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now the

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al-qaeda target the original al-qaeda

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target is of course no longer in

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afghanistan it's in syria but this time

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it's working with the americans there

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was a flicker of al-qaeda you'll recall

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the u.s defense secretary said some six

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months ago maybe nine months ago in

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syria that flicker has become a flame

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it's quite clear from the modus operandi

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of the

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fighters that are

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combating the syrian regime

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it's quite clear from their rhetoric

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it's quite clear from the

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chatter on their websites and so on

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that just about every jihadist

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of the al-qaeda ilk

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is now taking the road to damascus and

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not to convert to democracy one presumes

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no they're coming in because it's a shia

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regime the the regime of

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bashar al-assad is alawite which is a

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group partly from the shia religion and

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these people are fanatically anti-shia

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they think that they are complete

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infidels basically and we're seeing the

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same kind of killing they want to

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continue doing that they did in iraq

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five or six years ago when

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when that was the

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target these people didn't read

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frankenstein to the end

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because once you've created the monster

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of course because it's a monster it by

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definition is no longer under your

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control

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and the monster they created to fight

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the red army in afghanistan became

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the authors of the

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disaster the massacre on 9 11.

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is there no sense of

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trepidation in washington amongst

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policymakers in the state department and

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so on about the new monster that there

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is i think there is which is why people

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like james clapper the director of

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national intelligence did go before a

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congressional committee and become

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really the first top official in the

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west to say al-qaeda is moving to syria

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up to then it had been a secret that

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nobody dared mention because everybody's

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saying these people are unarmed freedom

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fighters you know against this vicious

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regime in damascus and so on and when

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the evidence began to emerge that al

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qaeda was there nobody wanted to say

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anything about it and clapper was the

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first to say that and i think he's

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worried but

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the point is as so often the united

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states has a divided

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administration they're different voices

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some more hawkish than others some more

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neocon than others and

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i think you get people like hillary

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clinton who are very keen on toppling

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president assad because they think he's

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a tyrant and so on and they feel he's

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lost his usefulness to them in the

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middle east and then you've got these

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people in the national intelligence a

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little bit more worried and so on

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and uh and then you've got qatar and

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saudi arabia the big allies of the

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united states who are pushing really

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hard and the u.s doesn't want to get

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into an argument with them and so it's

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leading from behind as they did in libya

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but basically supporting it and

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supplying some information not only

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information but information gathering

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equipment satellite communications and

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all the rest of it across the border uh

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from turkey obviously a nato state uh

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helping the helping the the the

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militants and the new york times this

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week seem to indicate that all of that's

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going to be stepped up

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the u.s spokesman quoted memorably i

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think we're going for a controlled

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demolition of the assad regime

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quoted in the new york times but of

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course

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controlled demolitions can go wrong

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and i'm wondering if in london for

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example hague who's never off the

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airwaves

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threatening syria with somebody else's

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army

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in the way that mussolini used to do

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um

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is uh in the foreign policy

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establishment here no worries of a

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reprise of the afghan experience

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well i think there is is some concern

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but

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you know they don't have the ultimate

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decision-making power you know it's

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obviously washington that decides and

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britain goes along with whatever

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washington does but i mean i think the

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real hypocrisy of it is that they

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support the anand plan they say which

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calls for ceasefire political transition

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you know democratic uh

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solution and dialogue and so on and

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instead of that they are totally

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one-sided the west they're completely

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anti-the government of syria they're

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completely in favor of the rebels

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harming them as i've already mentioned

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with so-called non-lethal equipment

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backing the supplies of real lethal

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equipment by qatar saudi arabia and

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turkey and

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and yet they say they support a

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political solution it's nonsense it is

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nonsense and it surprises me uh because

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actually the anand plan

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gave these people much of what they

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claim at least to have wanted a

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political transition democratic

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elections

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the end of one party rule and so on all

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of which i am in favor of in syria and

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everywhere myself as indeed of course

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are you

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however people like us who oppose uh the

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al-qaeda

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insurrection in syria the foreign

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intervention in syria are characterized

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as

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friends of the bashar al-assad regime

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and i just find that very very difficult

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not least because actually all of my

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political life i was against the

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assad regime but i'm even more against

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foreign intervention in other people's

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countries

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what's going to happen in syria how is

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this going to end i think it's kind of

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far far worse before it gets better

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because i think the political solution

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is out of the window the west is pushing

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war it's regime change by civil war

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that's what they're doing and if the

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worst comes to the worst they may even

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use

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nato intervention like in libya after

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the november u.s presidential election

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whoever wins i think there's a real

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danger of the libyan style nato

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intervention even in defiance of the

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security council yes yes even if and as

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long as if assad is still there by

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november this year which is still

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obviously an open question i mean the

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tragedy is that that there are people in

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syria in fact there was a conference

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this week at the the convent of

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sanegidio in rome which is a well-known

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mediation center of various civil

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society groups from syria who want

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political solutions who said no to

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violence they said please to the free

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syrian army put down their guns and

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negotiate but their voice is not heard

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they're branded as toadies and stooges

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of the regime

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even though they are genuine independent

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democrats who see the danger of civil

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war but the syrian regime is not weak it

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will fight back and it has powerful

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friends i mean what would the attitude

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of russia for example be to a nato war

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on an allied country after the security

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council has ruled one out they would be

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completely furious but i don't think

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they would intervene against it they

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would just denounce it and and they

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would

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they would rightly use it around the

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world to say look we keep saying that

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this is not a unipolar world anymore it

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isn't just one country of the united

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states and its allies that control the

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world there are other centers of power

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and that is why we support international

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law the united nations that's why we

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won't support a resolution demanding the

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use of force in syria and uh if the nato

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people are foolish enough to go down the

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path of military intervention

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they will only blacken their name even

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further around the world and sharpen the

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contradiction between the emerging

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powers especially china and russia and

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the west

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pretending

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you're called

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india yes all these other countries that

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don't want any more this unilateral

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intervention