrike. The trial itself made Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin into a cause Celebre many supported the spirit of what they had done if not their action itself. Gudrun's parents actually endorsed their action saying that they had seen an enormous transformation in Gudrun that she was fully self realized. The 60's It was a very different time a fact my generation loved to pretend to hate and secretly envied. Initially the proto-RAF (then only a few people) claimed innocence but during the trial Gudrun read a statement in which she and Andreas assumed full responsibility and admitted that while the attacks themselves had been a mistake they did not regret their choice to take action. They were sentenced to three years but let out on appeal. For community service they worked with Juvenile delinquents who had suffered incredible abuse in state institutions and had already turned to violent resistance in the form of an uprising that was brutally crushed. They loved Andreas Baader a former juvenile delinquent himself and the earlier anecdote shows why. I should mention that at the same time a radical doctor was organizing the patients in a mental hospital along the idea that it was a sick society that was the root of their problem only a revolution could cure them. The patients called themselves the Socialist Patients collective or SPK many of them would go on to join the second generation RAF. These attempts to organize the most marginalized parts of society along revolutionary lines are instructive and in the case of the RAF would allow them to carry on the fight even after their eventual capture.


   Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader had no intention of going back to prison they had a revolution to organize. When their appeal was rejected they fled the country. In France they met with Regis Debray Che's old comrade. Eventually were enticed back to West Germany when they learned that back in Germany others were also intent on armed resistance and had already made contacts with the PLO. It was back in Germany that they spent the night with Ulrike Meinhof that I mentioned earlier. However Andreas was arrested due to the same agent as before who had still not been discovered. As an example of Gudrun's courage she actually managed to visit Baader in prison several despite being a fugitive using a disguise and a fake name. Ulrike agreed to help Gudrun break him out of prison. She would pretend to co-write a book with Andreas Baader she even got a contract from a publisher. Andreas was allowed to meet with her at the social research institute to work on the book. They were supervised by armed guards. Gudrun recruited a team consisting mostly of women since they couldn't find men brave enough to join and had to hire help from a petty criminal. Ulrike was supposed to pretend not to be involved. However when they launched the breakout attempt a cop was shot by the petty criminal who panicked during the fight when the cops fought back. Ulrike decided to escape with them. They had a friend with an apartment only blocks away and they managed to hide out there for days under the nose of the police while outside they conducted their massive dragnet. The Media branded them the Baader Meinhof Gang and made up a ridiculous story that Ulrike had done it all for love. The escape became a media sensation and the press churned out reams of nonsense about the group. They were particularly shocked to see such a high proportion of women among the membership. Police posted wanted posters of 19 suspected members.

  However the group used it's PLO contacts to sneak into East Germany where the Stasi would prove surprisingly sympathetic over the years. Actually there is a great movie about this topic Legend of Rita if your interested. From East Germany they flew to Lebanon and from there they went to a PLO training camp. There was a bit of a culture clash at the camp and Andreas Baader's rebellious attitude caused friction with their hosts and eventually got him into trouble. However while in Jordan the group were trained with weapons and explosives even learning to fire artillery. When they returned to W. Germany they along with their allies in the June 2nd movement managed to carry out three bank robberies at once on January 15 1971 all within ten minutes in order to finance their future activities. Ulrike wrote up the groups manifesto the Urban Guerrilla Concept which I recommend you read for yourself. Here is the essence in a few a lines:

Without political practice, Marx’s Kapital is just another bourgeois text. Without political practice, making programmatic statements is just twaddle. Without political practice, proletarian internationalism remains just bragging. Accepting the theoretical basis for the proletarian revolution means accepting its practice.
The Red Army Faction is about the primacy of political practice. Whether it is right to organize armed resistance at this moment is dependent on whether it is possible – and it can only be made possible by actually doing it.

    The Red Army Faction relied on a network of sympathizers and former friends to hide them and developed a clever system of duplicate license plates to avoid capture. They had to steal materials from government offices to make fake identities. Many members were captured in the manhunt and some were killed. German intelligence supervised a massive operation to capture them no doubt with CIA advice. They set up a massive computer system to engage in what we call today data mining in order to capture them. The police clearly had orders to shoot on sight.


    However the leaders were still on the loose and they were determined to launch attacks on their enemies the American Army, the CIA, German capitalists and the W. German government. Half the group was already dead or in jail. Using the funds from the bank robbery they set up a home made bomb factory. Their first target was the  army base in Frankfurt which they had discovered was where a secret CIA base was located. On 11 May 1972 Three pipe bombs exploded 13 people were injured and 1 killed. They issued this statement in the name of the Petra Schelm Commando (named for a murdered comrade)

"West Germany and West Berlin will no longer be a safe hinterland for the strategists of extermination in Vietnam. They must know that their crimes against the Vietnamese people have made them new and bitter enemies, that there will be nowhere in the world left where they can be safe from the attacks of revolutionary guerrilla units."

    Next they targeted both the Augsburg police headquarters and 2 hours later the Munich regional criminal investigation unit on 12 May 1972. 5 police were injured in the first attack while the second demolished 60 cars in the parking lot and blew the glass out of 6 floors of the building. On 15 May they tried to kill a judge with a car bomb but instead his wife was accidentally killed instead. On 19 May they phoned a warning to the Springer Press to evacuate their building as a bomb was about to go off. The Springer Press ignored the warning as a result 15 people were injured. Finally on 24th May they bombed the US army base in Heidelberg killing 3 soldiers and injuring 5. In response the police launched an even more massive manhunt using helicopters. Every young person in the country was under suspicion as a potential RAF member. It was so out of hand that bumper stickers stating I am not in the "Baader Meinhof Group" became bestsellers. At the same time a poll during the years of the manhunt showed that 25% of the young claimed that they would be willing to help the fugitives.


   Unfortunately the leaders luck was about to run out they had been on the run since Baader's escape in 1970. One by one the leaders were captured along with other members. Since this is only a short article I have focused on the 3 leaders so as not to burden the reader with a constantly shifting cast of around 40 characters. However the you should not get the impression that there were not many other important members. I've left out many dramatic tales of capture and escape and shootouts with police. However now within weeks all the leaders were captured. First Andreas Baader was captured June 1st 1972 after a siege and a shootout with police along with another of his comrades. Then on June 7th 1972 Gudrun Ensslin was arrested at a clothing store grabbed before she could reach her gun she managed two knock both the cops to the ground before they were able to subdue her. Finally Ulrike Meinhof was captured on June 15 1972.

  However if german intelligence thought the capture of the leaders would put an end to the guerrilla campaign they were sadly mistaken. Their influence had already spread. Members of the socialist patients collective or SPK joined the RAF. Broock the Former juvenile delinquent was also organizing a group. Meanwhile their imprisonment and the trial itself became a political scandal that riveted the publics attention.  The kangaroo court trial inspired a movement to battle on behalf of the RAF prisoners rights and some of them would also join the RAF. A second generation RAF was forming on the outside that was determined to free the RAF prisoners by any means necessary. The trial exposed the fact that the prisoners had been held in solitary confinement for years a form of psychological torture still all to common in prisons today in the US. The government was forced to build them a special wing. A very strange part of the story their conditions of imprisonment books have been written about it. A special wing was built at Stammheim Prison just for them which included both male and female members.  They were kept under constant illegal surveillance even when they met with their lawyers. They attempted to expose this fact during the trial but were dismissed as paranoids although the government later was forced to admit the truth. Strangely they were also allowed all sorts of dangerous books technical  manuals on weaponry, electronics, explosives, as well as huge libraries of revolutionary works. They devised their own codes even their own electronic cell to cell communication system. They maintained secret contact with the 2nd gen RAF forces outside through their legal team. Of course all this was only after the outcry when it was discovered that they had been initially been denied all contact for years. They were able to argue that the psychological damage might make them unfit to stand trial. They were able to turn the trial itself into a political theater that dramatized the illusory character of West German Democracy which like all democracies threw out all concept of due process and civil rights as soon as crisis threatened. They staged dramatic hunger strikes that claimed the life of one of their members Holger Meins during a 140 day hunger strike. In retaliation for Meins death the June 2nd movement killed a judge during a failed kidnap attempt. 200 communists shouted "Revenge" at Meins funeral and Rudi Dutschke spoke. The climate in West Germany at the time was similar to that after 9/11 in the US. There was a massive expansion of surveillance and of the police state. Paranoia reigned and many were afraid to speak the truth for fear of being branded terrorist sympathizers. Actually the RAF remain a polarizing topic in Germany to this day.


   The June 2nd movement struck again kidnapping Peter Lorenz and demanding the release of their leaders who unlike the RAF hadn't actually killed anyone. The government actually agreed to release them and paid a huge ransom as well. They were flown to South Yemen then a socialist country. This inspired the second generation of the RAF to launch their own operations aimed freeing the leaders. A group of 2nd gen RAF members who had been in the SPK (Socialist Patients Collective) seized the west german embassy in Stockholm Sweden on April 25th 1975 calling themselves the Holger Meins Commando. They rigged the place with explosives and threatened to execute the hostages unless the RAF members in prison were released. They demanded the police withdraw and shot a military attache when they refused. Back in Germany  this time the west german government flatly refused all their demands it was the personal decision of Chancellor helmut Schmidt. They shot the economic attache in retaliation. That night the explosives were accidentally triggered somehow killing one of the RAF members while the others were badly injured in the blast and easily captured. another of them later died from their injuries.

   This was to be only the first of a dramatic series of operations by the second generation Red Army Faction members. Like their predecessors they had already made contact with the Palestinian resistance. First they met with the PLO but they had abandoned plans for more attacks and so instead directed them to the PFLP. In South Yemen then an any ally of the Socialist Bloc they made contact with the PFLP and were in fact welcomed with the respect a foreign leader might receive.  Back in West Germany a shocking event took place. Ulrike Meinhof was found dead in her cell hanged on 8 May 1976. The Government claimed it was suicide even though this famous writer neglected to leave a note. That fact alone is enough to suspect that she was in fact murdered by the government or perhaps even an allied intelligence agency like the CIA. The RAF prisoners demanded a full investigation but the state wouldn't even consider the possibility of foul play. For the RAF and it's sympathizers it was clear that she had been murdered. Another important development in West Germany was that the prisoners manipulated the state into sending one of their members Brigitte Monhaupt who due to be released in a  matter of months to their group prison at Stammheim. There they were able to Carefully groom her to lead the 2nd Gen RAF upon her release. Once free she would continue the RAF tradition of having the group lead by a couple as she immediately began a relationship with Jurgen Peter Boock and the two would co-lead the group. Boock was the Juvenile delinquent who Baader had given his leather jacket to years before.

  Their next target was Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback on April 7th 1977 he along with his driver and the head of the motor transport pool were assassinated all by two RAF members on a motorcycle who sprayed them with an automatic weapon. This was in retaliation for the murder of Ulrike Meinhof and so the next day the "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" took responsibility for the attack. On April 28 1977 the surviving RAF leaders were found guilty of murder and attempted murder. The 2nd Gen decided to launch another plan to free them. The  next operation was a an attempt to kidnap a rich banker Jurgen Pronto it took place on July 30 1977. He foolishly fought back and was shot during the fight. One of the RAF members involved was a young family friend who had managed to get her RAF comrades invited into the house. This should demonstrate how divided west german society was at the time. The RAF planned to launch an attack on the Federal Prosecutors office using a homemade rocket launcher modeled on the famous Soviet Katusya's  during world 2. However Boock who had built the weapon himself changed his mind and secretly sabotaged it so the attack couldn't be carried out Although they had taken control of an apartment across the street temporarily holding the couple inside captive while they set up the rocket launcher and aimed it at the prosecutors office.


    Now to turn to the final series of events of that autumn of 77 so infamous in Germany. First there was the kidnapping of Hans Martin Schleyer the president of the German Employers association a wealthy capitalist who worked closely with the Government a powerful and influential man. The government already knew he was a target so he was heavily guarded. On September 3 1977 launched their attempt.  The RAF had some sympathizers spying on the employers association building to phone them when he left. Then the 2nd Gen RAF ambushed him near his home they pushed an empty baby carriage into the road. Schleyer's driver slammed on the brakes and their police escort which was following them crashed into the back of his car. The RAF got into a gun battle with his police escort. They were armed with assault rifles and nearly killed schleyer himself in all the chaos but somehow he survived unharmed they drugged him and escaped switched cars in a parking garage leaving their demands in the abandoned vehicle and took Schleyer to an apartment they had rented under a false name. They had demanded the release of the RAF prisoners to an Ant-Imperialist country. The West German Government decided to pretend to go along in the hopes that they could drag matters out and capture the kidnappers. They engaged in a number of delaying tactics and tried to get them to agree on a third party mediator they hoped might lead them to the kidnappers. Meanwhile Schleyer issued pathetic appeals for the government to grant the RAF demands and save his life.


   In prison the RAF leaders were consulted on where they might wish to go if released. In the middle east where the 2nd gen leaders Monhaupt and Broock were the PFLP came up with a surprising offer. They were willing to carry out their own attack to put pressure on the stalling west German government and they already had two possible plans. They could capture the West German Embassy in Kuwait or they could Hijack a plane. Although Hijackings went against the RAF philosophy which preferred attacks solely against Imperialists, government officials and capitalists they agreed in desperation. The RAF leaders strongly suspected they were about to be killed and had warned their sympathizers of this fact. Thus they agreed to the plan of the PFLP to Hijack a plane on their behalf to put further pressure for their release. On October 13 1977 the PFLP launched their hijacking seizing a Lufthansa flight LH 181 full of german tourists returning from vacation in Mallorca. It was called operation Kofre Kaddum and was carried out by the martyr Halimeh commando composed of two men and two women from the PFLP. Their leader "Captain Mahmud" Real name Zohair Youssif Akache had assassinated North Yemen's ex prime minister in a previous operation. They seized the plane and demanded the release of the 11 RAF prisoners. The Hostage Crisis would last for 4 days. The plane was allowed to land and refuel and the plan was that it would arrive at south Yemen where a prisoner exchange would take place. Again the german government pretended to agree to their demands. In reality they phoned East Germany which was in charge of training South Yemen's security forces and demanded they intervene. They agreed and suddenly South Yemen refused to allow the plane to land only agreeing when the pilot at gunpoint was forced to land anyway and south Yemen hurriedly moved the fire trucks it was blocking the runway with to avoid killing everyone. The germans meanwhile had sent their rescue team to the airport they got the pilot killed when they grabbed him while he was checking out the condition of the runway. Captain Mahmud Panicked and when the pilot returned before he could explain the delay he was shot. He had earlier been spared after he was caught sending secret messages to the authorities. The plane took off for Somalia which had already been bought off by west Germany with the false promise of aid. In Somalia they claimed they were about to release the prisoners and that they were already on their way while instead their special forces were preparing to storm the plane. West German Special forces managed to recapture the plane shooting all the PFLP members killing 3 of them while none of the hostages were harmed.

   On the night of October 17-18 1977 all the remaining RAF leaders along with Jean Carle Raspe and Imrgard Muller were found dead or dying. Muller survived and claimed that they had been attacked and that there had been no plans for a mass suicide. The government claimed it was suicide made to look like murder. While RAF sympathizers claimed that it was murder made to look like a suicide. It remains a controversial topic to this day. However given all the mayhem that been caused in the attempts to free them it is clear the government had a motive to simply kill them to prevent any more attempts to free them. In fact government officials are on record considering the possibility of killing them. Many in Germany suspect that the CIA or Mossad may have been the actual killers. What we do know is that the official report was full of glaring inconsistencies and the West German Government which probably has the whole thing on tape is engaged in a blatant coverup as even mainstream german journalists admit. Thus we will never know what exactly happened but their is cause for suspicion. However getting into this question would involve a whole new article. I suspect murder not suicide but unfortunately the material arguing for this is mostly in german so I can't really research it in depth. Supposedly they had smuggled two pistols into the prison but instead of staging one final showdown the two men shot themselves in the back of the head. Gudrun Ensslin was strangled or hung herself while Muller was stabbed or stabbed herself. People are still trying to discover what actually happened all these years later.


   What is certain is that if the West German Government thought killing the prisoners would cause the RAF to give up their struggle they were wrong. In Retaliation for the prisoners death they killed their hostage Schleyer and left his body in a car trunk calling to inform the police of his fate. Their war would continue for another 20 years the RAF was finally disbanded April, 20 1998. Until then they would continue to carry out attacks. They nearly killed infamous deep state operative Alexander Haig who lead the invasion of Cambodia and later was deeply involved in america's ugly covert wars in central america. The attack on Haig was Carried out by "The Andreas Baader Commando" they came very close to killing him. They also launched an attack on those profiteering from the end of socialism in East Germany. Basically this whole period could fill an article or a book in it's own right. They continued to assassinate top capitalists and government officials. They continued to attack American military bases. There were always new generations of recruits inspired by the story of the RAF who joined their doomed war.  Thus it is amazing that this group is so little known outside of Germany.


I myself happened to be born during that infamous Autumn of 77 only weeks after the lives of Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader came to a tragic end. Although I wouldn't advise conducting a terror campaign in their memory their example of resolute Anti-Imperialism did help to shape my thinking and I hope will help to inspire you. Side with the enemies of empire and with it's victims not with the smiling hypocrites who rule us and who needless to say have only gotten worse. Also let their story serve as a reminder of all the political prisoners held by the western democracies. Germany should release it's political prisoners. So Should the US which regularly lectures other countries on the subject. In the United States many people are still being held prisoner for their activities in the 60's and 70's. Many more have been locked up since then (most famously Mumia Abu Jamal) and are still being locked up. Hugo "Yogi" Pinell one of George Jackson's comrades Was murdered last month in august for example(Black August named in part For George Jackson's failed prison uprising). George Jackson was also mysteriously killed back in the 70's. Of what really goes on in prisons no outsider can know the sheer brutality. Thus we should also remember all those other millions of non-political prisoners locked up on petty offenses to make fortunes for the prison industrial complex. Solidarity with prisoners everywhere! And Long live the anti-imperialist spirit of the RAF. They resisted the murder of millions in their time. In our time millions are still being killed by the american empire of chaos. We must celebrate those resisting the empire today Whether in Venezuela, Eritrea, Syria, Novorossia to name a few examples. It is in this spirit that I have decided to tell the story of the RAF and their struggle against fascism at home and imperialism abroad. Long live the memory of Gudrun Ensslin, Andreas Baader, and Ulrike Meinhof and their many comrades! Long live the memory of the Red Army Faction!


Sources
I relied mainly on Stefan Aust's book "Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F." unfortunately Aust is not only a mainstream journalist which would be bad enough he also has a personal axe to grind with the RAF knowing some of them personally. Thus he began to annoy me during my re-reading of his book starting at the preface where to sell more books he compared them to Al-Qaeda with which they had little in common. I bet the RAF would have hated his book.  Instead let me recommend  books I wish I'd read (someday) but couldn't afford. J Smith And Andre Moncourt are doing a 3 volume history the first two volumes are already out It's called "The Red Army Faction a Documentary History" Volume 1 is subtitled "Projectiles for the People" Volume 2 is "Dancing With Imperialism." Ulrike Meinhof's writings are also available in english. Also there is a whole sub genre of movies about the RAF. I've already mentioned  "Baader Meinhof Complex" and "Legend of Rita" there is also the "Third Generation" and others on a related note there is the inaccurate but excellent "Carlos-The miniseries" 3 Films which I also recommend.

You can Read Ulrike Meinhof's Urban Guerrilla concept yourself for an inside perspective on the origins of the RAF here

    http://germanguerilla.com/1971/04/01/the-urban-guerilla-concept/

There is a website dedicated to studying them here

http://germanguerilla.com


There used to be a podcast dedicated to studying the RAF and other similar groups here is the archive

http://www.baader-meinhof.com/baaderblog/

Here are some resources in German

http://www.todesnacht.com/mobile.html


https://www.nadir.org/nadir/archiv/PolitischeStroemungen/Stadtguerilla+RAF/RAF/ulrike_meinhof/iuk/

http://www.todesnacht.com/Buch/index.html