US plan B aims to destroy Syria sovereignty: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Stephen Lendman, an author and radio host in Chicago, to discuss the remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s warning that Middle East crises would not be resolved as long as terrorists are used as “pawns in geopolitical games.”

Press TV: “Using terrorists as pawns in geopolitical games”; this is something that Press TV has brought to light and discussed before as well. How is Russia headed at the crux of the matter?

Lendman: Press TV has really done the best job, I know, in discussing the Syria war and America’s support for ISIS and other terrorist groups and the effectiveness of Russia’s aerial campaign, supporting Syrian ground forces.

When John Kerry yesterday or the day before talked about a Plan B which is partitioning Syria, balkanization, the same thing done to Yugoslavia in the 1990s... Well, America’s so-called Plan B is really its Plan A. America all along has wanted Syria balkanized to make it easier to control, to destroy its sovereignty, to get rid of Bashar al-Assad and replace him with a convenient US stooge government instead of sovereign Syrian independence and that is America’s aim. And I can see the cessation of hostilities a noble Russian effort, but America is using it as a sinister ploy to continue its war on Syria to destroy it.

Press TV: There is also this concern about that “Plan B” that also Kerry highlighted as well, how it might be prudent to break up Syria along sectarian and ethnic lines. Is that something that you see happening in the future?  

Lendman: I certainly hope not and I think Russia has a great deal to say about this. All along Putin has said he supports Syrian sovereignty; he supports the right of Syrian people alone to decide who will lead them and decide a future free from a foreign interference. I believe he stands by that statement and will support it by the Russian policies. At the same time, he is forthright in hoping that he can move ahead with the cessation of hostilities, knowing that America is duplicitous in its policies and it really takes a giant leap of faith to believe that America will go along with the agreement and negotiate with Russia. I feel one don’t believe it. I think it is a sinister ploy; I think that the cessation may last a very short period of time, a very shaky short period of time, and we will see a resumption of conflict. But a key in Syria is defeating terrorism, eliminating it. And if the terrorists, ISIS and the other groups are not eliminated, then conflict will go on interminably. 

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