Follow-up interview on whether Saudis, Qataris, Turks can now be expected to join the U.S.-led coalition in a serious effort to “destroy” the very terrorists they have been funding, arming, and ushering into Syria. This was the question put to Ray at the start of the interview; it is what he called a “sick joke.” Dec. 15; 9 minutes

Ray highlighted the risk of another provocation by Turkey, NATO’s loose cannon and skillful provocateur. A Turkish member of Parliament had just substantiated much of what Seymour Hersh wrote about Turkey in his April 17, 2014 London Review of Booksarticle, “The Red Line and the Rat Line:”

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

Seven months earlier VIPS had written a more timely (if less comprehensive) Memorandum to the President: Is Syria a Trap? (Sept. 6, 2013)

Obama Warned on Syrian Intel

Both pieces reported that Turkey appeared to have played a key role in the false-flag sarin gas attack outside Damascus on August 21, 2013. Obama came inches from letting himself be mousetrapped by the neocons into launching full-scale war on Syria, with John Kerry leading the charge and groups like “Human Rights Watch” and the NY Times cheering them on.

With Kerry meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and President Putin this week – today (Dec. 15) it turns out, Ray offered some guesses as to what Kerry is likely to hear — besides appeals to rein in the Turks. What neither Kerry nor Obama seem to be able to grasp as yet, is that geography itself makes jihad in Syria and nearby countries a far more urgent problem for Russia than for countries sitting behind a large ocean.

Should it be so difficult to understand Kremlin fears that thousands of the terrorists enlisted, trained by the U.S. and others, paid by the Saudis, and granted safe passage by the Turks hail from, and will go back to, Russia? It is reasonable to assume that upon their return they will constitute huge problems not unlike those Moscow confronted in Chechnya not too long ago. This is not a synthetic concern but a real one, involving what the Kremlin sees as a clear and present danger to Russian national security.