The Phantom of the "New Syrian Army" and the Suddenly Rediscovered "Pro-Syrian" Political Correctness of the Western and Russian Corporate Media--in calling the Syrian Army the Syrian Army

"He said a second battalion was moving as of mid-January towards al-Waleed border crossing, about 240km southeast of Palmyra, to cut IS routes between Iraq and Syria. In early March, US-backed "New Syrian Army" rebels captured the crossing from IS. The current whereabouts of the Jordanian-trained, British-assessed troops is however unknown - Syrian government forces in the last few days have themselves advanced into Palmyra, as IS urged civilians to flee the city. A source in contact with rebel fighters in Palmyra told MEE this week that there was no evidence of them in the area." http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordanian-special-forces-poised-enter-syria-2033698172

People were quick to notice that, on the day, Putin met with Kerry and the two solemnly declared to be now each other's "serious partners," the Western corporate media (and possibly RT and other Russian media too) suddenly switched from calling the Syrian Arab Army "Assad's troops" or "regime's troops" to the Syrian Army.

This new ostensible Putin's "triumph" in new rhetoric, which did happen, but which might also be very short-lived, does have a possible strategy-based explanation based on the US-led "peace plan" for Syria (UN SC 2254) on to which Putin happily signed as one of the invited minor, but still in their own way useful shareholders.

Part of the cunning idea of the US-driven and formulated "peace plan" for Syria is a division of Syria into spheres of influence of the US, Syria's neighbors = Syria's enemies, and some symbolic, residual, temporary holding of Russia. In practice, the division of influence would also mean fixing the de facto division or breakup of Syria along the lines which would overall correspond with the current "ceasefire's" lines, which is also why the ceasefire is suddenly so important to the US and Moscow as well. At the same time, the idea is to disguise and cover up this division of Syria into parts and foreign spheres of influence by means of some seeming, weak, symbolic "unity" to shield the public and the outsiders from the truth. That's why Moscow has also been so busy meeting with all the Arabian sheikhs and local despots. Oil is, of course, part of it. The other part is the discussion of each other's shares and their pricing.

The US and its allies learned from Iraq one important lesson--it is the importance of preserving and controlling the subdued country's security apparatus and army. That's why the US and its key allies in the region, i.e., Jordan, started from January on introducing a new brand and concept into circulation--the so-called New Syrian Army, with an intent to have this new, again conveniently undefined and vague term gradually replace the FSA, That's why Moscow also introduced--already in the Fall- a new term for the FSA and other allies of al Qaeda in the form of "patriotic opposition." For part of the plan is first to establish a new government by means of the Geneva talks, called a "transitional government," but still a government or rather the to-be new government of Syria, which, as Lavrov just stated yesterday, should have "all the executive powers," that is, a monopoly on executive power in Syria or, in a word, sovereign power in its hands (besides its foreign handlers behind it). This new government and hence also command in chief is then supposed to merge "patriotic opposition" or the New Syrian Army, which might help many forget the FSA etc., with the existing portions of the Syrian Arab Army. And so this is why the Western media suddenly shifted from Assad's army to the Syrian Army, while, at the same time, Jordan and others started talking about the "New Syrian Army" or, in the case of the Kremlin, of "patriotic forces."