http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47284.htm

Syria's Sarajevo Moment

By Pepe Escobar

June 20, 2017 "Information Clearing House" -  Russia has given the US a Sarajevo warning, according to one of my top Middle East intel sources.

Referring to the downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the Pentagon, he says, “the United States did not use the deconflict line which has infuriated the Russians. This has to be interpreted as a premeditated provocation of Russia to start a war, and the Russians have answered.”

The Pentagon seems to have gotten the message – and decided to back off, at least for now.

The source adds; “In the meantime, the United States Senate by a nearly unanimous vote have decided to declare war on Russia (sanctions are war) and Germany has threatened retaliation against the United States if it initiates sanctions. Germany accused the United States of trying to stop the Nordstream 2 pipeline of Russia to the EU so that the US can export their liquid natural gas to the EU making the EU dependent on the United States.”

The new sanctions against Russia basically amount to telling the EU to buy expensive US gas instead of cheap Russian gas. The Germans and the Austrians basically told the Americans to buzz off.

The source; “That spells out the end of NATO if a trade war between the EU and the United States takes place. The premeditated shooting down of this Syrian plane can be viewed as a form of distraction to get Germany in line by having a war break out in the Middle East.”

The Pentagon is not foolish enough – well, who knows, the Dr. Strangelove syndrome is alive and well – to start a war with Russia by not using the “deconfliction” line in Syria set up to avoid exactly what has just happened.

Is Moscow worried? Doesn’t seem so. At his recent live annual phone-in on TV Rossiya 1, Putin did give away an extra – ultra-practical - reason to be involved in Syria:

“We can say that the experience of using our Armed Forces in combat while employing modern weapons is absolutely priceless, I am saying this without any exaggeration. You know, our forces have even gained an absolutely different quality… Combat experience also gave a chance to military engineers to test and tune the weapons on site.”

Bring it on, Pentagon.

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