Muslims Killing Muslims- Hey Canada- Walk Away- PLEASE STOP MAKING OIL A CHOICE OVER OUR TROOPS
CANADA AUGUST 31:
Canada has given $5.3M to Syrian opposition to support rebel efforts to counter Assad’s propaganda: source
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/31/canada-has-given-5-3m-to-syrian-opposition-to-support-rebel-efforts-to-counter-assads-propaganda-source/--------------
NEW UPDATES- August 31st- Russia's Reasons- China's Reasons...
Analyst: Expect heating oil prices to be high
August 30, 2013 - 9:20pm By AARON BESWICK Truro Bureau
As for the recent spike in gasoline prices following news of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria that the United States government is blaming on the Bashar al-Assad government, McKnight said it is the result of market speculation.
"Syria has no oil," he said.
"All the price spikes are solely the cause of Wall Street speculators picking the dark side of the moon and speculating that the situation could get out of hanhttp://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1151130-analyst-expect-heating-oil-prices-to-be-highd and cause widespread fuel interruptions from the entire region."
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1151130-analyst-expect-heating-oil-prices-to-be-high
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the truth behind russia, china, iran and syria and the war games- it's all about OIL
Hi all. The bottom line, "its all about OIL". My husband knows a man who is from Syria. He says that some of his family are in the mist of the civil war. The media is axed out of the what is really going on inside of Syria. Syria wants us to believe that it is an ethic cleansing of some sort,kind of like a diversion situatio. If you think about it, Why on earth would these Rebel's go and just kill women and children. It is all a ruse. Hap chance, my Husband asked Him what he thought about Syria and he said, "its all because of the oil pipeline that runs through Syria". Syria does not want to give up the monies they are getting from "China especially". China is the ring leader here. China wants what us Americans have had. China, now, wants to live the dream of what we had way back in the 50's. It is very complicated to say the least. But OIL is the crux of the war games being played out and Israel is just a cog in the wheel to fulfill these counties gains. Its all about greed. It all coming full circle. Its a catch twenty two situation. Will see how this plays out. JB PS/ It has always been about Oil. The Iraq war was about oil, not who had weapons of mass destruction. Good rich oil is getting scarce and they will fight till the end to get it. Troops are still in Afganistan, DUH!!!! There is a lot going on behind the scenes that we don't even know about.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1902207/pg1
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MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS- AND FREE WORLD NATO KIDS WITH R FLAGS DYING 4 OIL!!!! come on now!!!!
BEST COMMENT:
Clint is right. Remember, the oil pipleline to Russia runs through Damascus, and that's why we must be prudent and not be too hasty to support any military retaliation or aggressiveness. While we might have good intentions, we could stir up a hornets nest and that wouldn't be a good thing
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Russia’s backroom energy deal with Syria
Posted by osnetdaily
Editor’s Note…
Syria is a key energy transit route to Europe. A number of countries appear to be seeking dominance of the energy market that runs through Syria. This much is known with regards to the real reasons for NATO and GCC intervention in Syria. This fresh report elaborates on the Russian side of the equation and unveils the behind the scenes agreement between Assad and Putin (who specializes in pipeline politics…)
***
Klein Online
By Aaron Klein
President Bashar al-Assad inked a secret deal that gives Russia the license to control natural gas resources in Syria, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.
The officials said Assad last month agreed to sign the document, considered an understanding of principals on control of his country’s gas resources, including transiting pipelines, in exchange for continued Russian support in resisting the insurgency against his regime.
The officials further said Russia helped to broker a separate understanding with Assad that would allow public and private Chinese companies to rebuild damaged infrastructure in Syria if Assad defeats the insurgency.
The alleged deals underscore the economic benefits that may motivate Russia to back Assad while the West, including the Obama administration, aids the rebels seeking a post-Assad Syria.
Syria is a key energy transit route to Europe. A number of countries appear to be seeking dominance of the energy market that runs through Syria.
In 2011, Syria announced it had discovered a promising gas field in the city of Homs, which would later see some of the fiercest battles between Assad’s forces and the rebels.
Oil Minister Sufian Allawi told the state-run SANA news agency that the first wells "were in the Homs governorate and the flow rate is 400,000 cubic meters per day."
"This discovery opens new perspectives in the region of Qalamun and the Syrian company will continue its drilling," said Allawi.
Beside the prospect of its own gas field, Syria is also one of the most strategic locations for natural gas pipelines to flow to Europe.
Syria is site of the proposed construction of a massive underground gas pipeline that, if completed, could drastically undercut the strategic energy power of U.S. ally Qatar and also would cut Turkey out of the pipeline flow.
Dubbed the Islamic pipeline, it may ultimately favor Russia and Iran against Western energy interests.
Set to open in 2016, Iran, Iraq and Syria signed a deal in 2010 to construct the 3,480-mile natural gas pipeline connecting Iran’s South Pars field to European customers.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji announced the pipeline would ultimately have the capacity to pump 3.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
He told Iran’s official Mehr News Agency the route would "pass through Iran, Iraq, Syria, the southern Lebanon territories and also through the Mediterranean basin," with a refinery and infrastructure to be built in Damascus.
A key portion of the pipeline is concentrated on the Syrian ports, which would export directly to Europe out of the Eastern Mediterranean. Russia has reportedly built up its naval presence along the major Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartus.
The Islamic pipeline originally may have undermined Russian’s sale of natural gas to Europe, but the new secret deal purportedly signed with Assad may serve to secure Russian interests.
The Islamic pipeline is viewed as a major threat to Turkey, which has long desired to become the main bridge for natural gas and oil between the East and the West. The proposed Islamic pipeline completely cuts out Turkey.
Turkey, however, is a key player in the Nabucco natural gas pipeline, which is being constructed to transit natural gas to Europe from the Central Asia and Caspian regions. That pipeline is set to traverse Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, and end in Austria.
Turkey has been a key supporter of the rebels fighting Assad’s regime, while Qatar has reportedly been supplied arms and training to the rebels.
The Islamic pipeline would boost the Shiite factions in the Middle East at the expense of Sunni-dominated countries.
Qatar, home to the world’s largest gas field along with Iran, recently proposed a U.S.-backed gas pipeline from the Gulf to Turkey to Europe. Qatar has also had previous designs for a Syria pipeline that would connect to Turkey.
Qatar, while small, is backed up by the U.S. military. It is the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
http://osnetdaily.com/2013/06/russias-backroom-energy-deal-with-syria/
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The oil road through Damascus
By Ronnie Blewer
Middle East oil transit routes are at risk from Islamist revolutions and Iranian threats. Does Syria present an opportunity for the West to bypass the most troubling oil chokepoints? Is that a strong driver behind the West's interest in the Syrian rebellion? Instability all along the oil road is at its highest point in decades, and Syria's history as a perennial spoiler and location as a potential energy path cannot have been missed.
Is a post-Assad Iraq-Syrian mega-pipeline in the works?
Consider the recent pressures on Middle East oil shipping routes:
Iranian influence on the Shi'ite-dominated government in Iraq has caused significant worry in Washington. Iran's influence in
Iraq can be viewed, Stratfor notes, as a greater "arc of influence" from Iran to Iraq, extended through Syria and into Lebanon. The West's strategy is to contain Iran's foreign influence and prevent Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Syria would be a natural target for this strategy.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to economic sanctions or military action aimed at its nuclear program. Over 17 million barrels of oil per day flow through the Strait , and the mere threat of closure has kept oil prices elevated.
Somali pirate activity has expanded well beyond Somalia into the Red Sea, and northeast into the Indian Ocean as far as Oman, Pakistan and India. In 2008, these pirates captured the Sirius Star, a tanker that carried 2 million barrels of oil.
Yemen, which sits in a key position on the Bab-el-Mandab strait, separating the Arabian peninsula from the horn of Africa, struggles with a rebellion against the Saleh regime. It has also been a hot zone of internecine conflict between Sunni and Shi'ite communities and has also been a hotbed of al-Qaeda activity and drone attacks against Islamist militants.
The Arab Spring in Egypt has seen the rise of Islamist interests inimical to the West and Israel, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which is highly-anti-Western. Since then, diplomatic tensions between Egypt and the US have risen dramatically. Because the Arab Spring was largely stoked and triggered by the explosion of food prices in a very poor part of the world, and they have not abated, the level of desperation and radicalism displayed in Egypt to the West is likely to worsen.
A single "Suezmax" tanker sunk in the Suez Canal would cause an explosion in world energy prices. If the Suez Canal and/or the SUMED pipeline, were closed, as the Suez was by Nasser in 1957 , then oil tankers would have to travel an additional 9,600 kilometers around Africa to reach its destination. This fact has never been lost on Western logisticians .
As a result, Middle East oil shipping lanes have always attracted a strong, expensive and provocative Western military presence.
An overland alternative?
Good generals study tactics, great generals study logistics. - General Omar Bradley
The search for non-naval oil routes is not a new topic. In 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon requested a feasibility study on the possible revival of the long-defunct Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline route. This pipeline was activated by the British in 1935 to transfer Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean. It was shut down in 1948 by Iraq in the aftermath of Israel's founding.
While there was much discussion on the pipeline's revival, the general conclusion was that such an effort would be entirely infeasible, because such a pipeline would be a magnet for terrorist attacks due to the regional stigma attached to Israel. This concern is confirmed by the recent rash of pipeline attacks on Egyptian energy flows to Israel. Thus, most pipelines in the region entirely bypass Israel.
The defunct Mosul-Haifa pipeline .
However, properly secured, a pipeline through Israel, Syria or Lebanon to the Mediterranean would be of tremendous value. The important phrase here is "properly secured". Otherwise, one choke point would be exchanged for another, potentially more vulnerable one.
Such a route would only be feasible if it were shielded from the blackmail and sabotage so common to the region. Until now, a major Syrian pipeline would have been a pipe dream.
Why not Syria already?
Although there are pipelines through Syria today, they are of miniscule importance compared to major arteries such as Egypt's SUMED and would do little to replace the Strait of Hormuz-Suez route. For decades, the Assad regime effectively locked itself out of any meaningful commercial links with the West through a combination of wars, dark alliances and support for terror groups across the region.
In the Cold War, Syria's strong alignment with the USSR, repeated attacks against Israel, both militarily and through its support and shelter of anti-Western terror groups, made it extremely unreliable as a host for pipelines upon which so many nations would depend. In particular, the alignment with the USSR was seen as a political threat by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council nations. [1]
During the Lebanese Civil War, Syria actively supported Shi'ite factions and came to dominate Lebanon in the aftermath of the country's civil war. Furthermore, the country harbored Imad Mugniyeh, the prime suspect in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, in which nearly 300 US and French servicemen were killed. He was finally assassinated in 2008, in Damascus.
After the Cold War, Syria continued to dominate Lebanon, and was allegedly a key player in the assassination of president Rafic Hariri, a Sunni. Though this led to the "Cedar Revolution" that drove most of Syria's uniformed troops out of Lebanon and loosened its grip on the country, Syria's continued support of terror organizations in Lebanon and the political wing of Hezbollah kept it at odds with the West.
Hopes that Bashar al-Assad would initiate a new era of peace and openness with the West were dashed early on. He sheltered a number of key leaders from Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist Party, and did almost nothing to stem the flow of money, fighters and weapons back into Iraq.
Assad's Syria continued to pursue the development of weapons of mass destruction, which included the attempt to construct a secret nuclear reactor, with the assistance of North Korea, in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The reactor was destroyed by Israeli bombers on September 6, 2007 as part of Operation Orchard .
Syria worked hard to earn its status as a pariah nation, which is why even whispers of a super-pipeline route are so belated. Even with an Assad-dominated Syria, and there are feasibility studies underway to add significant additional crude oil pipeline capacity from Iraq through Syria, as well as an underwater pipeline to Turkey.
INOGATE Pipeline Priorities. Map excerpt source: INOGATE .
There is also an opportunity for Syria in the natural gas transport space. Syria would be the logical choice to host a branch for Egyptian liquefied natural gas into the Nabucco pipeline network.
Nabucco gas line - Syria is seen as a key transit point for Egyptian LNG exports. Source: SeaNews Turkey
The dangerous road ahead
At this point there is little Bashar can do to save his regime. The high food prices that lit the fires of the Arab Spring remain, and the slaughter of so many demonstrators has made untenable any hopes Assad would have to live peacefully in Syria even if he resigned. With the exceptions of Russia and Iran, Syria's traditional commercial partners, including oil companies, have unified to isolate and starve the regime.
The ultimate question for the outcome of the overland super-pipeline is what will fill the power vacuum after Assad's collapse? If Syria descends into sectarian civil war, it would be some time before such a project could proceed. Iran will fight for control of the country in the same way it did for Lebanon and Iraq - through a combination of supporting political movements and terror tactics. Some of these have allegedly already come into play to fight for the Assad regime.
Similarly, Turkey has a major stake in the outcome in Syria. Its most immediate interest there is to prevent a destabilizing tide of refugees from Syria, but the more strategic interests are manifold.
Turkey's leadership, embodied by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, wants to see Turkey re-assert a dominant economic and political position in the region. To have that role in Syria, Iranian influence would have to be driven away. Likewise, Russian influence in Syria, projected from its military hub of Tartus, is not desirable from the Turkish point of view.
Add in the discovery of huge offshore natural gas reserves in Lebanon and Israel, and the precedent of Iranian natural gas embargos to Turkey , and the overall potential impact Syria can have on energy transport, and it becomes clear that Syria carries huge weight in Turkish foreign policy formulation.
How far will Turkey go? Is it prepared to offer its troops as peacekeepers? Will the US and its allies accept the costs of a long-term Turkish presence to contain Iran, and/or guard a critical energy artery as they guard naval routes from the Persian Gulf? The Syrian people - Alawi, Shiite, Sunni, Christian and Kurd alike, do not have fond memories of Ottoman domination. Whatever happens, the iron law remains: the spice must flow.
Note:
1. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates
Ronnie Blewer is an IT security and systems management professional with a strong interest in global economic and foreign policy issues. Mr. Blewer has degrees in Russian language and Political Science from Louisiana State University. To contact him via e-mail, he can be reached at ronnie.blewer@yahoo.com.
Copyright 2012 Ronne Brewer
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. Articles submitted for this section allow our readers to express their opinions and do not necessarily meet the same editorial standards of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB15Ak02.html
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POSTED AUG 28 AND AUGUST 29
Hey Canada... DON'T CHA THINK IT'S TIME THE MIDDLE EAST, PERSIA AND AFRICA SETTLED THEIR OWN MESS....
.... NewAgeNazi Muslim Butchers of innocents- especially innocent Muslims - do NOT abide by any International Agreements- NOR... Allah's NOR God's ... or whatever...
The Muslim factions among various groups is destroying the planet....
.... NO MORE BLOOD OF OUR CHILDREN.... CANADA... IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT.... fix our own- heal Canada - we gave so much 2 Afghanistan... and rightfully so..... NOW it's time 2 look after Canada's interests... our children, aged, disabled, education, jobs, economy, trade, industry, ... all the good things....
... let' the Muslims settle their own... AND DISBAND UNITED NATIONS.... just like we disbanded League of Nations in 1945 when they became the despots and thieves instead of the saviours...
NO MORE USELESS $$$$$ WASTED ON BULLSHIT AND BEANS.... the world has 7 billion people folks.... $$$$ ruin in most nations.... and environmental disasters..... and poverty spilling in our own streets... imho...
GOD - ALLAH BE WITH SYRIA AND THE MUSLIM MONSTERS DESTORYING EACH OTHER.... but it's time... we - as supposed education nations walk away from messes we DID NOT CAUSE.... and will NEVER FIX- because of Muslims hatred 4 Muslims...
imho...
Muslims Killing Muslims
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
By Alan Caruba
Don’t feel bad if you can’t tell a Sunni Muslim from a Shiite Muslim. It has been a source of confusion for many people outside the world of Islam. If Bret Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The Wall Street Journal is right, we are witnessing "The Muslim Civil War."
Here’s a quick lesson regarding the two sects within Islam. Suffice to say that the Sunnis are the vast majority throughout the Middle East and in nations where Islam is the predominant religion. The greatest concentration of Shiites is found in Iran and Iraq. Both Hezbollah and Hamas, Palestinians, are pledged to destroy Israel, are Shiite.
Islam was invented by Mohammed in the seventh century, an amalgam of pagan beliefs common to Arab tribes in Arabia and a light overlay of Judaism with practices such as the prohibition against eating the meat of pigs. In its earliest years, Mohammed instructed converts to face toward Jerusalem when praying. After Jewish tribes in Arabia refused to accept him as the new prophet of God, he slaughtered them and Mecca became the center of Islam. He had some knowledge of Christianity but disparaged it and, in time, embraced a hatred for all "infidels" (unbelievers) unless they too converted.
Mohammed’s death in 632 A.D. led to what could be called a family fight because a branch of the family, his direct heirs—now known as Sunnis—became the first four caliphs, taking over the leadership of Islam and ruling continuously in the Arab world until the breakup of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. The Sunnis saw this as a devastating loss. The Sunnis comprised an estimated ninety percent of all Muslims at the time and remain the majority.
The conflict within Islam began when those called Shiites, the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, began to insist that only his branch of the family were legitimate. Without getting too deep in the weeds, when a mythical "Twelfth Imam" disappeared in 931 A.D., Shiites located largely in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, insisted that they had been deprived of a divinely inspired leader. Not until Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the movement to overthrow the Shah of Iran did the Shiites believe that a legitimate religious figure had emerged.
To give you an idea how deeply ingrained the schism between Sunni and Shiite is, Stephens began his commentary noting that "Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent Sunni cleric, said Friday that Hezbollah and Iran are ‘more infidel than Jews and Christians.’" Suffice to say that, among the faithful, it’s a toss-up whether they hate each other more than they hate infidels.
"That a sectarian war in Syria would stir similar religious furies in Iraq and Lebanon was obvious more than a year ago, despite wishful administration thinking that staying out of Syria would contain the war to Syria alone," said Stephens. "What should be obvious today is that we are at the down of a much wider Shiite-Sunni war, the one that nearly materialized in Iraq in 2006, but didn’t because the U.S. was there, militarily and diplomatically, to stop it.
One example is the decision by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah to punish Hezbollah for its "flagrant intervention in Syrian" against "freedom fighters." In Kuwait some 2,000 Lebanese Shiite residents will be deported. It is expected that all six of the Sunni nations will follow suit. Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy organization. Iran is a Shiite nation.
Americans, sick of the wars we fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, are likely content to let Muslims kill Muslims and doubtless want to stay out of the Syrian conflict. The problem is that what are often called "extremist" Muslims have exported their internal conflicts.
Osama bin Laden was a Sunni and he declared war on the U.S. in 1986. By 2001 it arrived dramatically in the form of 9/11 and most recently in Boston. Throughout Europe comparable acts of terrorism have been occurring for decades. The realization is slowly sinking in that we cannot sit on the sidelines and watch Muslims kill each other because their internal wars have become our domestic threats. They are shaping global power games. Where to intervene is the problem at a time when the West is mired in its own financial woes.
Writing of the U.S. reluctance to get sucked into the Syrian civil war, Stephens warned that Americans may feel that, "if Vladimir Putin or Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei want to play in the Syrian dung heap they’re welcome to it. But these guys aren’t dupes getting fleeced at a Damascene carpet shop. They are geopolitical entrepreneurs who sense an opportunity in the wake of America’s retreat."
Syria is a humanitarian nightmare thanks to the slaughter of innocents and the more than a million who have fled for refuge in Turkey and Jordan. In Turkey, a nation with a proud secular tradition, one foot in the Middle East and one in Europe, the efforts of its current government to impose Sharia law have tens of thousands protesting in the streets opposing an elected but increasingly authoritarian regime.
Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum, took some issue with Stephens saying, "The civil war in Syria has also benefited the West until now: It set Sunni extremist against Shiite extremist, weakened the governments of Iran and Syria, harmed the Hezbollah and Hamas terror organizations, caused the malign AKP government of Turkey to stumble badly for the first time in its ten-year reign, and created troubles for Moscow in the Middle East."
"More broadly, a region that constantly threatens the outside world has become so focused on its own travails that its capacity to make trouble for others for others is reduced," says Pipes.
There is much to be said for Pipes’ point of view. And for Stephens’ as well. From where I sit, the conflicts in the Middle East are likely to be around for a very long time to come. Islam is a failed religion despite being the faith of more than a billion people. In the way Christianity split between East and West, and then experienced the Reformation, Islam is experiencing significant internal deterioration and external resistance.
Islam veers between arrogant spiritual certitude and the constant evidence of its failure to produce democratic governments with healthy economies, let along societies in which justice and personal security exists. We may well be witnessing the beginning of its demise, but none of us will be around when that finally comes to pass.
http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.ca/2013/06/muslims-killing-muslims.html
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The Muslim Civil War Standing by while the Sunnis and Shiites fight it out invites disaster
By BRET STEPHENS CONNECT - Columnist's name .
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent Sunni cleric, said Friday that Hezbollah and Iran are "more infidel than Jews and Christians." Coming from the guy who once lauded Hitler for exacting "divine punishment" on the Jews, that really is saying something.
That the war in Syria is sectarian was obvious almost from the start, despite the credulous belief that Bashar Assad ran a nonsectarian regime. That a sectarian ruling minority fighting for its life would not fold easily was obvious within months, despite happy guarantees that the regime's downfall would come within weeks. That a sectarian war in Syria would stir similar religious furies in Iraq and Lebanon was obvious more than a year ago, despite wishful administration thinking that staying out of Syria would contain the war to Syria alone.
What should be obvious today is that we are at the dawn of a much wider Shiite-Sunni war, the one that nearly materialized in Iraq in 2006 but didn't because the U.S. was there, militarily and diplomatically, to stop it. But now the U.S. isn't there. What's left to figure out is whether this megawar isn't, from a Western point of view, a very good thing.
The theory is simple and superficially compelling: If al Qaeda fighters want to murder Hezbollah fighters and Hezbollah fighters want to return the favor, who in their right mind would want to stand in the way? Of course it isn't just Islamist radicals of one stripe or another who are dying in Syria, but also little children and aging grandparents and every other innocent and helpless bystander to the butchery.
But here comes the whispered suggestion: If one branch of Islam wants to be at war with another branch for a few years—or decades—so much the better for the non-Islamic world. Mass civilian casualties in Aleppo or Homs is their tragedy, not ours. It does not implicate us morally. And it probably benefits us strategically, not least by redirecting jihadist energies away from the West.
Wrong on every count.
The aftermath of an April 30 bomb blast in Damascus that killed 14.
.
Similar thinking was popular in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War. The war left as many as 1.4 million corpses on the battlefield, including thousands of child soldiers, and caused both countries billions in economic damage. And how did the West benefit from that? It's true that the price of crude declined sharply almost every year of the war, but that only goes to show how weak the correlation is between Persian Gulf tensions and oil prices.
Otherwise, the 1980s were the years of the tanker wars in the Gulf, including Iraq's attack on the USS Stark; the hostage-taking in Lebanon; and the birth of Hezbollah, with its suicide bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks and embassy in Beirut. Iraq invaded Kuwait less than two years after the war's end. Iran emerged with its revolutionary fervors intact—along with a rekindled interest in developing nuclear weapons.
In short, a long intra-Islamic war left nobody safer, wealthier or wiser. Nor did it leave the West morally untainted. The U.S. embraced Saddam Hussein as a counterweight to Iran, and later tried to ply Iran with secret arms in exchange for the release of hostages. Patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, the USS Vincennes mistakenly shot down an Iranian jetliner over the Gulf, killing 290 civilians. Inaction only provides moral safe harbor when there's no possibility of action.
Maybe that's what President Obama is secretly aiming for. Had he armed Syria's rebels early in the conflict, he could have empowered a moderate opposition, toppled the regime, sidelined Sunni jihadists, prevented the bloodbath we now have, stemmed the refugee crisis and dealt a sharp strategic setback to Iran—all without any U.S. military involvement.
Had he moved against Assad after the latter's use of chemical weapons, the president could have demonstrated the seriousness of U.S. red lines—this time with limited and surgical use of U.S. military assets. (By the way, whatever happened to that U.N. fact-finding mission on Syrian chemical weapons that Mr. Obama promised back in April?)
Yet if Mr. Obama were to move against Assad today, the odds of success would be far longer. He would be going against an emboldened and winning despot, brazenly backed by Russia. And he would be abetting a fractured insurgency, increasingly dominated by radicals answering the call of jihad. The administration has gone from choosing not to take action to having no choice but to remain passive. Thus does global order give way to global disorder.
It's tempting to rejoin that Syria is small and faraway, and that if Vladimir Putin or Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei want to play in the Syrian dung heap they're welcome to it. But these guys aren't dupes getting fleeced at a Damascene carpet shop. They are geopolitical entrepreneurs who sense an opportunity in the wake of America's retreat.
Maybe Americans will feel better after ceding the field to these characters. But we won't be safer. And as a former Chicago friend of Mr. Obama used to say, the chickens sometimes do come home to roost.
Write to bstephens@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared June 4, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Muslim Civil War.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324063304578522133099457480.html
COMMENT:
No matter who we side with, we just anger the other side. The benefit has to be compared to the two actions. While there's no explicit benefit from ignoring the region, we're better off by not involving ourselves than we are if we do so. Nothing will get resolved in either case, except that non-interventionism will save our treasury, and more importantly, our soldiers lives who did NOT sign up to fight someone else's war.
COMMENT:
Justin, we not only anger the other side; we anger all the bystanders and about five other "sides," and make more enemies on six continents. Since we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, we might as well don't.
Global Islamofascism will have to be fought in a bloody way at some point, but until we're ready to fight an ideological war with the fierceness that requires, we should keep our powder dry and let our future enemies waste themselves
COMMENT:
Stephen, as tragic as the carnage has been in the Syrian civil war, morality has no place in the formation and execution of foreign policy. It's all about projecting power to influence events. America has no permanent allies nor adversaries. It only has permanent interests which it must pursue for its own selfish goals. Realpolitik is the watchword, and I reject your premise of a Wilsonian moral basis for our foreign policy.
Putin would make a shrewd poker player. He knows that the US has been stretched to limit after its all-volunteer armed forces have fought two long and costly wars through two different administration, and that the American people have simply become war-fatigued with the inconclusive nature of these ill-conceived wars. His proposed sale of S-300 missiles to Syria undercut the interventionists lobbying President Obama for involvement and, more importantly, he played Secretary John Kerry very skillfully to negate the option of setting up a no-fly zone to try and at least stabilize the carnage of of the Syrian civil war. So he raided the ante quite decisively. And without firing a shot.
At this point, events are in the saddle and ride mankind in the Syrian civil war. So let the events follow their own internal dynamic, and if the Sunnis and the Shiites rebels and the Alawites in al Bashar's regime want to bleed themselves and innocent civilians caught in the sectarian crossfire white, then simply so be it.
As a Vietnam veteran who served as a medical corpsman, I am only concerned about the young men and women in our armed forces. It's their blood and treasure which always must be first taken into account when considering a military intervention in Syria. So I continue to support President Obama staying on the sidelines..
I think one Vietnam war in our nation's history is more than enough
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ADDED- 28 August 2013
Oh John Lennon.... how we loved u.... truly loved u....1971- PLEASE STEP OUT OF THE MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS WARS..... we disbanded League of Nations in 1945 because of WWII - Jewish Holocaust and 10 million people slaughtered....
MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS HATE- had caused $$$$trillions, enviornmental disaster and the death of millions and millions of people- yet again.... SYRIA AND ANY MORE MUSLIM INTERVENTION will cause the disbanding of United Nations with their despots and theives philosphy over being the saviours of the innocents and the poor and education and freedom .... we need peace in ur nations... we need 2 fix and heal our own nations...
Please walk away now- let's Imagine our world once again with lots of love, devotion and healing of r tired, weary troops who are being sacrificed simply over oil.... Have been there 4 our troops since September 11, 2001- and it's time to help the nations who really care... and build our own strong beautiful folks at home who need us... at home... please...
John Lennon's Imagine London 2012 Children's Choir Performance
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Well is the pure joy these NewAgeNazi Muslims killing innocent Muslims of their own nations isn't it- why would they care about the rest of the world- when they hate their own worlds so much? ...seriously... frankly... am so tired of it all... why do we still care... and since United Nations is now despots and thieves instead of the saviours they were created to be of this world- let's disband them... like we did with Leage of Nations in 1945- remember Nazis??? well Syria is going to be UN's Nazi war.... just watch and see.... 10 million died and 6 million Jewish- Holocaust.....
REMEMBER... those of us who survived and were born of WWII victory and our Canada in ruins 4 over 20 years after winning freedom..sure do...
I felt nothing for them’: Canadian faces the men accused of killing his brother on 9/11
'I wanted to see these people. I wanted to see the people that were responsible for taking Ralph from us'
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/27/i-felt-nothing-for-them-canadian-faces-the-men-accused-of-killing-his-brother-on-911/
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CANADIANS REMEMBER- always-September 11, 2001
FDNY 343 tribute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwb5Ai7LN3c
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WE NEED 2 WALK AWAY FROM MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS... this is just like Lebanon and Ireland... remember- it's healing time... and let's have some good news...love this song...
Don't u think it's time... we brought beloved troops home from the Muslims killing Muslims fields in the wastelands of oil countries.... and help them heal and fix our own selves- let UN ane Politicians step in2 the Muslims killing Muslims - it's time don't cha think..... Peter MacKay stood by Nato troops when u could NOT find any party or politician who actually cared about boots 2 the ground- CANNOT believe he would stand by the UN Syria eating themselves mess..... let's have some good news folks...
...lets mend and fix and heal and love our kids and grannies and grampas and hold the moms and daddies of our kids real close 2 - no matter what.... Imagine... AND LET'S WORK WITH NATIONS THAT ACTUALLY GIVE A SHEEEET 4 THE PEOPLE THEY R SUPPOSED 2 CARE ABOUT... eh?
Canada's Songbird- Anne Murry- A Little Good News - 1983-
...
AND SOME GOOD STUFF-
SIDNEY CROSBY steps up 4 Canada's values and gay sisters and brothers among us who we love dearly and clearly
NOW THE GOOD STUFF
Let's Go Canada- SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS 2014- IN RUSSIA.... BABY
Leave it to Sidney- how Canadian
Sidney Crosby against anti-gay law
Updated: August 26, 2013, 2:51 PM ET
By Pierre LeBrun | ESPN.com
CALGARY, Alberta -- The NHL's top player didn't shy away Sunday when asked about Russia's anti-gay law being adopted for the Olympics in February.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/9600260/sidney-crosby-pittsburgh-penguins-anti-gay-law-everyone-play
Team Canada superstar Sidney Crosby isn't on board with the Russian government's stance, underlining his support of gay athletes and their right to play.
"For me growing up in Canada, my view has always been that way," Crosby said during a news conference Sunday to kick off Canada's Olympic camp. "I think that everyone has an equal right to play and I think we've been supportive of that. With the Olympics and the controversy around that I think those decisions and those laws aren't necessarily something that I agree with personally ... their laws and their views."
Defenseman Shea Weber echoed Crosby's comment. The Nashville Predators star and Team Canada standout is a supporter of the You Can Play foundation, which the NHL and NHL Players' Association also officially endorse.
"Obviously, the NHLPA and myself are trying to support that cause," Weber said. "Like Sidney said, the way we're brought up is different than how the Russians view it. We're going over there to play hockey and obviously that's what we're going to try and focus on."http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/9600260/sidney-crosby-pittsburgh-penguins-anti-gay-law-everyone-play
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THX ARMY TIMES 4 THE SHARE- NIDAL HASAN SENTENCED 2 DEATH 4 FORT HOOD SHOOTING RAMPAGE
FORT HOOD TRIBUTE....Canadians remember
Tribute To The Fallen Fort Hood Soldiers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0062WS97vNY
--------------------
Well is the pure joy these NewAgeNazi Muslims killing innocent Muslims of their own nations isn't it- why would they care about the rest of the world- when they hate their own worlds so much? ...seriously... frankly... am so tired of it all... why do we still care... and since United Nations is now despots and thieves instead of the saviours they were created to be of this world- let's disband them... like we did with Leage of Nations in 1945- remember Nazis??? well Syria is going to be UN's Nazi war.... just watch and see.... 10 million died and 6 million Jewish- Holocaust.....
REMEMBER... those of us who survived and were born of WWII victory and our Canada in ruins 4 over 20 years after winning freedom..sure do...
I felt nothing for them’: Canadian faces the men accused of killing his brother on 9/11
'I wanted to see these people. I wanted to see the people that were responsible for taking Ralph from us'
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/27/i-felt-nothing-for-them-canadian-faces-the-men-accused-of-killing-his-brother-on-911/
----------------------------
Needed my fix 4 2day folks... the one and the only- Canada's Leonard Cohen- another of God's Tarnished Angels.... just like us- BEST COMMENT- Leonard Cohen is like Moses on Weed- and i am not a great 'Just-In' fan folks.... but we all gotta have some Hallelujah- and no politican can buy Leonard Cohen baby- nowhere on this planet of the freee
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
"Hallelujah"
I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ
Highway of Heroes", was co-written and co-produced by The Trews and Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar) and was inspired by the 2006 death of Captain Nichola Goddard from The Trews' hometown of Antigonish, NS. Canada's Highway of Heroes, is the section of the MacDonald-Cartier freeway named to honour those who have sacrificed all in service of country.
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AND ALWAYS THX 2 LEE GREENWOOD - who made this especially 2 honour Canadians walking side by side with our brothers and sisters- Comrades in Arms- we honour those who died 4 people who just want 2 be free in a hard part of the world that ensures hatred rules over peace and progress and pure love of the peaceful religion of true Islam.....
... Muslims killing Muslims is sickening the world's decent 7 billion people and United Nations despots and theives have shamed us worse than Leage of Nations (which was disbanded in 1945 after 10 million died and 6 million Jews Holocaust)..... we need to heal and fix ourselves... and let the hard part of the Muslims hating each other sort themselves out.... it's time. We love our troops of Nato way 2 much 2 sacrifice them 4 stupid oil... which we have plenty of on our own homelands...
Seriously...
LEE GREENWOOD'S GOD BLESS CANADA
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