Ray was interviewed on October 25th on Turkish-American relations in the wake of the July coup attempt in Ankara, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claims that the CIA was behind it, or at least knew of it beforehand.  

Turkey’s role in Syria and Iraq was also discussed, including realities virtually hidden in the Western corporate press – like the unwelcome presence of Turkish troops in Iraq near Mosul and Turkey’s invasion of Syria on August 24.

(See below* for what Ray wrote at the time.)

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610271046780450-ankara-washington-relations/

(The linked “Loud and Clear” interview runs for 17 minutes.)

 

*August 26, 2016:  Anyone see anything out of the ordinary with Turkey, a NATO ally, invading another country (Syria)?  What obligations do Turkey’s allies incur if/when Syria aircraft fly off with Russian support from Russian constructed Syrian in-country airfields to attack Turkey?  Will Turkey try to activate Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, obligating Turkey’s allies to come to its aid?

No allusion to any of these key factors in the convoluted lead editorial by the New York Times Editorial Board today (August 26).

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/opinion/a-complicated-alliance-with-turkey.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20160826&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=1&nlid=69540701&ref=headline&te=1&_r=0

To refresh memories on mutual defense treaty obligations:

NATO Treaty: Article 5

“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Strange: How did Turkey wind up in the “North Atlantic area?”

The Real News Network asked Ray to comment on the Kremlin’s attitude and aims toward Syria, with only two months left before a cast of hawks is likely to descend on Washington determined to show how tough they are.

So far, President Putin’s reaction has been marked by an uncommon sang-froid.  At the same time, he is strengthening Russia’s position in Syria such that it has already become extremely dangerous for American hawks to find and fix their prey.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=17502

October 21, 2016, (17 minutes)

‘Who can guarantee Iraqi forces will not flee the Mosul battlefield – again?’

(Excerpts from the RT introduction and interview with Ray on October 23, 2016; see below for the video.)

 

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/363930-iraq-mosul-isis-us/

 

RT: Secretary John Kerry and Defense Minister Ashton Carter don’t seem to know what is going on, says Ray McGovern, former CIA officer. Apparently, the same rubric famously applied in Vietnam – that is, when “it became necessary to destroy a town to save it” – is being applied to Mosul, he adds.

As the Western-backed military operation in Mosul intensifies, officials in Europe are warning that it might backfire with an increased terror threat on the continent.

The UK’s International Development minister said that as ISIS gets squeezed in the Middle East, the group’s presence will be felt elsewhere including both in Europe and America.  And the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol echoed his sentiments claiming that military pressure on the terrorist group could provoke a deadly response.

The operation has been going on for more than a week now and according to the mainstream media, it’s been a success.  However, the UN hasn’t been so upbeat; it is calling the consequences of the operation a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Former CIA official Ray McGovern thinks the situation is made worse by the fact some key US politicians are simply out of touch.

RT: At the last UN Human Rights Committee meeting it was announced that they expect “the largest man-made displacement crises in recent years” resulting from the offensive to retake Mosul. What actions should be taken by the anti-ISIL coalition and Iraqi forces to prevent a humanitarian crisis?

Ray McGovern: I am not sure that they are anticipating this kind of thing. Their planning for such catastrophes has not been very good; witness Iraq, Syria and Libya. All we have here are people who are not frankly very competent. I had a chance to observe Secretary John Kerry in person just two weeks ago, when he was asked about the breakdown and the ceasefire in Syria he said something which is archetypical of the way he and the Defense Minister Ash Carter operate: “Syria is as complicated as anything I have ever done in my public life in the sense that there are probably about six wars going on at the same time: Kurds against Kurds, Kurds against Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sunni, Shia, everybody against ISIS, people against Assad, Al-Nusra…this is a mixed up sectarian and civil war and strategic and proxies, so it is very difficult to be able to align forces.”

That just indicates to me that Secretary Kerry doesn’t know what is really going on and neither does Ashton Carter. Carter is trying to persuade the Iraqis to allow the Turks to help out and retake Mosul. Mosul is considered by the Turks their territory. If Carter thinks that he can persuade the people in Baghdad, the Shia there who are running things, to except a Turkish presence in Mosul, he is crazy. Similarly, the Turks invaded Syria. Did anybody say anything? I guess what I’d have to say here is that our statesmen, if that is the right term, are outmatched by the people in Asia who typically outmatch them.

There are a lot of “fools who are trying to hustle the East,” as Rudyard Kipling once put it.  And the problem is that many thousands of people will be killed and it seems to be the same rubric that we used in Vietnam: We have to destroy that city to save it.

RT: According to the same committee the refugee flow of over 1 million people is expected as result of the offensive on Mosul, 700,000 of which will need urgent assistance. Do you think that these concerns should be taken more seriously by the coalition?

RM: It is whistling in the wind to think that a million displaced people can be handled with a bunch of tents. The way to prevent displaced people from being displaced is to stop bombing their homes. The Chinese have a way of saying “This will come to a no good end.” And what do I mean by that? The crackerjack, the very expertly trained and equipped Iraqi forces that everybody is depending upon to retake Mosul — two years ago they ran away. Not only that, but they left a lot of very heavy, sophisticated equipment, tanks on the battlefield. ISIS has those now. What is the guarantee that the crackerjack Iraqi forces will not once again run away? And who will be left? The thousand or so US forces there; some of them are going to get killed.  And this will become an election issue: “Why didn’t we do more?” is what they will say…

RT: The US has been highly critical of the Russian anti-terrorist offensive on Aleppo in Syria. How is that any different to the US-led operation in Mosul?

RM: Well, Mosul is going to be worse. What we had in East Aleppo was a situation where a ceasefire had been worked out. What happened, of course, was the United States Air Force, in its own wisdom, bombed fixed Syrian Army positions – army positions that had been there for six months. They said it was a ‘mistake.’ Yet the whole ceasefire fell apart and what happened next, of course, was that nobody got out of Aleppo without great danger, and it was impossible to resupply Aleppo with the crucial things they need. There are crocodile tears being shed about what happened in East Aleppo. No one likes destruction and killing, but this could have been avoided had the US Air Force decided to obey the Commander-in-Chief and not attack Syrian Army forces.

CNN* gives Ray a chance to comment on the puzzlement/befuddlement of John Kerry and the apparent “invincible ignorance”** of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for ignoring the reality that, in Kerry’s belated words, “It’s very, very difficult to be able to align forces” through U.S. intervention in the Middle East.

 *CNN???, you ask!  Pardon the sick joke.  No, CNN’s blacklisting of Ray remains in force.  It was not CNN, but rather RT International, that asked Ray last night to visit the studio for a brief comment on the “Iraqi-led, U.S. supported” military offensive likely to, well, destroy Mozul in order to save it.

October 23, 2016, (Ray’s minute and a half)

Full segment, (6 minutes)

**”Invincible ignorance,” in Catholic moral theology, removes one’s culpability for a materially sinful act, with the caveat that feigned (aka Ivy-League) ignorance won’t necessarily keep you out of Hell.  Indeed, “affected or studied ignorance can increase culpability for a sin,” writes Jimmy Akin who comments on such issues.

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/ignorance-invincible-and-vincible

Fortunately for Kerry and Carter, they may well be genuinely “invincibly ignorant,” and thus, under this dubious theory, could conceivably escape Hell for the Hell they are visiting on the people of the Middle East.

Ricky Verandas of “The Ripple Effect Podcast” conducted a tour d’horizon-type interview with Ray on October 21.  Issues like – Is Linking Trump to Russians a Winning Strategy for Hillary? – and more serious matters were discussed for almost an hour and a half.  (Might be a good cure for insomnia.)

One can start listening at minute 7:20 (when the questioning begins) or minute 9:00 (when Ray starts answering) without missing anything.

http://rvtheory6.podomatic.com/entry/2016-10-23T13_23_11-07_00

(And none of the issues covered will be on the final exam! :))  )

Verandas wants all to know that the podcast is now up & live and can be tweeted or otherwise shared/uploaded, etc. at will.

Latest Effort to Tamp Down Conflict in Ukraine Yields a Mouse; “Minsk” Talks Seemed Prompted Largely by Concern That a New U.S. Administration Will Give Kiev the Wherewithal to Escalate.

The Real News Network interviewed Ray about the anemic results of the October 19 “Minsk” summit in Berlin to deal with the continuing conflict in Ukraine.  Yet another “roadmap” was agreed upon, but that was about all the four leaders had to show for their efforts.  Three of the participants – France, Russia, and the UK (the other is Ukraine) – seem worried that the next U.S. President will ratchet up the violence in Ukraine by providing Kiev with lethal weapons to suppress anti-coup federalists (aka “pro-Russian separatists”).

 

This would increase the likelihood of additional Russian support for those in the eastern Ukraine who were promised a degree of regional autonomy under the original Minsk agreement. It would also increase the danger of wider conflict with Russia – something to which the Clinton team seems not at all averse.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=17486

October 21, 2016, (10 minutes)

Why Did Washington Neocon Ventriloquists Manipulate Hapless Joe Biden Into Threatening Moscow With Cyber Attack?  Putin’s initial response.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/radiosputnik/u-s-openly-admits-it-will-hack-russia-as

October 17, 2016 (18 minutes)

 

In an interview with Sputnik Radio’s  “Loud and Clear,” Ray noted that Biden’s remarks were published on Friday, the same day that NBC parroted the views of unnamed U.S. officials that the CIA was about to launch cyber war against Russia.  Ray suggested that – just as the U.S. Air Forces succeeded in scuttling the cease-fire that Lavrov and Kerry agreed to on September 9 — CIA ventriloquists might have been trying to put the kibosh on the negotiations scheduled to resume (this time reportedly with military experts) on Saturday in Geneva.  There, the search goes on to apply “refined” (Kerry’s word) ways: (a) to find the “moderate” terrorists; and (b) to try to persuade them to stop hanging out with bad companions.