After Douma: The Dogs of War Are Barking

Just over 70 years after the end of the Second World War in which the US and Russia fought alongside one another as allies against the scourge of fascism in Europe, how did we get here? How, after the end of a Cold War which lasted all the way up from the end of the Second World War to the early 1990s, whose end was meant to signify peace in our time, how are we now contemplating war with Russia in 2018?

READ MORE: Pentagon Does Not Have Evidence of Chlorine, Sarin Use in Syria's Douma — Mattis

Regular listeners of this show will by now be well aware of my perspective on these matters. The history and trajectory of this looming disaster is, I trust, clear enough. The old unipolar world, led by Washington, is in decline, and the new multipolar world, spearheaded by Moscow and Beijing, has risen. Thus we have a clash of world-historical importance at a critical juncture in human history, one with immeasurable consequences not only for this generation, but also for generations as yet unborn.

It hardly seems necessary to wade into the particulars of the West's casus belli — namely the allegation of another chemical weapons attack unleashed by Syrian government forces; this time — again according solely, solely to opposition sources —unleashed against civilians in the town Douma on the outskirts of Damascus.

I am past the stage of raising questions or doubts as to the veracity of these repeated and regular allegations — i.e. that the Syrian army, with the cognizance of Russia, is repeatedly using chemical weapons against its own people — people whose jubilation upon being liberated from the clutches of the sectarian religious extremists who have visited hell upon them has been unstinting.

And as for said sectarian religious extremists, the fact that when they carry out attacks against civilians in Europe and the US they are described them as terrorists, but in Syria they are described and depicted as rebels, well this tells us everything we need to know about the suppurating hypocrisy of those for whom Western hegemony is the non-negotiable condition of human progress in our time.

I refuse to accept that Russia is my enemy, and I will never accept it. My enemy is and will always be those who are telling me that Russia is my enemy, a ruling class and its media echo chamber that has long presided over the kingdom of despair they have the gall to describe as a society.

Whatever happens now, the sage words of Martin Luther King resonate as never before. "My government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."

I despise these people, I really do, these warmongering fanatics wading in an ocean of blood in the cause of not of democracy, not of security, and certainly not of human rights.

US writer and historian Will Durant said it best: "Rome remained great as long as she had enemies who forced her to unity, vision, and heroism. When she had overcome them all she flourished for a moment and then began to die".

On this week's episode of Hard Facts presenter John Wight and guest Neil Clark discussed the prospects of war over the Douma crisis, exploring the contours of the gravest crisis between East and West since the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1962.

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The views of John Wight do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.