Your trusted source

Press TV has interviewed Kevin Barrett, editor of Veterans Today from Madison, about Syrian opposition’s demand for “sophisticated” weapons.

Press TV: Mr. Barrett, taking into consideration the flow of arms and funds to militants in Syria by the West and regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, just how much room is there left for a political solution?

Barrett: Well as Lakhdar Brahimi said the only possible solution would be a political solution. Although it does seem that the diehard supporters of the Syrian militants are not giving up yet, despite the series of military setbacks that have put them in a difficult position.

This latest appeal by the Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Abdulaziz asking for more sophisticated weapons for the Syrian militants including things like Stinger type shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, I do not believe the Western powers are going to go along with that. They already feel they made a mistake by supporting similar kinds of extremists in Afghanistan. There was a panic in the West when all kinds of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles were floating around and nobody knew who had them.

And so when the Saudi leadership is telling the West to handover large numbers of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to these groups in Syria - some of which are so extreme that they have been expelled from al-Qaeda for being too extremist - I do not think that that is going to fly.

So I do think that probably the Syrian government will manage to continue with its moving forward on the military front and I think that the West - I hope at least - will reject this ridiculous call from the Saudis for advanced arms for the militants and will move in a direction called for it by Mr. Brahimi of a political solution.

Press TV: And of course the fact that many of these militants have returned back to their homeland especially in Europe, just how much would Saudi Arabia be affected by terrorists who might just come back home and bite the hand that fed them?

Barrett: Well that is the real irony here. You know if there is one autocracy in the Middle East that is crying out for regime change, it is Saudi Arabia and the Saudis have all kinds of militants who oppose that government.

Some of them are very reasonable people and others are extremist, obscurantist lunatics and the Saudis are trying to throw money and weapons at all of these people, mainly at the lunatics hoping that they will go and overthrow somebody else’s government over in Syria.

Well I think the potential for blowback here is pretty extreme. I think the Saudi leadership should radically reconsider its course and consider the possibility of moving towards a more open society in Saudi Arabia itself and stop trying to bloodily overthrow neighboring governments.