Syrian President Says US Presidents Don’t Control Foreign Policy – The Deep State Does

In a recent interview with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that it would be pointless to speak with Donald Trump about the current tensions between his country and the US because the foreign policy is not controlled by the president, but “the deep state,” and that “the president is only one performer in this theater.”

“The deep state” is a term that is growing in popularity, and used to describe the powerful interests that work to influence US policy, such as the military-industrial complex and the network of intelligence agencies that are far more powerful than any president. Assad specifically said that it was the military, financial and intelligence interests who make up the “real regime” in the United States.

When speaking about the potential of a meeting with Trump, Assad said:

“The first question you should ask is: What can you achieve? The other: What can we achieve with someone who says something before the campaign, and does the opposite after the campaign, who says something today, and does the opposite tomorrow, or maybe in the same day? So, it’s about consistency. Do they have the same frequency every day, or the same algorithm? So, I don’t think that in the meantime we can achieve anything with such an administration. A further reason is that we don’t think the president of that regime is in control. We all believe that the deep state, the real state, is in control, or is in control of every president, and that is nothing new. It has always been so in the United States, at least during the last 40 years, at least since Nixon, maybe before, but it’s becoming starker and starker, and the starkest case is Trump.”

A large portion of Trump’s base voted for him because they were convinced that he would fight against the “deep state,” however, Trump has continued the wartime policies of Obama and Bush, despite making empty promises on the campaign trail.

Assad also spoke about how the US government uses chaos as a military strategy, saying that,

“The US usually has an agenda and it has goals. If it cannot achieve its goals, it resorts to something different, which is to create chaos. Create chaos until the whole atmosphere changes, maybe because the different parties will give up, and they will give in to their goals, and this is where they can implement their goals again, or maybe they change their goals, but if they cannot achieve it, it’s better to weaken every party and create conflict, and this is not unique to Syria. This has been their policy for decades now in every area of this world.”

To people who are victims of US foreign policy, many of the ideas that Americans dismiss as “conspiracy theory” are obvious truths and are openly discussed. Most of the world is well aware that US military action has nothing to do with humanitarianism, and everything to do with conquest and power.

You can view a clip from this interview with Assad below:

https://youtu.be/MsLGShwuYdI

What are your thoughts?

Image credit: Getty/DailyStar.