The Isolated Global North
Lascaris in Baghdad, Iraq on the BRI
Published: 2024-04-02
Lascaris
Canadian lawyer, turned activitst and journalist, Dimitri Lascaris was first introduced in this newsletter almost a year ago in May, 2023. The newsletter has twice republished verbatim works by others, one of which was authored by Lascaris.
Compssionately Visiting a Region
Dimitri is currently touring southwest Asia during the genocide of Palestinians by Zionists in Gaza. His tour has so far has led him from Greece first to Cyprus and then via a happenstance visit to a military sales fair, in which he achieved a tour of a Russian naval vessel, onwards to Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq.
He runs his own website and youtube channel and has been documenting his trip in written form and with video. I commend them to you for a collection of reasons. Not only is Lascaris well spoken, informed and honest but he is traveling as a curious and respectful tourist to an ancient region much maligned in the West for centuries. The region shifted from being a part of the Ottoman empire for "400 years" to the control of the British and French and now failing US empires. Previous to this, much of the area of modern Iraq was ruled by an Islamic Caliphate as a part of the original “Silk Road” connecting the Mediterranean to East and West Asia.
Barood in Baghdad
Upon arriving in the ancient city of Baghdad Lascaris met an Iraqi gentleman, Hussein Barood, with excellent English to whom he had been referred by a British academic friend. Mr. Barood characterised the recent empirical shift related above in his discussion with Lascaris included in Sources below, which serves as the main source for this article. Sources also includes works by James Corbett which I cannot recommend highly enough.
Common to Lascaris' other interviews with local Arab people, Barood expressed a vehment dislike for the Zionists.
One consequence of the genocide which Israel's armed forces, funded and armed by the US, are executing in Gaza is the re-legitimization in the West of the term Zionist. It previously had been perceived as partially risky. This was achieved by efforts of the Anti-Defamation League with their redefinition of anti-semitism to be not only expressions of persecution of followers of Judaism but also any criticism of the state of Israel. Now, in an effort to distinguish the humans creating and persisting with the atrocity in Gaza, and to avoid anti-semitic language, the term Zionist has regained its authority in the most appauling of circumstances.
It bears emphasizing that the phrase was coined by the Zionists themselves. It is historically and currently accurate and so entirely legitimiate. The Zionists themselves are staining it with the most negative of connotations.
A History Under Empire
Listening to Barood describe his understanding of the region's history forces one to question one's own understanding of it. He claims that Wahabism was introduced to the Arabian Peninusula by the British. This corresponds to the period of history well documented and produced by James Corbett in his Part 1 of the Hidden History of Al Qaeda. Here, again, we are hearing a specific phrase to identify a sub-set of a larger group with which the local population bear greivance. The split in Islam between the Sunni and Shia is ancient, having occurred very soon after the formation of the religion. Barood, a Shia, wishes to distinguish an extreme and recently violent brand of Sunni Islam from the greater Sunni population.
In Part II of the videos of Lascaris' time with Barood they visit parts of Baghdad. As they drive past the Baghdad railway station Barood declares that one could, or once could, catch a train to Berlin. This statement is no doubt tinged with a pride in Iraq and its history. Of the many causes cited for WWI, one is a German alignment with elements of southwest Asia as Germany attempted to catch up with other European Colonial powers. (This has also been documented by Corbett). There was indeed a plan to build a railway from Berlin to Baghdad via Istanbul, some sections of which were completed. One could travel from Baghdad station to Berlin, I am sure, though some sections of the trip would need to be via road or sea.
The main topic which Lascaris wishes to raise with Barood is the Chinese BRI megaproject. As a spokesman elected to represent an Iraqi group advocating for Iraq's inclusion in it, Barood is a natural person with whom to speak. Their discussion of this often diverts to Barood's understanding of how Iraq is being and has oppressed and trapped by the US since their illegal 2003 invasion and before.
The nation's oil profits, to the tune of $140 billion, are held in a JP Morgan bank account, Barood informs Lascaris. The Iraqi government's access to these funds are via flights from the US in which mountains of cash are delivered, which in turn entrenches corruption.
The current Iraqi Prime Minister was elected on a platform to rid Iraq of all foreign military forces. The PM's ability to achieve this result is hampered by the current Zionist outrage. Iraq’s military is split between the part formerly trained by the US during their early part of their occupation, and another, the PMUs. These Popular Mobilization Units, were formed later, after a fatwa from Shia Grand Ayatola (cleric) al Sistani was made to defend Baghdad against an advancing ISIS. ISIS was equipped with armaments abandoned by the US trained Iraqi army, in retreat.
As the Zionists continued the genocide, armed and funded by the US, the PMUs began attacking some of the 15 odd US military bases in Iraq. This, in turn, “self-justified” the US in assassinating people in the suburbs of Baghdad, some of whom were commanders in these units or brigades. The Iraqi PM had to call for these brigades to cease their aggression to allow for a diplomatic approach by which he may advance his commitment to eject the US military from their country in support of legislation from the Iraqi parliament.
That legislation was passed after the Trump regime assassinated the two main leaders of the PMU's, Iraq's Muhandis and Iran's Soleimani. Lascaris had seen a statue in the honor of these two leaders as he left Baghdad's airport, just outside of which they were assissinated. Pictures of Muhandis can be seen everywhere when the pair later travel the city.
Barood's advocacy for and understanding of the BRI project is simple. Iraq has no access to its national wealth. It is being horded by the US in bank accounts there. The nation has no way to advance its economy, its industries, its civil infrastructure. Barood is quick to put an absurd reality in front of Lascaris' and the viewer's attention: Iraq "imports" electricity. How the hell is this possible, one must ask?
US Support for Zionism
One can answer the question by examining Iraq's history. No doubt some electricity generation capacity has been destroyed during the various conflicts fought in Iraq over the decades. However, on reflection, this seems far more like an imperial policy, to tie Iraq's hands in energy dependence to other neighbouring nations. One can imagine that the local population with serious dislike for the Zionists can imagine that this policy is enforced by the US through its influence at the behest of them.
I recall a statement by Alastair Crooke a week or two ago on Judging Freedom in which he categorically stated that he was informed by Israeli citizens that the destruction of Iraq "to dust" was the path to Israeli security. One may also recall commentary by Ritter on the search for Iraqi Scud missiles during one of the US wars in Iraq. This was certainly at the behest of Israel for they were fearful of them.
Iraq has been under US influence since at least 1980 when then US supported, strongman Hussein began the 8 year long war with Iran just after the Iranian revolution. It is also worth noting that the US was selling arms to both sides of the conflict, and that Iraq's chemical weapons stockpiles, a part of the US scare tactic to convince the UN to allow the 2003 invasion, were either given or sold to Iraq by the US while this Iraq-Iran war was being fought. If one listens to Iranian Prof. Marandi (who appears now and then on independent media, particularly Richard Medhurst's shows, as they are friends), one learns that he suffered directly from an Iraqi chemical weapon attack and that the Iranian council refused to produce or use chemical weapons. It is forbidden by their interpretation of the Kur'an.
Barood’s BRI
Barood's understanding of the potential for Iraq in participating in the BRI project is expressed simply. No doubt based on trade for oil, China is offering the Iraq government investment in whichever sectors of their economy they wish and in which China can assist. This characterization is obviously overly simplistic. The region does need to be "balanced". So, the question becomes what is the motive for China's largesse beyond the securing of energy resources? A peace to support the exhange and trade.
Would not the Iraqi parliament like some freedom to invest the profitis from the nation’s wealth in an economy which has a future and can serve its people. Finding a path to these goals of peace and a freer trade is common to nations of the world seeking to develop.
This is the future which Barood is examining and advocating. He may be asking his fellow citizens is it not at least worth a try?
It is not only Barood and Iraq that are asking themselves these questions. The same are being posed in other nations in the other 'battlegrounds' of empire.
Nations rich in resources and kept poor in industry and national cashflow have been seeking to develop, especially since the end of WWII. At the end of the Cold War, an opportunity for development must have seemed on the horizon, only for the Terror Wars to be initiated by the US a decade later in response to a still uninvestigated crime. From the perspective of these wishing-to-develop nations the constant war mongering looks not only like a funding of the military industrual complex but also a ploy to stop them from realising a dream to develop their economies for the benefit of their people.
From southwest Asia, to Africa and Latin America the opportunity to move from one system of war and oppression to another which may offer some hope of development is being considered, advocated for and accepted. The growth of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the BRICS+ group are inescapable evidence of these changes.
[The above graphic has been annotated to also include membership of the Chinese and Russian Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). ]
The SCO and BRICS+ are international co-organisations which may provide opportunites for escape from the war and malign trade of the failing neo-Colonial empire for these wishing-to-develop nations of the “Global Majority” in an emerging multi-polar world.
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Sources
Dimitri Lascaris
"Dimitri Lascaris, Activist Journalist Lawyer", his website
"Dimitri Lascaris", his youtube channel, Videos section
Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Wikipedia
Episode 407 – False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda — Part 1, James Corbett, The Corbett Report, 2021-09-13
How & Why Big Oil Conquered The World, James Corbett, The Corbett Report, 2017-10-06
Spotlight: Dimitri Lascaris, YesXorNo, 2023-05-05
Israel, America’s ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’, is sinking, Dimitri Lascaris, YesXorNo, 2023-11-27
🎧 The Genocide Convention: International Law, Tremblay interviews Lascaris, YesXorNo, 2023-11-27
🎧 Week in Review: 2024, week 05, YesXorNo, 2024-02-04
Live From Palestine, Tremblay interviews Lascaris on his southwest Asian tour, 2024-03-19
From Baghdad, Dimitri Lascaris delivers his Rant of the Week, Dimitri Lascaris, 2024-03-31
U.S. obstructs Iraq's efforts to join China's 'belt-and-road' initiative (Part I), Dimitri Lascaris, 2024-03-31
A view of the BRI from Iraq
U.S. obstructs Iraq's efforts to join China's 'belt-and-road' initiative (Part II), Dimitri Lascaris, 2024-03-31
Culture
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Remastered 2009), The Beatles, from the 1968 "white" album, uploaded 2018-06-17
Copyleft: CC0
