In this interview with the Boiling Frogs, Asia Times reporter and Real News Network Pepe Escobar shares his observations on the uprisings in the Middle East, more specifically on countries such as Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and Tunisia. He puts into context the various roles played by western powers and interests such as France, Britain and NATO in the development in these popular revolts. In Libya in particular, Gaddafi was apparently beginning to make deals with the Chinese, and that might have created a certain uneasiness in high places in western countries. The different points he makes present a considerable amount of overlap with Dave Emory‘s assessment of the situation. This interview is certainly a good complement to what Emory has already found on the subject. In the second part of it, he then comments on the ever changing U.S. official version of the operation that killed bin Laden, taking the opportunity there to look more closely at specific details of a narrative that doesn’t seem to make sens on a military standpoint. In his opinion, and I agree with him, the operation was a PSYOPS to begin with. Read my earlier post to see how I presented it then, and this one also, when we learned that Bradley Manning might have blown the operation in advance. Why was it conducted? Because in the geo-political theater of the 21st century, Pakistan seems to be getting more and more cosy with China and Russia, and that could explain the raid on the compound. Check this post as well, where I presented the situation in that area of the world as a stage for the everlasting Anglo-Afghan War inspired by Brzezinski’s Grand Chessboard game. Escobar touches several other points that are worth taking into consideration.

However, I have a critical observation to make though. His position on Israel is flawed. But in the so-called progressive sector, he is definitely not alone in that situation. In fact, the vast majority of « progressives » fall into that category, as they blame Israel for all kinds of things that are not true or inaccurate. At the very end of the interview, as he and the Boiling Frogs’s hosts wrap up, he then comments on Obama’s proposal to Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu, for a possible resolution of the conflict. Obama’s proposal presents the creation of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, in other terms with the frontiers that were in usage before the Six-Day War. The pre-1967 borders are not defensible. You don’t need a Ph.D. in military operations to understand that. Any state, to be able to defend its borders needs some kind of natural obstacles such as mountains, forests, sea, lake, river, ravine, etc. Because otherwise, it is just impossible to defend them on open territory. Such borders are possible in the case of countries that are really close in terms of policy, regime, agenda, etc, like Canada and the U.S., and even with those two, there are problems. So you can imagine that between countries that are enemies to one another, that don’t share the same culture, religion, ideology, interests, etc, it can’t be acceptable. Furthermore, a lot of groups, governments, activists and religious extremists are dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and they would just jump on the occasion to finalize what they have begun for so many years. With the pre-1967 borders, it opens the doors for the mass extermination of the Israelis and the disappearance of Israel as a country. But Escopar is just another « progressive » who thinks that it is a good idea to implement those frontiers, while Netanyahu is not stupid and will never accept that.

Here is this interview with the Boiling Frogs. Following, there is an excellent post by Sibel Edmonds exploring several leads in trying to explain the timing of the bin Laden operation. Again, the idea is presented that the U.S.-Pakistani relationship has been disintegrating for several years and that, on the opposite, a much better one is being developped between Pakistan and China.

The Boiling Frogs with Pepe Escobar

Sibel Edmonds on Pakistan-China relationship