NATO missiles in Turkey will facilitate Western military interventions: Ken Stone

A political analyst tells Press TV that the installation of the Patriot missiles in Turkey is part of a larger plan by NATO for a possible military intervention in Syria.

The comments came after two Patriot missile systems, sent by the United States, arrived in southern Turkey. The systems are to be deployed near the Syrian border.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ken Stone, with the ‘Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War’, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you assess the situation at this point now that NATO is moving full steam ahead with these Patriot batteries? How will this affect the situation in Syria?

Stone: Well first of all I think it is important to know that the installation of the missile batteries in Turkey is very unpopular among the Turkish people. They have demonstrations in some of their major cities against it. It is also very unpopular in the West where the 99 percent of us do not want another war but the one percent who rules, profit by war.

So having said that yes the installation of the Patriot missiles in my opinion is part of a larger plan by NATO for a possible military intervention in Syria. It is a very worrisome development and it should be opposed by peace loving people everywhere.

Press TV: So Mr. Stone, why should we not just accept NATO’s argument that this is just for defensive purposes?

Stone: Well, we have only to look at the recent example of Libya where the United Nations resolution 1973 for a no-fly zone was abused within hours by NATO into a full-scale regime change military operation which was …the destruction of the infrastructure of Libya, the assassination of Gaddafi, they were after the oil resources and basically the partition of the country.

And we only have to look as well to Iraq where the Americans had a no-fly zone and they used it as a move towards the military intervention and invasion in Iraq and the partition of that country.

So we have every reason to believe that NATO will use the Patriot missiles in Syria as a back door, illegal no-fly zone which is part of their plan, a probable plan, for a military intervention in Syria and we can only hope that saner heads prevail and that there is a Made in Syria political solution to this crisis and not another war.