Imperialism steps up the drive for war as Syrians reportedly shoot down Turkish military plane

According to reports from RT.com Kofi Annan, a miserable (but very willing) stooge of imperialism, today declared that “The longer we wait the darker Syria’s future becomes…the time to act is now”. Any anti-imperialist will know precisely what kind of action Annan and his backers will be prepared to unleash when their not-so-covert attempts at regime change in Syria fail. Thankfully the anti-imperialist Syrian government, headed by President Assad and backed by a number of communists and progressive forces inside Syria are also well prepared for any provocation.

In reports which worryingly point towards an escalation in the crisis and desperation on the part of imperialism, Russia Today writes that Syria has shot down a Turkish military jet. If these reports turn out to be true it would appear that Turkey, in connivance with imperialism, may be in the final stages of preparing for all out war with Syria. It is equally possible that such news is an ongoing part of the propaganda campaign waged by imperialism against Syria with the purpose of preparing western audiences for open intervention :

“The plane crashed into Syrian territorial waters earlier today, according to reports. A missile shattered it to pieces after which the missile plunged into the Mediterranean Sea. The two pilots were later saved off the shore of Hatay, a south eastern province bordering Syria.

Syrian vessels have joined a search operation, which was launched immediately after the Turkish military lost radar and radio contact with the jet. The planes took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya at 10 a.m. local time.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Syrian defense forces had been shooting at two foreign planes.

“Witnesses spotted two jets flying in from Turkish territory. One of the planes went down in Syria’s territorial waters, while the other one made off,” says Ihab Sultan, a local correspondent in Syria, told RT.

Relations between Ankara and Damascus have been marred by Turkey’s open support of the Syrian opposition, which is seeking to topple the government of President Bashar Al-Assad. On Friday, Turkey denied the Syrian government’s accusations that it is supplying rebels with arms.

Still, Turkey remains a NATO member, which means that in the event of an attack it could summon the aid of all the alliance members. In April, Turkey already called on NATO to protect its borders as cross-border fire from Syria hit a refugee camp on Turkish territory. These statements were condemned as “provocative” by Assad’s government.

International relations expert Mark Almond says in the event of a NATO intervention scenario, Turkey might launch a probing flight to assess Syria’s capabilities.

“If the NATO countries were really thinking of some kind of intervention to assist the rebels against Assad’s regime, the first thing they’ll want to do is to knock out Syria’s air forces and defense systems. So some kind of a probing flight testing Syria’s responses would be possible. But it is also possible this is a tragic mishap,” Almond told RT from Bilkent University in Ankara.”

StW still not stopping any wars

Regardless of whether the latest news reports turn out to be true, support for Syria in its life-and-death confrontation with imperialism is an acid test for the working-class and anti-war movements. Yet in its call for an anti-Nato protest outside the US embassy, the ineffectual and rapidly declining Stop the War Coalition (StW) has once again avoided any mention of this frontline country.

This is because those who have hijacked the anti-war movement in this country – misleaders like ‘left’ Labourite Jeremy Corbyn and Trotskyite John Rees of Counterfire – actually support imperialism’s aim of ‘regime change’ for Syria, differing only in the methods that should be used to bring it about, and the revisionist CPB cravenly goes along with them.

A principled anti-war movement is desperately needed – one that will organise workers in a mass movement of non-cooperation with imperialist war crimes and call for:

Hands off Syria!

Victory to Assad!

For more info on the Syrian situation see:

http://www.rt.com/news/turkey-contact-aircraft-sea-498/

http://www.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=832&from=results

http://www.rt.com/news/syria-russia-media-warfare-463/