![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/peter-ford-251x300.png\")
<\/a>Former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
Entrenched<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>As in: \u2018We have to stop Iran getting more entrenched in Syria\u2019. Meaning: \u2018Supportive\u2019. <\/strong>Without Iran and Hizbollah helping Syria government forces ISIS and Al Qaida would be ruling the roost in Syria today. Do not say: \u2018Israel is becoming more and more entrenched in the West Bank and Golan\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\nForward deployment<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018US troops are in forward deployment in the Al Tanf enclave on the Syria \u2013 Iraq border\u2019. Meaning: Occupation. <\/strong>The US troops have no mandate to be there, not even the approval of the US Congress.<\/span><\/p>\nEngagement<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018Ambassador Jeffrey is the Secretary\u2019s Envoy for Syria Engagement\u2019. Meaning: Disengagement. <\/strong>Much to his chagrin, the archetypal hawk Jeffrey had his pledge to the effect that the US was in Syria for the duration unsaid by the president within hours of his uttering it. Since then he appears to have lost his tongue.<\/span><\/p>\nVacuum<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018The US will be leaving a vacuum when it pulls troops out\u2019. Meaning: Restoration of law and order. <\/strong>Once the US stops blocking the way the Syrian government will return to the currently US-controlled territory and will keep ISIS down, as it is doing in the rest of Syria, and Turkey out.<\/span><\/p>\nSyria<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018 With the withdrawal he\u2019s handing Syria over to the Russians and the Iranians\u2019. Meaning: The one and a half provinces of Syria (Hasakeh and part of Deir Ez Zor) currently controlled by the US. <\/strong>Blinkered Western armchair strategists are blind to the fact that Russia and Iran are already influential in the larger part of the country controlled by the Syrian government.<\/span><\/p>\nLand bridge. <\/strong>\u2018 <\/em>We must stop Iran from creating a land bridge across Syria by keeping troops in Al Tanf\u2019. Meaning: We know journalists are too lazy to look at a map so we ignore the fact that semi-US occupied Iraq, helpfully characterised this week by President Trump as a big spy base, stands between Iran and Syria. <\/strong>Anyway Iran could use other crossing points besides Al Tanf if it got tired of resupplying Hizbollah by air.<\/span><\/p>\nLose.<\/strong><\/em>\u2018How the US lost Syria\u2019. Meaning : Win. <\/strong>Syria was never \u2018ours\u2019, as President Trump has also helpfully explained. By leaving, the US does itself a huge favour, avoiding another 19 year unwinnable war like Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\nMalign<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018Pompeo lashed Iran\u2019s malign behaviour destabilising the region\u2019. Meaning: Helpful, beneficient. <\/strong>Without Iran and Hizbollah Syria would not be almost rid of ISIS.<\/span><\/p>\nFor<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong> \u2018At this crucial juncture we need a serious policy for Syria\u2019. Meaning: Against.<\/strong> Almost invariably those wanting a policy for another country are scheming up some evil. Even well-meaning folk can unconsciously slip into this condescending neo-imperialist mode. Never say: <\/strong>\u2018I wonder if Syria has a policy for the UK, which seems unstable.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nRegime. <\/strong><\/em>\u2018The Syrian regime\u2019. Meaning: Government. <\/strong>Never say: \u2018The Saudi regime\u2019, except in the immediate aftermath of a particularly gruesome murder of a critic with Western connections.<\/span><\/p>\nStabilise<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018Our programmes support local administrations aimed at helping to stabilise the areas outside Syrian government control\u2019. Meaning: Destabilise, <\/strong>help engineer partition.<\/span><\/p>\nDestabilise<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong> \u2018Russia\u2019s provision of S-300 missiles will destabilise the situation with Israel\u2019. Meaning: Stabilise. <\/strong>These purely defensive missiles will help deter any reckless politicians with the feds breathing down their necks from launching yet more air-borne attacks on Syria.<\/span><\/p>\nSafe zone. <\/em><\/strong>\u2018Turkey wants a safe zone 20 miles deep all along the border with Syria\u2019. Meaning: Danger zone. <\/strong>Currently the border is quiet. A Turkish incursion or attempted insertion of proxy forces would be bloodily resisted by the Kurds. The Syrian government can guarantee the area stays quiet, given a chance.<\/span><\/p>\nEmbolden<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>\u2018US withdrawal will embolden Iran and Russia\u2019. Meaning: Not kowtowing to US regional hegemony. Never say: <\/strong>\u2018Western support for Israeli bombing of Syria has emboldened Netanyahu\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd finally, a gloss on the propagators of many of the above terms:<\/span><\/p>\nThink tank<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>The likes of Washington Institute for the Middle East, Heritage Foundation, Henry Jackson Society, Chatham House, RUSI. Meaning: Bilge tanks.<\/strong> Generously funded perches for neocons resting between regime change assignments and academics for hire, producing garbage predictions proven wrong time and time again and rewarded with new commissions.<\/span><\/p>\n***<\/span>
\nAuthor Peter Ford is the former British Ambassador to Syria (2003-2006) and Bahrain (1999-2002).<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford guides us though the duplicity <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-syria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183378"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183383,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183378\/revisions\/183383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Syria](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Syria-doublespeak.jpg\")
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