US-UK-French attack on Syria was a publicity stunt: Scholar
The United States has made a publicity stunt by carrying out joint airstrikes with Britain and France in Syria, an American writer and retired professor says.
James Petras, who has written dozens of books on international issues, made the comments in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, hours after the armed forces of the US, Britain and France launched a barrage of cruise missiles on three different targets in Syria.
Trump declared "mission accomplished" in Saturday morning's strike and argued that it "could not have had a better result."
"A perfectly executed strike last night," Trump tweeted Saturday. "Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"
“It’s a very ambiguous statement to begin with, because Syria has not been defeated. The US has simply made a publicity stunt, that has damaged some of the infrastructure in Syria,” Professor Petras said.
“And I think this is being blown up into a major event. The important thing is that Trump has used this issue to distract attention from the questioning of his presidency and the fact that he is constantly under investigation, then this threatening with boosting the confidence of the people in the government,” he stated.
“And he is using this bombing as a way of regaining attention and publicity, and perhaps he thinks he can gather support,” he added.
“On the other hand, I think it’s not an act of war, it’s aggression. And he was very careful to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia. And one suspects that perhaps Trump was in contact with Putin before hand to make sure that this bombing would not directly involve any damage to Russia,” he noted.
“So I think it is preliminary testing to see how far Washington and its allies can push against Syria without antagonizing Russia,” he noted.
“The Russian response was very weak. It went to a UN which has been dominated by the West. And it’s a warning of other countries like Iran that you can’t trust the Russians. And certainly you have to protect the country’s defense against the Western imperialism, especially the troika -- the US, France and England, who are the enemies of Syria and of Iran,” the writer argued.
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